Posts

Rolls-Royce wants to go green — and quickly.The British brand is designing the fastest all-electric aircraft in the skies, with its estimated debut date in 2020. The current record among all-electric planes is 210 mph, set by a Siemens aircraft in 2017. Rolls-Royce’s, however, is aiming for 300 mph.“This plane will be powered by a state-of-the-art electrical system and the most powerful battery ever built for flight," said Aircraft Project Manager Matheu Parr....

Southwest Airlines recently updated its family boarding policy to allow “two adults” to board together with family members under six years of age during family boarding. The policy previously stated that “an adult” could board with children — a distinction that led to dissension nearly two years ago at an airport gate in Buffalo, NY.Grant Morse and his husband, Sam Ballachino, said that the previous policy’s omission led a Southwest gate agent to discriminate against their family in 2017 during the boarding procedure for Flight 5136 from Buffalo to Ft....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.As I suspected, the 30,000-point bonus for the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex is coming back!The 30,000-point bonus will officially launch tomorrow, and I’ll have a link to it that I can share with you then. Here are the details so far, though:Bonus: 30,000 points - 10,000 after your first purchase, and an additional 20,000 when you spend $5,000 within 6 months....

This is terrible news for Turkish Airlines, one of the Star Alliance’s largest international carriers. Due to the ongoing situation in Turkey, the Federal Aviation Administration has banned all aircraft departing from Turkey from entering the United States — including planes that stop at another international airport before continuing on to the US.Here’s a statement explaining the decision from the US Embassy in Turkey:U.S. Embassy Ankara informs U.S. citizens that routes to Istanbul’s Ataturk airport are open; however, we are still hearing reports of sporadic gunfire....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Though some airlines have banned kids from their first class cabin, you’ll still find lucky little tykes traveling like tycoons from time to time. With that in mind, TPG Contributor Jason Steele shares his own experience flying first class from Tel Aviv to Denver via Germany with his six-year-old daughter on Lufthansa, as well as tips for parents considering taking their children on a first class trip....

With this in mind, we recently asked our TPG Lounge members to share the ways they love to use their AAdvantage miles, whether it’s finding the best American award flights to get a bigger bang for their buck or utilizing them on an airline partner for an even swankier experience. Here’s a look at some of our favorite answers. (Some responses have been lightly edited for style and clarity).Bragging RightsThere’s no doubt our TPG Lounge audience is an extremely well-traveled group....

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.With travel at a slow down and plenty of credit card benefits going unused, now is the time to audit your credit card portfolio and reassess what should be in your wallet. On this week’s TPG Talks webinar, we were joined by Credit Cards Editor Benét Wilson and Points & Miles Editor Ariana Arghandewal....

Uber has been approved to restart its self-driving car operations on public roads in the state of Pennsylvania, the ride-hailing company confirmed Wednesday.The autonomous vehicle test program was suspended in March after one of the cars crashed into and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona. Following the fatal accident, Uber suspended its self-driving car test operations in four cities, including San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Phoenix (which included suburban areas like Tempe)....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Uber announced this week that it will be suspending some of its services in Finland. Effective August 15, Uber will “hit pause” on UberPop, its low-cost ride sharing service in the capital Helsinki — the only Finnish city in which it operates.Uber allowed anyone with a qualifying car to sign up for UberPop, which is comparable to UberX here in the US....

View this post on Instagram Dreaming of Dreamliners ✈️ A post shared by Ned Russell (@airbus777) on Jul 10, 2020 at 12:47pm PDT View this post on Instagram View this post on Instagram Dreaming of Dreamliners ✈️ A post shared by Ned Russell (@airbus777) on Jul 10, 2020 at 12:47pm PDT

US passport holders, be prepared for a less-hectic and more speedy UK immigration process. As of Monday, US passport holders, along with those from six other countries, can use automated ePassport gates on arrival to the UK, where available.The seven countries include:AustraliaCanadaJapanNew ZealandSingaporeSouth KoreaUnited StatesUK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said of the news: “This is fantastic news for passengers. A good border experience is a great way to show the UK is open for business and we encourage the Government to continue to prioritise it....

Virgin Atlantic operates some of the world’s best business-class lounges, with a-la-carte dining, complimentary spa treatments and more, but Virgin’s Upper Class seat has been in need of an update, especially on some of the carrier’s oldest planes.Earlier this year, the airline added four Airbus A330-200s to its fleet, with “new” seats in business class. Problem is, while they were new to Virgin Atlantic — and had fun “new” names like “Love Suite” and “Freedom Solo Suite” — they had actually been flying with defunct Air Berlin for years....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Virgin Atlantic has offered sales before that give travelers a discounted rate for award travel to the UK. It seems these sales come around with the carrier every once in a while — there was a 25% discount offer in May 2015 and Virgin also offered 50% off during a 2-for-1 sale. However, the question that always comes up with these deals is whether or not it’s worth it to book an award ticket given the high taxes and fees that the carrier tacks on to your award ticket....

When is economy class better than business class? Never, basically. The distinctions, though, can sometimes be blurry, particularly on shorter flights. Which brings us to a pair of intra-Africa hops I took recently with South African Airways.Logistically the flights were similar. Both were brief international sectors, at about 90 minutes each. The first was aboard a widebody Airbus A330; the second on a much smaller, single-aisle A319. Now, any flight review comes with a critical disclaimer: experiences can very tremendously from one flight to the next....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.American Airlines has a new promotion for booking flights and hotels through its American Airlines Vacations portal: up to $175 off and 2,016 bonus AAdvantage miles.The $175 discount code is JAN175 and is valid for travel to Hawaii or any international travel. Not planning on traveling overseas? You can still save $100 using offer code JAN100 for domestic travel....

Three simultaneous and powerful wildfires have been ripping through California since Thursday. The combined death toll from the blazes ravaging the state has risen to at least 31, officials said Monday.In the state’s northern region, the so-called “Camp Fire” has destroyed at least 6,700 structures, most of them homes, according to CBS News. That fire, said to be the most destructive in California’s history, is based mainly in the town of Paradise....

If you’ve wondered where your American Airlines AAdvantage miles could take you, AA had a very useful tool for that. Originally launched in 2013, American’s Award Map let travelers enter an origin, destination region, date and the number of miles to use and the tool would map out all of their options.This tool was especially helpful during recent widespread Economy Web Special domestic deals. Rather than travelers needing to search each potential destination separately, the Award Map tool would let you visualize all of your options:This tool was so useful that it made TPG’s list as one of the 5 tips for finding cheap award flights....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Oakland International Airport (OAK) is the oft-forgotten little sibling to its counterpart across the bay. San Francisco International (SFO) handles four times the number of airlines and passengers, including the vast majority of international traffic. OAK, on the other hand, caters to more budget airlines and passengers. I normally don’t have high expectations for lounges in these smaller airports, which is what made the OAK Escape Lounge even more of a surprise when I visited recently....

A Boeing pilot found issues with the flight system that would bring down two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft two years before the first crash, according to reports.The pilot, Mark Forkner, said in text messages that the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) on the MAX was “running rampant” in simulator flight tests of the aircraft, reported Reuters and The New York Times on Friday. He called the issue “egregious” in the messages to a colleague in November 2016....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.“Reader Questions” are now answered twice a week — Tuesdays and Thursdays — by TPG Assistant Editor Brendan Dorsey.The world of online travel agencies is a complicated one. There’s Expedia, Priceline and a whole subset of smaller websites that offer travel booking services. But one of the biggest and possibly most lucrative OTAs is Hotels.com. Its generous “free night after 10 nights purchased” policy is why so many people use the website....