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Oh United… when can we get off the rollercoaster?In February, we learned of cuts to United’s flagship Polaris service, including the elimination of Bloody Mary carts and those fancy “wine arcs” — two components that the airline touted often during the early days of Polaris service, which began in December 2016. That only affects long-haul international service, but premium-cabin trips within the US have seen significant cuts of their own.Those regional adjustments continued this month, with a further reduction of domestic meal service....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.We’ve got some news! And no, it isn’t that United’s going to start serving gigantic 30-scoop ice cream sundaes. But close.Following last month’s devastating #Sundaegate announcement (in which United decided to suspend sundae service worldwide after its glass bowls started cracking), we finally have word that the airline’s marquee premium-cabin dessert item will return — on July 1, some 36 days from now....

US Airways is offering 2,000 miles for simply signing up for a free Dividend Miles account. This deal is technically for new members, but as long as you use a different address and email address, you should be fine. They are also throwing in another 2,000 miles if you book and fly on US Airways flight within 30 days of enrolling.US Airways miles are pretty valuable and can be redeemed on any of the Star Alliance member airlines, well as a number of partners like Qatar and Royal Jordanian....

Normally, earning airline miles during hotel stays doesn’t make sense. But, this fall Best Western is offering a promotion that lets you earn triple the normal rate when you opt to earn Aeroplan miles instead of Best Western Rewards points. During the promotion, you’ll earn 750 Aeroplan miles per stay, which TPG’s latest valuation pegs at $11.25.This promotion is particularly valuable if you need to stay at any Best Western properties this fall, but don’t particularly care about earning Best Western points....

Yesterday, United Airlines was at the center of a social media storm when a gate agent refused boarding to two girls who were wearing leggings. After the immediate backlash on Twitter, it later turned out that the girls were “non-revenue” (or non-rev) passengers. Thus, they are expected to follow a different set of rules than paying customers.Many airlines allow their employees to fly this form of standby, for free, and extend the same privilege to family and friends with a “buddy pass....

If you’ve ever had a fraudulent charge or issue with a merchant, you know what a hassle it can be to file a credit card dispute. And with more of us on the move than ever before, the typical way of filing a credit card charge dispute via a bank’s website or over the phone just adds to the inconvenience.Thankfully, Citi is helping to make the process a little easier. The bank just released a new version of its iPhone app, which now allows cardmembers to file disputes from your phone — a first for US credit card issuers....

As of this year, American, Delta and United all offer a new fare class called “basic economy.” If you haven’t heard of this product, it’s worth reading up — it was even the topic of a recent Reader Mistake Story, so, yeah, basic economy is something you’re going to want to avoid.And that’s exactly what the airlines are counting on — they don’t want you to book a ticket in basic economy, and, in many cases, executives have worked hard to make this product as unappealing as possible....

“Reader Questions” are answered three days a week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — by TPG Senior Writer Julian Mark Kheel.It’s exciting when you’re able to upgrade from economy into a business-class seat, but TPG reader Kevin is concerned about what might happen if his plane suddenly ends up with a premium economy cabin…[pullquote source=“TPG Reader Kevin”]I’m flying to Japan in October with American on a 777-200 and I used 25,000 AAdvantage miles + $300 to upgrade from economy to business....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.Dubai, the city notorious for its massive skyscrapers, luxury shopping and flashy lifestyle, is once again building an over-the-top attraction. The flamboyant city is planning a $1.7 billion development project: two new artificial islands that will surround the city’s famed Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, the massive sail-shaped hotel that has come to represent the luxury of Dubai....

For those who fly American Airlines often enough, you know that the carrier has quite the inconsistent fleet, ranging from brand-new aircraft to un-retrofitted, decades-old planes on which the airline seems to just be running out the clock. Sometimes these can even be on the same route, like today from Austin (AUS) to Dallas (DFW) — which varies from a brand-new A321 to a two-decade-old MD80.In our earlier post, we discussed how bad your experience can end up on one of these old birds — even in first class....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.Hilton just announced their first quarter More Points promotion - register and then stay at any Hilton brand hotel between January 1st and March 31st, 2012 to earn an additional 1,000 bonus miles per night, or 5,000 miles per weekend (defined as 2 consecutive nights, Thursday to Sunday)....

Update 3/6/2017: Alaska Airlines has officially released its calendar for the rollout of elite benefits on Virgin America, confirming our original story.The webpage also confirms that those who use their Mileage Plan number on Virgin America flights can count those Virgin segments and miles towards their 2018 Mileage Plan elite status qualification. The same goes for Virgin flights, those who use their Elevate number on Virgin flights will have their miles and segments added toward their 2018 Mileage Plan elite status qualification....

China’s Beijing Red Cross Emergency Medical Center just added a very expensive toy to its EMS fleet, which already consists of a reported 300 ambulances, two helicopters and a Dassault Falcon 2000LX business jet.With a range of nearly 7,800 miles, the group’s first Gulfstream, a G550, will be used for disaster relief and air rescue services around the world.While Gulfstream and the Beijing Red Cross are mum on pricing details, a new G550 typically sells for some $61....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here: The Miles & More Premier World MasterCard, US Airways Premier World MasterCardThe 50,000-mile sign-up bonus offer on the Lufthansa Premier Miles&More Mastercard from Barclaycard is back! The sign-up bonus on this card usually hovers around the 20,000-30,000-mile mark, but with this offer, you get 20,000 miles with your first purchase or balance transfer, and the potential to earn 30,000 more bonus miles when you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first 90 days....

Starting Monday, Priceline will no longer offer the “Name Your Own Price (NYOP)” tool for car rentals and will offer express deals to take place of the NYOP feature.With the NYOP model, Priceline allowed customers to make a suggested price and land a good deal for airfares, rental cars and hotels. For car rentals specifically, customers could choose a price, location and car type, and Priceline would find a quality rental car based on the suggestion....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.Last month, United Airlines sent out very generous offers to some of its former top customers. MileagePlus members who once held top-tier status with the airline received offers for hundreds of thousands of bonus miles — a total of 315,000, in one case....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.One of today’s boutiques on Ruelala.com is Tumi. I got my rollerboard discounted through this site three years ago and it’s still (almost) as good as new. I personally love Tumi luggage - and no - I haven’t been paid by anyone for that endorsement....

Beginning Sept. 18, ride-share giant Uber will begin suspending Australians and New Zealanders with a passenger rating below four out of five stars. The temporary ban would last six months and is part of a pilot program designed to improve passenger behavior, according to Uber.A similar policy was introduced in Brazil earlier this year, but Australia and New Zealand will be the first English-speaking markets to experience the new change.Susan Anderson, the general director for Uber in Australia and New Zealand, said that riders who held a four-star rating or lower would be passengers who had received multiple one-star reviews from drivers over a number of rides....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.Last week I wrote about the 2,500 mile bonus for signing up for a Netflix account. It’s technically for new members, so since I already had an account in the past, I simply used a new address. $7....