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A white male passenger verbally attacked a black woman from his window seat onboard a Ryanair flight Thursday, and the airline’s reaction (or lack thereof) has sparked widespread backlash.Now, three days after the racist rant, the woman, 77-year-old Delsie Gayle, says she has still not heard anything from Ryanair about the egregious incident.Gayle sat in the same row as the man as he demanded she move seats and called her an “ugly black bastard....

Virgin Voyages’ first ship has moved one step closer to its first sailing with passengers. Last month, Scarlet Lady, the cruise line’s first ship, successfully completed its sea trials on a sailing between Italy and France.From Nov. 15-18, Scarlet Lady sailed from Genoa to Marseille before returning to its station in Genoa from Nov. 27-30. The return journey was the first round of sea trials, which it successfully completed.Sign up for the free daily TPG newsletter for more travel tips!...

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.TPG reader Sai sent me a message on Facebook to ask about transferable points programs:“What’s the advantage of transferring Ultimate Rewards points to partners rather than booking through Chase?”There are a lot of benefits to redeeming Ultimate Rewards points through the Chase travel portal. For starters, Chase tends to offer competitive prices and lets you use points to cover a portion of your total purchase....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Here’s a look at the coolest new hotel openings around the world in July, from a historic, high society palace in Paris to a gets-the-job-done Four Points in peak-season Alaska.1. The Westin SarasotaLocation: Sarasota, FloridaNumber of Rooms: 255Three Interesting Facts: 1. Located in downtown Sarasota just across the bay from Lido Key, the new Westin is part of a two-tower development, which includes a 141-room luxury condo that’s been under construction since 2014....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.One of the many perks of working at TPG is that we reimburse credit card annual fees, enabling full-time employees to build familiarity with a large variety of products and programs. That doesn’t mean it’s a free-for-all, though — we encourage employees to choose their cards wisely based on their personal spending habits, just like they otherwise would....

The people have spoken, er, typed, and Google has listened. (Yes, Google can see what you do online.)This week, the search engine released its data on the top trending searches of 2018, based on the terms that had the highest spike this year compared to last.The list sheds some light on the places people most want to travel. Start typing, “trip to” into Google, for example, and a few places are likely to automatically populate....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Now through September 30th, American Express Membership Rewards is offering a 40% bonus when transferring points to Virgin America’s Elevate program.Normally points transfer at a ratio of 2 Amex points to 1 Elevate point, which is a lackluster normal ratio. With this promo, however, you can transfer 200 Amex points to get 140 Elevate points instead. This bonus is hard-coded so there is no need to register for it....

Today I want to share a story from TPG reader Edgar, who used AAdvantage routing rules to visit two cities on an award trip home from Asia:I’m new to points and miles, but thanks to a few articles I read about maximizing rewards, I was able to add segments to an award flight and save time booking it over the phone. I had to call American Airlines, since I wanted to book an AAdvantage award on Cathay Pacific....

When Lufthansa recently took legal action against a paying passenger for engaging in a practice known as hidden-city ticketing, the story made headlines all over the world. The practice isn’t uncommon; retaliating this harshly against it, though, is — but may become more commonplace as airlines crack down on it.Hidden-city ticketing, in short, is when an itinerary is booked in which the final destination is never reached. This is because the itinerary to a city where the traveler has no plans of going is less expensive than an itinerary stopping at the city where the traveler is bound....

Alaska Airlines will now feature a rendering of Captain Marvel on one of its Boeing 737s.The new, special-edition livery was introduced on Tuesday at Sea-Tac International Airport (SEA) to celebrate the March 8 debut of the new Captain Marvel film and International Women’s Day. Captain Marvel, which will star Academy Award winner Brie Larson, is the first female-lead superhero movie by Marvel Studios.https://www.instagram.com/p/Bti2mm-lpiD/If you’re looking to catch a glimpse of the Marvel-ized Boeing 737-800, it will be traveling throughout the US via cross-country routes and flights to Hawaii....

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 Orbitzor 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.Southwest Airlines is currently offering a fare sale to and from tons of US and international destinations until June 9, valid for travel from the end of August through mid-December. The discounted fares come in tiers of $49, $79, $99 and $129 for one-way tickets. Note that travel is restricted to certain days of the week depending on the destination you’d like to visit, but it’s a great sale if you’re looking to get away at the end of the summer or in the fall....

Each Saturday, we round up news stories that you might have missed from the week before. Here’s the top miles, points and travel news you might have missed on TPG this week.Your First Look Inside Delta’s Brand New A220Check out the comfy economy seating.Experts Weigh In on Why Lion Air Flight 610 CrashedHere’s what we know about the Lion Air crash and what it might mean.It’s Not Too Late for a Winter Getaway to the Maldives With Points and MilesYou can still hop on these amazing redemptions....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Editor’s note: This article has updated with corrections and clarifications from Chase on what counts as grocery stores (specifically, what types of Walmart and Target stores will count as groceries during this promotion).Everyone considering downgrading or canceling their Chase travel credit cards may want to hold off for the time being. Chase just announced that it’s adding groceries as a temporary bonus category across the majority of its consumer travel credit cards....

Tim Clark, CEO of Emirates, announced that the airline will be delaying the rollout of its Premium Economy cabin until December 2020.The delay is being caused by Boeing, which has pushed back the delivery window for the new Boeing 777x, the aircraft on which Emirates had planned on rolling out its new class of service. The original launch date was June 2020.Issues with engines from General Electric have caused major delays in the 777x program....

Today I want to share a story from TPG reader Jeff, who took a roundabout path to Hyatt status:I am a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite member with lifetime status, and like other readers, have become increasingly frustrated with the poor customer service, points devaluation and other issues surrounding the Marriott/SPG merger. I wanted to move more of my business to Hyatt, but was struggling to do so because the World of Hyatt program wasn’t offering any sort of status match....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Although it’s currently just a tropical storm, former-hurricane Florence is forecast to become a major problem for the US Southeast coast — and air travel up and down the East Coast — later this week. The storm is expected to undergo rapid strengthening this weekend, with models predicting that the tropical storm will become a major hurricane before striking the US coast on Thursday or Friday....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.I typically encourage readers to use points and miles exclusively toward award travel, since gift cards, merchandise, and other alternatives provide less value. However, there are some exceptions, and today TPG Contributor Nick Ewen shares some redemption options apart from flights and hotels that can still offer an excellent return.Most discussion of award redemptions centers around airfare and hotel stays, but there are many other ways to use points and miles....

JetBlue is piloting a new program for its Mosaic members who are on delayed flights. If a flight has a posted delay of two or more hours, JetBlue will give the Mosaic member (and anyone else on the same itinerary) a meal voucher and complimentary Even More Space seats.Free Meals and Extra Legroom SeatsAs a Mosaic member myself, I received an email with the news the night before a flight I was scheduled to take....

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