7 Summer Travel Tips From the TSA

A statue of Cristiano Ronaldo towers over a crowd of admirers as they queue to have their photos taken with it. One young man with a leather satchel thrown over his shoulder giddily takes his turn. I’m watching from the roof of the Pestana CR7 hotel in Funchal, Madeira.

Travel Weekly reports that the TSA is already alerting travelers to forthcoming ID requirements set to take effect in 2018.

If “summer travel” triggers images of beachside idylls and Disney theme-park thrills, you likely drive rather than fly to your summertime vacation spots. Because summer air travel is a very different picture, indeed.

Long lines, full flights, niggling fees for everything: Welcome to the new normal when it comes to air travel. While the flights can’t get much fuller, and there are few new opportunities to charge extra for non-basic services, those long lines are going to get longer before they get shorter.

Not to be outdone by American’s $4 million lifeline to the TSA, Delta has gone a step further and actually designed and implemented new security checkpoints at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport.

“Travel is just a little bit different for us,” said Kelly Lewis, the founder of Women’s Travel Fest, at the beginning of last year’s festival, a blend of travel inspiration, safety advice, and even airfare tips geared specifically to women.

Emirates has announced it will reduce service between Dubai and almost half its destinations in the U.S. Flights to Boston, Seattle, and Los Angeles will be reduced from two per day to one, and daily flights to Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale will be reduced to five per week each. The total number of weekly flights cut comes to 25.

Still haven’t booked a vacation, or curious about what other travelers are doing this summer? Synchrony Financial put together some initial data together on summer 2016’s travel forecast that might help.

Wondering which airports are most likely to put you behind schedule during the busy summer travel season? If you’re flying to the Boston, Chicago, New York, or San Francisco areas this summer—or even worse, connecting to another flight there—be especially wary.

Not everyone believes that taxes are as inevitable as death. In addition to the I-won’t-pay crowd, there’s the I-can’t-pay contingent, and the I-forgot-to-pay group. Whatever their reasons, they’re all considered delinquent taxpayers by the IRS. And that delinquency can now jeopardize their ability to fly.

There it was: A stone monolith perched high above the jungle, its rock face and sculptures weathered by many centuries. An image of Sigiriya’s peculiar limestone plateau first ignited my need to visit Sri Lanka.

The new year may be right around the corner, but to foresee what it might have in store for travelers, it’s useful to take a look back. Some 2017 travel industry changes were short-lived—remember the infamous laptop ban that had business travelers in a furor for a few months? But other trends from travel 2017 could have a more lasting effect.