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UPDATE as of 3pm Sunday, August 4: Strikes for Monday, August 5 have been called off and talks continue to avert any strikes on Tuesday, August 6. British Airways has re-instated flights it had started cancelling for Monday. Passengers traveling with other airlines that had previously announced cancellations are urged to check with their airline before traveling to see if flights have been reinstated. Virgin Atlantic says it plans to operate a number of flights to and from London Gatwick (LGW) instead of London Heathrow (LHR) as previously advised....

New Yorkers don’t have to feel so singled out now.Customs and Border Protection, the agency that oversees the Global Entry, NEXUS and SENTRI trusted traveler programs, announced Wednesday that enrollment in all three would be suspended beginning Thursday (March 19) through at least May 1.“CBP is taking this precautionary measure to minimize the exposure of CBP personnel and the public to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19),” the agency said in a statement....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available – View the current offers here.Flyers hoping for an easier way to get to the resorts of West Maui may be able to fly there as soon as February 2017. In comments to The Maui News, managers and executives for Hawaiian Airlines claimed they were “very close” to launching service to the nearest airport, Kapalua West Maui Airport.Commercial service to the regional airport was discontinued in 2013 when Island Air stopped flying to West Maui....

This is the second post of in the series from my recent “Around the World” trip to the Maldives, India and Dubai. Follow along to read my reviews on several different aspects of my trip. Other posts in this series include: Quick Singapore Layover & Singapore Airlines A330 Business Class to Male, MaldivesAs part of my recent jaunt to India and the Maldives, I spent my first night in Male at the Hulhule Island Hotel before taking a seaplane to the more opulent Conrad on Rangali Island, where I stayed thanks to pre-devaluation Hilton points....

Over the course of the nearly 20 years that I’ve been fielding questions from the traveling public, among the most common queries I receive is the one asking how, exactly, a man or woman goes about becoming a commercial airline pilot. That so few people are familiar with the process isn’t surprising: flying planes is an esoteric, highly specialized line of work; unlike the road to becoming a tech worker, a doctor, or a lawyer, it’s a career progression that takes place far from the mainstream corporate or academic worlds....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.As a follow-up to last week’s post on how to book Singapore Airlines first class awards, TPG Special Contributor Eric Rosen takes a look at both award availability and mileage requirements for several specific routes, and the credit cards you can use to fly them for (almost) free.Singapore Airlines first class has been one of the most sought-after experiences for airline enthusiasts thanks to unparalleled service, an exciting food and beverage program, and some of the most opulent suites in the skies....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.IHG has released its latest list of PointBreaks hotels for January 25 – April 30, 2016 — and all of the more than 150 properties are available to book beginning today, January 25.IHG PointBreaks are reduced award redemptions at IHG hotels — like InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo and Holiday Inn — that require just 5,000 Rewards Club points for a free night....

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.For the first time in six years, Romans woke up Monday morning to a winter wonderland after a rare storm dusted the city’s famous monuments in snow. The storm, dubbed the “Beast from the East,” brought a blanket of snow overnight, shutting down schools and causing major disruptions to ground and air travel in Italy’s capital city....

One of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies, Uber, is set to prepare an IPO sometime in the next few months, but before it does that, Bloomberg reports that Uber will purchase Careem, a ride-hailing service primarily used in Middle Eastern and African countries.Uber will acquire Careem in a $3.1 billion cash-and-share deal that is expected to be announced as early as this week. The deal includes $1.4 billion in cash and $1....

US immigration computer systems are back up after a massive outage brought immigration lines to a standstill at airports across the US on Monday. International travelers waited in lines hundreds deep when the systems went down for two hours.In what it called a “processing system outage,” US Customs and Border Protection said the system went down around 7:30pm EST and was back up at all airports around 9:30pm. Among the affected airports were immigration-heavy ones such as New York-JFK, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL), Denver (DEN) and Miami (MIA)....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Green beer, boisterous parades, the luck of the Irish…is there any more cheerful holiday than St. Patrick’s Day? While many of the biggest festivities actually take place on the US side of the pond, if you’re looking for a gentler, more authentic St. Paddy’s Day in Ireland itself, you can use your points and miles to make it happen....

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.Calling all Lucys: Virgin Atlantic is giving away free flight tickets with your name on it.That’s right. For these sweepstakes, Virgin is playing it on the nose. If your name is Lucy (or Lucia), you can win a free trip to the Caribbean island of St....

As Boeing works on a fix to get the grounded 737 MAX back in the air again, the update to the plane’s flight control software and pilot training is just one focal point in the effort to return the MAX to service. On April 17, Boeing’s Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said the company had completed its own aerial validations of the updated software, its last step before handing the final product over to the Federal Aviation Administration for official certification....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.The frequent flyer world is abuzz with word of a “secret” new restaurant at Newark’s Terminal C, United’s largest terminal in the NYC area. United’s been working to completely revamp the food and beverage spaces there in partnership with a company called OTG — I went there to check out the world’s first 24/7 airport bakery last month, and I just happened to be passing through when word of a new restaurant popped up Tuesday morning....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Currently, the United MileagePlus Explorer Business Card and the United MileagePlus Club Card are offering elevated sign-up bonuses of 50,000 miles after you spend $3,000 in the first three months. While the business card offers some solid elite-style perks like priority boarding and a free checked bag and the more premium Club Card gets you a full United Club membership, another big draw is the healthy stash of travel rewards you can earn by meeting that spending requirement....

Flying premium, or even economy on select international carriers, usually means that you get to leave your flight with a shiny new amenity kit, which includes all the basic essentials to help you feel comfortable and refreshed during a long-haul flight. Once the flight’s over, though, oftentimes the kits are neglected or left behind as passengers deplane. From wearing it as a clutch to hanging it above your fireplace, there are plenty of ways to keep using your amenity kit once you get home....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.After almost three days of closure due to volcanic ash, Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) reopened on Wednesday afternoon local time. A change in winds shifted ash clouds away from the airport for now, but fears that a Mount Agung eruption is looming are intensifying, and experts say a larger, more explosive eruption could be imminent.Between 120,000 and 150,000 tourists are currently trapped in Bali, but Qantas and Jetstar are hoping to evacuate as many people as possible on Thursday....

Whereas travelers used to rely on staying in hotels or crashing with friends and family, Airbnb has quite literally opened the doors to strangers’ homes. Now, the booking site is taking its listings a step further by allowing travelers to book a “stay” with Lufthansa — you read that right — on a round-trip flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to New York in its premium economy cabin.The listing appears to be the first of its kind....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.TPG reader Jonathan tweeted me to ask:@thepointsguy- “Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred a better all-around credit card than the Amex Platinum?“There’s no single card that’s universally “better” than all others, because the value of any given credit card depends on how you use it. What you personally get out of card—points, bonuses, redemption options, transfer partners, and perks—might make it valuable to you, but not to someone else with different spending patterns or award travel ambitions....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Citi is a TPG advertising partnerCiti Prestige is a premium travel rewards card that offers cardholders a ton of lucrative benefits and is consistently ranked on the list of TPG’s top credit card offers. Because of its many benefits, there are countless ways to maximize the card’s value, from a $250 annual air travel credit to complimentary access to Admirals Clubs and Priority Pass Select lounges....