A standard American vacation goes something like this: Save up dollars and vacation time. Select a destination. Book transportation. Book hotel. Arrive. Lounge. Explore. Come home. But with only a week or two to spend on your annual jaunt, do you really want to spend it at a generic hotel room that could be in any destination in the country? Or the world? Isn’t the point of a holiday to…

Sometimes you get what you pay for when you book a cheap flight. Passengers on Spirit Airlines (SAVE) Flight 310 over the weekend had to wait nearly 20 hours to fly from Los Angeles to Florida, after an unruly passenger forced the crew to make an emergency stop in Texas. A vision-impaired 86-year-old man, flying alone, began kicking and ranting in what appears to have been a moment of confusion….

The 2012 Olympic Games in London are just around the corner, and tickets are starting to pop up on the black market. But you don’t have to pay inflated prices — or meet a shady character in an alley — to partake in the festivities, either firsthand or at community viewing sites throughout the city. With some know-how and advance planning, you can still hop the pond like a gold…

By JOAN LOWY WASHINGTON — The government can require airlines to show consumers a total ticket price that includes taxes and fees in print and online ads, the U.S. Court of Appeals said Tuesday, rejecting an industry challenge to a series of consumer protection regulations. The Department of Transportation, which issued the regulations last year, has the authority to regulate “unfair and deceptive” airline industry practices, the three-member panel said…

It seemed like a great idea at the time. Leading travel portal Expedia (EXPE) spun off TripAdvisor (TRIP) — the longtime hub of online travel reviews — this past December. Expedia would be able to focus on its strengths as a global booker of travel, and investors would be able to latch on to the faster-growing yet smaller TripAdvisor as a standalone play on the Web 2.0 revolution, where user-generated…

By DAN SEWELL CINCINNATI — Delta Air Lines (DAL) is shutting down its shrunken, 35-year-old regional carrier Comair at the end of September as it switches to bigger jets and it is sending termination notices to its 1,700 remaining employees. Comair is down to 290 flights a day. More than 1,000 Comair employees are in the Cincinnati and northern Kentucky region, some 700 of those in Kentucky. Comair has slashed…

Prev1 of 3Next Medical tourism is nothing new: For years, media outlets, including this one, have been reporting on the benefits of going to other countries for expensive medical procedures. But sometimes, cheap medical work can come with a high price — as the recent case of a Florida woman illustrates. On Wednesday, WFTV, an ABC affiliate in Central Florida, reported on the case of Helen Hyjek, a Palm Coast…

Music festival season is here again, promising sun, fun and a slate of some of the country’s best musical acts — all at bulk-rate prices. But even with festival discounts, the costs of traveling to concerts, staying in hotels and eating out can quickly add up. Luckily, there are numerous ways to save on your festival-going experience. Here are some of the experts’ best tips for enjoying the music…without emptying…

By DAVID KOENIG DALLAS — United Airlines (UAL) says it has a deal with union negotiators on a new labor contract with its own pilots and those from the former Continental Airlines. United Continental Holdings Inc. said Friday that the agreement is an important step in creating a single workforce at the company, which was formed by a 2010 merger. The deal is still subject to approval by governing boards…

Over the years, the airline industry has been plagued by financial troubles. Most of the major U.S. carriers have had to declare bankruptcy at least once during their histories, and costs like high fuel prices present a constant challenge. But as much as customers hate them, baggage fees and other tacked-on charges for travelers have made a huge difference to the bottom lines of airlines. Charges of $25 and up…