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American Express recently refreshed a few benefits on their premium cards in response to Chase and Citi upping the game with the Sapphire Reserve and Prestige cards. Here’s a recap of the changes made to the American Express Platinum cards.

The Honolulu to Tokyo route is hotly contested as Hawaii is a very popular destination with Japanese tourists. It’s been long served by Air China, ANA, Delta Air Lines (Northwest Airlines had the route), Hawaiian Airlines, Japan Airlines, Korean Airlines and United Airlines. To distance itself from the competition, Japan Airlines has upgraded its Boeing 777-200ER service on the route.

Many airlines have announced new routes for 2017. Some are to sunny international destinations like Cuba and Key West, while others increase travelers’ options at busy hubs. Below are the most exciting new offerings announced so far this year and a rundown of the cards to get so you can fly those routes for free.

American Express recently announced that it will open Centurion lounges in Hong Kong and Philadelphia later this year. That will increase the number of these exclusive airport lounges from seven to nine. Find out what they have to offer and how you can get in.

It’s not always good news for Delta flyers, especially since SkyMiles is known for constant devaluations with little notice. This time, there’s something to celebrate, at least for its top-level elite members. Plus, don’t miss the award discounts being offered by American and Flying Blue.

There are few travel experiences as annoying as arriving at a hotel after a long trip, and being forced to wait in a line to check in. On the other hand, it’s gratifying to bypass the line and receive immediate service when you have elite status with a major hotel chain.
On top of that, guests with elite status can enjoy other perks like room upgrades, late check-outs and even free breakfast. Finally, having elite status means that you’ll earn more reward points for every dollar you spend.

Delta became the latest airline to succumb to a massive IT failure last month. It was a total meltdown for all platforms as Delta.com and the Delta app were both inaccessible which led to a nationwide grounding of all Delta domestic flights. Late that night, operations gradually came back online, but updates were being announced individually for each airport, still leaving many travelers confused and without flight options.

There are a variety of programs that allow travelers to get through security more quickly at the airport. One of the most widely used is TSA PreCheck. The TSA just announced that 11 additional airlines have been approved to participate in the PreCheck program. Previously there were 19 airlines in the program, so the total has increased to 30.

Millions of Americans take cruises each year where they settle into a small cabin on a big ship, and are wined and dined as they set sail to a series of fun vacations. If it’s fun to do that on a boat, I figured it would be incredible to book a suite on the largest airliner in the world, the double-decker Airbus A380.
Recently, I decided to spend over 48 hours en-route from Delhi India to New York (via Singapore and Frankfurt Germany) as First Class Suites class passenger of Singapore Airlines, which is widely regarded as one of the finest airlines in the world. The Suites class of service is beyond international first class, as each passenger receives his or her own private suite with a door.

There is no such thing as a perfect airline frequent flyer program, which is why rewards programs like Starwood Preferred Guest are so great. They allow you to transfer points to the airline of your choice when the need arises and when an award ticket you’re looking for costs less with one airline program than another. Here are a few examples of some goal-oriented transfers that can save you a great deal of miles.

Most people who have ever taken a baby on a plane are probably familiar with the cheap and simple treatment U.S. airlines have for lap infants. For children under two years old who will not be occupying their own seat, an adult may take one lap infant for free (other than possibly some small taxes and fees). What’s also great is that lap infants don’t even have to be declared at the time of booking – only at the time of check-in.

Hilton HHonors has announced its newest promotion for the winter season, and American is finally stepping up and adding power outlets to the majority of its fleet. But, it will take until 2020 to have the majority outfitted so power up for your next flight, just in case. Don’t miss the latest updates to the Starwood and Uber partnership.

For many years, the standard price for a round-trip domestic economy award has been 25K miles for the legacy airlines. This continues to be the case for United, American, and to a lesser extent, Delta.
However, there are many alternatives available which allow us to book round-trip domestic economy awards for cheaper prices than this when the flights are short enough to fall under certain mileage thresholds. In this post, we will lay out some of the best options for cheap short-haul award bookings.

Barclaycard has one of the best bargains available for credit card signups at the moment offering 50,000 miles for being approved for the Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard and spending $3,000 within the first 90 days of holding the card. For those not familiar with the bank’s mileage program, there are lots of perks to take advantage of whether using them for miles or everyday purchases.

One of the highlights of the year so far in the points and miles world was a recent revelation with Korean Air. Even though they’re late to the party, you can now book certain SkyTeam partners online, a much-needed improvement over the previous system.

Cathay Pacific is known as one of the world’s great airlines. Its unending list of awards prove that, and it is a highly sought after travel brand that people are often willing to pay a premium for when traveling long-haul.

Earning points and miles through flying on planes, staying in hotels, and credit card spend are all ways to rack up points. But in addition to those methods, most major loyalty programs allow you to buy points directly from the airline or hotel chain. Here’s our guide on the ins and outs of buying points and miles.

The recent 50,000-point drop in the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s sign-up bonus shows how important timing can be when applying for a new card. One day can make the difference between getting a great sign-up bonus or none at all. And nearly all of the major rewards programs and many airlines had cards with fluctuating sign-up bonuses last year.

No matter where your travel takes you, airlines are always looking at ways to improve the flying experience. Both American and oneworld partner Qatar Airways have some updates in store. Credit card companies like American Express are focused on perks like a new lounge in Philadelphia. Read all about the latest news in this week’s update.

Alaska Airlines is a favorite airline among travel enthusiasts for a variety of reasons. They have a well-regarded product with much more competent and friendly customer service than most legacy airlines.  Although Alaska is not part of any of the three major airline alliances, they do have a diverse network of partners, resulting in a unique award program. And they are merging with Virgin America this year which will broaden the possibilities.
The combination of a good airline with good partners results in an array of award charts that offer great value on everything from short-haul domestic economy tickets all the way to international premium cabin awards.