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Hilton To Charge More To Let You Cancel?

By Jason Cochran

Posted on 03/01/2016, 1:15 PM

Remember last fall, when Hilton started testing a mandatory $50 fee for cancellations no matter how early they were made? Yeah, well, the hotel company finally picked up on what was blindingly obvious to the rest of us: That kind of thing angers customers. Hilton ended that test. In fact, you could say it went down in flames. Instead, the hotel is looking at copying the airlines (and countl...

$99 Deal From Los Angeles to Stockholm

By Pauline Frommer

Posted on 02/23/2016, 12:15 PM

Here's a blink-or-you'll-miss-it sale. Mighty SAS Airlines (which carries over 28 million passenger a year) is throwing a brief sale in celebration of its new LA to Stockhom route. The fare is just $99 each way, including all taxes and fees, and works for those traveling between March 14 and March 25. To get in on the deal, you must book by March 6 and seats are limited (though they were avai...

Aeroflot: It's Not Just for Crashes Anymore

By Jason Cochran

Posted on 02/22/2016, 1:30 PM

Aeroflot, the flag carrier of the Russian Federation, has a dreadful reputation for being unsafe. And it deserves it: The Aircraft Crashes Record Office, a non-government organization based in Switzerland, says that as of May 2010, 8,231 passengers have died in Aeroflot crashes. That's a lot. Air France comes a distant second, with 1,783 fatalities, followed by the defunct Pan Am (1,645),...

KLM Offers Free Amsterdam Tour Guides

By Jason Cochran

Posted on 02/19/2016, 2:00 PM

Right now, Icelandair will set up its customers with a buddy to show them around on their visits. Now KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the Dutch carrier, is jumping in on the "local guide" trend. If you're connecting through Schiphol Airport on KLM—and some 70% of its passengers do—then you qualify for a free local guide as long as your layover is for six hours or more. The airline will give you a f...

Climate Change to Make Flights Longer

By Jason Cochran

Posted on 02/18/2016, 8:15 PM

Environmental Research Letters, a peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers the Earth's environment, recently came out with a study that predicts airlines are about to require more fuel on transatlantic journeys. It predicts that the increase in wind speeds brought about by changing temperatures—a climatological shift that's already in evidence—will require flights to take more time to bat...

Three New National Monuments Named

By Jason Cochran

Posted on 02/12/2016, 2:45 PM

Meet your newest National Park units. President Obama has set aside some 1.8 million acres of delicate Southern California desertland as three of the United States' newest National Monuments. They're no longer "proposed"—as of today, they're confirmed. The new areas are called Mojave Trails, Castle Mountains (both are in the Mojave Desert), and Sand to Snow (in the Sonoran Desert). All o...

Will Travel Insurance Cover Zika Cancellation?

By Anna Waters

Posted on 02/09/2016, 7:30 PM

The short answer? No, unless you’re willing to pay extra. Some travel insurance providers offer plans that will cover cancelled travel for any reason, so Zika-related cancellations would inherently be included. But Dean Sivley, president of Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, has said that’s not the norm: Such policies are added onto travel insurance “less than 10 percent of the time.” A ...

The World's First Hybrid Plane Is Here

By Jason Cochran

Posted on 02/09/2016, 1:15 PM

Introducing a new type of airplane: One that works on a hydrogen hybrid system. The new concept will be embraced by easyJet, the cheapie that operates in 27 European cities. But this is no publicity stunt—it's happening precisely because the airline is so stingy. The new aircraft, an adapted Airbus A320 to be called A320neo, will use a hydrogen battery to power part of its journey. It wo...

Fly to Iceland & They'll Give You a Friend

By Jason Cochran

Posted on 02/02/2016, 2:45 PM

Icelandair has long been one of the more inventive European airlines. It has to be—people used to believe that Iceland is too far off the beaten path to pay attention to. But for half a century, the country and its airline have successfully worked against that belief, first by offering low-cost stopovers there, and later by expanding flights to Reykjavik to many moderate-sized American citie...

New York City Copter Tours Chopped

By Jason Cochran

Posted on 02/02/2016, 2:00 PM

New York authorities just took a blade to the city's tourist helicopter industry: In an agreement that was jointly announced by the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the Helicopter Tourism and Jobs Council, helicopter operating companies agreed to reduce flights by about 50% annually within a year. All tourist flights would end on Sundays beginning April 1. Overall fli...

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