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“Reader Questions” are answered three days a week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — by TPG Senior Writer Julian Mark Kheel.TPG reader Riles has an interesting situation involving roommates, rent and the Chase Sapphire Reserve…[pullquote source=“TPG Reader Riles”]I live with two roommates who sublet from me. They pay me their shares and then I pay the landlord. Is it worth the 2.95% credit card fee to put the rent on my Chase Sapphire Reserve considering I pay one-third of the rent but receive all of the points?...

Every travel site will tell you how to do things the right way; as every traveler knows, though, sometimes things go wrong. In his bimonthly Mistake Monday series, TPG Contributor J. Keith van Straaten invites you to learn from his mistakes — his many, many mistakes. (All photos by the writer unless otherwise noted.)When traveling, you generally know your destination by the time you get to the airport, but what if you purposely didn’t?...

Delta Airlines released a statement Wednesday confirming that it had been the victim of a massive cyber attack.Delta was notified by [24]7.ai, a company that provided online chat services for the airline, that it had been hacked and that “certain customer payment information for [24]7.ai clients, including Delta, may have been accessed.“Delta said that several hundred thousand people could potentially be affected by the breach. Malware was found in [24]7.ai’s software that attempted to access Delta customers’ credit card information....

A Canadian couple’s romantic beach vacation had anything but a fairytale ending.Excited to escape winter weather for a brief moment, Katie Stephens and Eddie Zytner wandered the beaches of Punta Cana barefoot each day during their week-long vacation, only to return with memories they’d prefer to forget.After walking in the sand outside their Dominican Republic resort, the couple said their feet began to itch, but they attributed their discomfort to possible bites from sand fleas....

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.Look out, world — suites are taking over the forward cabin. On the heels of Qatar’s QSuite, Delta One Suites and over-the-top iterations from Singapore Airlines and Emirates, there’s word that upgrades are coming to select aircraft flown by Turkish Airlines....

Per Twitter user (and newly minted MileagePlus millionaire) @psifertex, United Airlines appears to be making good on its promise to award users for submitting security bugs.United issued 1,000,000 miles to at least one lucky bug submitter.As a reminder, you can earn between 50,000 and 1,000,000 miles for submitting bugs. Miles are awarded according to the following criteria:Low (50,000 miles)Cross-site scriptingCross-site request forgeryThird-party issues that affect UnitedMedium (250,000 miles)Authentication bypassBrute-force attacksPotential for personally identifiable information (PII) disclosureTiming attacksHigh (1,000,000 miles)Remote code executionWe have seen reports from members who have submitted legitimate bugs without receiving a response from United, but it appears that the airline may just be slowly working through a backlog....

TPG reader Spencer asks:“I’ll move up from Delta Medallion Silver to Gold next year… but will I still be a Silver for flights in January and February or will my level up be recognized as soon as the new year hits? My Silver status says it’s valid through February 2013.“Elite status qualification and timeframe verbiage is always a little bit confusing, but let me try to make it as simple as possible....

Don’t Miss Out! Enter to win The Business Traveler Dream Sweepstakes before May 18, 2018.Upside is announcing the launch of National Business Traveler Day (NBTD) to celebrate all those business travelers who schlep back and forth between work, home and hotels every month, every week or even every day.In honor of the 2 million business trips that are taken every workday, Upside is holding a giveaway with some incredible prizes for NBTD, held on April 24....

Amsterdam often evokes thoughts of a red light district, coffee houses famous for substances other than coffee and a sea of blue uniforms passing through Schiphol Airport (AMS). Yet there’s so much more to this fascinating city. Here are nine of my favorite things — and the top nine reasons I’m itching to move back! — along with one thing to be careful with if you’re planning a trip to this vibrant European capital....

On Thursday, American Express announced its collaboration with Parley for the Oceans in an effort to acknowledge and act on the issues that plastic pollution invokes.In the near future, American Express customers will be seeing sustainable changes in the company’s products from credit cards to lounges. As part of the collaboration, American Express will be releasing its first-ever card primarily composed of up-cycled plastic from the ocean within the next 12 months....

Booking a direct routing can save hours of travel time and lots of potential frustration, but there can be benefits to booking a roundabout routing as well, even beyond the cost savings. In this post, TPG Senior Points & Miles Correspondent Jason Steele explains how to use Cleverlayover’s booking tool to find an unusual routing that can both save you cash and take you on an international adventure.If you’ve read some of my recent posts on booking award flights on Delta, United and American, you may have noticed a common thread....

There are several mileage bonus offers happening right now, but none of them are really amazing deals. Let’s take a look at each:AmericanAAdavantage members can purchase miles now through February 29, 2012 at up to a 37% bonus.The increments are:Purchased Miles Bonus Miles-2,000-5,000 miles 500 bonus-6,000-11,000 miles 2,000 bonus-12,000-39,000 miles 4,000 bonus-40,000+ miles 15,000 bonusSo, is it worth it?The short answer is: no. Let’s take the baseline examples though to price it out....

Delta continues to slowly roll out its new Premium Select cabin, the airline’s first true premium economy product. The not-quite-economy but also not-quite-business seat was first introduced on the carrier’s new A350 last October and debuted on its 777-200 earlier this week. But unfortunately, the product is already getting a downgrade.When it launched, Premium Select passengers were booked into domestic first class on any flights connecting them to the Premium Select-outfitted aircraft that operated the long-haul segments....

“Reader Questions” are answered twice a week — Mondays and Fridays — by TPG Senior Writer Julian Mark Kheel.There are fewer ways nowadays to earn the 110,000 points required to get a Southwest Companion Pass. But TPG reader Alex wondered if having Southwest elite status might make things a little bit easier?[pullquote source=“TPG Reader Alex”]Do the double points from A-List Preferred count toward Companion Pass?[/pullquote]When you purchase a ticket on Southwest, you’ll normally earn more points per dollar by buying more expensive fares....

After Mount Agung’s eruption on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, locals and tourists are scrambling for refuge as authorities have issued the highest-level warning possible. Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) has closed and canceled all flights. People are scrambling to find a way out of Bali.The level IV warning was issued due to what is called a phreatomagmatic eruption, which occurs when magma comes in direct contact with water. The volcano then emits enormous amounts of steam as well as gases and pyroclastic material....

Google Flights has released a new interface for all of your flight browsing needs. In the past, Google Flights has been a favorite for frequent travelers, thanks to its simple interface and immediate search results. And, with the new interface, it looks like much of that functionality isn’t changing — in fact, the tools are now becoming easier to use.In order to start using the new interface, head to Google Flights....

As Google Flights has become more and more prominent, the tech giant will continue to concentrate its power on travel data after announcing that it will be shutting off its QPX Express API in April 2018. QPX is an airfare search data feed that allows travel sites to access information on airfare and was created when Google acquired ITA Software. Google used ITA to create Google Flights, a more user-friendly version of the ITA Matrix....

TPG reader Jason tweeted me with a question about a problem that plagues many long-distance travelers - jet lag:"@thepointsguy With your constant int’l trips and multiple time zone changes, how do you reduce the effects of jet lag?“If you’ve never experienced it before, jet lag can be brutal because it’s not just about losing sleep. It can throw your whole schedule - including sleeping but also eating and everything else - and thus your whole trip off....

For years, IHG points collectors have had the chance to book hotels at just 5,000 points per night through the PointBreaks program. While past lists have included top-notch InterContinental hotels, recent lists have been quite underwhelming.Sure, you could still save up to 80% off the standard points price of a Staybridge Suites in Fort Worth, but the offerings generally haven’t been very exciting.The good news: It seems that IHG Rewards has listened to our complaints and is revamping the program....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Citi is a TPG advertising partnerFor a few months, the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard has been offering an elevated sign-up bonus of 50,000 miles, but that’s about to end. The last day for this increased offer will be Tuesday, Oct. 16, so you only have a few days left to apply and snag the 50,000 miles....