Latest Travel News tips

If you didn’t believe the old adage that fear is contagious, the details of this weekend’s false-alarm evacuation of JFK Airport might change your mind. According to a New Yorker reporter who experienced the incident, unfounded reports of gunfire at New York City’s busiest air hub caused stampedes and panic that spread rapidly across terminals Sunday night.

USA Today reports that American has been fined $1.6 million for tarmac delays that occurred during 2013-2015.

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.

Enter the Pernod Ricard “St. Patrick’s Day” sweepstakes by April 30, 2016, for a chance to win one of six grand prizes: each a trip for two to Ireland, including air, three nights’ hotel, and a tour of the Jameson distillery in Dublin.

This clip-on lens by Aukey is perfect for capturing unique travel photos with the wide-angle lens, as well as detailed close-up shots with the macro lens.

With no published award-price charts to refer to, members of Delta’s SkyMiles program don’t know when award prices are higher or lower than normal. That’s because there is no baseline to use as a reference point. There is no normal. Or rather, normal is whatever Delta chooses to publish as the price for an award ticket on a particular flight.

If you’re looking for yet another reason to cross the Atlantic, WOW Air just gave you one: The Icelandic-based airline is expanding low transatlantic fares and “second city” air routes.

As if traveling and exploring a new place weren’t exciting enough, Pokemon Go is adding a whole new dimension of discovery. Taking the world by storm, the mobile app allows you to use your phone to hunt for digital monsters in an “augmented reality.”

Last week, amid unconfirmed rumors that Virgin America was in merger talks with unnamed potential acquirers, I suggested that the best fit would be a combination with JetBlue. According to a new Bloomberg report, I was half right: One of the would-be buyers is indeed JetBlue; the other is Alaska Airlines.

The Choice Privileges program has distinguished itself in recent years on both the upside and the downside.

Looking to escape the wintry weather blighting much of the U.S.? Maybe it’s time to change hemispheres.

TripAdvisor (SmarterTravel’s parent company) is the undisputed king of hotel user reviews. This week, it begins its quest to attain the same status in the realm of airline flight reviews.

I don’t know how I’ve traveled and worked out without this water bottle—it’s genius! If you like to use a foam roller for stretching, you should be traveling with this water bottle. It’s compact in size so it packs easily, and it functions as a foam roller for stretches post-workout or after a long flight.

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

Bare fares—cheap coach fares with few perks and plenty of restrictions—are a thing. The unbundled fares, as they’re also called, are what have made Spirit, Frontier, and other ultra-low-cost carriers the darlings of the most price-sensitive customers, and of Wall Street. And the legacy carriers can’t afford not to compete for those flyers.

Rapid Rewards members normally earn 600 points for qualifying car rentals. That’s 600 points no matter how long the rental, or how much the rental costs—not a very compelling proposition, especially for longer rentals.

Google “La Compagnie” and the top non-sponsored result describes the airline thusly: “Discover Paris and London with La Compagnie, the unique French all-business-class airline, at an affordable price.”

Is “The Happiest Place on Earth” rightly so-called? One prominent politician thinks not.

The TSA and American Airlines are about to launch a joint test of new, partially automated screening checkpoints at a handful of the airline’s hub airports.

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

Does connecting to in-flight Wi-Fi allow government intelligence agencies to spy on your every digital move? The idea may sound more sci-fi thriller than reality, but classified documents leaked by National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden signal that it’s been happening for years, according to a report in the French newspaper Le Monde.