Articles

Air Travel

Article / Air Travel

The Fastest Way to Get from NYC to Boston? A Waterfront-to-Waterfront Seaplane

Traveling from Boston Harbor to Manhattan's East River by amphibious aircraft is fast, fun—and expensive.

Article / Air Travel

How We Helped to End Family Seating Fees, the Worst Airline Junk Fee Ever

For more than ten years, airlines have charged families with young kids to sit together. It’s finally going to stop. Here's how we made change happen.

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

U.S. Forbids Airlines from Charging Families to Sit Together

There's been another big win for consumers at the U.S. airports. On Thursday, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that it has proposed a rule that forbids commercial…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Southwest Airlines to End Open Seating, So Why Fly It At All? There's Still One Reason

Social media is so infected with liars and bad actors that we can't trust it even to tell us the sky is blue anymore. But the minute Southwest Airlines announced that, after some 50…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

DOT Secretary Forcefully Reminds U.S. Airline Passengers of Their New Refund Rights

Some airlines are still struggling to reboot their service in the wake of last weekend's cataclysmic CloudStrike software shutdown. On Monday, Delta Air Lines was still limping its way…

Article / Passportable

This Carnival Cruise Customer Service Scam Cost a Family Their $900 Vacation

We've warned you before about travel scams involving fraudulent phone numbers for airlines' customer service call centers. Passengers fall prey to that con when they look up an…

Article / Passportable

The Rules for Bringing a Dog Into the US Are Getting Stricter: Here's What's Changing

This post, originally published May 13, 2024, has been updated with new information.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is rolling out new rules for bringing a dog into…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Airlines Are Shrinking Carry-On Sizes, Forcing Travelers to Pay Checked Bag Fees

Your carry-on hand baggage may not be small enough anymore. A new furor is unfolding in the skies as airlines are caught drastically reducing the maximum permitted size of carry-on…

Article / Passportable

Orly Airport Just Opened a Cheap Direct Train Link to Central Paris

Every few months, it seems, another outfit releases a new list of the best and worst airports in the world, and a certain airport seems to be a perennial pariah. Paris' miserable…

Article / Air Travel

How to Identify Flights Overhead and Ships at Sea for Free Using Your Smartphone

Free apps and tools let you identify the airplanes you see in the sky and the ships sailing in the ocean.

Article / Air Travel

Airplanes Don’t Like Extreme Heat: Tips for Avoiding Flight Delays in Summer's Hot Weather

Summer flying can be tough. Especially this year. Plane engines simply behave differently in the summer, and smart travelers use that information to avoid delays and cancellations.

Article / Air Travel

5 Idiotic Viral Travel Hacks You Shouldn’t Bother Trying When You Fly

Don't believe everything you see on the internet. These viral travel hacks aren't likely to make flying better—and could make things worse. 

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Bags Stolen From Baggage Claim: The Airlines' Big Luggage Security Problem

Many travelers won't know or remember this, but there was a time when airline passengers had to to present a claim check in order to pick up their luggage after flights.Until the early…

Article / Passportable

JetBlue Basic Economy to Allow Carry-Ons—Which Airlines Still Charge for Overhead Bins?

JetBlue passengers with the airline's cheapest class of tickets, known as Blue Basic fares, will be allowed to bring a carry-on bag onto the plane at no additional charge, the carrier…

Article / Slideshows

The Best Packable Backpacks: These Day Packs Fold Up for Easy Travel

Now that many travelers are cutting costs by packing only a single carry-on bag, a new problem arises: What should you carry around for a day of touring, or what bag can you use in the…

Article / Air Travel

Not All Kids' Car Seats Are Approved for Airplanes: Know the Rules

Don't assume that you can automatically use your child's car seat on an airplane. It depends on the seat you own.

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Online Passport Renewal is Back in the U.S.! Here's How to Get In On It

All right, Americans. Ready? This is online passport renewal, take two. The U.S. State Department today announced that it is once again accepting applications for online passport…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

This Airline Is Mining Your Personal Information to Sell Things to You In Flight. Stop That!

Welcome to the spammy skies. United Airlines has launched a new ad serving platform that will exploit the personal travel information of its customers gathered from bookings, and the…

Article / Passportable

You’re Not Going to Like What Drinking Alcohol on Flights Does to Your Body, Per New Research

For the many travelers out there whose strategy for getting through long-haul flights is a one-two punch of boozing and snoozing, some German scientists have some bad news. A new…

Article / Slideshows

What's It Like to Fly SATA Azores Airlines? Our Review

Though SATA Azores Airlines is among the least expensive carriers flying Transatlantic it is not an upstart. The carrier has been in business since 1990, first under the name Ocean…

Article / Passportable

TSA Confirms Real ID Will Be Mandatory to Fly Starting May 7, 2025

This post was originally published in December 2022 and contains updated information.The deadline for all Americans to be using Real I.D., the strengthened identification format that…

Article / Air Travel

Where is Everybody? "Humanless” Customer Service is Dominating Travel. Can We Be Heard as Consumers?

Companies have been eliminating customer assistance and denying consumers help with increasing frequency, and now the problem is nearly ubiquitous. Why isn't this a national…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

American Airlines Raises Bag Fees, Will Ban Some Booking Sites from Points Eligibility

This news post was updated with new information after its original publication.It's almost as if the corporations dominating our lives are determined to make back whatever they missed…

Article / Food and Drink

Flying With Wine: Packing and Legal Tips You Need to Know

Packing wine to fly? We asked an expert about customs laws, airline policies, and avoiding luggage disasters.

Article / Air Travel

5 Ways to Get Airport Lounge Access Even Though You're Flying Economy

So what if your airline ticket was the cheapest one you could find? There are still ways to get into the airport lounge.