Lost tips

A transatlantic United Airlines plane headed to the United States was diverted over the weekend after a laptop got stuck on board.

It's normal for airlines to lose some of our bags in transit—about 7.6 pieces per every 1,000 travelers on average. One airport, though—Japan's Kansai airport—has not lost anyone's bags in the last 30 years, and the airport handled 10 million bags in 2023 alone.

An airport in Japan says it has never lost a piece of luggage in 30 years of operations.

There’s never been more interest in actual, genuine off-the-beaten-path travel than now. More and more tourists are searching out escape from the everyday—trips with fewer people, less (or preferably no) technology, and an opportunity to recalibrate and experience something authentic and life-affirming.

United Airlines would have turned a profit in the first quarter of 2024 had it not been for a door plug blowing off an Alaska Airlines jet mid-flight in January.

AirTags have proved to be helpful devices for recovering lost baggage, but what happens if the tracker falls out?

An Austrian Airlines plane sustained some severe damage after crashing into a jet bridge.

Travel metasearch companies used to be among the hottest things in travel. They enabled consumers to compare hotel or flight prices from multiple vendors at a glance, and many online travel agencies saw the need to acquire one.

In October, Emma Giantisco and Dylan Marton breathed a sigh of relief.

Jasmeen Basi and Dillon Birring's family vacation was quickly approaching.

When people ask me what is my favorite place in the wide world of places to which I have traveled, there is never any hesitation. I love Mongolia so much that I once spent five months crossing a thousand miles of it on horseback, the baggage horse loaded with a rattling collection of gear, from a temperamental stove to a rapidly disappearing bottle of whiskey. I wrote a book about the journey that was translated into a dozen languages. I fell in love with a Mongolian, an intense affair that unwound over years. It ended two decades ago. She has moved on, wisely. But Mongolia is still there. And it was time to go back.

Last year, Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths landed at JFK and it took him four-and-a-half-hours to get through immigration. 

A baggage handler will no longer work for the Australian airline Qantas after writing an offensive word on a tag on a passenger's bag, 7News Australia reported.

It happened the day before I left for my trip. And, quite predictably, because I was rushing.

Full disclosure: after a decade of being a travel writer there are still some things I need to work on. Like putting a spare pair of pants, or even just a toothbrush, in my carry-on baggage.

A plane carrying a national soccer team had to make an emergency landing Wednesday due to an oxygen shortage on board, The Gambia Football Federation said in a statement.

In Tangier, fresh off the ferry from Spain, I walk along the esplanade in cool morning air, then take the steps up into the casbah. My journey to Morocco started at St Pancras station in London three days earlier, and I spent a night each in Barcelona and Algeciras. I feel none of the dislocation or awkwardness that a flight would entail. I’ve seen the landscapes change: the lavender fields of Provence, the peach groves of Catalonia, then the wild upland magic of La Mancha. I spotted my first Arabic sign in Spain yesterday. Now the crafted casbah of Tangier seems like the natural next step. I take a turn up a narrow alleyway and pass an elderly couple, the woman in a straw hat decorated with fresh flowers, her husband hooded in a thick woollen burnous.

You’ve probably heard of Alexander the Great, the king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon in the fourth century B.C. Known for conquering lands as far away as India, and taking steps toward creating the world’s first multicultural empire, he was a legend even before his death at 32. But until recently, there were few historic places travelers could visit to learn about his life.

As if air travel didn’t have enough pitfalls on its own, there’s also the frustrating and real possibility that an airline could lose your checked luggage. According to a study by SITA, an IT company that provides bag-tracking systems to airlines, 26 million suitcases were mishandled in 2022, meaning lost, delayed, damaged, or stolen.

A special and innovative museum already in the first year of operation in the heart of Athens, with waxwork exhibits representing professions of old age that today are lost. It attracts visitors of all ages, both foreign and Greeks in order to learn the younger and remember the elder.

The ancient Maya thrived for some 3,000 years and created a monumental legacy that still inspires pop culture, from animated series to video games. Their stepped stone pyramids and glyph carved temple walls can be found in Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico, home to the well known sites of Tulum, Chichén Itzá, and the Uxmal pyramids.