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You’ve seen the video: An Asiana Airlines Airbus A330 slicing with its wing through the tail of another airliner, a parked Turkish Airlines A321, while taxiing at Istanbul airport. Luckily no one got injured, but both aircraft were severely damaged. The smaller Airbus, the A321, had its tail sliced off. But the damage was more extensive than that.“Both aircraft have received severe structural damage, not just the external visible damage, but loading damage to the tail anchorage points and other components,” said David Learmount, a UK-based expert in commercial aviation safety and consulting editor at Flightglobal magazine....

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.As Congress prepares to vote on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, the eight members who currently sit on the highest court in the land spent yesterday discussing a topic that resonates with plenty of TPG readers: credit cards....

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.American Airlines’ continues to roll out improvements in its catering department. Earlier this month, the carrier changed its meals on Japan-bound flights to offer Japan Airlines bento boxes, and most recently, the carrier expanded its special meals offering....

Update: The bonus cancellation was a mistake and Amex has reinstated the 50% bonus transfer until March 31. So now you can transfer Amex points to SPG points at a 2:1 ratio. Read this post to learn more.It appears that the 50% Amex transfer bonus to Starwood, which was supposed to last until March 31, has been canceled. One TPG reader even called Membership Rewards directly and was told by a rep that the bonus was a mistake and Amex pulled it early....

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.When traveling internationally, it can be a pain to avoid wasting on money on things like foreign transaction fees and roaming charges on your wireless plan. Thankfully, there are alternative options to avoid incurring roaming fees when you’re trying to make calls internationally, such as Google Project Fi and free data in more than 120 countries with T-Mobile....

The history of aviation is full of individual risk-takers, many of them — like the Wright Brothers, Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh and Howard Hughes — names you know. Lesser known but even more of a game-changer was Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to obtain her pilot’s license.Repeatedly denied admission to American aviation schools because of her color, the Texas native had to move to France in order to achieve her dream of becoming a pilot....

Update 3/16/2018: The UK Supreme Court has rejected Emirates’ request to appeal the ruling that it must pay EU261 compensation to passengers in certain situations.According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority press release, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case as “Emirates’ appeal did not raise an arguable point of law, because the Court of Justice of the European Union had already given a clear answer.“Chief Executive at the UK Civil Aviation Authority Andrew Haines didn’t mince words in response to this final appeal denial:Emirates priority should be looking after its passengers, not finding ways in which they can prevent passengers accessing their rights....

When Denver pet owner Elaine Conoly went on vacation over the Fourth of July, she did not expect to lose her best friend, her pet dachshund, Wally, who was killed by an aggressive mastiff while in the care of a sitter found through popular pet-care service Rover.According to a GoFundMe campaign soliciting donations for attorney fees, Conoly hired someone to take care of her two dogs for the dates that she would be away....

Emirates launched a new codeshare, but this one never leaves the ground: a bus service between Seattle and Vancouver.The buses, operated by Quick Shuttle, are Emirates’ first shuttle service in North America. The schedule lines up to the airline’s two daily nonstop flights to Seattle (which arrive at 6:35am and 12:05pm).The bus service is listed just like a connecting flight would be displayed.Here’s the schedule:EK 7033 — Seattle to Vancouver, 9:30am Departure ⇒ 2:05pm ArrivalEK 7035 — Seattle to Vancouver, 4:00pm Departure ⇒ 9:00pm ArrivalEK 7034 — Vancouver to Seattle, 8:45am Departure ⇒ 2:00pm ArrivalEK 7036 — Vancouver to Seattle, 4:15pm Departure ⇒ 9:30pm ArrivalWhile Google Maps shows that a direct trip between the two airports comes in at just over two and half hours, Emirates lists travel time at up to five hours....

I love trying different airlines - even when they aren’t the most revered. Over the years I’ve heard mostly negative comments about Alitalia, so I decided to finally try them this week when they were showing availability on Rome to Miami on the date I needed coming back from my weekend in Budapest. My outbound portion was on KLM JFK-AMS-BUD and in total the trip cost me 100,000 Delta miles and $90 in fees with all legs in business class....

Since taking delivery — with much attention — of its first A380, there have been rumors swirling about which airline would be the first to sign a wet-lease contract to operate Hi Fly’s superjumbo — the world’s first used A380. As of Wednesday, we found out which carrier it would be. And, much to surprise of many followers of the situation, it turned out to be UK-based charter airline Thomas Cook....

Today, I want to share a story from TPG reader Avon, who fell victim to an unusually strict expiration policy. Here’s what he had to say:Many people love Southwest Airlines because of their policy of no change fees, and I’ve taken advantage of it often by rebooking the same flight whenever the fare goes down. But I learned the hard way you have to be careful when using Southwest flight credits to purchase another ticket....

Lufthansa is giving away $60 vouchers via mobile phone and email download that flyers can use towards fares from the US.Simply enter your name, email address or mobile phone number and click the box that says you’ve read the terms and conditions and the voucher will be emailed to you for when you book a flight online at Lufthansa.com.The voucher must be redeemed by October 16, and travel must occur by January 31, 2013....

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.Russia has had it with these Moscow-flying snakes on this Moscow-flying plane. While checking the carry-on luggage of a traveler who had recently arrived from Düsseldorf, airport employees discovered 20 live snakes of unspecified species, packed in jars and boxes tucked into a small bag....

Here’s a recap of the interesting points and miles news from this week:Amex Transfer Bonus to British Airways ends Monday.30% Amex Transfer Bonus to British Airways Ends Monday: As a reminder, the British Airways transfer bonus from American Express ends on Monday. There is no need to register as the bonus is hard coded into the transfer page at Membership Rewards. Instead of the usual 1:1 ratio where 1,000 Amex points will get you 1,000 British Airways Avios, you’ll end up with 1,300 Avios instead....

We all know that the main reason to earn and use hotel reward points such as those from Hyatt Gold Passport, IHG Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest, and more is to score (almost) free hotel rooms. That’s the motivating factor and the reason I obsess about rewards credit cards, bonus promotions, online shopping portals, and more. However, there are some “secret” perks that you may not know that make those (almost) free nights even more awesome....

TPG reader Peter sent me a tweet to ask about carry-on luggage:“Do you think overhead bin slots should be assigned to seats?”Boarding a commercial flight in the US sometimes reminds me of the Oklahoma land rush, since the competition to stake a claim to overhead bin space can be fast and fierce. To avoid checked bag fees, many passengers simply tote their bags onto the plane (or at least try), which can slow down the boarding process and lead to territorial disputes over where each person’s stuff belongs....

Passengers might be surprised at how many airline Wi-Fi providers are out there. There are four companies providing service to airlines here in the US alone. Several carriers even have more than one provider. But there’s another company vying for a piece of that pie, and I got to try out its new product last week in Germany.Inmarsat is a British company that got its start serving the maritime industry, primarily offering safety communications to ships at sea....

Say what you will about the impending demise of the Boeing 747, but there’s one thing the Queen of the Skies still does better than any other airplane: make history. For the historic summit between the US president and the leader of North Korea, both leaders chose to fly the Queen.After leaving the G-7 meeting in Canada early, President Trump’s Air Force One landed at 8:21pm Singapore time (8:21am Eastern). While not technically a Boeing 747, the president’s Boeing VC-25 is a militarized version of the passenger jet....

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.The Transportation Security Administration might be adding one more step to the security-screening process: the removal of snacks from carry-on bags.Passengers at several airports have reportedly been asked by TSA officers to remove snacks from their bags at security checkpoints, along with the traditional items like liquids and large electronics....