Ah, vacation. You sleep in, enjoy a leisurely breakfast, then head to the pool — only to not find an available lounge chair in sight. But there are only a few people splashing and sunning, so this shortage isn’t because of crowding. No, this is because all of the available loungers have been “reserved” by other guests, who rushed out early in the morning to mark their territory with towels and other accoutrements — guests who may not show up for hours, if at all. It’s called “pool chair-hogging,” and some hotels and cruise ships are finally beginning to crack down on the towel wars. Here’s what travelers need to know.

The Rise of Pool Chair-Hogging

While many resort pools have signs informing guests that belongings used to “hold” sun loungers will be removed after a set period of time (usually 30 minutes to an hour), few have actually empowered their employees to enforce the rule. But a recent court decision may give hoteliers a financial incentive. 

A German tourist was recently awarded more than 900 euros (about $1,100 USD) when his family was left lounger-less on vacation in Kos, Greece. In the suit, the vacationer claimed that the tour operator and the resort failed to crack down on lounge chair hoggers, depriving the family of four of sunbeds during their stay.

Why do people make dawn raids to reserve a chair they won’t use until afternoon anyway? Clinical psychologist Augusto Blanco attributes this behavior to anxiety and entitlement. “Some people have a scarcity mindset that makes them anxious about finding available space, and they decide to hog chairs or sunbeds even if they won’t use them for hours on end,” he told us. “Another reason is entitlement, really. ‘I’ve paid for this, therefore I want the best spots available’ is something that can cross the mind of some guests.”

Author Julie Blouin agrees: “Reserving a pool chair isn’t really about the chair. It’s about the perceived fear of scarcity. When people believe resources are limited, they often prioritize certainty over courtesy, even if it comes at the expense of others. The towel isn’t claiming the chair. The person is trying to claim peace of mind. When we fear missing out, we often seek control in ways that unintentionally create frustration for everyone else.”

Regardless of rationale, most travelers can probably agree that the behavior is rude. Jo Hayes, founder of EtiquetteExpert.org, implores vacationers to consider the Golden Rule. “Would you like it if someone ‘reserved’ a swag of sunbeds, then left them unoccupied for hours, while fellow vacationers were left sunbed-less?” she said. “That sunbed-less vacationer being you? Then, don’t do this to others.”

What’s the Solution?

Hayes also offered a solution to hotels and resorts seeking to curb this behavior: dividing their sunbeds into two separate sections. “One lot is unreservable — available on a first-in, first-served basis, but only for those actually using the pool area. So you can’t ‘reserve’ with a towel or other belongings, and come back in a few hours, after you’ve taken a long lunch.”

Hayes proposed that “the other 50% can be reserved for, say, two-hour periods. Guests can book for, say, 10 a.m. to noon, and be guaranteed their sunbed will be available to them during that period. But if they fail to show within 15 minutes of their booking, the booking is canceled, and the sunbed is made available to another guest, if all other unreservable sunbeds are taken.”

In the wake of the recent court ruling, some hotels, such as the St. George Beach Hotel & Spa Resort in Creete, Greece, are assigning spots, while others are cracking down on guests who camp out with a few towels and beach bags. For example, at the Gloria Palace San Agustin resort in Spain’s Canary Islands, guests are required to be physically present on lounge chairs by the pool before 10 a.m., or their towel may be removed by staff, according to recent guest reports. 

Cruise lines are also getting in on the action: Carnival Cruise Line has implemented a timed sticker system. If staff observe an unoccupied pool lounger with only a towel or personal belongings, they can place a sticker on the chair with a timestamp. If it’s unoccupied 40 minutes later, the towel or belongings will be removed. 

And as with almost everything else, there’s an app that helps solve this problem: Services like Solay and Reservato allow users to reserve a spot to sunbathe right from their phones at participating properties.

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Adventurous travelers don’t stop wanting to explore simply because they’ve gotten older. If you’re among them, you may be interested to find out whether airlines offer discounts on account of your age. A few do, but there are some things to know before you book. Take a look at which major airlines offer discounted fares for seniors.

American Airlines

On American Airlines’ website, you can use the website’s “Advanced Search” to select “Senior (65+)” under the “Passengers” section during booking. This may trigger discounts to appear on certain routes when available. 

However, when we spoke with a call center representative in June 2026, they told us that these senior discounts aren’t currently offered to holders of U.S. passports. They added that it may be possible to secure a small percentage off the cost of flights if you are 65 or older and traveling on a passport issued by Ecuador, Honduras, or Panama. The flight does not have to originate in one of those countries, but ticket holders will need to prove their eligibility when asked. However, it doesn’t hurt to call American Airlines and check if that policy has changed by the time you make your booking.

Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines’ website states that any passenger who is hoping to secure a fare with a senior discount needs to call reservations to book. These special fares aren’t advertised and are available only in certain markets. To find out whether your desired itinerary qualifies, call the reservations team and see what fares are available for your dates.

Other U.S. Airlines

As margins are squeezed, airlines have had to modify their pricing strategy to remain competitive. For instance, according to its website, Southwest Airlines does not offer senior fares; the airline stopped selling them in 2019. Neither does United Airlines — the airline used to offer discounts through its Silver Wings Plus program, but it stopped accepting new members in 2005. (Members who joined before then can still book discounted fares.)

Similarly, JetBlue doesn’t have a blanket senior discount policy; however, Ecuadorean passport holders over 65 years of age can take advantage of 50% off when booking directly at Guayaquil Airport (travel agency bookings are ineligible). Alaska Airlines also does not offer senior fares, but holders of the Alaska Airlines Visa credit card can take advantage of discounted companion fares.

International Airlines

Air France offers travelers the option of purchasing a Senior Pass, which is available to anyone age 65 and older, regardless of nationality. This has an annual fee of 49 euros (around $57 USD) and is valid for 12 months. Holders can enjoy discounts of up to 30% on standard and flex fares. However, there’s an important caveat: Journeys must start in metropolitan France. This means that any flight from the U.S. would not be eligible for a discount, though American retirees planning an extended Europe trip could potentially get their money’s worth.

Air India offers discounted senior fares to some passengers over 60 years of age. Savings of up to 25% off are available for domestic flight routes within India for any Indian passport holder over 60. Additional benefits, such as a cost-free date change and an extra baggage allowance, are also given to older passengers, regardless of where they’re from.

Other Options

Another strategy for seniors hoping to benefit from discounted travel is to join AARP. The organization doesn’t partner with specific airlines (its agreement with British Airways ended in January 2026), but it still offers members the option to book travel through the AARP Travel Center Powered by Expedia. Currently, eligible travelers reserving a flight plus a hotel stay of at least one night receive one $50 gift card per booking (not per person), with a choice of Visa and Mastercard prepaid cards or select retailers. Other benefits include discounts on hotel stays, cruises, and rental cars. 

When planning a trip, many travelers focus on maximizing their vacation time. It’s tempting to schedule flights that land just hours before a cruise departure or return home the night before work starts again. But one of the simplest ways to reduce travel stress is to build in a buffer day at the beginning and/or end of your itinerary. A little extra time helps you navigate unexpected disruptions, recover from travel fatigue, and ease the transition between vacation mode and everyday life. Here are five reasons why pro travelers always plan a buffer day.

Protect Yourself in Case of Last-Minute Delays

Flight delays, cancellations, missed connections, and weather disruptions are sometimes unavoidable. In an age when flying can be unpredictable and overwhelming, arriving at your destination a day before your itinerary truly begins can provide valuable protection if something goes wrong en route. This proves especially important when you have a cruise departure, confirmed tours, a wedding, or other nonrefundable or inflexible activities planned soon after arrival. 

Without a buffer, even a minor delay can derail your plans — or, at the very least, leave you starting your trip stressed and with a dent in your wallet. There are even instances in which some wiggle room in your itinerary could benefit your future travel plans. Overbooked flights are a great example: When airlines need volunteers to take a later flight, travelers with a buffer day can often take advantage of the opportunity, earning travel credits and vouchers to put toward future trips. What might be a major inconvenience for some can become a valuable perk for others.

Recover From Jet Lag

Long flights and time zone changes can take a toll, leading to exhaustion before your trip begins. Even if you manage to sleep on the plane, it’s rarely your best night’s rest. If you’re traveling overseas, building in a buffer day on the front end of your trip gives your body time to adjust to a new schedule before you start enjoying your destination. Similarly, adding a day on the back end of your trip gives your body time to readjust to your home time zone and routine, so you don’t spend your first few days back battling odd sleep hours and feeling out of sync.

Settle in at Your Destination

Travel days are often hectic. Between airports, transfers, packing, unpacking, and adapting to unfamiliar surroundings, it can take time to feel fully settled. A buffer day after arrival gives you an opportunity to leisurely unpack, explore the neighborhood, stock up on groceries and other essentials, and get oriented before your trip kicks off in earnest. Having a day where you don’t feel any pressure to see the sights can help start your trip on a more relaxed note. 

Transition Back Into “Real Life”

The same is true when you arrive back home. Returning with a suitcase full of dirty clothes and tackling laundry is often the last thing you want to do when the responsibilities of real life start to loom. Having an extra day to unpack, work through multiple loads of laundry, restock the fridge, spend time with your pets, and settle back into your routine can make returning to work or other obligations the next day feel far less overwhelming. Rather than feeling like your vacation ended abruptly, you can ease back into normal life at a much more manageable pace.

Maintain Mental Calmness

Ask almost any parent returning from a family vacation whether they feel fully rested and refreshed, and you’ll probably get a laugh before you get an answer. But even if you aren’t vacationing with children, traveling can be exhausting, particularly if you’re with a large group or extended family. Between managing schedules, keeping everyone entertained, navigating airports, and dealing with unexpected hiccups, vacations often require a lot more energy than people anticipate.

That’s why building a buffer day into your itinerary can be so valuable. Knowing you have extra time to reach your destination — or to ease back into life at home — helps reduce stress for everyone involved.

The tipping routine at your local coffee shop is probably second nature, but the rules aren’t as clear when traveling. On the road, there are helpful hands everywhere — at the curb, in the lobby, out by the pool — and it isn’t always obvious who’s hoping for a gratuity and who doesn’t expect one. With that in mind, here are seven people you should probably tip on your next trip — and two you can probably thank just with words.

Skycaps

If you drop your bags curbside at the airport instead of taking them inside to the counter, be aware that the skycap handling them for you is working for tips. The standard is around $3 to $5 for the first bag (on top of the small convenience fee airlines now charge for this service), with an extra dollar or two for each additional suitcase.

Hotel Housekeepers

Housekeepers are among the hardest-working people at any hotel — and also the employees who tend to receive the fewest tips. The American Hotel & Lodging Association recommends leaving $1 to $5 per night, but we’d recommend $5 or more at luxury hotels, and much more if you leave a mess. Different people may service your room from day to day, so it’s best to tip daily instead of at the end of your stay. Make sure the money is left on the nightstand or on the pillow (in an envelope or with a note), so it’s clear the bills are intended for staff.

Bellhops

When a bellhop carries your luggage up to your room, tipping them a few bucks per bag is customary. If they’re trekking to the end of the resort with a heavy load, giving you a helpful tour, or coming back with a bucket of ice, consider throwing in a few extra dollars on top of that.

Valet Attendants

When the parking valet brings your car back around, $3 to $5 should cover it at all but the poshest of properties, where you might want to make it $10 to $20. There’s no need to give a tip at drop-off — save your cash for when your vehicle is safely returned.

Taxi and Rideshare Drivers

For a taxi or rideshare service (such as Lyft or Uber), tipping 15% to 20% of the final fare is customary, with extra if the driver hauls heavy luggage or waits for you while you run back inside to retrieve your phone. In some states, the law requires that rideshare apps show you exactly how much (or little) your driver is making per ride, so you may feel inclined to tip more generously.

Tour Guides

An engaging guide can make a tour the highlight of your vacation, and many count on tips as thanks for their efforts. Onshore excursions from cruise ships, for example, are often run by locals. Estimate at least $5 per person for a half-day tour and $10 or more for a full day, plus a few extra dollars for the driver. Park rangers and other government employees can’t accept tips, but a glowing online review or a complimentary email to their department is always welcome.

Bartenders and Pool Servers

Paying as you go at a hotel bar? Just like at home, throw down a dollar or two per drink, or add 15% to 20% gratuity to the final tab. When poolside, attendants bringing towels and sunscreen appreciate a dollar or two per item, and the same goes for delivering cocktails or other beverages. If you’re having a full meal al fresco, add 15% to 20% to your bill when paying or charging to your room.

Who Not To Tip: Flight Attendants

Flight attendants are first and foremost on board to protect your safety while flying. They’re also near the top of the list of people you don’t tip on vacation. Most major airlines discourage their flight crews from accepting tips, while some ban gratuities outright. The exception is Frontier Airlines, which added a tip line for flyers in 2025. However, some passengers choose to bring their flight attendants gifts (e.g., small bags of chocolate), which most airlines permit. 

Cruise Ship Officers

Cruise fares almost always include a gratuity or automatic service charge to take care of staff, but you should never hesitate to be generous to a cabin steward or dining attendant who goes out of their way to make your voyage special. However, you shouldn’t tip the captain and senior officers helming the ship — this is another situation where an email to their cruise line is far more welcome (and less awkward) than attempting to give them cash.

When flying as a family, parents typically (and understandably) want to sit with their children. But with the rising cost of airfare and additional fees for seat selection on the cheapest fares, it can sometimes be cost prohibitive to secure seats together on a flight. The good news is that several major carriers offer fee-free guarantees to ensure families are seated together. Discover which airlines offer this family-friendly benefit — and which other airlines fall short.

The Five Best Airlines for Families 

The U.S. Department of Transportation has a helpful dashboard on its website outlining which airlines have fee-free family seating. While the DOT “encourages all airlines to guarantee that young children are seated adjacent to an accompanying adult without charging any additional fee,” only five major U.S. airlines, according to its website, have currently committed to this guarantee. They are:

• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Frontier Airlines
• Hawaiian Airlines
• JetBlue

What this means is that children 13 and under are guaranteed the opportunity to sit with an adult companion on those airlines without having to pay extra, assuming their booking meets the proper conditions (more than that below). 

The four other major U.S. airlines — Allegiant, Delta, Southwest Airlines, and United — make no such guarantee of families being able to sit together. That said, children 2 and under are permitted to sit on their parents’ laps for free, no matter the airline.

How Does Fee-Free Family Seating Work?

When you’re booking with an airline that uses assigned seating (which describes every major U.S. airline, now that Southwest has done away with open seating), there are five conditions that must be met as part of this fee-free family seating guarantee. Here’s a closer look at each:

• The child and accompanying adult must be on the same reservation. If the parent books a ticket for themself on one reservation and a separate ticket for their kid on another reservation, adjacent seating cannot be guaranteed.
• Adjacent seats must be available at the time of booking. If the flight is popular and booked to the point that only single seats are available, you’ll have to choose another flight if you want to sit together, as the airline won’t move other passengers to accommodate families.
• There are instances in which the original aircraft may be substituted for another one, such as if there are maintenance issues. If this happens, the seating layout may be different than originally planned, and families may be separated because of the change.
• When booking, the adult must choose seats for everyone on the reservation, or they can skip seat selection and let the airline assign them automatically. (So, you can’t select seats just for the adults and not the children on the reservation.) Once seats are assigned, you’re locked into those assignments and cannot make changes and still be guaranteed to sit next to each other. 
• Lastly, it must be physically possible for the parent to be seated next to their child.

Assuming all of the above conditions are satisfied, parents can rest easy knowing that they’ll be seated next to their children. If you’re flying with a carrier that offers this guarantee and run into any issues, contact the airline. In the event that an airline advertises but fails to provide this guarantee, you can also file a complaint with the airline itself or the Department of Transportation.

Additional Tips for Parents

When booking a flight, try to book as early as possible, so there’s plenty of availability for you and your children to sit together. Also be sure to input all the accurate information for you and your child. Many airlines, if they see that you’re an adult traveling with a kid, will try to automatically pair you together when seats are assigned.

It’s also worth noting that FAA regulations prohibit children under 15 and any passengers caring for kids from sitting in the exit row. For this reason, you should not select these seats, nor expect to sit in them, when traveling as a family.

On the day of your trip, always confirm that your seating remains unchanged before heading to the airport. If anything seems amiss, head to the airport early and allow plenty of time to speak with an agent and make things right.

Airplanes make a lot of noises — some more unsettling than others — that most of us mere passengers don’t fully understand. The sound of the landing gear retracting shortly after takeoff? Easy to grasp, not scary at all. The ding of the overhead call button? Mostly fine, if a little annoying depending on the circumstances. But have you ever noticed a weird barking sound that some planes make? It’s unnerving the first time you hear it, and still fairly mysterious even once you’re used to it. So what exactly is it, and what causes it? Let’s find out.

More Bark Than Bite

For starters, the aviation market is considered a duopoly, with European manufacturer Airbus on one side and Boeing on the other. Only one manufacturer’s planes make that distinctive sound: Airbus, which equips its aircraft with a power transfer unit (PTU) that works differently from that of its competitor. 

It’s this feature that is responsible for that canine-esque cacophony, which can sound distinctly like the “woof” of a dog, a repetitive high-pitched whine, or a sawing sound emanating from the floorboards of the plane cabin. While the sound may be alarming at first, it’s perfectly normal — and a sign the plane is working exactly as designed. Because of the location of the PTU in the aircraft, passengers seated near the wings are more likely to hear the noise. 

The device transfers hydraulic power between a plane’s hydraulic systems when one of them is turned off, which is why we most often hear them at the gate when an engine shuts on or off on the ground, or when a plane is taxiing. According to airline pilot and author Patrick Smith, it’s common for planes to use only one engine at this time in order to save fuel, which is when and why the PTU kicks in.

Its role is to balance the pressure differential between the plane’s hydraulic systems that results from one engine being turned off. (A plane’s hydraulic system is what powers critical operations such as the flight controls, landing gears, and wing flaps.) As the PTU does its job, it emits that characteristic sound — not unlike a dog barking out the window at a perceived threat that’s actually just the mailman.

That Dog in You

Airbus PTUs are in continuous use, whereas Boeing aircraft are designed differently, requiring them to be activated only as a backup while the plane is actually airborne (and it doesn’t make the same sound).

Additionally, only some Airbus models use them — namely twin-engine members of the A320 and A330 families. That doesn’t include the A320neo, a next-generation version of the original Airbus A320 family. During testing, the A320neo initially barked even louder than its predecessors; however, it has since been equipped with hydraulic dampers that reduce the noise. 

So, the next time your plane barks, you’ll know a lot of important information: that you’re flying on an Airbus, not a Boeing, and that the noise signals a mundane mechanical operation rather than something actually being wrong with the aircraft. Sadly, for animal lovers, it won’t mean that a dog is on board with you.

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