Travel Trends tips

I’ve been thinking a lot about the people I met in Egypt.

When Starwood introduced keyless entry in 10 hotels in 2014, it was hailed as the next logical move in the digitization of travel; the service was expected to quickly roll out across Starwood’s extensive network of hotels.

Pilots from Southwest and American Airlines are rallied at the White House today in the hopes of blocking Norwegian Air’s planned expansion in the U.S., reports the Dallas Business Journal.

If you closely followed the debate leading up to the American-US Airways merger, you’ll recall a period during which it seemed a safe bet that the Department of Justice would nix the tie-up on antitrust grounds. DOJ officials signaled that, after signing off on mergers between United and Continental, Delta and Northwest, and Southwest and AirTran, further consolidation was likely to impede competition and give the airlines outsize pricing power. And it was their duty to forestall just such an outcome.

What is likely to become the new era of airport security began this week at Atlanta and Denver airports, where the Transportation Security Administration is real-world testing a new way to confirm travelers’ identities.

In what will likely be one of its final major moves under the current Obama administration, the Department of Transportation this week revealed a new set of rules governing various aspects of airline behavior. Here’s how DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx described the new rules:

You probably saw (or experienced) the airport protests and delays this weekend following President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban nationals traveling to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority nations. But what do the American people think of the new travel measure?

The Starwood Preferred Guest credit card, issued by American Express, has long had a prominent place in the wallets of savvy frequent travelers. Here’s why:

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.

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.

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

If New York has its way, the popular accommodations-sharing company Airbnb will be toast.

To overseas observers, the U.S. must look like a pretty scary place right now. What with the breakdown in law and order represented by the recent string of shootings, protests, and more shootings, and the generally vicious tone of the nation’s politics (Google “Kill Hillary” or “Trump Nazi”), anyone viewing this country through the lens of media headlines could be forgiven for thinking America had devolved into an unstable banana republic.

If so-called basic economy fares aren’t yet a pervasive fact of travel life, they soon will be.

Earlier this summer, Delta became the first and only U.S. carrier to offer all inflight entertainment for free. It’s still the first, but no longer the only.

Prepare for Impact.

For generations of air travelers, Boeing’s B747 jet, the four-engined behemoth with its distinctive hump, epitomized elegance in long-haul flying, harkening back to an era when travel was more refined, less exasperating. That era is long gone, and the B747 is disappearing from the skies as well.

Paris Hilton hasn’t been much in the limelight lately, and now we know why. The 35-year-old socialite and media magnet has been busy developing a new line of luxury hotels to open in Dubai, New York, and Las Vegas.

Part of what has made Uber the undisputed leader in ride-share services is its no-tipping policy. As recently as a year ago, the following promise was featured front and center on the company’s website: “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.”

Your next bucket-list trip might be waiting for you in a place you’ve never heard of. No longer able to fly under the tourist radar, these 10 up-and-coming destinations are about to get some serious attention in 2017. From an affordable Scandinavian capital (they do exist!) to New York’s “secret” mountains, here are the 10 finalists in our Editors’ Choice category for Best Up-and-Coming Destination of 2017.

One of my least favorite things about Airbnb is not being able to “Instant Book.” When a listing’s dates are available for booking and I “Request to Book”, I don’t understand why my card is charged and there’s still a chance I might be denied a stay there. If I am denied, I then have to wait up to seven days for the money to be refunded, and have to front the money for a new place to stay. I’ve looked to other platforms numerous times because I can’t instantly book with Airbnb—and the process can be very frustrating.