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At the beginning of the year, Alaska Airlines announced that it was jumping on the basic economy bandwagon, planning to launch its own product by the end of the year. While launch details were pretty scarce as far as what Alaska’s basic economy fare would entail, now we know more about what travelers can expect.As SF Gate reports, Alaska’s detailed what its Saver Fares will look like. One of the most detested aspects of basic economy is the lack of a carry-on bag — at least for United....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Want to see the latest flight deals as soon as they’re published? Follow The Points Guy on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to text message alerts from our deals feed, @tpg_alerts.Airfare deals are typically only available on limited dates. We recommend you use Google Flights to find dates to fly, then book through an online travel agency such as Orbitz or Expedia, which allows you to cancel flights without penalty by 11pm Eastern Time within one day of booking....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Update: I got to check out the brand new Guest Services center in DFW’s Terminal A during a layover. While tucked away a bit from the gates, there were plenty of grab-and-go snacks (yogurts, hummus snacks, salads and wraps), drinks (hot coffee, variety of teas, sodas, sparkling and still water and La Colombe canned coffee) and friendly agents who were eager to assist travelers....

Many US-based travels who frequently visit Asia have historically worked to maintain ANA status primarily because of the unlimited premium economy upgrades they receive on ANA flights. Premium economy provides a more spacious seat, more storage and oftentimes better service than economy. But, changes recently announced by ANA may encourage these travelers to change their loyalty.ANA currently offers passengers the ability to place a bid to upgrade from economy to premium economy on international flights....

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.Cheers, lads. In celebration of 100 years of flying, British Airways is now serving a beer that was brewed at 40,000 feet in the air.The beer was created by Scottish brewery BrewDog founders Martin Dickie and James Watt with help from a BA cabin crew during a cruise aboard one of the airline’s 787 Dreamliners....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.The Cathay Pacific Visa Signature Card has just increased its sign-up bonus to the highest it’s ever been.Now through June 30, 2018, you can earn up to 60,000 miles when signing up for the Cathay Pacific Visa Signature Card — earn 35,000 bonus miles after spending $2,500 within the first 90 days and earn an additional 25,000 bonus miles after spending an additional $7,500 within the first 12 months....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Want to see the latest flight deals as soon as they’re published? Follow The Points Guy on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to text message alerts from our deals feed, @tpg_alerts.Airfare deals are typically only available on limited dates. We recommend that you use Google Flights to find dates to fly, then book through an online travel agency, such as Orbitz, which allows you to cancel flights without penalty by 11pm Eastern Time within one day of booking....

Delta Air Lines is buying a stake in SkyTeam partner Korean Air.The move cements its existing joint-venture partnership with Korean and furthers Delta’s strategy of buying equity stakes in partner carriers.Delta said on Thursday that it acquired a 4.3% equity stake in Hanjin-KAL, Korean Air’s largest shareholder, and said that could grow to 10% over time, pending regulatory approvals.For frequent flyers, the partnership between Delta and Korean is valuable because they typically earn miles and status when flying on either of the two airlines....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here: The Platinum Card® from American ExpressUpdate 9/7/17: Delta has added an additional 747 flight to evacuate passengers from Orlando prior to Hurricane Irma, so this week’s LAX-DTW redeye was not the final domestic 747 flight after all, although it was the last scheduled domestic 747 flight at the time.When United announced that it would be adding a last-minute 747 flight from Chicago to San Francisco, largely believed to be the airline’s final such flight within the US, I didn’t hesitate to book a ticket....

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.Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Using your The Business Platinum Card from American Express OPEN card for big purchases just got a lot more valuable. For a limited time, using this card will net you 50% more points on transactions of $5,000 or more, such as a new car or even a $170 million painting....

Qatar Airways is already known for providing an ultra-luxurious product, from an excellent first class on the A380 to business class on the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350. But for some passengers (those accustomed to flying around like this), a commercial flight just won’t cut it. It’s for these customers that the airline operates its Qatar Executive fleet, with planes ranging from small private jets to the (comparatively) gigantic Airbus A319....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.June 15 is National Smile Power Day (as well as National Lobster Day), and JetBlue is giving you another reason to smile — the airline is giving a 15% rebate for flights booked using TrueBlue points by June 19 for travel between now and July 31, 2017. Additionally, if you have a co-branded credit card, such as the JetBlue Plus Card or the JetBlue Business Card, you’ll be eligible for the regular 10% points rebate — bringing your total to 25%....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.As a traveling dad based in Los Angeles, I find myself flying in and out of LAX all the time, with or without my family. The airport—the fifth-busiest in the word—handled almost 85 million passengers in 2017, and I’ve often wished, like a good AvGeek, that I could get a little closer to all that action.But getting a closer look into major international airports is never easy, unless you have a reason tied to your work or study —except if you’re in Amsterdam, that is....

“Reader Questions” are answered three days a week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — by TPG Senior Writer Julian Mark Kheel.Today’s Reader Question from Kyle via Facebook is a common one about how to credit stays and nights at Marriott and Starwood hotels…[pullquote source=“TPG Reader Kyle”]With the Starwood and Marriott merger, if I stay at a Marriott, can I earn SPG nights and stays?[/pullquote]Mergers — such as the one currently under way between Marriott and Starwood — often seem to take forever as two airlines or hotels are integrated step by step into one company....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.TPG reader Andrew emailed me to ask about routing:“I have the Gold Delta Amex Card, and I’ll be traveling from Los Angeles to London soon. It will likely be one of two big trips I take this year, and I want to maximize the trip in terms of MQMs/MQDs. Would you recommend flying through Detroit, Minneapolis or Atlanta?...

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.After a 10-year run, British Airways has confirmed that its boutique airline OpenSkies will cease to exist in 2018. The airline, which only flies between New York (EWR and JFK) and Paris Orly (ORY), will fly for the last time at the end of summer 2018....

Today I want to share a story from TPG reader Sergej, who saved on an upcoming rental by casting a wider net:I was planning a trip to California, and since my destination was roughly halfway between Los Angeles and the Bay Area, I checked the cost of flights and car rentals into four separate airports: Los Angeles (LAX), San Fancisco (SFO), Oakland (OAK) and San Jose (SJC). Cars were very expensive at LAX during my visit, so I did some digging and found that renting a car from a Hertz hotel location nearby would cost much less than renting at the airport....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.In Points Intervention, I help people get their awards earning on track. In the episodes below, I worked with a New York City restaurant owner, helping him to maximize points and miles to get the best return for his business.My second Points Intervention was with Christophe Carón, owner and manager of Délice and Sarrasin, an authentic French crêperie in New York City’s West Village....

Update as of 05/11/19: Maya Bay will remain closed for at least another two years, according to Business Insider. The National Park Service says that the closure, which began back in 2018, is helping the area recover from damage caused by the massive number of tourists who flocked to the beach.The good news is that the National Park Service says it’s seeing improvements in the area, such as black tip sharks returning to the bay — a sign that the biodiversity of the area is on the rise....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.American Airlines has been making itself known for AAtrocious AAward AAvailability on its own flights recently. It seems that the airline has gotten the message and has re-launched its cheapest ever buy miles promotion, letting you boost your account for as little as 1.72 cents per mile.This offer is strikingly similar to the offer that just ended June 30, giving us further indication that AA understands AAdvantage miles’ reduced value....