Start your holiday planning now
| | | | | | | Sponsored by  | | | | Happy Heat Dome Friday. Hope it cools down for your Fourth of July celebrations. If not, you can always binge the new season of "The Bear." There will be no newsletter next Friday so you'll find me at my favorite beach cottage in San Diego thanks to a rare last-minute cancellation. In travel news this week, the NTSB blamed Boeing and the FAA for the harrowing Alaska Airlines' door blowout in January. International travel was disrupted by the closure of Qatar airspace and cable theft on the Eurostar high-speed train service between London and Paris. Delta Air Lines opened its fourth Delta One lounge, in Seattle, and debuted a new Sky Club there. American Airlines announced plans to build a new Flagship Lounge at its Miami hub and turn the current one into an expanded Admirals Club. And United Airlines added new app features to make those connections less painful. | |  | | San Diego has so many happy babies—and not just at beach yoga. PHOTO: DAWN GILBERTSON/WSJ | | | | | | | | It seems like just yesterday we were rattling off New Year's resolutions, and here we are and the year is half over. It's the perfect time for a travel checkup. Add these to your to-do list. - Book those year-end holiday flights or at least set price alerts on Google Flights to keep tabs on fares. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's flights are always expensive so why not get the pick of the litter now? With no more ticket-change fees, you can always get a credit if prices go down, unless you buy a basic economy fare or budget airline ticket. While you're at it, reserve that hotel if you're heading to skiing or sun hotspots for the holidays.
- Take stock of your PTO and get those vacation requests in. You'll beat procrastinating co-workers and won't have to fret when management sends that dreaded email about no more holiday time-off requests.
- Assess your points balances. This is at the top of my list so I have a ready reference when I need to book a flight or hotel for the rest of the year, for myself or family members. This is also helpful so you're ready to pounce when one of those screaming points deals to Europe pops up.
- Gunning for airline status? See where you stand. No sense sticking blindly with one airline, whatever the cost, if you're not close. If you are progressing nicely, calculate what you need and work on it over the next few months.
- Check those travel credit-card benefits. The year is half over. Are you getting use out of those airline, hotel and travel credits? If not, get on it. Some annual perks are doled out in two halves so you need to use the first half by Monday. Guess I'll be going to the Saks Fifth Avenue makeup counter this weekend to spend my $50 credit from the American Express Platinum card.
- Monitor your progress on any credit-card sign-up bonuses. You don't want to be caught short and miss out on the pile of points that drew you in.
- Check the expiration date of your passport, TSA PreCheck and Global Entry memberships. Renew if needed so you don't run into any last-minute travel troubles
- Get that damn REAL ID already if you don't have a passport or other eligible ID.
| | | | | |  | | At Caracas Beach, a horse waits for a possible snack as a tourist guards her family's belongings while they play in the water. PHOTO: ERIKA P. RODRIGUEZ FOR WSJ | | | | | | | CONTENT FROM: Pacaso |  | | Notable Investors Are Buying This "Unlisted" Stock | | When the team that grew Zillow from seed to IPO starts a new company, people notice. No wonder Maveron invested in Pacaso. Their platform sells fractions of premier properties, revamping a $1.3T vacation home market. And it works. Pacaso has earned $110M+ in gross profits in their operating history. They even recently reserved the Nasdaq ticker PCSO. You can invest today for just $2.90/share. Invest in Pacaso | ![]() | | | | | | | | Facing flight delays and cancellations? Take a couple of minutes to jot down notes about the reasons for the flight woes in case you need to take up the case with the airline. I record announcements at the gate with the voice-memo app on my phone and screenshot updates from the airline's app and texts. | | | | | | | | | 59% | | The percentage of U.S. travelers who have never booked a combined business-leisure trip, according to Boston Consulting Group's Traveler of the Future report out this week. Bleisure trips are much more popular in countries including China and India, the report says. | | | | | | "I'm a little cheap.'' | | —WNBA star Caitlin Clark, saying she hoped her flight had seat-back screens to watch Game 7 of the NBA Finals this week so she didn't have to pay for in-flight Wi-Fi to watch the game. | | | | | | | …on the value of high-fee travel credit cards. "I want a high-priced card to add to my travel experience and not diminish it. It is fine if it gives me some benefits that I will not use, or have to go out of my way to use, as long as many of the ones that it gives me are really useful and, preferably, additive and not diminutive. For example, a hotel benefit that I can only use by giving up my elite status and points for a stay is very diminutive, and would likely make the 'benefit' worthless for me. "One of the key 'perks' of the Chase Sapphire refresh is the $250 semi-annual hotel benefit at certain luxury hotels. That is really a $125 per night discount with the big negative that it will generally cause a loss of status credits and benefits for the stay. Even though it does come with some stay benefits, those do not generally make up for the loss of status credits and benefits.''
—Randall Stempler, New York Responses have been condensed and edited. | | | | | | | |
