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Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Today, I want to share a story from TPG reader Meir, who waited too long to claim rewards for a recent trip. Here’s what he had to say:I spent the past two months planning a week long getaway for me and my wife. I did tons of research on our flights, hotels and activities. Also, a big part of vacation for me is getting to drive a rental car that I would normally never get a chance to drive....

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.Verizon Wireless is running Black Friday deals on several Apple and Android products that might be right for you. Some sales end Friday and others on Sunday; plus, free in-store pickup and two-day shipping.The Deals: (Restrictions apply)Apple$400 off iPhone X, no trade-in required....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Sweaty, disorganized and crowded… no, I’m not describing the streets of Mumbai, but the eight hours I spent in Air India’s economy section on its 787-8 from Milan (MXP) to New Delhi (DEL).Though TPG editor-at-large Zach Honig had a decent experience in the carrier’s below-average-but-still-OK business class on the 787-8 (after a terrible one on a 777 also in business), I spent a whole third of a day stuffed like a sausage on board what felt like the fiery depths of hell, otherwise known as Air India’s economy class....

Forget the Appalachian Trail or an iconic road trip on Route 66. Soon, you’ll be able to bike or hike from coast to coast on an uninterrupted, 4,000-mile-long path. It’s being called the Great American Rail-Trail.A long-time vision of the Rails to Trails Conservancy’s (RTC) co-founder, David Burwell, the Great American Rail-Trail will utilize old railway corridors to seamlessly link Washington, DC with Washington State. Unlike current cross-country routes that often combine recreational trails and vehicle roads, the Great American Rail-Trail will be totally separate from vehicular traffic for its entire 4,000-mile stretch....

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.British Airways has confirmed that it is no longer automatically sending Bronze, Silver and Gold Executive Club members physical membership packs in the post.Instead, members should use the app or the BA website to view their membership details....

The Etihad Guest program may not immediately pop to mind when you think about valuable award charts, but it does offer quite a bit of value. From booking American Airlines flights at pre-devaluation levels to the obscure yet insanely-valuable option of flying from Prague to Seoul in Czech Airlines business class for just 25,610 miles each way, there are some notable sweet spots in the program.Unfortunately, one of these is now less lucrative....

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....

On Thursday, Delta Air Lines announced that because of the drop in demand from the coronavirus crisis, it will retire its entire fleet of Boeing 777s by the end of the year. That will leave the Airbus A350 as the largest, longest-range airplane in the Delta fleet.To salute the exit from service of an airplane that, in the words of CEO Ed Bastian, helped transform Delta into a global airline, we are republishing the latest — and now sadly last — review of a flight on a Delta 777....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.JetBlue made it just a little harder to book its flights on websites other than JetBlue.com. In an continuing effort to drive passengers directly to its own website to book, JetBlue has just stopped a dozen online travel agencies (OTAs) from being able to sell its flights.There are multiple reasons that the airline would want to do this....

Three Korean pop music fans purchased premium cabin tickets on a Korean Air flight departing Hong Kong for Seoul on Saturday in order to gain access to popular K-pop band Wanna One.The band members of Wanna One had performed at the 2018 M-net Asian Music Awards in Hong Kong the night before, and boarded the flight just before takeoff, taking seats in the first-class cabin. The fans, who had purchased full-fare first class and business-class tickets and brandished posters of the band, swarmed the performers and ignored flight crew requests to stay seated in order for the flight to depart on time....

[tpg_rating ticket-class=“premium-economy” tpg-rating-score=“60” ground-experience=“7” cabin-seat=“15” amens-ife=“18” food-bev=“13” service=“7” pros=“Decent service, quiet aircraft, better legroom than coach.” cons=“Terrible seat, dated entertainment screen, no Wi-Fi, ho-hum food.” /]Premium economy promises to bring some civility back to air travel. While we all dream of flying business or first class across oceans, a true premium-economy class experience is the affordable gateway for most.Unfortunately, that’s not what I got on Air France’s A380.Many friends ask me if it is worth upgrading their seats to premium economy....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.I’ve received a ton of emails today asking my advice on the current American Airlines bankruptcy announcement. Everyone wants to know, “Are my miles safe?“In the short term: Yes. American will operate “business as usual,” which means you will still be able to earn and redeem your AAdvantage miles. American may even run some promotions to ease everyone’s minds and focus on keeping their best customers loyal....

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.I am an AvGeek to the absolute core, and as a Brit, nothing pulls my AvGeek heart strings quite like a British Airways Boeing 747.I was therefore rather sad to hear the news that British Airways is retiring all 31 of its Boeing 747s in the coming months, according to an internal companywide email viewed by TPG....

Delta, American and United are among a growing list of airlines now offering “rescue” fares to stranded WOW passengers. A number of other airlines also are doing so, including Aer Lingus, British Airways, Icelandair, Norwegian, Virgin Atlantic and more.Depending on the airline, some policies allow travel at rescue fares into April, giving flexibility to WOW passengers whose upcoming flights have been canceled on short notice.[Find more of our ongoing coverage of WOW air’s collapse, and what affected passengers can do about it, here....

Assuming you’re in a position to buy a private jet, there’s almost certainly something out there for you. Long-haul lovers might opt for, say, a sleek and speedy Gulfstream G650ER, while those more interested in a flying mansion might choose to outfit their own 787 Dreamliner, instead.Then there are the more practical corporate jets, more likely to join a Fortune 500 company’s fleet than the personal collection of the CEO. And, finally, somewhere in between lands Embraer’s Lineage 1000E, a medium-haul workhorse designed to accommodate top executives and their staffs — with a reasonable level of privacy and comfort....

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.Iberia is making it easier for passengers to check the status of and check-in to their flight. On Wednesday, the Spanish flag carrier announced that its passengers can now use popular messaging service WhatsApp to find out general information about their trip....

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, like this one. Please note that U.S. citizens cannot currently enter Hong Kong due to the coronavirus, but are allowed to transit through the airport. The experience both on the ground and on board will be very different from the one described here, until restrictions due to the pandemic are lifted....

Superstitious flyers, here’s a tip: if you’re looking to attract some good karma aboard your flight, don’t throw coins into the aircraft engine.Chinese airline Lucky Air had an unlucky day when a passenger tossed coins into the plane engine “for good luck.” The airline is now suing that passenger, known only as Lu.When airline staff found yuan coins on the tarmac by the plane’s left engine, they questioned passengers, and Lu confessed to throwing the coins....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Each Saturday, we round up news stories that you may have missed from the week before, including several that already appeared on The Points Guy, and some more that we haven’t covered yet. If you’re an avid TPG reader, scroll down for the new stuff. Here’s the top miles, points and travel news you may have missed this week....

With wildfires in both Northern and Southern California finally being contained, residents that were forced to evacuate are beginning to return home or to what’s left of their home.In addition to entire communities having been leveled and many still being unaccounted for, Californians are facing a new hazard: dangerous air quality. Due to smoke from the wildfires, the air quality in parts of California is at levels that are dangerous to even the most healthy individual....