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Boeing’s new flagship twinjet needs a little more time to take to the skies.The first flight of the 777X was initially scheduled for Thursday morning, but was postponed to Friday due to weather. On Friday, the plane, a dash-9 variant of the new generation of 777, teased a crowd of journalists, Boeing employees and VIP guests for hours, but never made it off the ground.It turns out, a rainbow that touched down on the runway shortly before the plane pushed back was not a good sign after all....

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....

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....

Emirates is starting on-site rapid COVID-19 testing on passengers. The new testing program began today with travelers going from Dubai (DXB) to Tunisia (TUN) April 15.This new protocol is in coordination with the Dubai Health Authority (DHA). This testing will allow for almost immediate confirmation with results provided in as little as 10 minutes through a quick blood test. This testing will also provide passengers with a COVID-19 test certificate, which some countries are now requiring for entry....

One of the last things frequent travelers want to stumble upon after a lengthy day on the road is a major design flaw in their hotel room. From ever-bright iPad screens to inoperable showers, we feel your pain.We already shared what some of our community members can’t stand about hotels (and what people can’t stand about airports), but our readers made so many good, relatable points that we felt we needed another list — plus how hotels might go about addressing them....

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.Uber announced that it’s teaming up with Capital One to offer four free trips with its low-cost service, UberPool, this weekend when riders use a Capital One card....

Today, I want to share a story from TPG reader Sarah, who nearly let 80,000 Rapid Rewards points expire:A couple years back, my family earned the Southwest Companion Pass by opening the necessary cards and meeting the spending requirements. Since then, I have been raking in even more points through hotel stays, surveys, rental cars and the purchase of a few big ticket items through the Rapid Rewards shopping portal. As a result, my family of four has been able to take over 10 trips completely free of charge the past few years....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.The sign-up bonuses for many credit cards are definitely better than average right now, and that means this is a fantastic time to think about getting a new rewards credit card that can help your family travel more and keep cash in your pocket. As a nice change of pace, a very impressive brand new limited-time offer was just released for a card with no annual fee....

Every summer, New Yorkers flee the city’s oppressive heat and head to the Hamptons, Coney Island or the Rockaways. But in three years, the isle of Manhattan will have a beach of its very own.The Hudson River Park Trust has announced that it intends to turn the disused strip of the Gansevoort Peninsula at the southern end of the High Line into a 5.5-acre public park complete with a beach. Manhattan once had a well-used 13th Avenue, but today only a one-block stretch of it remains on the Gansevoort Peninsula....

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.On Sunday morning at 8:30am, a cruise ship rammed into the side of the San Basilio terminal in Venice — hitting a smaller tourist boat and injuring four people.CNN reported that the cruise ship — MSC Opera — said onlookers described the scene as something straight out of a disaster movie with the massive cruise ship heading straight into the docking area....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Citi is a TPG advertising partnerBack in June Citi announced to cardholders that they would be changing several features of their ThankYou Preferred card as of July 28, 2013, including the following.Bonus Spending Categories: Instead of earning 1 ThankYou points per $1 on all purchases, the card will now earn 2 ThankYou points per $1 spent on dining purchases and entertainment including movies, museums, amusement parks, sporting events, even iTunes and Netflix downloads with no limits on the bonus you can earn - and 1 point per $1 on everything else....

Indonesian officials confirmed Monday morning that a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 (registration PK-LQP, MSN 43000) lost contact with local air traffic control and crashed shortly after departure from Jakarta, Indonesia (CGK). The aircraft was operating Lion Air flight 610 from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang (PGK).After it was initially reported that 188 passengers and crew were on board, the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee confirmed in a briefing that there was an additional crew member on the flight....

Coronavirus has almost all of us grounded, so it’s probably been a while since you’ve heard a preflight safety briefing, and longer since you gave it any attention.As we fantasize about getting on a plane again, we at TPG thought it’d be a good time to look under the hood of that once-familiar speech.For starters, have you ever wondered why every airline seems to do theirs slightly differently? From Southwest’s folksy approach to American’s video demonstration that commands flyers to “buckle those belts,” each airline’s safety briefing might seem distinct....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.When the Seattle Centurion Studio opened in 2015, it covered a modest 3,100 square feet. Offering less than half the space of most other Centurion Lounges, and despite having fewer amenities and a stricter guest policy, the lounge was often overcrowded. It was quickly apparent that American Express needed a larger footprint at SeaTac. And starting today, it has one....

Air France’s first class, La Premiere, is widely regarded as one of the best first class products in the sky. Its version on the Boeing 777-300ER is sought after around the world, but will become reality for very few. The exclusivity of the product really adds to the mystique of La Premiere, as it is cost-prohibitive for most and not available for award reservations unless you are a Flying Blue elite member....

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.Millions of people are taking international trips each year — even after an increase in passport fees.Mastercard analyzed 162 global cities to rank the top travel destinations and found that tourists are making their way to Bangkok more than any other city....

Love is in the air.In the spirit of Valentine’s day, KLM lent a helping hand in a man’s proposal to his flight attendant girlfriend. The man, Frensch de Groot, reached out the airline six months before the big day.“Dear KLM, my girlfriend works at KLM Cityhopper. Flying is a huge part of her life, as you can imagine. But sometimes it seems as if her love for flying is bigger than her love for me....

A five-engined Qantas Boeing 747-400? That’s what TPG Special Correspondent John Walton stumbled upon when on a tour of Perth Airport in Australia. He explains…“Aw, mate, the jumbo sure is a beautiful plane… hey wait, what’s that strapped under its wing?!“The spare engine sits underneath the wing of the 747, between the fuselage and engine number two. Image courtesy of Qantas.Entirely coincidentally, I was on a tour of Perth Airport when I overheard someone peering out a terminal window saying just that....

As of Feb. 1, Russia has conspicuously decreased its visa entry fees. A single entry embassy fee, the most popular tourist visa, has dropped from $123 to $113 for a US citizen. Similarly, the multiple entry fee decreased from $303 to $273.The price drop could be attributed to a multitude of factors. One reason behind the cheaper fees? An effort to entice travelers back to Russia after recent plunging numbers of inbound tourists....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.It’s going to be a rainy day tomorrow in the Northeast as a Nor’easter nicknamed the “Mother’s Day Storm” makes its way through the area. The storm is expected to dump 2-3 inches of rain through most of the area and hit coastal spots with winds up to 35 MPH.While this is by no means a very strong storm, the airlines realize that this weather threatens to derail their operations — especially in the crowded airspace around New York City....