Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
27.07.2023 - 18:38 / smartertravel.com / Tim Winship
As reported by USA Today, lawmakers in Missouri are expected to pass a bill that will amend the state’s liquor law to allow travelers to take alcoholic drinks with them to their boarding gates.
Drinks would not be allowed past security, so the booze-to-go would have to be purchased at establishments doing business in the gate areas. And flyers would still not be permitted to bring their cocktails with them when boarding their flights.
While the looser rules stop short of turning airports into alcohol-fueled free-for-alls, they will certainly result in more pre-flight drinking, which is highly likely to increase rowdiness at the gates, which are already high-stress areas.
And even with the prohibition on carry-on cocktails, does anyone doubt that at least a few flyers will sneak their to-go cups onboard with them?
Related:Travelers to DOT: No Inflight Calls, Please!I’m no teetotaler, but I’m absolutely convinced that travel and alcohol are a potentially volatile mix. With flights running at historically full levels and seating more cramped than ever, air rage is an ever-present threat. And alcohol is often a contributing factor.
In a report issued in December 2016, the International Air Transport Association called “unruly passengers” a “significant problem”:
A spokesperson for Missouri’s Lambert International Airport lauded the new legislation, citing an enhanced customer experience and lower travel costs, and dismissed concerns of drunken misbehavior as unfounded. “This is not an issue of where you’re going to see unruliness as a result.”
I wouldn’t drink to that.
Reader Reality Check
Drinking and flying: What could go wrong?
More from SmarterTravel: Wallet Watch: Las Vegas Resort Fees Will Rise on March 1 Best-Ever Bonus for Starwood Credit Card Is Back How to Get Banned from Flying for LifeAfter 20 years working in the travel industry, and 15 years writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.
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Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
With no sign of relief in sight, the TSA’s inability to effectively and efficiently manage airport security screening promises to remain this summer’s biggest bad-news travel story.
When Muslim Advocates and the NAACP issue a joint letter accusing the U.S. airline industry of racism, it’s big news. And when the NAACP, the “nation’s oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization,” follows that up with an advisory specifically questioning the racial policies of the nation’s largest airline, American, it’s nothing less than a media firestorm. Indeed, all the major news media covered the story exhaustively. And “American Airlines” has been a trending Twitter topic for several days.
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
Could Spirit, the airline everybody loves to hate, become a bit less hateful? If the company’s new CEO has his way, it will do just that.
In its latest effort to capture the hearts, minds, and expense accounts of the travel universe’s most privileged 1 percent, American is raising the bar for airport lounges.
Enter the United Airlines “Billion Mile Giveaway” sweepstakes by September 30, 2016, for a chance to win one of 100 grand prizes of 1 million United MileagePlus miles, plus $750 to cover taxes, each. Runner-up prizes include smaller numbers of miles. In total, 1 billion miles will be given away.
For U.S. News & World Report, the road from weekly news magazine to publisher of company rankings has been a long and winding one. The key, though, to its shift toward data-driven ratings of companies and institutions was its 1983 publication of “America’s Best Colleges.”