Photo: Efired/Shutterstock
This Is the Single Biggest Reason Checked Bags Get Lost or Delayed
My luggage went missing twice last year. Once flying home from Italy through Paris Charles de Gaulle (an airport with a well-earned reputation for being one of the worst). The second time coming back through Reno after a trip to Lake Tahoe. Both times, the AirTags I kept buried in my suitcases pinged me a location once my phone caught a signal, so at least I knew roughly where my things had ended up, even if it wasn't anywhere near me.
I got lucky. Both mix-ups happened on the way home, when a delayed bag is an annoyance instead of a disaster. It does not always shake out that way. Land in an unfamiliar city without your luggage, and your itinerary can unravel before it starts. I've heard so many horror stories, bridesmaids without their dresses, or worse.
A new report dug into how bags actually move through airports and pinpointed the one factor that most determines whether yours makes the trip with you. And it turns out to be something you can sometimes control.
-Kelsey WIlking, newsletter editor
N E W S
TSA Airport Lines Are About to Get Quicker for Android Phone Users
Photo: Transportation Security Administration
A head start for Android users. iPhones may be the best-selling phones in the world, but in this case the advantage goes to Android users.
On June 24, the TSA announced that Google Wallet is the first digital wallet to partner with it on the PreCheck Touchless ID program, the system that lets eligible flyers clear the identity check with a facial scan instead of handing a physical ID and boarding pass to an officer.
N E W S
Japan Will Soon Have a Pokémon Airport, and You Have 3 Years to Get There
Photo: Noto Satoyama Pokémon With You Airport
On July 7, 2026, Noto Satoyama Airport in Ishikawa Prefecture reopens as the Noto Satoyama Pokémon With You Airport, the first airport anywhere officially named for the franchise.
The makeover runs through September 2029, giving you roughly three years to visit before it reverts to an ordinary airport and becomes the trip your childhood self will never forgive you for skipping.
B E A C H E S
Why Pompano Beach Is Florida’s Most Underrated Beach Town
Photo: Fort Lauderdale Marriott Pompano Beach Resort
From the outside, Pompano Beach reads like an afterthought north of Fort Lauderdale: close, coastal, easy to reach, easy to skip. A closer look says otherwise.
Pompano strikes the rare balance of relaxation and real things to do, without ever feeling rushed. Here is how to build the trip.
S T A Y S
From Charlie Chaplin to the Coachella Set, Casa Cody Has Been the ‘It’ Stay in Palm Springs for a Century
Photo: Lance Gerber/Yellowtrace
Casa Cody is the oldest continuously operating hotel in Palm Springs, established in the 1920s by Harriet Cody, a cousin by marriage to Wild West showman Buffalo Bill. Thick adobe walls, pink bougainvillea, and a hush that makes the whole place feel tucked out of time.
Today, it holds Class 1 Historic Site status, the highest the city awards, and the history is everywhere you look.
G I V E A W A Y
Win a Dream Trip to Norway for 2
Six nights across Norway for two: fjord cruises through Nordic waters, some of the world's most scenic rail journeys, and stays in the country's storybook Scandinavian cities.
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Travel Well
The Matador Editorial Team
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