Articles

Jason Cochran

Article / Car, Bus, Rail

Hertz Is Using AI Scanners to Charge for Rental Car Damage That Human Eyes Miss

Hertz is not a company known for mastering technology. After all, it was just a few years ago that dozens of former customers accused the car rental agency of ordering them to be…

Article / Hotels

As Las Vegas Tourism Craters, Resort Fees Are Waived at Some Hotels

Las Vegas is hurting. Tourism numbers are nosediving, and the operators of casino-hotels are scrambling. In April, the city reported a drop of 180,000 visitors compared to the same…

Article / Local Experiences

It’s Time to Re-enact the French Revolution—Using a Free Walking Tour App by Paris!

The French have always been exceptionally talented at anticipating global appetites. They set the trends in high fashion and in wine. They were the first to send help to the North…

Article / Miscellaneous

U.S. Senate to Force Sale of Millions of Acres of Publicly Owned Vacationland

There is an update to this story at the bottom of the post.The U.S. Senate is marking public lands to be pillaged, and preservation groups are sounding the alarm to call fans of…

Article / Miscellaneous

New Federal Junk Fee Rules Are in Effect: What to Look for, How to Report Violations

All right, savvy shoppers. It's been a month since the new federal rules about fee disclosures have kicked in. Are you seeing a difference in your online shopping?It's not often that…

Article / Air Travel

Your Personal Airline Data Is Secretly Being Sold to U.S. Homeland Security

Perhaps it surprises nobody that in this age of meaningless digital privacy protections, the U.S. government has been secretly buying up data about airline passengers.But that's what…

Article / Theme Park

Disney's Iconic Riverboat and Island Will Be Removed Forever As of July 7

Castle in the middle. Railroad traipsing around. Man-made "mountains" concealing family rides. A meandering waterway through an American frontier landscape. The periodic hoot of a…

Article / Air Travel

U.S. Airlines Caught Charging Solo Passengers More

There are lots of ways that the travel industry punishes you for traveling solo, including higher cruise fares and higher group tour prices. But those upcharges are usually based on…

Article / Arts and Culture

V&A East Storehouse, Where You Can Touch V&A's Treasures, Opens in London

Tim Reeve, the deputy director of London's world-famous V&A applied arts institution, says that most of the world's biggest museums only have space to display about 3% of their…

Article / Air Travel

Standing Airline Seats Are Reportedly Coming in 2026. That News Doesn't Sit Well

When you have covered travel news for 25 years, as I have, you notice that certain stories flare up with the regularity of heartburn. Such it is with standing airline seats, a sizzling…

Article / Air Travel

Delta Air Lines Will End Basic Economy and Revise Fare Categories

Delta Air Lines is tired of using the word economy. The airline industry simply can't seem to settle on the name for its most common airfare seat class. Just like most carriers ditched…

Article / Air Travel

The U.S. Gets 4 New Nonstop Flights to Portugal's Beaches and Islands

Portugal is a delightful country to visit—especially for its beaches, Mediterranean cuisine, and indisputable appeal in warm-weather months. But the country can take some effort to…

Article / Road Trips

Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's New Series, 'Long Way Home': 'It Makes Us Very Proud'

Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman aired their first travel series, Long Way Round, in 2004. So much was different then. When the two appealing actors and friends announced they planned…

Article / Health, Insurance, Security

Flyers without REAL ID Asked to Arrive 3 Hours Early (Or Just Bring This Instead)

REAL ID is a case study of how constantly shifting politics in the United States makes it nearly impossible to get constructive long-term projects done. First developed in 2001 after a…

Article / National Parks

Trump Budget Cuts Could 'Wipe Out' Operations for At Least 350 National Park Units

"The president's proposed budget plan is beyond extreme. It is catastrophic."That's what Theresa Pierno, the head of the National Parks Conservation Association, said in an urgent…

Article / Money and Fees

People are Boycotting Travel to the USA. Use That to Save Money—and Jobs

Like it or not, it's happening. International visitors are avoiding the United States.  U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) counts say that crossings of the northern border…

Article / Air Travel

What Each of Southwest Airlines' New Fare Classes Buys You

Southwest Airlines has been going through some things—operational meltdowns, backtracking on customer perks, scorching mockery on Saturday Night Live—but it wants you to believe…

Article / Air Travel

LAX Finally Gets Metro Service: How to Use It to Reach LA

Flying into LAX can feel like landing in a much poorer city than Los Angeles. For many of the 75 million passengers who use LAX each year, the experience is miserable.It's…

Article / Cruise

Norwegian Aqua Ship Review: 'More' for Some but Less for Others

After years of market testing and product evolution, Norwegian Cruise Line executives think they have hit a sweet spot with regard to number of passengers (half as many as some of the…

Article / Entry Requirements & Customs

"I Can't Afford a U.S. Passport. How Can I Get the Fee Waived?"

Methods for low-income citizens to pay for the application fee for an American passport

Article / Air Travel

Delta Tells Passengers to Arrive Earlier if They Have Bags

If you're flying Delta Air Lines in the domestic United States, make sure you bring a watch and a diversion. You'll now have to get to the airport even earlier to obtain the full…

Article / Health, Insurance, Security

Don't Have a REAL ID? You Can Use These Forms of Identification Instead

Update, December 1, 2025: As of February 2026, the United States government will charge its citizens a $45 fee to fly if they go to the airport without a REAL ID. Read more about the…

Article / Money and Fees

New Crackdown Over Euro Notes in Europe Could Rip Off the Unaware Traveler

New rules will require tourists to inspect their cash carefully—or else lose money.

Article / Theme Park

Walt Disney World to Open All 6 Parks in Summer for the First Time in 6 Years

Walt Disney World is billed as offering four theme parks and two waterslide parks, but for the past half decade, customers were not allowed to access all of that on a single…

Article / Air Travel

Save Money on Checked Luggage! The Best Carry-On Bags That Fit Under an Airline Seat

When airlines began charging to check bags, they also ushered in the era of "gate lice." That's modern slang for people who jockey for early boarding to their flights in order to score…