If you’re heading out of town this week, the airport may not look too different from the one you walked through in January. The same sitcoms are showing on your seatback screen, assuming you still have one. And hopefully the people you’re traveling to visit are familiar faces, too.
But there’s a lot about travel that has changed over the past 12 months—even if you were too fixated on your destination to notice. Here, the major highlights.
Flights Went Farther
Qantas Airways Ltd. debuted its newest ultra-long-haul this spring: a flight from Perth to London. At 17 hours, it came close to breaking records.
Then in October, Singapore Airlines Ltd. did what Qantas didn’t. Its 18-hour, 45-minute route—which spans 10,400 miles from Changi to Newark—is 500 miles longer than the previous record-holder, a Qatar Airways flight from Auckland to Doha. Credit goes to Airbus’s new A350-900 Ultra Long Range aircraft, which guzzles less fuel than previous versions and makes the journey possible. (According to our reviewer, the journey feels every bit as long as it is, even if there are no economy seats aboard.)
And flights are only going to continue getting longer. Gulfstream made advances this year that will help private aviation reach extreme distances, and Qantas’s goals are so ambitious, it would like to have 20-hour flights from New York and London to Sydney by 2022—possibly on planes with bunk beds, child-care facilities, and gyms.
Planes Got Nicer
Unlike recent years, which saw monumental advancements in luxury such as Qatar’s Qsuites or Etihad’s Residence, 2018 was a bit of a snooze. That’s not a bad thing: Sometimes it’s the less-glitzy, incremental advancements that can have a wider-reaching effect.
American Airlines Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines all started installing premium economy cabins along their international routes—a first—while JetBlue Airways Corp. announced the expansion of its relatively affordable (and very comfortable) Mint Business Class. A large number of European carriers, too, added more first-class seats to their planes, reversing a yearslong trend to get rid of those ultra-premium seats.
Still stuck in cattle class? Don’t worry: Even perks such as in-flight internet access were a focus this year, as service got more ubiquitous and faster than ever. (We tallied up the best airlines for Wi-Fi here.)
Tented Camps Became All the Rage
Hotels with four walls are so 2017. This year was all about the tented camp—experiential properties inspired by the glamour of the African savannah. They cropped up in Bali, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, with more in the works in Mexico, Costa Rica and beyond. And no, we’re not talking about roughing it. These are tents with private pools, indoor and outdoor showers, canopied beds and butler service. The canvas walls just add to the adventure.
The Caribbean Rebounded
A year after the one-two punch of Irma and Maria, both Category 5 hurricanes, hotels have refurbished and reopened and new air routes have improved access to quieter corners of the region. Meanwhile, travel companies at every end of the spectrum are engaging in smart philanthropic efforts.