2026 Archives

Airline leadership shakeups, alliance shifts, and AI-driven discovery are all hitting travel at once. In this episode of the Skift Travel Podcast, Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko break down a week that reveals something bigger happening inside the airline industry.

United is the latest carrier to announce it will raise bag fees as airlines are passing down the price of surging fuel costs onto customers.

The U.S. continues to see a downturn in travel from certain countries. One survey suggests tourists still aren't over tariffs.

The UK Government is set to invite industry players to a roundtable event to discuss guest safety. The event could see ministers and companies discuss new protocols that could have wide-ranging impacts.

AI strategy sounds clean on slides; execution is anything but. Jie Zheng breaks down what scaling AI actually looks like ahead of Skift Data + AI Summit 2026.

Conversions are giving hotel groups a faster way to expand midscale, especially in higher-cost markets where new builds are harder to justify.

E-arrival cards save passengers from having to do paperwork just after disembarking a plane. But the initiative will only make a tiny dent to the bigger problem India faces.

The U.S. is gearing up for a summer of marquee events, but new fees and restrictions could keep certain tourists at bay.

This follows recent decisions by CEOs of Air Canada and Indigo.

Now that IndiGo has significantly hiked its fuel surcharges, will Air India follow suit? Air India’s still-unannounced Phase 3 Far East surcharge will likely reflect the new, higher benchmark.