Airport tips

Need a pre- or post-flight nap, or just a little quiet time in the midst of the airport’s hustle and bustle?

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.

The TSA has been in the news lately, and not for a good reason. As you may have noticed, the security lines at most major U.S. airports are ridiculously long—so long that many people are actually missing flights despite arriving at the airport within the typical two-hour window.

For $85 and a little bit of legwork, TSA PreCheck lets you skip the airport security line on domestic flights. It’s a nice service for frequent travelers wanting to save time, and a privilege, you’d think, worth paying for.

Southwest is getting out of the overbooking game. Following the recent “incident” involving United Airlines, Southwest will heretofore only sell as many tickets as it has seats.

It’s been almost 15 years since Richard Reid, better known as the shoe bomber, failed in his attempt to bring down an American Airlines flight with an explosive hidden in his shoe. And yet here we are, all these years later, still shuffling through TSA checkpoints in our socks or bare feet. Why, you might ask, are we still forced to do this?

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has responded to a court order seeking airline seat size minimums by saying it does not have a responsibility to regulate airline cabins in such a capacity. The court order was brought in response to action by an independent consumerist organization called Flyers Rights, which requested the FAA take on the issue.

The 26-country no-border-control Schengen area is in danger of collapsing under the migration threat. Presumably, the new border controls will be for no more than two years. But for now, you have to figure on reverting to the bad old days of mind-numbing border hassles within the area.

In a first for a U.S. airline loyalty program, Alaska Airlines is offering members of its Mileage Plan program the option to redeem miles to pay for TSA PreCheck service.

The last day in August marks the unofficial end of summer, and now also a historic day for U.S.-Cuba relations. JetBlue announced last month that it would be the first to send a passenger plane to Cuba in 2016, and at 10:58 a.m. today, fulfilled this promise.

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.

What’s the most expensive airport in America? Here’s a hint: It’s not exactly in the continental U.S. If you guessed Guam then high five!

An incredible, unsettling report from the ACLU, using the documents obtained from the TSA, details patterns of racial and religious profiling, dubious tactics, and shaky science in that agency’s behavior detection program.

Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) have a novel proposal to alleviate the expected congestion at airport security checkpoints this summer. In a letter sent this week to executives at 12 U.S. airlines, the senators called on the carriers to “suspend bag fees for the summer”:

Would you shelve your favorite piece of luggage and instead use a bag plastered with advertisements if it meant you didn’t have to pay airlines’ checked bag fees anymore?

Editors’ Note: On October 1, 2018, Primera Air announced it will cease operations immediately. The following story was published on September 11, 2018.

A world where everyone could sleep on command—or, simply one with more comfortable airplane seats—would be a beautiful one. But until that fantasy becomes reality, some of us will have to rely on sleep aids and accessories to help us catch some Zs.

No cash, no tip, no hassle… When you arrive at your destination, just hop out—we’ll automatically charge the credit card on file. And there’s no need to tip.

Been on a full flight lately? Then you may have heard an announcement or seen an appeal posted on the monitor at the gate asking for passenger volunteers to check their bags at the gate for free.

If you haven’t heard about the U.K.’s heated debate on cutting ties with the European Union—dubbed a “Brexit”—you certainly will this week. Britons headed to the ballot box on Thursday and made the historic decision to leave the European Union.

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.