Posts

Today, I want to share a story from TPG reader Daniel, who missed out on a shopping portal bonus:My wife and I own a small law firm, and each year we buy holiday gifts for some of our frequent clients. This past year we checked United MileagePlus shopping for holiday mileage deals, and saw an offer for 30 miles per dollar spent at Harry and David. We clicked through to the Harry and David website, where we proceeded to buy over $1,000 worth of gifts....

Hurricane Dorian is currently nearing the South Carolina coast, packing 110-mph winds and a strong storm surge. Multiple South Carolina and North Carolina airports have shut down due to the storm and some airports in Florida and the Bahamas remain closed. Thousands of flights have already been cancelled and more are expected as Dorian scrapes along the Carolina coast.Here’s the latest on Hurricane Dorian and how it’s affecting travelers:ForecastAs of the 11 a....

Pizza is, we all know, the world’s most perfect food. But in New York City — where pizza is both an everyday, anytime snack and an object of obsession and veneration — perfection is a double-edged sword, as the owner of one Manhattan pizzeria recently discovered in what’s turned into a full-fledged pizza war.If you’re ready to take sides and bite off a slice as a pizza warrior, of course, you could hop on a plane to New York and get on the front lines now....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Following a preview event earlier this week, Amex opened the doors to its latest Centurion Lounge in Houston earlier today. TPG Editor-in-Chief Zach Honig flew down from NYC to take the new lounge for a (six-hour) spin.I’m spending the day at Houston’s Intercontinental Airport — entirely by choice. I flew here this morning and I’m heading back to New York City later this afternoon....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Could shorter TSA PreCheck lines finally be a reality? Congress seems to hope so, at least. This week, the House of Representatives passed the PreCheck is PreCheck Act of 2018 (H.R. 6265) — which directs the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to “ensure that only travelers who are members of a trusted traveler program are permitted to use TSA PreCheck security screening lanes at TSA checkpoints....

Each Saturday, we round up the top miles, points and travel news that you might have missed on TPG this week. Here’s what you need to know.Photo by Zach Griff / The Points GuyAmerican Airlines Loses World’s Largest Airline Title to Delta and UnitedAmerican Airlines is no longer the world’s largest airline, losing its title to both Delta Air Lines and United Airlines in the second quarter.Photo by Mark Ralston/Getty ImagesSouthwest Airlines Is Ending All Flights From Newark LibertySouthwest Airlines will pull out of Newark this fall, ending all flights at the New York City-area airport in November....

Hate might be a bit of a strong word – but it’s no sweeping generalization to assume that most people aren’t fans of pigeons. They haven’t earned the nickname “rats with wings” for nothing. Which ties into why, in a bold yet somewhat understandable move, the Spanish city of Cádiz has taken it upon themselves to banish 5,000 local pigeons.Talks of controlling the pigeon population began two years ago when the Horeca, a regional federation of hotel owners and managers, complained about the pigeons “menacing” visitors throughout the city – particularly by Cathedral Square, a popular destination for tourists....

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.Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.TPG reader Bryan writes:“I have the Freedom and Sapphire card and received a bunch of points through the Freedom card for the dining bonus they had this quarter....

Resort fees can be a real shock at the end of the booking process when picking a hotel. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they’re going anywhere any time soon. If anything, they are getting worse. The latest to add an additional charge — in this case an extra $25 plus tax — is the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown.Resort Fees, Facility Fees or Amenity fees are a standard additional charge tacked on to your per-night rate, and unfortunately more and more hotels are adding these fees when booking stays....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available – View the current offers here - Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit CardOn a recent trip to Las Vegas, I chose to fly Southwest’s new Newark (EWR) to Las Vegas (LAS) route. I’ve flown Southwest a few times in the past so I am familiar with the airline’s boarding process and how you need to check in exactly 24 hours before your flight to get a decent position in the boarding line....

The world’s busiest international air route is between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore; among the top 20 international routes by number of flights per year, only three involve points in the US; and all but a handful are in Asia. And domestically, Asia dominates too, with the number one route by far an hourlong hop in South Korea. That’s according to data from OAG, a UK-based air travel intelligence company.OAG’s 2019 report on the world’s busiest aviation routes looks at data from March 2018 to February 2019, and excludes carriers that operate fewer than 500 scheduled flights per year on any route....

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.San Francisco International Airport is revving up to re-introduce the world to Terminal 1. Built in the 1960s, and recently renamed for civil rights leader Harvey B. Milk, the newly redesigned Harvey Milk Terminal 1 will open to the public for the first time this summer....

Days before an Uber self-driving car was involved in a fatal accident that killed one pedestrian, an employee with the ride-hailing company warned his bosses that the cars were repeatedly involved in multiple crashes.Robbie Miller, operations manager for Uber’s self-driving trucks, emailed top executives at Uber saying the vehicles were “routinely in accidents,” according to a report from the BBC. Miller’s email attributed the widespread accidents in part to poor technology and the “poor behaviour” of the cars’ backup safety operators....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available – View the current offers hereEarlier this month, United offered its most generous buy-miles promo of the year, giving you up to a 100% bonus on larger mileage purchases. Now, the airline is offering a similar opportunity to purchase miles at a discount, this time offering a discount of up to 50% when you buy or gift miles.United’s newest buy miles promotion offers a discount of up to 50%....

2020 has been the year of streaming and subscriptions. For months, U.S. consumers were at home relying on subscription-based services as their main source of entertainment. With the travel outlook remaining depressed through the rest of the year, streaming and other at-home leisure activities will continue to remain higher than usual.Want more credit card news and travel advice from TPG? Sign up for our daily newsletter.There are hundreds of different subscription services, including streaming, that prospective customers can choose from....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.New TPG Contributor Amanda Pressner Kreuser of The Lost Girls and her husband, Jason, delayed their dream trip to London and Paris for years, at first due to the high currency exchange rates of the British pound and the euro, then upon the arrival of their first child. However, when the dollar started gaining strength and Kreuser’s mother agreed to babysit, the couple finally turned to trip planning and discovered that the many items they’d so far purchased for their infant daughter had earned them a sweet stockpile of points....

While American Airlines is densifying many aircraft in its domestic fleet, there’s one AAircraft that’s like no other: the Airbus A321T. With the “T” designation indicating transcontinental, these Airbus A321s are specially arranged for premium transcontinental routes.Currently the aircraft is only operating flights between New York’s Kennedy (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO) – as well as short hops between Boston (BOS) and JFK. But, now Boston is getting a lot more A321T love from American Airlines....

Although it will soon be the last legacy airline with an award chart, American Airlines is inching closer to dynamic award pricing through married-segment award availability and discount programs.For example, while it was originally launched as a “discount” program, AA has effectively used Economy Web Specials to transition its domestic economy awards to a completely dynamic pricing scheme.Then in May 2019, AA launched an AAnytime business class award sale to Europe....

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.An American Eagle regional flight aborted takeoff when the small jet hit a deer as it was speeding on the runway of a small Pennsylvania airport Tuesday morning.The Embraer E-145 jet, which seats 50 people, was taking off from the Williamsport airport (IPT) just after 6am when the aircraft hit a buck that officials think jumped the airport’s fence....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Delta continues to impress us with one award sale after another. Currently, you can book flights to Australia from 48,000 SkyMiles round-trip in economy, flights to South Korea for 50,000 miles in economy or 70,000 SkyMiles round-trip in premium economy and flights to Mexico (Los Cabos, Mexico City, Cancun) from just 12,000 miles in economy. While there’s still absurd pricing on some routes, these excellent offers justify retirement of the term “SkyPesos....