Posts

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.One of the best perks from an airline credit card out there comes from the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature credit card — its annual companion fare. With the benefit, you can get a companion fare from $121 ($99 base fare plus taxes and fees from $22) each account anniversary. And while the benefit used to be allowed exclusively on Alaska Airlines-operated flights, it’s since been extended to Virgin America-operated flights....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.The nation’s largest public transportation system is expected to get a major overhaul. New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will likely approve a new payment system, which will, in turn, make the current MetroCard a thing of the past.According to The New York Times, the MTA is expected to approve a $573 million contract, which will replace the outdated paper MetroCards....

Star Alliance is looking to provide passengers with more seamless and technologically advanced journeys. The world’s largest global alliance featuring 26 airlines — formerly 27, before Adria Airways filed for bankruptcy earlier this month — including founding members Lufthansa, United, Thai, SAS and Air Canada, plans to use biometric technology to make the passenger experience more efficient.Speaking at the Star Alliance MegaDo in Frankfurt on Monday, Jeffrey Goh, CEO of Star Alliance, and Christian Draeger, Star Alliance VP of customer experience, outlined further details of the alliance’s plans for the future of biometrics....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Outgoing Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx is suggesting one last rule before leaving his post: disclosing all luggage fees as part of the total airfare. The proposed regulation was announced by the Department of Transportation (DOT) this Tuesday.Under the proposed regulation, airlines and travel agents would be required to disclose the price of all luggage fees associated with the ticket, including the cost of carrying on luggage and checking luggage....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express, Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American ExpressOne of the best values within both the Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott Rewards programs are their award packages that combine receiving hotel award nights and airline miles for a set points price. SPG calls them Nights and Flights and Marriott calls them Hotel + Air packages, but they both fall under the same concept and are both very lucrative deals....

We recently asked our TPG Lounge audience to share their greatest success stories for partner award redemptions with the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan loyalty program. Here’s a look at some of our favorite answers. (Some responses have been lightly edited for style and clarity).Taking Advantage of StopoversOne of the biggest perks of flying with Alaska Airlines partners is the ability to tack on a free stopover in the hub city of that airline....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here: United Explorer CardAs a holder of many credit cards, I get emails with “exclusive” offers all the time. Often the promise of exclusivity isn’t anything more than an opportunity to spend money or miles on products I don’t want, events that are nowhere near where I live or services I don’t need.But once in a while, something catches my eye, like when I got an email in February from a united....

Las Vegas is an interesting hotel market as there are well over 100,000 hotel rooms in the area and rates can get incredibly low at just $39+ for some rooms…generally plus resort fees, but that’s a whine for another time. In short, you can usually find a relatively cheap place to lay your head in Sin City. However, usually doesn’t mean always. If a very big event is going on in town, the $39 a night cheap-o-rooms can quickly become $539+ rooms....

We live in a world of rapid and rampant change where renovation, reconstruction, remodel, redirection, renewal, repurposing and recalculating “R” the buzz words that lead us all to a new and improved world of excitement, comfort, and trendy updates. As they say, if you aren’t going forward, you are going backward. Time waits for no man. As an example, we have found that if you don’t buy a new car every two or three years you probably won’t be able to keep up with the advancing technology, and even working the radio becomes problematic....

Last week, self-described “Professional Idiot” and YouTube Vlogger Adam Saleh posted a video — called “I Smuggled Myself On A Plane to Another City and IT WORKED!!! (IN A SUITCASE)” — which appears to show him being packed into an oversized suitcase and stowing away on a Tigerair flight from Melbourne to Sydney, Australia. More than 600,000 people have watched the video since it was posted last week, but the airline isn’t laughing....

After a woman accidentally carried on a handgun onto a Delta Boeing 777 departing Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport (ATL) for Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT) on Jan. 2, flyers wondered: How dangerous is a gun on an airplane? What would the extent of the damage to an aircraft would be if a handgun, maybe brought accidentally on board, were to go off mid-flight?CNN reports that the woman forgot the gun was in her carryon bag....

Update: Some of the offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express, Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American ExpressI love my American Express points, but I use them exclusively for airline transfers, especially when there are transfer bonuses.The Starwood ratio is 3:1, which means 1,000 Amex points normally only gets you 333 Starpoints - not a good deal in my opinion....

If there’s one constant across the US airlines, it’s copycat syndrome — whether that’s restricting lounge access, rolling out basic economy or increasing checked baggage fees. And this condition flared up yet again today, as American Airlines matches Delta and United in elite-qualifying spending requirements while slashing one of the few remaining shortcuts to reaching elite status.Increase Spending Requirement for Executive Platinum StatusComing right on the heels of AA upping the spending requirement for its invitation-only Concierge Key elite status, American Airlines announced today that the spending requirement for earning Executive Platinum will be 15,000 Elite Qualifying Dollars starting in 2019....

World Airline News is reporting that Phoenix-based Mesa Airlines, a regional carrier for American Airlines as well as United Airlines, has repainted two of its CRJ-900s in a new Mesa livery. Previously, these two Mesa aircraft had been painted in the American livery.https://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-USA4/Mesa-Airlines/i-wm85JcW/AThe freshly-painted planes have a simple design, with an all-white fuselage and a black tail showing the current Mesa Airlines logo. WAN is reporting that the two CRJs sporting this new livery are based at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and as you might have guessed fly mostly for American Airlines....

View this post on Instagram On short final to runway 33L at Boston Logan. #flying #bos #capeair A post shared by Ned Russell (@airbus777) on May 15, 2016 at 7:17am PDT View this post on Instagram View this post on Instagram On short final to runway 33L at Boston Logan. #flying #bos #capeair A post shared by Ned Russell (@airbus777) on May 15, 2016 at 7:17am PDT

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.Delta made a splash with an update to its amenity kits back in June, thanks to the addition of Le Labo products and the reduction of plastic. The Tumi-branded kits have been gradually phased in around the network all summer, and now there’s an exciting new addition to look forward to this fall....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Hyatt has launched a new promotion that can result in earning top tier Hyatt Globalist status with just 30 eligible nights instead of 60…if you pretty much move into an Andaz property this summer. From July 1 - August 30, 2018, every qualifying night spent at Andaz hotels counts double toward earning Hyatt elite status. No registration is required for the promotion, but you must be sure to book using your World of Hyatt number....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Last June, United launched nonstop service from San Francisco (SFO) to Singapore (SIN) in a shiny new Boeing 787-9 aircraft. At 17 hours and 15 minutes, it became United’s longest nonstop flight — at least until its new LA to Singapore route launches this fall. When TPG Editor-in-Chief Zach Honig flew on the flagship flight in business class, I couldn’t help wondering what kind of an experience United offered for 17 hours in economy and Economy Plus?...

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.On Tuesday, Iberia launched a special promotion that’s an absolute steal — by using Iberia Avios, you can fly from the US to Spain in the airline’s lie-flat business class seats for less than the price of a normal economy award ticket.Thanks to this new promotion, award tickets between Spain and the Americas and between Spain and Asia are eligible for a 25% discount if you fly between October 1 and December 15....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Official Application Link: The Platinum Card from American Express (60,000-point bonus offer)If you have a personal or business charge card from American Express, you know that you need to pay your balance in full each month if you want to avoid sky-high interest and fees. That said, Amex does offer an Extended Payment Option that lets you carry a balance (with interest) on eligible charges of $100 or more....