Travel Trends tips

The IHG Rewards Club MasterCard, issued by Chase, has long been a favorite of the frequent-traveler crowd. For good reasons:

The Trump administration’s newly imposed restrictions on travel to Cuba were expected to have a chilling effect on U.S. tourism to the island nation, but maybe not so quickly.

Don’t have anyone to travel with, but not really up for wandering the world alone? You’ve now got a few new options.

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.

Overall, travel in 2019 will be a lot like it was in 2018 for most travelers. But a little change is inevitable, so you will see some new and emerging trends that could reshape both the industry and your travel experience. Here’s my take on the top four travel trends for 2019.

It’s the rare year during which no one dies in a commercial jet airline crash. For whatever reasons, 2017 was such a year.

In an overhaul of its travel advisory system, the U.S. Department of State recently assigned every country in the world a travel safety rating. The safest places are ranked Level 1, while the places that Americans are advised to avoid are considered Level 4:

Dreaming of a trip to sunny Florida? You’re definitely not alone. The first nine months of this year (from January to September 2018) saw the highest number of visitors to the state ever.

World of Hyatt members may now earn and redeem points for home-share stays.

With strong demand in most parts of the world, the cost of travel has only one place to go: up. No big surprise there. If there’s anything surprising about the price creep, it’s how modest at least one analyst expects it to be.

JetBlue has announced it will join American, Delta, and United in offering bare-bones “basic economy” fares beginning in 2019. The new, no-frills fares will still include the line’s standard free on-board Wi-Fi, snacks and soft drinks, and a full-size carry-on bag plus personal item, the airline said. But basic economy passengers can expect to see fees for things like picking a seat and changing their reservation—JetBlue hasn’t yet said what exactly will change.

An all-business-class airline called La Compagnie just announced the launch of five nonstop U.S.-France flights per week, from Newark to Nice, starting in May 2019. Introductory fares start at $1200 round-trip, but that price is limited to the first 1,000 customers to pounce. Even after, however, you can expect regular round-trip fares somewhere between $1500 and $1800 indefinitely, and the occasional sale fares.

SpaceX has announced that Yusaku Maezawa, a young Japanese entrepreneur and billionaire art collector, will be the first paying passenger to take a trip around the moon. Maezawa purchased a private journey in Elon Musk’s newest BFR spaceship, which is tentatively scheduled for 2023.

Wondering how hectic the high season of summer travel will make the skies? Summer air travel will raise 3.7 percent above last year’s summer travel figure to set another all-time record, Airlines for America announced, with the U.S. expected to see an average of 2.68 million air travelers per day.

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.

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.

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.

In a big step for animal rights, TripAdvisor (SmarterTravel’s parent company) recently announced it will no longer “sell tickets to, or generate revenue from, any attraction that continues to contribute to the captivity of future generations of cetaceans.” The policy on whale and dolphin activities is part of TripAdvisor’s broader commitment to improving the welfare of animals globally, particularly animals in tourism, which began in 2016 when the company adopted an animal attractions policy. Both guidelines extend to TripAdvisor’s activity-booking service Viator, as well.

As we head into a new decade, let’s take some time to acknowledge the incredible events and momentous changes in the travel world since 2010.

On its newly-delivered planes, Spirit Airlines says it’s installing new seats that are improved over the airlines’ old ones. That’s probably right, given that the old seats represent the lowest bar in the industry, but even the new seats still aren’t up to the general industry standards: Spirit’s seats have long been about an inch narrower than the average airline seat.

The travel app with the highest customer satisfaction score is World of Hyatt. That’s according to the first-ever U.S Travel App Satisfaction Study from J.D. Power. And according to the report, there’s much room for travel apps in general to improve.