Getting Caught Up On What’s New In The Travel World

Our family just got back from a great 10-day vacation in Italy and I’m getting caught up.  There were a bunch of things I either missed or didn’t have time to touch base with all of you on.  You’ll find a list of them below, with my thoughts:

British Airways fuel surcharges are one of the very few major bummers I encounter with oneworld awards, especially given the “friendly” partner pricing United announced last year.  View From The Wing to the rescue with a solution to help.  Do this today!

Atlantic City as a mini casino mecca appears to be coming to an end.  I spent a bunch of time there in my youth, playing a bit of blackjack and craps before graduating full-time to poker tournaments, mostly at Borgata.  I used to drive there from my home in Virginia frequently.  Atlantic City has never really been a clean, crime-free kind of city.  Some would say that removing the gambling will get rid of the crime.  As someone who grew up in that area of the country, I have my doubts there’s another renaissance in Atlantic City’s immediate future.

It’s quite possible it takes longer to load and unload the passengers from this plane than the time it spends in the air.  HT: Uggboy on Milepoint.

UberFamily has officially expanded to additional cities.  Awesome!

MJ On Travel has the scoop on a cool tool to help find the best price on cruise vacations.  We did a bunch of cruising before Michelle got pregnant with our second child.  Due to restrictions on pregnant women as well as restrictions on young children in the pools, we stopped cruising for a bit.  We’re likely to get back to it soon and will certainly be looking into this tool.

50% off Grand Opening sale for Hyatt Zilara, Jamaica. HT: Loyalty Traveler

Part of the Pont des Arts bridge collapsed from all the locks put there by tourists.  That’s a bit sad for me and makes me wonder if the lock that my wife, daughter and I put on is gone now.  And the one my wife and I signed on our own and locked on the bridge.  I love the tradition but I understand how it can get out of control.  We saw them at the Vatican and all over random spots in Venice, though in much smaller quantities. HT: David

Everyone who has flown the last few years knows that legroom is a dying breed.  Does Boeing have a plan to make it extinct?  HT: Newscience on Milepoint.

Wandering Aramean released another cool addition to his tool collection, a way to automatically get delay updates for a whole slew of major airports in the US.  Like him, I’ve used fly.faa.gov for as long as I can remember.  Sometimes just out of idle curiosity, but more often to keep informed for an upcoming flight or to help people traveling during inclement weather.  I haven’t tried out the tool yet, but it sounds pretty cool.

And, while we’re on the subject of new toys, he also has a new tool that will search Hyatt properties for award inventory.  I have yet to run into award availability issues with Hyatt, but that’s because I do the majority of my paid stays with Hyatt and award stays with Starwood while I work towards lifetime status in both programs (Hyatt only gives credit for dollars spent while SPG will count award nights).  For those hunting award inventory, I love systems that notify me when there’s availability as opposed to me hunting continuously.  There are enough things I have to hunt for that don’t have such systems.

How to get back into the US without a valid passport, as told by NYCUA1K on Milepoint.