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Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.I recently took an around-the-world trip from NYC (with a stay at the new Park Hyatt New York) and then on to Tokyo for 62,500 AA miles and $5.60. The best availability I could find for two award seats was to take American’s A321 first class JFK-San Francisco (SFO) and connect at SFO to Tokyo Haneda (HND) on Japan Airlines (JAL) Boeing 777-300ER in a new first-class Sky Suite —which I thought was a simply stellar experience....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Back in December, Alaska made some changes to its award charts and the Mileage Plan program which have largely been received as positive. One of the biggest updates was the shift to a distance-based award chart for flights on Alaska metal. As you can see in the chart below, there are four zones aptly named Hop, Skip, Jump and Leap:As you’ll note in the chart, Alaska’s new zones offer variable pricing....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Back in November Priority Pass become the first independent lounge provider to offer more than 1,000 lounges across the world, as the company has steadily added lounges to its network without too much fanfare. But there are two recent additions that definitely deserve accolades: a restaurant in London’s Gatwick (LGW) and the top-notch Turkish Airlines lounge in Washington DC’s Dulles (IAD) airport....

Tuesday morning, Air Canada unveiled significant changes to its Aeroplan program — some redemptions will require more points, but the airline has largely added value to the program, at a time when many others are taking it away.The new Aeroplan will appeal to a broad range of travelers, too — you can easily take advantage of redemptions and new perks, like Family Sharing and earning Everyday Status without being a frequent Air Canada flyer....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.United Airlines will roll out a new boarding process on Tuesday, September 18. The airline has been testing out this new process since August 2017 in hopes of having a more organized signage procedure and improving customer satisfaction.United’s updated boarding system is “customer-centric,” said Maria Walter, the managing director of United’s Global Operations Strategy. Under the new process, there will be less waiting around, better communication between airline staff and passengers and organized gate spaces....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available – View the current offers here.Earning points and miles via the traditional method (actually staying in hotels or flying) is just one way to boost your account balance. Fortunately, travel providers make it relatively easy to accrue rewards without traveling, whether through top credit card offers or by utilizing shopping portals and dining rewards programs. While buying points from a hotel is usually not a good deal, there are some times when a buy points promotion can be compelling....

In Vietnam’s ancient capital city, Hanoi, authorities are shutting down dozens of cafes that flank the tracks of a centuries-old railway in the Old Quarter.On Wednesday, Reuters reported that local officials have “set a weekend deadline for the removal” of the cafes surrounding the railroad because of serious safety concerns.According to CNN, Ha Van Sieu — the vice chairman of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism — told reporters during a press briefing: “Though the railway cafes attract tourists, they are, in fact, violating some regulations....

We’re partnering with Capital One on our Purposeful Travel Hub. If you have unique ways you like to give back when you travel or just love exploring new places with family and friends, we want to hear about it. Share your most treasured travel moments and purposeful travel tips with us using #MeaningfulMoments.The thought of jumping from a plane, going cliff diving or eating bugs totally freaks you out. You would never in a million years do those things, right?...

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.American Airlines is notorious for offering little to no business saver awards. Usually you’ll be paying AAnytime rates, which are almost double what you’d pay for saver awards. But today, it looks like American has opened up lots of premium-cabin saver award seats on flights from the US to Europe.You’ll only be redeeming 115,000 AA miles plus taxes and fees for a round-trip flight instead of 220,000 miles at the AAnytime rate....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Beirut is not exactly a popular destination for Americans — there’s a travel warning and it’s in the Middle East (but not the flashy part like Dubai) so it’s relatively unknown by the average US traveler. And at the moment, it’s in the midst of a serious refugee crisis. But, as I recently discovered firsthand, everyone who doesn’t visit this vibrant city is seriously missing out....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available – View the current offers here.One unique American Airlines benefit is the ability to redeem a reduced number of miles for travel to or from select airports if you have certain co-branded credit cards. The cities are updated each month, and various discounts are available, depending on which card you have. Currently, you can take up to 7,500 miles off a round-trip award (either in economy or business), but given the new 7,500-mile award level AA is introducing on March 22, the airline has confirmed that these discounts will change as well (since a 50% discount is likely a bit too generous in AA’s book)....

It pays to be an eagle-eyed AvGeek sometimes. Thanks to a FlightRadar24 alert, a look at a seat map and a confirmation from Delta, we discovered that the airline’s first retrofitted Boeing 767 would begin operating well ahead of schedule. Of course we wanted to catch the aircraft on its first revenue flight, so we booked the last business class seat available.The 19-year old Boeing 767-400ER, registered N828MH, is the first and so far only of Delta’s 767s to feature the airline’s flagship interior, with a brand new Delta One business-class product in the forward cabin and Premium Select — Delta’s spin on premium economy — right behind....

Passengers on long-haul flights departing Paris on Air France are in for a treat when it comes to onboard dining. The airline has asked Arnaud Lallemnet — a chef with three stars in the famed Michelin restaurant guide — to design new offerings for passengers in business class. The new dishes will be featured during April, May and June with two options offered each month.For those on board in the month of April, the menu will feature guinea fowl with turnips or cod with artichokes....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Remember last year’s IHG Priceless Surprises promotion? The rules allowed for hand-written entries that could earn you 47,000 points for minimal cost and effort. IHG is back with a this year’s version of the promo, and though there are no mail-in entries this time around, you can still enter to win without a stay.The BasicsRegister for the promo here, stay at an IHG property between December 1, 2016 and February 15, 2017, and pay with a MasterCard to be in the running to win a grand prize weekend getaway (more on that later)....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.With major devaluations from United and Delta as well as a string of surprise announcements from American Airlines/US Airways, I’ve been taking a closer look at foreign frequent flyer programs, including their co-branded credit cards.If you’re as big a fan of traveling in Latin America as I am and have dreams of visiting Peru’s Macchu Pichu, Lima or Cuzco; sipping your way through Argentina’s Mendoza wine region; or attending this summer’s World Cup festivities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, you might want to look into the LANPASS Visa Signature Card by U....

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 that you use Google Flights to find dates to fly, then book through an online travel agency, such as Orbitz, which allows you to cancel flights without penalty by 11pm Eastern Time within one day of booking....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Airfare deals are typically only available on limited dates. We recommend that you use Google Flights to find dates to fly, then book through an online travel agency, such as Orbitz, which allows you to cancel flights without penalty by 11pm Eastern Time within one day of booking. Remember: Fares may disappear quickly, so book right away and take advantage of Orbitz’s courtesy cancellation if you’re unable to travel....

Systemwide inflight Wi-Fi. Artificial intelligence. “Binge buttons” for inflight programming. Even futuristic exoskeleton suits.Delta CEO Ed Bastian touched on a number of futuristic visions during his keynote speech at the CES 2020 trade show in Las Vegas on Tuesday.The annual event is one of the top consumer electronics trade shows in the world, and Bastian become the first-ever airline CEO to deliver keynote speech on the CES stage.He used the high-profile platform to talk about some tech developments coming soon – “virtual queuing” and “Parallel Reality” (more on those in a minute) – and about others that remain on the wish list....

Amidst a public relations nightmare, Indonesian flagship carrier Garuda Indonesia has reversed a recent injunction banning passengers from taking pictures and video on board.On July 13, Indonesian travel vlogger Rius Vernandes discovered a handwritten note that he described as the menu for business class passenger meals on his Garuda Indonesia flight from Sydney (SYD) to Bali (DPS). Vernandes shared his discovery on his social media channels, along with his thoughts on the matter....

My fight with Norwegian Air is not done. I’ve been trying for months to get the compensation I was entitled to for a delay of nearly five hours on a flight from New York to London last year — and now that the airline has denied my claim for refund, I have enlisted AirHelp to get me the money. The case is clear-cut: European Union rules say that if you are delayed more than four hours when flying into the EU on a European carrier, you are entitled to up to 600 euros (~$682) in compensation, among other rights....