The Points Guy

If - given all that's gone on at airports already this year - you've been thinking about whether you should have a Clear membership, we're here with some good news. 🎉 To jump straight to it, TPG now has a special offer for Clear+: $40 off your first year of membership *and* a free booking of Clear Concierge, valued at $99 (You know, Clear's optional add-on service that saves a massive amount of time in line when TSA lines are busy.) Clear *normally* costs $209 per year, but TPG's new special offer knocks $40 off that, bringing it down to $169. That's one of the biggest publicly available discounts we’ve seen recently, and it matches the discounts given to many United and Delta elite travelers ... but no airline elite status is required for this offer. 👀 Also, for the parents among us: Your kids below 18 can join Clear+ under your membership for free. You can add other adults at a discounted rate of $125 per person, up to a maximum of three additional adults on your membership. Swipe here to learn more about Clear and Clear Concierge and head to the 🔗 in bio for our special offer. ✨ Member terms apply. ✍️ @mommypoints 📸 @clintpage1 #clear #clearconcierge #traveltipsandtricks

The Qantas First Class Lounge @ LAX is the perfect start to a journey abroad. Talk about about a first class experience ✨🤩 #qantas #firstclass #lax #airportlounges

Raise your hand if you have a lot of credit cards 👋 One of the most frustrating parts of holding multiple cards is that they often come with lots of special benefits to remember to use. The "couponization" of credit cards has only intensified over time, and those of us who are very invested in multiple bank, airline and hotel programs can have trouble keeping up. TPG's @clintpage1 have an unusually large number of cards — more than two dozen! 😅 "I've historically kept track of via a spreadsheet," he writes. "But now, thanks to our friends over at the travel deals and news website Thrifty Traveler, there's a new tool that can help travelers stay on top of their card benefits, whether they have just a few or 27 like some TPG staffers (including me). I've been testing it out, and it's worth downloading." The tracker is a great opportunity to bring some order to your life. Even if you just have a few cards to keep track of, the sheets are a great resource to lean on. This tool will help you keep ahead of the "coupon book"-style cards you have to make sure you’re maximizing their benefits. It's wild that we often need tools like this for credit cards, but that's where we are in the world of points and miles. Hopefully, this new tool helps keep you a few steps ahead so you can get the most out of your cards. 💳😎 Swipe here for a quick FAQ and head to the 🔗 in bio for more. 📸 Clint Henderson Screenshot via Thrifty Traveler

"I'm a dork. I love skyscrapers. I love luxury hotels. If you were designing a hotel just for me, you'd put it on the top floors of one of the world's tallest buildings. Preferably in an underrated destination." -@ericrosenla Luckily for Eric, the Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, which opened last August, seemed tailor-made for him. The hotel occupies the highest levels of the world's current second-tallest building, Merdeka 118. 🤩 This hotel has some sensational features: ✨ Spacious rooms with incredible city views ✨ A gorgeous 99th-floor wellness suite with a luxury spa and a huge infinity-edge pool ✨ Relaxing spa treatments using high-end Omorovicza and Ground products ✨ Top-notch restaurants with interesting menus from breakfast to dinner ✨ A chocolate counter(!) to taste morsels of chocolate specially sourced from around Malaysia Although Kuala Lumpur tends to be just a quick stopover for folks heading elsewhere in Asia, if the city is on your itinerary, consider spending a few nights at the Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur. Not only are the sweeping views from its soaring lobby and rooms simply stunning, but the hotel's various amenities make it well worth a visit. Hopefully, once the adjacent mall and other businesses open, the hotel and its surrounding district will be a bit more lively, though as it is, you can easily get to the city's top sights via quick and cheap taxis and public transport. Rates at the Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur start at $324 per night. The hotel is in World of Hyatt Category 5, so award rates currently range from 17,000-23,000 points per night, though that will likely change to 15,000-35,000 points per night once Hyatt's award chart changes go into effect later this month. Read Eric’s full review at the 🔗 in bio. #parkhyatt #kualalumpur #malaysia #worldofhyatt

Allegiant + Sun Country 4ever. ✈️✈️ Leisure airlines Allegiant Air and Sun Country Airlines are now one — though each brand will live on. Travelers can expect little immediate change following the roughly $1.5 billion merger that closed Wednesday. Both the Allegiant and Sun Country brands will continue to operate separately, including their Allegiant Allways Rewards and Sun Country Rewards loyalty programs, until they are combined under the Allegiant name. The combination cements Allegiant's place as the eighth largest U.S. airline by seats, schedule data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows. "Today marks a defining moment in Allegiant's history as we officially join forces with Sun Country to create the leading leisure-focused airline in the United States," said Gregory Anderson, CEO of Allegiant, in a statement. "With a combined fleet of 195 aircraft serving nearly 175 cities, we are expanding access to affordable, reliable, and convenient travel for the communities that have long been the foundation of our business, while offering customers broader reach and more destinations." The Allegiant-Sun Country merger comes amid a flurry of merger talk in the U.S. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby confirmed in April that he had approached American Airlines about a potential deal to create the world's largest airline. And JetBlue Airways is reportedly shopping itself around for a merger partner. Finish this story at the 🔗 in bio. ✍️ @mrerussell 📸 Riley Arthur #allegiantair #suncountryairlines #avgeek

If you waited until now to book summer flights, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise when you head to the airline's website. 😵‍💫 New numbers this week show just how fast airfare is surging. Summer round-trip domestic economy prices are roughly 27% higher than they were at this point last year, according to data from our partners at Points Path. Travelers hoping to use miles aren't spared, either: Summer award pricing is up nearly 25% for domestic flights, per Points Path. (Yuck!) It's the sticker shock economists had warned about for months, ever since the U.S.-Israel war in Iran snarled global oil traffic and drove up airlines' jet fuel costs beginning in early March. And it's not limited to the U.S. According to data from Kayak, in comparison to last year… ➡️ Current flight prices to London are up nearly 45% ➡️ Travelers flying to Milan are paying roughly 38% ➡️ Paris- and Rome-bound travelers are paying fares at least 22% higher ➡️ Flyers heading to Dublin and Amsterdam face fare hikes of up to 30% Even Frontier Airlines, the nation's top ultra low-cost carrier following Spirit's demise, is getting in on the action too. It said last week said that it has joined competitors in raising fares five times since the war in Iran triggered the surge in jet fuel costs. 😫 Ahead of a summer that's shaping up to be more expensive at airports, find a few things travelers can do to try to save $$ on airfare at the 🔗 in bio. For the comments 👀: Do you foresee prices coming down anytime soon? ✍️ @seancudahy 📸 @clintpage1 #travelnews #aviation

DON’T 👏 BE 👏 BASIC 👏 @clintpage1 explains why a basic ticket is a no, not a go 😅 #aviation #avgeek #traveltipsandtricks

United Airlines is set to begin flying to Venezuela for the first time in nearly 10 years. The airline will resume nonstop flights between Houston and Caracas, Venezuela, marking another step in the reopening of air service between the U.S. and Venezuela. United operated flights between the U.S. and Venezuela for more than 20 years before cutting service in June 2017 due to low demand and social and political unrest in Venezuela. The airline's return comes two weeks after American Airlines resumed flights between Miami International Airport (MIA) and CCS, ending an approximately seven-year period without commercial air service between the U.S. and Venezuela. Earlier this year, the U.S. government lifted its 2019 ban on flights to Venezuela following security reviews of Caracas' airport and improvements in diplomatic relations between the two countries. The resurgence of nonstop service between the U.S. and Venezuela comes after the U.S. removed and arrested Venezuela's former president, Nicolas Maduro, in January. In addition to United and American, Colombia's Avianca and Panama's Copa Airlines are amother airlines that have either restored or expanded service to Venezuela. United's new service will be operated with Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, departing daily from Houston at 11:45 p.m. and arriving in Caracas at 5:30 a.m. the following morning (all times local). The daily return flight will depart Caracas at 8 a.m. and arrive in Houston at 12:30 p.m. The first flight to Venezuela will be Aug. 11, and the first return flight will be Aug. 12. Find more details at the 🔗 in bio. ✍️ Mackenzie Roche 📸 @kyleolsen10 #unitedairlines #venezuela

If your business spends on travel, ads, software, or everyday expenses, the Venture Business card could help turn that spend into serious rewards 🤩 Right now there’s a limited-time offer to earn up to 150,000 bonus miles. Click the 🔗 in our bio to learn more. Terms apply. #CapitalOnePartner✨

Did you know you can now hold both the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and the Reserve… and earn the welcome bonus on each? Click the link in bio to learn more 💳 Partner offer, terms apply.

Heads up, travelers ‼️ For a limited time, members of American Airlines' AAdvantage program can earn up to 25,000 bonus miles on eligible flights to Australia and New Zealand operated by American or its partner Qantas. You'll earn 1 bonus mile for every base mile flown on eligible fares, with a cap of 25,000 miles. So, for example, if you earned 2,500 miles on a $500 base fare, you would then earn another 2,500 bonus miles through the promotion and walk away with a total of 5,000 AAdvantage miles. To get a real-life example of what this could actually mean to your miles balance, we looked at the flights @lyndsey_matthews , TPG's managing editor of points and loyalty, took to New Zealand recently. For her flight from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to Auckland Airport (AKL) on American Airlines, she earned 13,075 base miles and another 10,720 base miles for her return flight from AKL to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on Qantas. If she were to book these flights again during this promotion, she would earn 23,795 bonus miles for a total of 47,590 AAdvantage miles for the round-trip journey from the U.S. to New Zealand. 🤯 That's *a lot* of points for one trip. Luckily, It couldn't be easier to take advantage of this deal. Head to the 🔗 in bio for everything you need to know. ✍️ Mackenzie Roche 📸 New Zealand by @ericrosenla #aadvantagemiles #americanairlines #qantas

Only a third of the seats on this new Delta Air Lines plane are regular coach 🤯 #airbus #avgeek #deltaairlines