The Points Guy came to life 10 years ago as a community centered around a mutual love of travel. We firmly believe that travel builds connection and makes our world a smaller, better place.However, TPG can no longer ignore the fact that our fellow Americans do not experience equal rights, whether in the world of travel or beyond. And this week in particular, we cannot deny the inequality that the Black community faces....
In the latest example of “this is why we can’t have nice things,” Korean Air is raising rates on last-minute ticket changes.Following a particularly egregious display of poor behavior from celebrity-crazed youth, Korean Air announced it would soon increase refund fees on cancelled and no-show tickets, even on premium fares.Those fees went into effect on Jan. 1 and are even higher than previously reported. Travelers who no-show for their flights will lose between $50-120, depending on the length of the flight, while those who cancel their flights after checking in and entering the secure departure area of the airport stand to lose between $250-320....
2018 was a good year for Lufthansa. While not everyone was happy with the change to the iconic crane livery early in the year, it clearly didn’t keep people from flying with the German flag carrier. The latest numbers released by the airline show that revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) saw steady growth during 2018. That growth brought a new title to the carrier to start 2019: Europe’s largest airline.The new Lufthansa livery....
Bad news for art aficionados — and tourists — alike: The Museum of Modern Art will close for renovations this summer.The museum is in the midst of a $400 million overhaul, and as it finishes up the final stages, it will close its doors from June 15 to Oct. 21. It’s hoping the temporary closure will create a new museum that completely rethinks the way modern art is presented. During the closure, workers will reconfigure the galleries and rehang the entire collection....
The first mistake the internet troll made was questioning a woman’s ability to be a cruise ship captain.The second mistake he or she made (we suspect it’s a he) was directing the comments at Kate McCue, the social media-savvy captain of Celebrity Cruises’ one-year-old Celebrity Edge.“How can you be a captain? Your [sic] only a woman,” the unnamed commenter wrote on one of McCue’s social media pages.For more cruise news, reviews and tips, sign up for TPG’s new cruise newsletter....
Remember when you received your first chip-enabled credit card? That new piece of plastic came with the promise of helping better protect your private financial information.In the wake of data breaches at what seemed like every major retailer, EMV chip technology was supposed to keep us all safer than the magnetic stripes that contained credit card information. It has certainly helped reduce fraud cases from in-person transactions, but those chips don’t mean much when you don’t have to insert the card....
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Call me the “Wizard of OZ,” because I just flew Asiana (OZ)’s A380 in business class. Not only that: It was the longest flight I’d ever flown at the time — 14 hours and 35 minutes, to be exact.Korean Air typically gets much of the fanfare surrounding Korean airlines — TPG’s Zach Honig had a memorable experience when he flew it last year — but we wanted to see how Asiana’s business class measured up, so I donned my ruby slippers and booked a trip as far from Kansas as you can get, flying the A380 in business from New York-JFK to Incheon Airport (ICN) near Seoul, South Korea....
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.Last month, Lyft announced it would be testing out an option for passengers to schedule rides up to 24 hours in advance. And now, Uber is looking at expanding its on-demand service to allow its customers to do the same....
TPG reader Stacey emailed me to ask about booking flight awards:I was trying to book an award using Aeroplan miles at the Market Fare rate; I got one price for a single seat, but when I tried to buy two seats (for the same flights), the price per ticket jumped by almost 35%. Why wouldn’t two tickets just cost twice as much as one, and do you have any suggestions to get around this?...
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.The Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card is currently offering a sign-up bonus of 50,000 points after you spend $2,000 in the first three months. Below, TPG Senior Points & Miles Contributor Nick Ewen shows you several ways to put those rewards to work toward your next vacation.In the past, we’ve written about increased sign-up bonuses on the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card — and if you previously missed out you’re in luck, as one is currently available!...
After a tumultuous year of staff strikes and resignations, Air France has finally appointed a permanent new CEO, the airline said Wednesday. Even more notable, the woman helming the carrier will be the first-ever female CEO of a major global airline.Anne Rigail, who was previously Air France’s executive vice president customer division, will take her new office in the C-suite on Monday, Dec. 17. Rigail’s promotion was proposed by Benjamin Smith, who had been appointed acting CEO of Air France until the end of the year, and was approved by the airline’s board of directors at their most recent meeting on Tuesday....
Following rumors that the next variant of the A320 family was on its way, Airbus made its firm announcement on Monday. During the opening day of the Paris Air Show, Airbus detailed its longest-range single-aisle aircraft, the Airbus A321XLR.The A321XLR will have a range of 4,700 nautical miles, or about 5,400 miles — 15% more than the A321LR, its closest counterpart. The latest variant of the A320 family will begin flying passengers in 2023....
Airbus appears to be on track to overtake Boeing as the world’s top jet maker for the first time in seven years, based on delivery numbers released by the manufacturers on Tuesday.Boeing’s deliveries slowed as the company continues to grapple with the grounding of its troubled 737 MAX. Regulators around the world barred the planes from flying in March after the second of two fatal crashes. Boeing has been unable to deliver any of the new planes since then, causing an overflow of undelivered MAXes at its facilities in Washington state as the manufacturer waits for the jet to be cleared to fly again....
Yes, you read that right. American Airlines is convinced its Flagship First burger is so good that it stands a chance against more than 30 other New York favorites from Emily, Parm, Pig Beach, Shake Shack, Five Napkin Burger and more.The airline put its burger on display at this weekend’s Burger Bash as part of the New York City Wine and Food Festival; we were in attendance as a guest of Capital One....
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about airline loyalty programs, it’s that devaluations with one program tend to lead to similar (or even identical) changes in another. So when United formally announced it would be removing award charts and moving toward more variable pricing, and with American showing a similar trajectory, it was only a matter of time before another carrier followed suit.That time is now, as Hawaiian Airlines just announced changes to its HawaiianMiles program that appear to be nothing less than a move toward dynamic pricing of award tickets rather than fixed levels....
British Airways‘ CEO will step down from his role amidst the airline’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.The airline’s owner International Airlines Group (IAG) announced the move on Monday morning that BA’s CEO Alex Cruz will step down and be replaced by current Aer Lingus CEO Sean Doyle. Cruz will remain in a non-executive capacity at the airline before Doyle takes over. It’s unclear how long the transition period will last.Sign up to receive the daily TPG newsletter for more airline and travel newsThe move is the first major internal shakeup from IAG’s new Chief Executive Luis Gallego....
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Through December 31st of this year, Chase will give you one extra Ultimate Rewards point per dollar spent on flights (and other qualifying travel expenses) when you book through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal. That’s in addition to the 2 points per dollar that you get for travel purchases on your Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. The bonus has made booking through Chase a pretty lucrative option, but there’s some confusion out there about how such flights are classified by the airlines....
Could American Airlines turn to Airbus and a proposed long-range version of the Airbus A321 to replace the aging 34 Boeing 757-200 jets in its fleet?That’s the suggestion from Bloomberg News, which cites unnamed “people familiar with the matter” in reporting that American is considering such a move.Airbus has not formally launched the XLR version of its popular A321 narrow-body, but there’s speculation that the European jetmaker will do so later this month at the Paris Air Show....
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.American Express and the US Travel Association (a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting US travel) have partnered to offer discounts and deals with various travel brands and loyalty programs during the next month, including hotel packages, points/miles purchase promos, rental car discounts and more. These deals are called the Daily Getaways.Each day we’ll hash out the details of that day’s deal to see whether it’s worth taking advantage of....
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....
