Health & Wellness tips

Smaller seats, cheaper flights, passengers behaving badly—whether you believe flying has improved or gotten worse in recent years, until now the skies have remained a Wild West in at least one way: in-flight sexual assaults. The FBI said that in 2018 it saw “more reports of in-flight sexual assault than ever before.”

Remember Donald Trump’s oft-repeated promise during the recent presidential race to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and force Mexico to pay for it?

It’s official: Passengers flying on nine airlines non-stop to the U.S. from 10 airports (Cairo, Egypt; Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia; Istanbul in Turkey; and Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates) will be prohibited from bringing electronic devices larger than cellphones on board with them.

United Airlines or United Apologists? If you were to judge by recent media coverage of the carrier, you might think United’s core business was issuing apologies for blunders and misdeeds made in its secondary business, commercial air transportation.

If you’re among the legions of travelers who ease the boredom and discomfort of flying by tuning into a movie or TV show on the plane’s seatback monitor, the latest move by the world’s largest airline will come as a disappointment if not a surprise.

Although the shocking passenger-bashing incidents at American and United have mostly upstaged the laptop ban story in recent weeks, another media-focus turnaround may be in the offing.

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world’s busiest, is back in business after being completely shut down for almost 11 hours between 1:00 p.m. and 11:55 p.m. on Sunday.

Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.

Americans use 500 million of them a day without thinking about it, and now, a growing number of countries, cities, airlines, and restaurants are banning this popular item. Plastic straws—we use them to sip our cold brew coffee, they come unasked for in our cocktails and sodas, and they are killing our environment.

You might have heard recently that Congress has decided your plane seat size should be regulated. That’s true. You may have also heard that it means your plane seat is going to get bigger. Here’s why that’s probably not true.

Increasing concerns over the risk of being arrested and detained in North Korea have led the U.S. Department of State to restrict Americans from traveling there. The ban is expected to go into effect on September 1.

You may not be familiar with PyeongChang, the host city for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, but it has been a popular holiday destination for South Korean tourists seeking clean air and green pastures for years—even before it gained worldwide attention. With rugged mountains, ornate temples, and delectable local cuisine, this South Korean city has much to offer.

With a travel insurance policy (and any other kind of insurance coverage) the devil is in the details—more specifically, the fine print. And one word can make a huge difference in your risk coverage: “unforeseen.”

It has long been a centerpiece of Uber and Lyft’s self-promotion that the proliferation of such ridesharing services was a boon to the country’s most congested cities. The idea was that by giving people an alternative to firing up their own cars for every trip, no matter how long or how short, the net amount of city traffic would be reduced.

Every year, summertime brings new experiences and trends worth getting excited about. Whether it’s an ephemeral fidget spinner or the latest summer blockbuster, keeping up with fads is a fun way to remember the summer, especially when it comes to delicious and photogenic food trends.

The last of Allegiant Air’s aging fleet of MD-80 planes took its final flight this week, hopefully putting an end to years of safety and reliability concerns swirling around the carrier’s use of an outdated aircraft. Early MD-80 models debuted about 40 years ago, and have been since retired by most other airlines.

What if an airline refuses to let your “emotional support hamster” fly with you? That might seem like nothing more than a jokey headline, or downright clickbait, but for 21-year-old college student Belen Aldecosea, it was a real-world dilemma, with life-and-death implications for her emotional-support animal.

When the federal government shuts down, as it did over the weekend, the resulting uncertainty and confusion impinge on many areas of life, including travel. With hundreds of thousands of government workers thrown out of work, how will essential services be affected?

United Airlines is testing a new boarding procedure that it hopes will provide a better customer experience, with less crowding and more efficient boarding. According to the company’s website:

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on January 25, 2016 and was updated in December 2018. Please consult this article: Do You Still Need to Worry About the Zika Virus for 2019? for the latest info.

A lot of terrible things can happen on a plane: a runway crash, mid-flight mechanical issues, a medical emergency. An anxious mind might run through them before take off. But how often do you worry about a fellow passenger committing sexual assault?