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America’s newest wicked-long flight is the Boston-to-Honolulu route from Hawaiian Airlines, which is now the longest flight in the country at 5,095 miles. And it’s not a fluke—the new Hawaiian flight is the longest nonstop route in the United States ever. The journey takes a whopping 11 hours 40 minutes when flying to the islands, but it will only take 10 hours and 15 minutes to get back to reality.

Looking for a more exciting family vacation than staying local this February break, but not sure you’d be able to afford the airfare? Try Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden: If you’re traveling with kids, one airline is offering up basically free plane tickets to Scandinavia when you book before December 10, 2018.

Hypersonic flights from New York to London in two hours? Maybe in your lifetime, but only if you’re super-rich.

The final language for an air travel bill called the FAA Reauthorization Act has been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and is expected to get final approval by the Senate. The new bill would secure funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for five years and establish new provisions on matters like pets onboard planes, involuntary bumping on overbooked flights, and research into minimum plane seat sizes.

If you’ve ever excitedly booked a cheap transatlantic flight on a budget airline only to realize you’ll pay in airport time spent waiting in a long, non-PreCheck security line, rejoice: The chances of that happening just got slimmer. Two popular foreign budget airlines now participate in TSA PreCheck: Norwegian Air and Icelandair. This means PreCheck travelers booked on either airline can use the PreCheck lane, where available, when departing from the U.S.

Calling any year the “worst year to fly” is a bold statement. But that’s just what AirHelp, a passenger rights company, is saying about 2018.

It’s not exactly news when one of the big three airlines does something to make its economy seats worse, but it is when one actually makes them better. Kudos to Delta for its newly refurbished Boeing 777-200s, which feature fewer economy seats per row to maintain some elbow room.

Get ready for your close up. Delta Air Lines and the Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport have opened the nation’s first optional biometric screening checkpoints, which use facial recognition scanning to expedite the airport process from check-in to boarding.

If you mostly fly, it’s easy to forget that many Americans travel by rail for the holidays. But as someone who regularly relies on Thanksgiving train travel between Boston and New York, let me assure you: A lot of people take the train for the holidays, so you should plan ahead.

We’ve all heard of emotional support animals, but what about an emotional support suitcase? This new robot suitcase from ForwardX, a Chinese robotics company, will never abandon you. It’s the world’s first suitcase that uses artificial intelligence to track your location and roll itself alongside you as you walk, leaving your hands free to multi-task.

Want to follow your friends, family, and favorite travel experts’ vacation planning, just like you follow them on Instagram? TripAdvisor (SmarterTravel’s parent company) is making it possible later this year by adding to the platform a social network where users can go beyond posting reviews, to share travel tips and itineraries with their followers.

Skytrax is out with its annual list of the World’s Top 100 Airlines, perhaps the most recognized worldwide ranking of best airlines. As usual, and to the chagrin of travelers here in the states, most of the top performers are not U.S. airlines. Instead, the list is dominated by Asian, Middle Eastern, and, to a lesser extent, European carriers.

Has it snowed at your home airport yet? It could soon. And while everyone knows that flights generally face more delays and cancellations in winter than in summer, mainly because winter weather can wreak havoc on schedules and plans, not everyone knows just how much travel insurance can offset the financial risk of those winter problems—at least partially.

Checking a bag? Whether you are voluntarily or you’re forced to at the gate, hopefully you’re not flying Envoy Air or ExpressJet Airlines, as they placed last in a study of luggage handling.

I’ll never forget my first glimpse of Hogwarts: the soaring spires, the winged-pig statues, the snow-covered rooftops of the surrounding Hogsmeade village. As a devout fan of the source material, those magical images will be etched into my memory forever. Of course, I’ll also never forget the sheer volume of wand-toting, spell-casting, butterbeer-guzzling people all around me, either. Elbow to elbow, we jostled for position under the hot Orlando sun like the crowds at the Quidditch World Cup.

Analysis from AirHelp, a company that (for a fee) helps people get refunds and compensation from airlines following disrupted flights, says airlines already owe an estimated $290 million for delayed, cancelled or overbooked flights this year. The data refers specifically to U.S. travelers onboard flights operating under European Union jurisdiction.

Is it too soon to think about the holiday flights? No way, says CheapAir. They’re already tracking flights, and released an early look at the best days to fly for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.

Singapore is the best country in the world to live as an expatriate for the fourth year in a row, according to a new report from HSBC Bank. The study is based on survey results of more than 22,000 expats from many different home countries who live and work abroad. Ranking for each country is based on three overall factor groups: experience (quality of life, safety, etc.), economics (income, politics, etc.), and families (education, healthcare, etc.)

Thailand officials have announced they will maintain closure of the famous Maya Bay indefinitely, after closing the beach to tourists this past June. If you’ve never heard of Maya Bay, there’s a decent chance you’ve seen it regardless—Maya Bay was the setting of the 2001 Leonardo DiCaprio film The Beach.

Looking for the best cities to live in or retire abroad? The world’s most livable city is once again Vienna, Austria, according to The Economist’s Intelligence Unit’s annual Most Livable Cities ranking.

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