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The key to a great April Fools’ joke is to announce something that seems feasible, but has small feature or detail that, once realized — usually after midday when the joker comes clean — makes the whole announcement seem completely ridiculous. The travel industry did not disappoint this year.In previous April Fools Days we’ve seen Hong Kong Airlines proposing inflight roasted duck and barbecue pork carts, Virgin Australia installing exercise bikes onboard and even express entry to New York subways with Priority Pass....

In early February, tens of thousands of travelers will descend upon Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport (ATL) to participate in Super Bowl LIII festivities and watch the Los Angeles Rams and New England Patriots vie for the iconic Lombardi trophy.In fact, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) predicts that Feb. 4, the Monday following this year’s Super Bowl Sunday, will be the busiest travel day ever since the agency was founded in 2002. On that day, which Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has dubbed “Mass Exodus Monday,” the ATL airport expects to see about 111,000 passengers pass through security, a significant jump from its average 70,000 to 80,000 passengers per day....

Southwest Airlines, the largest U.S. operator of the Boeing 737 MAX, said it now plans to keep the plane off its schedule through June 6.“By proactively removing the MAX from scheduled service, we can reduce last-minute flight cancellations and unexpected disruptions to our customers’ travel plans,” the airline said in a statement. It added that the decision will result in about 330 fewer flights on its schedule each weekday from mid-April until the jet’s reintroduction....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.No, you’re not having deja vu. Yesterday I announced that Starwood Preferred Guest is offering a 50% bonus on transfers to American Airlines AAdvantage miles for the month of July (instead of the usual 25% bonus). Now Starwood is offering that same bonus for transferring Starpoints to US Airways Dividend Miles. In both cases, no registration is necessary....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.The Points & Miles Backpacker is a weekly column appearing every Monday morning. TPG Contributor Brian Biros, who has backpacked the globe for the past 15 years, discusses how to fund this adventurous, budgeted and increasingly popular form of travel with points and miles. He’ll also explore all things backpacking related. Read his story here and his high-level approach here....

[tpg_rating ticket-class=“business” tpg-rating-score=“76” ground-experience=“14” cabin-seat=“24” amens-ife=“11” food-bev=“15” service=“12” pros=“Solid hard product with a wide and comfortable seat, efficient service.” cons=“The service, while efficient, was on the short side and a so-so ground experience at JFK.” /]Travelers have practically endless options when it comes to flying across the Atlantic Ocean, and airlines compete fiercely for the business of travelers hopping across the Pond. I’ve flown many products back and forth between my home in London and TPG’s headquarters in New York, but I had my eye on Iberia’s new A350 for quite a while....

Since 2011, one of the two final assembly and delivery sites for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been Charleston, South Carolina, right next to the airport. But despite being one of the homes of the Dreamliner, Charleston International (CHS) hasn’t had a single scheduled passenger flight using a Boeing Dreamliner. In fact, it didn’t have actual international flights — until Thursday.That’s when British Airways launched its inaugural flight from London Heathrow to Charleston, which will run twice weekly using a 787-8....

Click here to donate to California wildfire victims. TPG will match donations as part of the campaign up to $10,000.For more than one week, wildfires have ripped their way throughout California, leaving 59 people dead and dozens still unaccounted for. Much of Los Angeles County has sustained severe devastation as a result of the “Woolsey Fire.” Hundreds of residents of the county, including members of The Points Guy family based in Bankrate’s Pasadena office, have lost their homes as a result of the fires....

Like many carriers around the world, United Airlines is currently offering customers extra flexibility when booking flights for future travel. As it’s been doing since March, United will waive all change fees for flights booked through the end of this month, for all future travel dates. While that sounds great on the surface, you’ll lose any residual value if you move to a lower-cost flight, as I explain in this earlier post....

If you’ve purchased Wi-Fi on a plane, you’re probably frustratingly aware that most services only allow one device to be connected at a time. If you’re working on your laptop and need to pull something up on your phone, you have to go through the process of logging out on one device before you can log in on the other, eating up precious in-flight work time.Gogo’s now offering subscribers an option to remove this frustration — at a price....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available – View the current offers here – Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit CardSouthwest has built its brand around providing low fares with no fees. Today, TPG Senior Points & Miles Contributor Peter Rothbart describes how you can use the airline’s lack of change fees to stretch your points and save on award travel.Recently, I wrote about how Rapid Rewards offers great value to domestic flyers....

Emirates’ outstanding fully-enclosed first-class suite has been flying on a number of the carrier’s Boeing 777-300ERs for almost two years now. I had a chance to join the very first flight, from Dubai to Brussels in December 2017, and it really is a spectacular product.Although it’s operated a handful of flights to the United States — including very limited engagements between Dubai and Dallas/Fort Worth, Seattle and Houston — the new suite has yet to become a permanent fixture on even a single U....

The fast-paced, high-intensity nature of New York City may seem like the wrong setting for your next family vacation, however, as an adventurous 17-year-old, I tend to think otherwise. Here are a few things to do that are fun for all ages, especially teenagers.1. Catch a Broadway ShowIf you love theater, you know that no trip to NYC is complete without seeing a show on Broadway — watching amazing performances in tiny-yet-extravagant theaters that host the most popular shows at the moment is so much more intimate and captivating than seeing the same show on tour....

During the COVID-19 crisis, our team has temporarily ceased taking review trips. However, we are still publishing new flight, hotel and lounge reviews, from trips taken just before the lockdown. This article refers to a review trip taken in January. Please note that the route between Dallas and Hong Kong mentioned here is currently suspended due to the coronavirus and will resume on July 10, according to route-tracking site Airlineroute. When it does resume, you can expect a very different experience both on the ground and on board, with reduced service....

Since Qatar Airways became the launch customer of Airbus’s next-generation A350 at the end of 2014, several other airlines have taken delivery of the jet. Today, TPG Special Contributor Eric Rosen gives us a status update on orders and deliveries of the new aircraft — and how you can get aboard.Meant to compete with Boeing’s next-generation 787 Dreamliner, the A350 is Airbus’s successor to its long-haul A330 and A340 aircraft — as Airbus delivers more of these to its airline customers, travelers around the world are going to get more chances to experience them....

If you are troubled by the recent trend towards making aircraft bathrooms smaller, as seen on the Boeing 737 MAX introduced by American and United, rejoice: It will not get any worse.Leading aircraft bathroom manufacturers Collins Aerospace and Diehl Aviation have both told TPG that the absolute minimum size of their aircraft bathrooms has already been reached, and they will not get any smaller. At this week’s Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, the two manufacturers showed their latest products, which use space more effectively to maximize room for passengers as well as the airline’s seating density....

American Airlines said Tuesday that its revenues for the first quarter of 2019 would be lower than expected, partially due to the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX planes in its fleet.The airline said in an investor release that it has been forced to cancel 1,200 flights in the first quarter as a result of complying with the global grounding of the imperiled MAX planes. In the filing, American says it now expects its first quarter total revenue per available seat mile – a key industry metric for measuring profits – to be flat to up 1% year-over-year, down from previous projections of flat up 2%....

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.American Express is targeting cardholders with an enticing offer to save money on Sam’s Club purchases. For a limited time, targeted cardholders can get $10 back on purchases of $50 or more....

This is the week that live ticket sales for Americans begin for the 2020 Olympics Games in Tokyo, but that’s not today’s Olympics-related headline. Jumping forward quite a few more years, the 2026 Winter Games have just been awarded to Italy, over the only remaining competitor for the 2026 Games, Sweden.(Photograph by Dave Thompson/IOC)Italy had reportedly been the favored host for a while, with the public support polled by the IOC at 85%, as opposed to just 60% in Sweden....

When the New Year arrives, it will bring cleaner air to the world’s busiest airport.And that will put some travelers on edge.At midnight Jan. 1, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) will officially close all its smoking areas to comply with an enhanced city-wide ordinance banning smoking and vaping inside bars, restaurants and enclosed spaces.For years, there have been about a dozen places throughout ATL’s sprawling terminals where travelers can light up....