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Ever wonder what those gate agents are doing at a busy gate as they type furiously into a computer? What powers do they have that can help you as a frequent traveler?

Over the last eight years, my family and I have been the beneficiary of some incredibly generous military benefits given by U.S.-flagged air carriers. While these typically take the form of free baggage, there are other benefits the smart military family should try and utilize. Today, I’ll cover all the benefits given to service members from each of the major carriers in the U.S.

If you plan to redeem Marriott Rewards or Starwood Preferred Guest points for a hotel stay, be sure to review the list of category changes the company is making to many of its properties on March 7. Delta is also offering up a few bonus miles offers and some positive inflight changes. Read all about them in this week’s update.

Chase Ultimate Rewards is one of the most valuable credit card rewards programs around. Chase offers several business and personal credit cards that allow you to earn these points, which can be redeemed directly for travel reservations using the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel center. But the best feature of this program is the ability to transfer points to miles seven different frequent flyer programs and four hotel programs.

If you’re not a road warrior with status across every airline or have a wallet full of credit cards, it may become inevitable that you’ll have to cough up a few bucks to pay for checked baggage. These fees may or may not be avoidable, so consider this guide on the general practice of dealing with airline fees on any carrier.

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.