DOT Nixes E-Cigarette Use Inflight

A child traveling on Delta Air Lines had to use a bag as a toilet in the aisle after the plane was stuck on the tarmac for six hours, according to a report by the local television station WJCL in Savannah, Georgia.

A Boston doctor was accused of exposing himself and masturbating in front of a teenager on a May 2022 flight from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Boston, Massachusetts.

The tail end of the busy summer travel season is almost here, but that doesn’t mean an end to travel deals. In fact, it’s just the beginning for a slew of miles and points promotions. Here are some of the latest offers worth taking advantage of for travel this month or even the year ahead.

I spent the first seven years of my life in the United Kingdom and still have some British terms and phrases in my vocabulary.

In 2014, at the behest of Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), the DOT’s Office of Inspector General began an audit of U.S. frequent flyer programs, and the DOT’s monitoring thereof, with a particular focus on unfair and deceptive practices (summary, with a link to the full .pdf report, here). The audit results were published this month, with the following headline: “Improvements needed in DOT’s process for identifying unfair or deceptive practices in airline frequent flyer programs.”

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.

That 10 percent AARP discount for Hyatt stays? Per Hyatt’s website: “Act now. Offer Expires January 31, 2016.”

It’s a basic premise of savvy loyalty-program participation that the best return-on-investment is to be had by redeeming points for the program host’s own services. Airline miles are best redeemed for flights, and hotel points are best redeemed for free room nights. Sure, all major programs offer alternative award opportunities—consumer electronics, clothing, event tickets, and on and on—but when you do the math, it inevitably turns out that such options offer very poor value.

To all appearances, the hot-button issue of inflight phone calls has been settled. If you’ve flown on a U.S. carrier lately, you’ve almost certainly heard no one yakking on a cellphone or other mobile device while airborne, and you might well assume that there’s an outright ban on inflight calling.

Sometimes it’s the look of a place that inspires us to want to visit. For travelers who roam the Internet looking for visual inspiration to decide where to go next, Pinterest has a handy new tool.

Virgin America thinks its new “Flights with Bennies” campaign is cheeky. In name, perhaps. But really, it’s just another refer-a-friend bonus promotion. Which isn’t a bad thing.

In what will likely be one of its final major moves under the current Obama administration, the Department of Transportation this week revealed a new set of rules governing various aspects of airline behavior. Here’s how DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx described the new rules: