TPG contributor Jen Jones Donatelli downloaded, plugged in and played with dozens of hotel apps to bring us today’s Travel Tuesday Top 10.When it comes to booking travel and checking points on the go, you can take it with you. Available for a range of devices, apps are now offered by just about every major hotel chain, and some even have a dedicated app for their loyalty programs. We’ve sniffed out 10 of the best for you below....
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.Travelers departing from and arriving at Ontario International Airport (ONT) can no longer use the popular ridesharing service Uber. Effective September 13, Uber no longer operates at the Los Angeles area airport.According to Uber, a new rideshare surcharge prompted the company to end the airport service....
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.This holiday season has been all about unexpected gifts: The Platinum Card® from American Express cardholders have been receiving holiday gifts after visiting a Centurion lounge and JetBlue’s been doling out free tickets to get family members back home.Now, those with United Premier Status are eligible for a special offer if traveling through one of United’s largest hubs: Newark Airport (EWR)....
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Earning hotel points via the traditional method (actually staying in hotels) is just one option for growing your account balance. However, it’s relatively easy to accrue points without booking a stay — whether through top credit card offers or through various promotions. If these methods leave you short of your travel goals, you can also purchase miles directly from the hotel....
A video of a deaf couple from California sharing their account of discrimination by a Delta Air Lines agent at Detroit Metro Airport (DTW) has gone on viral on Facebook.Socorro Garcia and Melissa Elmira Yingst tell their story from a hotel in Detroit near the airport. They had to stay the night there after being told by police that they would not be permitted to board their flight home.The story started when Garcia and Yingst arrived at DTW to board their Delta flight to Los Angeles (LAX)....
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.“Reader Questions” are answered three days a week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — by TPG Senior Writer Julian Mark Kheel.Both of the major ride-sharing services now have partnerships that allow you to earn extra airline or hotel points just for using them. TPG reader David wants to know which one is more valuable…[pullquote source=“TPG Reader David”]I’ve been using Uber for some time because I get the SPG points with every ride....
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.At the end of last summer, Hyatt acquired Exhale Spas in order to continue bolstering its mission of caring not only for a guest’s good nights sleep but their entire well being. Today, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts announced a new integration between the World of Hyatt loyalty program and Exhale Spa, allowing members to redeem their points at nearly 20 Exhale locations and offering added benefits for select World of Hyatt elite members....
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.No line at the Louvre, an open table at the best cafés and lower prices on hotels and flights across France — autumn is something of a Francophile’s dream. Though Paris is never a completely quiet city, savvy travelers who visit during the fall and winter can avoid some of the worst crowds while enjoying a range of seasonal activities (leaf-peeping, skiing, Christmas markets in the city) both in the City of Light as well as the countryside....
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.Gone are the days of frantically Googling cabin interior photos and compulsively checking Seat Guru, at least if you’re flying long-haul on Austrian Airlines.Image courtesy of Austrian Airlines/ RenacenThe airline has introduced 3D seat maps for all flights operated by its Boeing 777s....
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.The modern gay rights movement started with a revolt at the Stonewall Bar in New York’s Greenwich Village, and somewhere along the line, LGBT neighborhoods throughout the country sprang up in walkable, Village-like neighborhoods. TPG Contributor Drew Limsky offers up a tour of LGBT-friendly enclaves in cities across America.The Castro, San Francisco. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.The Castro—San FranciscoThere’s probably only one street in the known galaxy where you can see a naked guy strolling past an ornate movie palace, where inside, actress Rutanya Alda dishes—to hoots and cheers—about Faye Dunaway’s offset antics on the Mommie Dearest shoot (Alda played housekeeper Carol Ann to Dunaway’s gargoyle-like Joan Crawford)....
Each Saturday, we round up the top miles, points and travel news that you might have missed on TPG this week. Here’s what you need to know:Chase Launches First-Ever Transfer Bonus: 30% Extra British Airways AviosYou’ll see the bonus when you log in to your British Airways account.The Points Guy UK Has Officially LaunchedA whole new TPG team has landed in the UK.Huh, Turns Out We’ve All Been Pronouncing ‘Marriott’ WrongApparently the customer service line has been saying it correctly this whole time....
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.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 Expedia, which allows you to cancel flights without penalty by 11:00pm Eastern Time within one day of booking....
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....
Sometimes there are good stories. Other times, the story is simply too good to be true.And it appears that reports that planespotters had the scoop on President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis fall under the latter.It all began after military Boeing E-6Bs Mercury aircraft flying off both the east and west coasts of the U.S. mainland were observed on flight-tracking software.The conclusion, from at least one spotter, was that the military’s “flying nuclear command centers” were mobilized to show America’s enemies the nation was ready to act should an adversary try to exploit a government that was possibly distracted by the president’s diagnosis....
On Thursday, Hawaiian Airlines announced it spent $31 million in bonuses and profit sharing to reward its 7,100 employees for their “exceptional” job performances in 2018.That amount is a little more than 11% of the airline’s $274.8 million in net profit.“Our people are the heart of Hawaiian,” Peter Ingram, president and CEO of Hawaiian Airlines, said in a statement. “This year was not without challenges, including devastating volcanic activity and flooding....
Update: Citi has announced most of its credit card benefits and protections will end on September 22, 2019, including some of the benefits or protections explored in this story. For more details, see this story.Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Citi is a TPG advertising partnerFilling out paper forms and mailing or scanning them is frustrating, but it’s usually required when you’re claiming credit card benefits like price protection and baggage delay protection....
With tax season upon us and a new tax law in use, many Americans are anxious to know what it will mean for their tax payments — and refunds. The good news is that two-thirds of Americans can expect to pay less for the 2018 fiscal year in taxes, but the bad news is that might not translate to a bigger refund, according to The Wall Street Journal.Tax returns vary state to state and person to person, but past data and future estimates can still give taxpayers a sense of what they’ll be forking over to the IRS come April....
Patrons of the arts, music, history and more — you have the opportunity to visit a bevy of free museums across the US this September. All you have to do is download a ticket.As a part of an annual celebration, Smithsonian Magazine is presenting its nationwide ‘Museum Day’ on Sept. 21. For those unfamiliar with this tradition, Museum Day is a one-day-only event in which participating museums, historical sites, heritage centers, zoos and more offer free entry to patrons with a special Museum Day ticket....
The truth is out there … on a cruise. Or so they say.For those of you who love nothing better than to spend hours talking about UFOs, we have identified a (nonflying) object that will whisk you away to a place where you can trade tales of extraterrestrial encounters to your heart’s desire: Holland America’s Oosterdam.The Best Credit Cards for Booking CruisesIn October, the 11-deck-high floating resort will host what’s being billed as the UFO Cruise, a seminar-at-sea focused on all things alien....
