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Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.TPG Madrid-based International Correspondent Lori Zaino recently celebrated her birthday in Barcelona. She stayed at the famed W Barcelona overlooking Barceloneta beach. Here’s her review.The iconic W Barcelona hotelVibrant Gaudi architecture, sun rays glazing the Mediterranean and exquisite tapas all come to mind when thinking of Barcelona. When a friend of mine suggested we spend a few days there for my birthday, I immediately agreed and decided it would be the perfect opportunity to finally stay at the W Barcelona....

To hear some pilots tell it, flying through wicked winter weather is just another day at the office. “The operational and procedural aspects of it, from a pilot’s perspective, are pretty standard,” said Patrick Smith, a commercial pilot, author and blogger. “Taking off or landing in a snowstorm can be challenging, but it’s well within the boundaries of what we’re trained for.”But navigating conditions like this week’s East Coast bomb cyclone involves careful cockpit calculations, precise weather modeling, aircraft performance forecasting and intensive observation that passengers never see — that is, until their flight taxies, takes off and lands without a hitch....

For many, one of the most startling facts to emerge from the Ethiopian Airlines crash last week of a Boeing 737 MAX was that the first officer had only 200 hours of flight time. On professional pilot forums such as Airline Pilots Central, that number was the focus of intense debate – but pilots were careful not to fault the low-time pilot, noting that while in the US a 200-hour pilot would not be on the flight deck of a commercial airliner, that often happens overseas....

Frequent travelers love to share stories from the road.One of my favorite tales involves a work trip consisting of nine domestic flights in a week and stays in four different hotels. Waking up Friday morning, I couldn’t tell what city I was in but I knew that I was in a Hilton.That was nearly a decade ago.More “boutique” hotel optionsToday, hotel brands are offering more and more choices that don’t feel so cookie cutter....

Korean Air has become the latest carrier to end free stopovers, halting complimentary visits to Korea on award reservations for flights on July 1, 2020 and beyond. In a short bulletin posted on the carrier’s website, Korean Air said the policy applies to flights in either direction. Currently, one stopover is permitted per each one-way trip.North America travelers are less likely to be hit hard by the new policy because of the dissolution of the Korean Air partnership with Chase Ultimate Rewards, but it still stings....

Go ahead, and swipe your card — it’s an invitation you’ve been hearing less frequently as more merchants update their payment terminals to accept chip-enabled credit cards. However, there are still plenty of retailers where swiping is still the norm.In fact, I swiped my credit card at FedEx just before I interviewed RL Prasad, senior vice president of payment systems risk at Visa, for this story. Prasad walked me through the ins and outs of how magnetic stripe technology works, why it’s more susceptible to fraud and whether inserting chip cards and tapping mobile devices will completely replace the act of swiping....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Marriott is currently offering a promotion at select properties in Africa and the Middle East. Through this promotion, you can get each third night for free on stays of three nights or longer that are booked with a Mastercard. The stay must be booked and check-in completed by Dec. 31.Rooms booked through this promotion are nonrefundable and payment must be made with a Mastercard at the time of booking....

On this week’s episode of Miles Away, world traveler and television star Zane Lamprey joined me to chat about the Hawaiian island of Maui, including his favorite hotel, top activities and more.Zane’s traveled to 70 countries — 71, if you count the Vatican — and has starred in a variety of TV and web travel shows, including his latest venture, Four Sheets, which just launched on The BrewDog Network. He’s also visited Maui roughly a dozen times, which certainly makes him an expert....

An American Airlines passenger has filed a lawsuit in US District Court in New Jersey claiming an AA flight attendant repeatedly punched him in the face and head. The passenger, Gregory Lagana, was on flight 1798 from Charlotte on Jan. 5, 2018.Lagana is claiming that the flight attendant, Lance Wiley, repeatedly punched him while he was seated with his seat belt fastened. According to the lawsuit “As a result of the accident, plaintiff suffered severe, serious and permanent personal injuries, as well as mental and emotional injuries rendering him permanently and severely injured....

New York City isn’t known for air shows, but on Thursday, New Yorkers and tourists got a spectacular look at two of the top aerobatic teams in the world.The Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows and the US Air Force’s Thunderbirds flew over the Hudson River in a rare joint display, as they moved between air shows. The event had been widely publicized on social media, and people had positioned themselves for it well in advance, like in the image below taken in Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan....

The Points Guy is on fire. We’re coming off a second successful annual TPG Awards, we’ve just moved into brand new headquarters and our team has grown to more than 100 people.The Points Guy Brian Kelly in the New York City headquarters. (Photo courtesy of The Points Guy)Our employees have had amazing adventures, including a family vacation to Bora Bora, comparing four classes on the same plane and checking out first class on one of the world’s most exclusive flights....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Just last week, American Express improved the transfer ratio to a flat 1:1 for both British Airways Avios and Iberia Plus Avios. This move surely in an improvement over the old ratio of 5:4, but now, Amex is sweetening that deal even more with a 40% bonus on transfers to BA and Iberia.During the promotion, which runs until September 17, 2017, you’ll get 350 Avios for every 250 Membership Rewards points you transfer....

United Airlines is the only U.S. carrier to operate all three Boeing 787 Dreamliner variants. At the moment, however, United’s flying four different configurations of the plane, as it works through the process of updating its fleet of 12 Boeing 787-8s.As a result, United Dreamliner passengers could end up with any of the following arrangements, with seat counts broken down by Polaris/Premium Plus/Economy Plus/Economy:Boeing 787-8 (28/21/36/158)Boeing 787-8 (36/0/70/113)Boeing 787-9 (48/0/88/116)Boeing 787-10 (44/21/54/199)The airline has also begun retrofitting its first 787-9, which, when complete, will add a fifth configuration to the fleet:Boeing 787-9 (48/21/39/149)As you may have noticed, retrofitted 787-8s only offer 28 business seats, in a 1-2-1 arrangement, compared with the 36 flying in the older 2-2-2 configuration today....

Don’t be surprised if you see #Super80SendOff trending on your avgeek social media feeds today.American’s last MD-80 flight was scheduled to take off at 9 a.m. CT this morning, the last of 26 “Mad Dogs” that will make their final flights for the carrier today.That officially will close the MD-80 era at American, which famously still refers to its MD-80s with the “Super 80” moniker the jets were once known by....

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....

We’ve published articles in the past that advise you on what your options are when an airline changes your itinerary, and we’ve heard our fair share of stories related to compensation offers from involuntary bumps.Today’s tale, however, comes with a new twist. A TPG reader purchased a full-fare international ticket on Delta between Sydney (SYD) and Los Angeles (LAX) in August 2018, half a year in advance of his intended departure in early January 2019....

Manufacturers of the engine fan blade that snapped off a Southwest plane in April and killed one passenger told investigators on Wednesday that the engine’s safety had concerned them from the inception of its design.In a hearing of the National Transportation Safety Board, executives from the engine manufacturer, CFM International, said the engine has undergone various design changes throughout the years in order to prevent the fan blades from snapping off the engine, as was the case on Southwest flight 1380....

Grand Central’s historic terminal is losing a little of its Old World charm.The iconic train station’s schedule information boards, which show the times and platforms for all departing trains, are going completely digital. The current boards are LCD screens designed to look like the flipboards of a bygone era. But even those screens are further digitizing.On Monday, officials unveiled the first digital screen. The new track schedules are part of New York’s Metro-North “Way Ahead” initiative, according to WABC....

We’ve been teasing it for weeks, and today, we’re so excited to finally announce our performer at the inaugural TPG Awards. Drum roll, please…Bebe Rexha!Our inaugural TPG Awards are going to highlight the best of the best in travel, loyalty and credit cards — and if you’ve been to a TPG event before, you know they’re out of this world. With the addition of Bebe, the Awards are sure to be our most memorable yet, and we’re looking forward to celebrating with so many of you on Dec....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Montreal is one of my favorite North American destinations, thanks to its busy festival calendar, exciting restaurant scene and beautiful outdoor attractions. When I learned I would be spending a weekend there earlier this fall, I started looking around for a new hotel to check out where either my points or elite status would help make my stay memorable....