Chase Ultimate Rewards points are a favorite currency among TPG staff, partly because you can transfer them to a variety of airline and hotel partners. I often transfer my points to Southwest Rapid Rewards, where I can redeem them for award tickets to destinations in North America, Central America and the Caribbean — and sometimes…

Air France and KLM formed the Air France-KLM Group and soon after launched a joint loyalty program called Flying Blue. Though award availability can be unpredictable due to dynamic pricing, Flying Blue is still popular with travelers because of its list of credit card transfer partners, lucrative Promo Rewards and saver-level award seats. If you’re…

The first Southwest Airlines planes with extra-legroom seats are set to make their debut in service next month. And — for now — they’ll be free of charge for those few customers lucky enough to snag one. Southwest expects to deploy its first newly retrofitted aircraft sporting the more spacious rows May 1, the Dallas-based…

Alaska Airlines is making big changes to its route map. The Seattle-based carrier filed plans over the weekend to drop four high-profile routes over the next few months, as first seen in Cirium schedules and later confirmed by a carrier spokesperson. The affected routes are: Chicago-San Francisco Los Angeles-Nassau, Bahamas Washington-Los Angeles Washington-San Francisco All…

Two of Capital One‘s premium cards have become very popular over the past few years. Most TPG readers are familiar with the personal Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. And if you are a small-business owner, you may be interested in its business sibling, the Capital One Venture X Business. At first glance, the…

Time. There just never seems to be enough of it. It always seems to move too fast (and, every year, it seems to just move faster). Time is something people always tell me they don’t have enough of and is one of the main reasons why they don’t travel as much as they would like….

Before I first went traveling in 2006, I had these expectations in my head based on nothing but my imagination and popular culture. My trip was going to be a nonstop adventure filled with colorful and exciting people. Crazy things were going to happen to me. I’d make friends everywhere. I’d be talking to strangers…

The United Club℠ Card (see rates and fees) offers many benefits when flying with United Airlines. You might be surprised to find that this card also offers hotel benefits and other travel-specific annual statement credits. However, the $695 annual fee can be hard to justify. Are there really enough perks packed into the United Club…

The morning of Feb. 11, 1986, was a new dawn for United Airlines. Overnight, the carrier went from offering just three flights across the Pacific Ocean to operating a full hub at Tokyo’s Narita Airport (NRT) and connecting the U.S. with at least six cities in Asia. That hub, which United bought from Pan Am…

I’m a tough critic when it comes to Italian restaurants as I was born Italian but grew up in the U.S. I’m the “heritage keeper” of the family, and a vital part of that responsibility is keeping the recipes and southern Italian cooking techniques alive in our kitchen. I make pasta with semolina I import…