Airport tips

If you thought 2018 was a bad year for travel, from travel bans to a number of fatal plane accidents, you’re not wrong. While 2017 was a banner year for airline safety (the safest ever, in fact), in 2018 the number of airline crash deaths spiked dramatically—increasing more than ten-fold to their highest point since 2014.

Applying for or renewing a passport in a timely fashion might be easier said than done thanks to a massive surge in applicants that happens between January and August every year, but following some little-known passport rules might help.

Fair warning: You have to act FAST and be really lucky, but it’s possible to get a $100 flight to Australia. To celebrate Qantas’ 100th year, the airline is offering a very limited-time sale from now to November 21. The deal is that Qantas will release 100 airfares each day for $100+ each way when purchased as a round-trip. The origin and destination are kept a mystery until the day the fares are released at 2 p.m. PST (5 p.m. EST).

These days, the post-security departure areas of most big international airports look more like shopping malls than transit hubs. Often, you can’t avoid a long trek past a meandering duty-free shopping area before you get to your departure gate.

By now, you’ve undoubtedly heard that Thomas Cook Group, the British travel operator—which encapsulates retail travel agencies, wholesale tour packagers, and even airlines—has shuttered under bankruptcy. This is the largest tour operator failure in not-so-recent memory; it’s left some 600,000 travelers stranded at their foreign destinations, and many tour buyers who haven’t started their trips yet are unlikely to see the tours they bought or any money they prepaid. The issue raises the question: What happens to customers when a tour operator they paid shuts down; are there any legal guarantees of reimbursement? The short answer: only for some people.

As I dragged my suitcase past the dozens of purple signs and arrows pointing to the new “Rideshare App” pickup at Boston Logan, I realized everyone around me was just as confused about the new process as I was. Here’s what I experienced recently with the new Uber/Lyft changes at Boston Logan Airport. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t good.

In recent years, travel providers have attempted to ride the consumerist tailwinds of Black Friday and Cyber Monday with a shopping day all their own: Travel Tuesday. Observed on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (also the charitable day of Giving Tuesday, for what it’s worth), Travel Tuesday aims to sling travel deals with the same sort of once-a-year urgency as its more established holiday-shopping counterparts. But, is it actually worth participating?

Given the climate-change activism that’s intensifying around air travel’s dependence on fuel, you’ve probably seen a lot about “carbon neutral” flights lately, along with reports of planes that can be powered entirely by something called “biofuel.” The idea behind both is obvious: People want to add as little carbon as possible to the atmosphere. And the idea that we can take carbon neutral flights is true—but it’s more nuanced than you might think.

There are plenty of helpful hacks that will let you see the world for less. But some budget travel rules are simply myths touted by businesses that benefit from them. Others are created by well-meaning travelers who mistook an exception for the norm. Here are 11 budget travel lies you should be wary of.

It’s taken longer than anyone expected thanks to lots of FAA red tape and a 35-day government shutdown, but Southwest has finally started selling flights from the West Coast to Hawaii. Here are the Hawaii flight route details so far, and what it all means.

If you can’t imagine flying again on the Boeing model that was grounded following two deadly crashes that killed all on board in a span of five months, you’re not alone. A poll by SmarterTravel’s sister site Airfarewatchdog recently found that 73 percent of respondents would not want to travel on the model. Our own survey of a smaller group found more of the same. So where do travelers go from here?

The no-frills “Basic Economy” airfares many travelers have come to hate (or maybe love, depending who you are) seem to be working in at least one way: The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics says that average airfares in the U.S. were $343.28 in the third quarter of 2018, which is a record low when adjusted for inflation.

Successful winter travel is all about successfully navigating the weather. In winter, most travelers hope to get to and from their destinations with minimum trouble and maximum enjoyment—and, most importantly, to always arrive safe and sound, no matter what sort of snow, ice, sleet, or freezing rain you may encounter. To that end, here are some winter travel tips and tactics to help you avoid spending the season stuck in airports or on roadsides.

In a win for travelers, a new European Union Court of Justice decision is extending E.U. flight delay compensation requirements to connecting flights on the same reservation, even when the second airline is a different, non-E.U. airline (read: one not subject to E.U. rules). The precedent means that E.U. airlines can be required to pay travelers for extensive air travel delays on other, non-European airlines.

Sometimes a red-eye flight can be the perfect solution to your long-haul trip. It can offer a place to sleep (so you don’t have to pay for an additional night of lodging); plus, a morning arrival means you can hit the ground running when you arrive. But depending on the airline, choosing evening—or even afternoon—travel can be a grave mistake that could throw your trip into a spiral.

A new report from Scott’s Cheap Flights sheds light on a somewhat complicated travel question: Which cities are the best origin for booking affordable, international flight routes? When it comes to finding the best airports for cheap flights, there are a lot of factors at play: Steady demand, competitive service from multiple carriers, and a robust network of international flights are just a few.

The complete shutdown of Primera Air and now WOW Air are examples of the reality that an airline can abruptly fail. Without notice, even a large airline can shutter, leaving some passengers stranded away from home and others responsible for out-of-pocket costs for worthless tickets.

Last week, I wrote about my upcoming round-the-world trip, which I had been planning for several months (here’s the story). My friends and family were concerned about me going to Asia amid the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. Of course, I had some concerns, too. After asking for answers to the question “Should I cancel my trip to Asia?” on both my website and my Facebook page, I was shocked by how many people said that I should cancel. Some of the comments were coming from big-time travelers, including executives of Asian airlines.

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JetBlue founder David Neeleman is preparing to launch his fifth—yes, fifth—airline startup this year. And its name has finally been announced: Breeze Airways. The airline says it expects to begin flights by the end of 2020.

I’m sure you’ve all seen the insane immigration lines at the screening 13 airports where passengers waited hours in cattle-like lines, which definitely didn’t follow today’s protocol of social distancing. If I was scheduled to fly home, I would probably wait a few days until airports worked this chaos out.