Travel News and Advice – January 15, 2026

Bottled water caution. Did you know this? I didn’t. Apparently, bottles of water in some countries are resealed after they’re filled with contaminated tap water. From now on, I will be much more careful to make sure the caps look fully sealed. I recommend you do the same!

Watch for scams. I have mentioned before that there are scam websites that look exactly like real websites for travel companies, so always check the URL. But there are also bogus phone numbers for companies in search engines, so always go to the real website of the company to find their actual phone number. Travelers have lost money to these scammers.

Flights in Caribbean disrupted. Earlier this month, flights to and from most of the Caribbean were disrupted after the U.S. government forcibly removed the president of Venezuela. The disruption lasted about a day.

Revamped air traffic control system. The Federal Aviation Association in the U.S. is planning to upgrade the air traffic control system to “reduce outages and improve efficiency.” This won’t be finished until late 2028. I don’t know about you, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

Worst U.S. city for bedbugs. The winner is: Chicago according to Orkin, followed by Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Indianapolis. Always check your hotel rooms and Airbnbs, and know that bedbugs have nothing to do with cleanliness. So a 5-star hotel can experience an infestation just as easily as a hostel. The only real difference is that upscale hotels do more to clear these infestations as quickly as possible than lower rated properties do.

Snowfall in Europe disrupts travel. During the first week of 2026, snowfall, ice, low temperatures, and high winds caused flight cancellations and train travel disruptions in parts of Europe, including Amsterdam and Paris.

Tourists stranded on Socotra Island. Hundreds of travelers were stranded for at least several days on the remote Yemeni island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean due to political unrest in Yemen. All ports of entry were closed after a state of emergency was called. The tourists were reportedly evacuated by January 10th to Saudi Arabia.

Were you in Newark Liberty Airport on Dec. 12th? If so, you might have been exposed to measles. I recently got my immunity tested to make sure I’m in the clear. I am, but if you aren’t, be careful out there, as measles cases are increasing rapidly.

New lounge news. A huge Capital One lounge will be completed in 2027 or 2028 in Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. It will be 14,000 square feet in Concourse A near gates 21-29 on the mezzanine level and will be the largest Capital One lounge, dwarfing the current largest at New York’s JFK airport, which is 13,500 square feet. Meanwhile, a Delta SKY360° has opened in the Sphere in Las Vegas, and Cathay Pacific is opening a new lounge at JFK’s Terminal 6 later this year.

U.S. rolls back airline regulations. Well, I saw this coming. Unfortunately, this means that consumers will have less recourse when an airline doesn’t treat them right.

Bond program to get into the U.S. Speaking of the U.S. administration’s continued effort to destroy the travel industry, it plans to add another 25 countries (by the end of this month) to its current list of 13 countries, requiring that tourists and business travelers from these places post bond payments of $5,000-$15,000 to visit the U.S. The bonds are refunded as long as travelers leave the U.S. before their visa expires or if their visa is denied in the first place.

Water quality on U.S. airlines. Delta Air Lines got the top score for best water quality, while American Airlines got the lowest score according to the Longevity Airline Water Study.