Carnaval Canceled in Rio? Here’s What to Do Instead

Many vehicles on the market today are packed with all kinds of new technology designed to make driving safer and more comfortable, but are some of the systems too difficult to easily operate? Are touch displays and touch-sensitive buttons and controls, often hidden in the menu, too hard to reach, and does searching and finding them create a distraction? Does more tech lead to an increased safety risk?

Anyone who had plans to fly at the start of 2020 will remember the travel nightmare that began that March when the spread of Covid-19 left a barrage of canceled and disrupted flights. 

Last month I traveled by train from London to Berlin and back.

The teenager whose ticket was canceled after American Airlines realized that he wasn't planning to board his connecting flight didn't know that skiplagging was frowned upon.

For a little over two months, Emma Di Palma was planning a 10-day trip to Portugal with her live-in boyfriend. They would explore the southern part of the city and end their vacation in Lisbon.

Marriott has just published its list of award-price changes for 2016. As Marriott Rewards members have come to expect from these annual pronouncements, the news amounts to yet another decrease in the value of their points.

Marriott has long been known as a corporation with a conscience.

For years, Marriott has been referring to its periodic systemwide promotions as MegaBonuses. Early on, when the offer was a free night after two paid stays, the name was apt. But recently, the offers have been much less generous; they were more mini than mega. The offers also became more complicated over the years, resorting to a targeting scheme that generated customized bonuses according to members’ stay histories and other factors known only to Marriott.

Travel over the Thanksgiving holiday period was robust, and predictions are for similarly strong demand for air travel during the period between Christmas and New Year’s. For most airlines, that’s good news. For American, however, it’s a potential nightmare.

Last year when Italy’s Cinque Terre decided to limit the amount of tourists that visit each year, overtourism once again came to the forefront of many people’s travel plans. While other popular landmarks and cities also had tourist caps or were exploring crowd-limiting options, iconic Cinque Terre’s cap has gained a lot of attention, and is part of a rising trend.

If your flight on American Airlines is canceled or delayed, forget calling customer service or waiting in line at an airport. You can now rearrange your trip yourself, using American’s newly launched “dynamic reaccom” (read: re-accommodation) tool online, on the mobile app, or at an American Airlines kiosk.

When Marriott acquired Starwood in 2016, there was much speculation on how the merger would affect two very different loyalty programs. Since then, the Marriott and Starwood programs have operated independently, but as of yesterday, Marriott has announced that the programs, plus the Ritz-Carlton Rewards program, will officially merge into one mega-program beginning in August 2018.