Airfare Is Set to Rise, So When Is the Best Time to Buy Plane Tickets Now?
Posted on 01/19/2022, 4:00 PM
According to experts at the price-tracking app Hopper, domestic airfares will tick up 7% every month between now and June. That's a head-turning rate. It's normal for airfares to increase between the nadir of the low travel season (January) and the high season of summer, but in the past, the jump has only been 2% per month. But airfares were so low during the doldrums of 2020 and 2021 that they ha...
Florida Gov. DeSantis Voided a Vote in Key West, but Cruises Are Respecting It Anyway
Posted on 01/17/2022, 4:00 PM
On Election Day in November 2020, the people of Key West, Florida, a remote but heavily touristed island in the Gulf of Mexico that's barely 7 square miles in size, went to the polls and demonstrated the kind of self-governance that the United States is all about. By a sweeping majority of over 60% of votes cast, residents decided to restrict the number of cruise passengers allowed in the historic...
How to Book a Flight That Won't Get Canceled
Posted on 01/12/2022, 9:00 AM
The answer to the headline is easy: Use the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus as your travel agent. The truth is there's always the chance that a flight will be canceled. We're seeing extreme weather patterns in this era of climate change, and the airline industry has a propensity for staffing shortages. But it's also true that if you are strategic about your initial flight purchase, you can decrease yo...
Across the United States This Week, Lost Luggage Is Piling Up at Airports
Posted on 01/07/2022, 3:00 PM
First, the major carriers had trouble coughing up refunds for cancellations. Then dimwitted and unruly passengers began giving commercial flights a rougher reputation than MMA championship fights. And for the past seven months, the big airlines have staggered from computer meltdowns to employee battles to staffing shortages. Over the holiday period, 1 in 13 U.S. flights was canceled. Limping alon...
Veterans and Gold Star Families Now Get Free Entry to U.S. National Parks
Posted on 01/06/2022, 3:15 PM
Sometimes Democrats and Republicans can agree. In November 2020, the Trump administration announced that entry to the U.S. national parks would be free for veterans and Gold Star Families (relatives of service members killed on active duty) for an unspecified period. Then on December 27, 2021, President Biden made that waiver permanent under the Alexander Lofgren Veterans in the Park Act, which w...
Slip Slidin’ Away: Venice’s Too-Slick Glass Bridge Getting a Stone Makeover
Posted on 01/04/2022, 6:30 PM
We're not structural engineers or anything, but putting an arched footbridge made out of a notoriously slippery substance in the middle of a famously soggy city seems like a surefire way to create, at best, a very expensive Slip 'N Slide and, at worst, a very expensive lawsuit machine. Nevertheless, acclaimed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava did indeed design a glass walkway to cross the Gran...
A Shortage of Covid-19 Tests in Europe and the U.S.A. Is Disrupting International Travel
Posted on 01/04/2022, 3:30 PM
Melissa Fike's December trip to Ireland, her first, was one of the best vacations she'd ever had—until its last 24 hours. Over the course of two weeks, she and her boyfriend saw the highlights of the spectacular area known as the Wild Atlantic Way, spent a cozy Christmas with his family in County Clare, and fell in love with the Emerald Isle. But midway though her final day in the country, her go...
In a Growing Number of U.S. Cities, Vaccination Required for Indoor Dining
Posted on 12/28/2021, 1:30 PM
As Omicron surges, vaccination mandates are rapidly expanding in many more indoor dining and entertainment venues across America. Nationwide, government vaccine policies are being echoed by individual business owners who have decided to require proof of vaccine—and even proof of a booster shot—before serving customers. While requiring proof of vaccination is common in Europe, the practice is less...
Year in Review: 2021’s Top Travel Stories, According to Frommer’s Readers
Posted on 12/28/2021, 6:00 AM
In 2021, as in 2020, the seemingly never-ending Covid-19 pandemic dominated every aspect of public life, from the economy to the arts. Here at Frommer’s, we covered all the travel-related angles of the ongoing crisis, including reopening borders, reclosing borders, vaccine requirements, mask mandates, the tricky timing of predeparture tests, and whether you should get your proof-of-vaccination QR...
Cruise Ships Aren't Covid Jails Anymore—But They Are Being Refused By Some Ports
Posted on 12/27/2021, 2:45 PM
When Covid-19 was first going global, its early appearance on cruise ships caught scientists and epidemiologists flat-footed. In the spring of 2020, we still weren't precisely sure how the disease spread, and governments had not yet established protocols for dealing with infected visitors. What followed was a public relations meltdown for the cruise industry, as passengers and crew alike were tra...
