An award chart devaluation (by definition) can never be positive, but there are some that at least make sense. A perfect example of this would be British Airways’ changes to its partner award chart earlier this year. With the exception of flights under 1,152 miles in length — where the carrier still offers some of the best award rates in the industry — no bands went up in cost by more than 10%, and many increased by just 3%. To put it another way, this change isn’t going to make many travelers reconsider using another frequent flyer program instead of Avios to book most awards.

Far too often — especially in the era of dynamic award pricing — we see the exact opposite. Airlines will frequently try and spin new, elevated pricing tiers as “more choice for the consumer,” but every now and then, you come across an award ticket priced so astronomically high that you’re not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Today we’re going to take a l… Read More

Whether you’re looking for a relaxing weekend escape to somewhere like Colorado Springs or a weekend full of fun in New Orleans— we’ve got the deal for you. This week’s last minute getaways offer a large variety of origin and destination cities.

Garden of the Gods Park near Colorado Springs. (Photo by Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Typically, we try to stay away from low-cost carriers, but we wanted to have some fun with this one, and you might too — if you’re willing to take a spontaneous vacation. If you’re a business-class-only flyer, these fares probably aren’… Read More

While my favorite flexible rewards program will always be Chase Ultimate Rewards, I still like the Citi ThankYou program. For those who don’t know, you can earn points in this program with cards like the Citi Premier and Citi Prestige. I like the Citi ThankYou program because you can redeem points in several different ways, including booking travel directly or transferring to airline partners.

I don’t currently have the Prestige, but I do have the Premier and have had the Prestige in the past. I actually have around 130,000 Citi ThankYou points to burn across my husband’s Premier account as well as my mom’s. She owes me some points — it’s a long story.

How I Redeem Citi ThankYou Points

Recently, I cashed in the remainder of my personal stash of Citi ThankYou points for a few different excursions in London — specifically, I used 10,620 Citi ThankYou points for a tour of the Tower of London with my husband and kids in July and 6,275 points plus $29.50 for t… Read More

Welcome to TPG’s series, Second Cities. The series is designed to help travelers find smaller or less-popular-but-equally-amazing places to visit that are no more than a few hours by air or land from your original destination so you can maximize your itinerary.

A trip to Barcelona, Spain, is on everyone’s must-go list — and with good reason. Famous for its nearly finished Sagrada Familia cathedral and other Gaudí-designed landmarks like Park Güell, you can also easily end your day of tourism out on the city’s lively Barceloneta Beach.

Barceloneta beach. (Photo by beyhanyazar / Getty Images)

The downside is that Barcelona’s city center can be overcrowded and … Read More

While it’s always nice to redeem hotel points for free stays around the world, there are times when staying in a hotel is impractical. You may be traveling with children, which can sometimes make it difficult to find award space in hotels that sleep more than two people to a room. And for longer trips, there are times when you want some living space to spread out in and a kitchen to cook in.

These reasons and others are why I almost always book Airbnbs or rental condos for our long family vacations. Not only do I like to have extra space to spread out, but I am very much against sleeping four-deep in a single hotel room with my two children.

While I’m happy to book Airbnb rentals, condos through VRBO.com, places through HomeStay.com, or even condos and rental homes through Chase Ultimate Rewards, there are several cards I use for these stays. Here are my favorites and another card I think works well for Airbnbs and condo rentals in general.

Chase Sapphire Reser… Read More

“Old” is kind of a relative term. This both applies to children who refer to people in their 20s as “old” and to Americans who refer to anything built before World War II as “old.” Our country is pretty young, by global standards, but even though we may not have been around for millennia, every state has at least one city that’s been around for over 150 years.

That lends itself to some pretty fascinating history, so the folks at Netcredit did some digging and found the oldest city in each state. For these purposes, we mean oldest in terms of European settlement, as we know Native Americans have been living in these places for far longer. But all that, and a little bit about how each place was founded and developed, makes for an educational and entertaining look at some of the oldest cities in the United States.

Alabama: Mobile
Est. 1702… Read More

The Best Places to Stay in Playa del Carmen
Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

Plan your Mexico trip with my advice for the best places to stay in Playa del Carmen (hotels, budget hostels, and resorts) for each unique neighborhood around the city!

Located on the Yucatan Peninsula, the Mexican city of Playa Del Carmen was once just a small ferry port for people on their way to the island of Cozumel.

Over the years it grew into a popular beach town in its own right due to a beautiful coastline, tasty Mexican cuisine, sunny weather, and central location along the “Riviera Maya” route.

Playa Del Carmen became a cheaper and less-busy option to Cancun – exploding in popularity in recent years.

Visitors can explore nearby Maya ruins,… Read More

The first of Virgin Atlantic’s 12 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft has arrived at its new home in London. The aircraft, which is registered as G-VLUX and is named Red Velvet, made its way to London Gatwick over the weekend.

<img class="lazyautosizes lazyload wp-image-726182 size-full" src="https://i1.wp.com/thepointsguy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/WhatsApp-Image-2019-08-12-at-15.07.08.jpeg?fit=600%2C600px&quality=1#038;ssl=1" alt="" width="600" height="600" data-sizes="auto" data-src="https://i1.wp.com/thepointsguy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/WhatsApp-Image-2019-08-12-at-15.07.08.jpeg?fit=1410%2C1410px&ssl=1" data-srcset="https://i1.wp.com/thepointsguy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/WhatsApp-Image-2019-08-12-at-15.07.08.jpeg?fit=1410%2C1410px&ssl=1 1410w,https://i1.wp.com/thepointsguy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/WhatsApp-Image-2019-08-12-at-15.07.08.jpeg?fit=1210%2C1210px&ssl=1 1210w,https://i1.wp.com/thepointsguy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/… Read More