Five Travel Tips for Savvy Travelers in 2026

Airfare is up, Hyatt's award chart is changing, TSA lines are about to get longer, and your passport might expire sooner than you think. Here are five things savvy travelers are doing right now — and why each one matters for your family.

These travel tips cover a mix of time-sensitive moves and things you've probably been meaning to do. Some apply to everyone; at least one is pretty niche (I'll tell you upfront if it's probably not for you). But if even two or three of these strike a chord, this episode is worth your time.

In this episode:

• Why World of Hyatt members should book award stays before May 7th — and what the award chart changes actually mean
• How to book flights right now without locking yourself into a bad deal
• What credit card protections, travel insurance, and EU261 can do for you when things go wrong — and what happened when I had none of the above (episode 33)
• Why summer 2026 airport lines are going to be brutal — and how TSA Precheck, Global Entry, and CLEAR can get you through faster
• How to audit your family's passports and set smart calendar reminders so you're never caught off guard

Timestamps:
00:00 Welcome
00:49 #1 Lock in Hyatt Stays
06:04 #2 Book Flexible Flights
08:36 #3 Protect Yourself
13:11 #4 Beat Summer Security Lines
20:19 #5 Audit Your Passports
23:00 Quick Recap & Farewell

Family-friendly Hyatt stays to book now
Andaz Papagayo
Hyatt Regency Lost Pines
Hyatt Regency Coconut Point

Booking flexible flights
Four Reasons I LOVE Award Travel (Other Than Free Stuff)
United Explorer card
Alaska Atmos Ascent card

Travel insurance
Compare options here

Skipping security lines
Discounted CLEAR+ membership
IHG Premier card (cheapest TSA PreCheck/Global Entry credit)
Amex Platinum card (CLEAR+ credit)

Don't miss this inspiring, practical travel with kids podcast hosted by family travel expert Melissa Conn, founder of The Family Voyage, certified Child Passenger Safety Technician, and mom of two who proves family travel is achievable for everyone.

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Transcript

Melissa 0:02

Hey there and welcome back to Family Travel Unpacked. I'm your host, Melissa, and in case you're new here, you can find tons of detailed destination guides, travel tips, hacks, and more on my website, thefamilyvoyage.com. And if you've been enjoying the show, be sure to hit follow wherever you're listening so you never miss an episode and drop a five star review'cause it really helps other families find the show. Today I wanna talk about five things that I think savvy travelers are doing right now in April, 2026 to set themselves up for smoother, cheaper, less stressful travel this summer and beyond. Some of these are time sensitive. Some of them you've probably been meaning to do for a while and just haven't gotten around to it. And one of them is a little niche, so I'll flag that one up front. But even if two or three of these apply to you, I think this episode is gonna be worth your time. Number one, booking Hyatt stays before May 7th. Okay, so I said one of these is a little niche and I'll get it out of the way first. If you're not a world of Hyatt member or if you don't have a stash of Chase ultimate rewards points, you can skip ahead- I'll have timestamps in the show notes. But if Hyatt is part of your travel strategy, keep listening because this is really urgent. On May 7th world of Hyatt is making big changes to their reward chart, and it's not pretty. Heartbroken might be a bit of a stretch, but I'm really bummed because our family's gonna need a lot more points to keep traveling the same way we have been. Hyatt is keeping the same eight categories they have for regular hotel properties, at least for now, but they're moving from three different price tiers based on seasonality, up to five different price tiers, and most of those price points are going up too. High-end properties are taking the biggest hit. As an example, the Andaz Papagayo in Costa Rica that our family loved is gonna jump from a cap of 45,000 points a night to 75,000 points a night for the most popular dates. And that's just for a regular room, not a suite. That's a crazy amount of points to me. And for the record, when we stayed there, it was just 29,000 points per night. That was only in 2005, although I locked in the cheaper rate a year in advance. But to know that it's gone up so much so fast just blows my mind. Historically, Hyatt's had a reputation for offering great value for points, and apparently They didn't wanna keep us value oriented customers loyal. Even the lower and mid-tier properties are seeing some increases, although there'll be a teeny tiny sliver of hotels that are cheaper for the least popular dates. A more typical change that's gonna impact families is a place like Hyatt Regency Grand Cyprus, which is around the corner from Disney World. That'll go from 18,000 points to potentially 25,000 points over school breaks. A great beach resort like the seabird in Southern California could go from 29,000 points up to 40,000 points. This is the kind of change that can make a redemption you've been eyeing suddenly cost a lot more. Now here's the trick. If you book before May 7th, you get to lock in current award rates, even for stays up to 13 months out. So if there's a Hyatt property you've been thinking about for a trip next spring, or even early next summer, now's the time to make that reservation. But there are two important things to know about this. First, check the cancellation policy. Most of the time it's gonna be something generous, like two or three days in advance. Or for some really popular resorts, it could be 14 or 30 days. That's usually fine as long as you know what you're working with. But there are a few exceptions like ski resorts in peak season that aren't cancelable at all. So you need to be committed going in. Sometimes if you need to make a change, you can get around those harshest policies by moving your dates to a time when you are allowed to cancel. But that brings me to my next point. If you make any changes like adding or removing a day, your whole reservation is gonna be repriced at the new level. It kind of defeats the whole point of booking so far in advance. So when I'm not totally sure about the dates, I might break a five day stay into three different reservations: one day, then three days, and then one day. It's a huge pain, but I can always cancel the first or last day if I need to without getting hit with a higher rate for the other days. If you think you might wanna take advantage of this little window to book in advance at lower rates, there are two ways it can work. If you already have points in your Hyatt account, it's straightforward. Just book the stay lock in the rate. If you have Chase Ultimate rewards points, or Bilt points, you can transfer them to Hyatt at a one-to-one ratio. But really think carefully before you do that. Once points are transferred out of Chase or built, they're locked in, you lose the flexibility of using them for other things like flights. So only do that if you're confident about the stay you're booking or if you know that you'll use Hyatt in the future. For our family, it wouldn't be a huge deal because we do end up using most of our chase points for Hyatt anyway, but I know not everybody travels the same way. Now, if you happen to be a Hyatt globalist, that's their top tier elite status, you have a huge advantage here because globalists can make award reservations without having the points in their account yet. Globalists can essentially make a placeholder booking and transfer the points later, a week before the stay. Thankfully, I do have globalist status right now, so this is what I'm doing. Honestly, my list of reservations is a mile long and I'll probably only keep a third or half of them, but I feel like I'm gonna have major regrets if I don't do it this way. I doubt I'll keep globalist after this year. We just don't have enough nights on deck for the rest of this year, and with the new award chart, I'm not sure it's gonna be worth focusing all our stays on Hyatt in the future, but for right now, the point advance booking is super useful and it's definitely one of the benefits that I'm gonna miss most about that globalist status. If you don't have globalist status, it's a real decision about whether or not to commit. My overall take is that if there's a trip you're already planning and a Hyatt property you were already gonna book, you might as well do it now. If you listen to episode three and put together a spreadsheet for the next few years of your family's travels, you could also look at slotting in some of those ideas sooner rather than later- places like the All-Inclusives, Hawaii, even the Caribbean. I'd do that mostly for trips where the hotel or resort really is part of the destination. I wouldn't necessarily bother doing it for city trips where you just need a safe, clean place to sleep and you can find alternatives. But for places, I'm just vaguely interested in visiting someday, I'm probably not gonna lock up a huge chunk of points right now just in case. Number two, booking flights now, but with flexibility built in. If you've been paying any attention to the news and airfares lately, you've probably noticed that prices are way up. In fact, one flight I'm tracking has been moving by$300 every day, and another one jumped by almost$200 per person overnight. That second one is a problem because it's a trip this summer that we have to take. Just before recording I snagged tickets on Southwest with points and my companion pass for a worse itinerary as backup in case the flight I want doesn't ever come back down. Part of this is due to summer demand, but there's also a ton of uncertainty in the world right now, particularly around the Middle East and oil supplies, and that volatility tends to push prices up across the board. I wish I could tell you that if you wait it out, prices are gonna come back down. But honestly, I'm not so sure they will, at least not significantly or predictably enough to make waiting worth it. I'm really afraid that airlines are gonna use this as an excuse to just make those high prices sticky. So my advice is to book now if you can for trips you're absolutely certain you need to take. But, and this is the important part, book it in a way that protects you if prices drop or plans change. There are a few ways to do that. The first is to book a refundable or changeable cash fare. Those cost more upfront, but airlines will give you a credit for the fare difference or an outright refund if the price drops after you book. From my days back in the finance world, think of this as buying the cheap flight and then paying for an option on top of it. The second alternative is to book with points, specifically points that are fully refundable with no cancellation fee. A lot of airline programs let you cancel an award ticket and get your points back sometimes with a small fee and sometimes totally free. Make sure you know your program's rules before you book, but you can look to airlines like Southwest, United, American, and Alaska for the most generous policies. And if neither of those options works for your situation, then at a minimum look for a fare with a relatively low change fee. It's not ideal, but it's better than being completely locked in. Later this week I'm gonna try to book our December flights because Southwest is about to open their schedule, and those points are about as flexible as it gets- fully refundable. No change fees. So that's a no-brainer for me. And after I book the flight, the first thing I'm gonna do is set a Google price tracking alert so that I can catch any fare drops down the line. If you just aren't ready to pull the trigger, at the very least, go look at your options right now and set some alerts, cash fares using Google Flights and points yeah or award tool for award tickets. Then you can buy the drops, if there are any. But don't wait on this until next month, because who knows what's gonna happen. Number three, making sure you're covered if things go sideways. Now, this one's close to my heart because I actually made quite a few mistakes not too long ago. I talked about them on episode 33. I got lucky that things worked out, but I'd rather you lean on good planning than good luck. Travel can be such a crapshoot these days. Flights are canceled, weather happens, connections get missed, and when those situations come around, what's your backup? Not just logistically, but financially. Because a travel delay can get really expensive. Just our 36 hour delay coming back from Portugal ran a total of about a thousand dollars when all was said and done. The first thing to look at is the credit card used to book your travel. A lot of credit cards come with trip delay protection, trip cancellation insurance, and lost baggage reimbursement built in. But not all cards are created equal here, and a lot of people don't actually know what their card covers until the minute they need it. So pull up your card benefit guides. It's usually on the issuer's website- and I wouldn't trust chat GPT on this one because it's known to be wrong- and read what you're actually entitled to. Know the limits and know what documentation you'll need to file a claim if the time comes. But even before you book, you need to know if your card requires you to pay for the whole trip on that card for the benefits to apply. There are some major differences depending on the bank. Some allow you to just put the taxes and fees for a one way trip on the card, and then they'll give you coverage while others require that you put the round trip cash fare on your card for coverage. If your credit card's coverage is thin, or if you're taking a trip where a cancellation will be really costly- think non-refundable resort bookings, a cruise, a once in a lifetime destination like Safari, or even just a super complicated trip with lots of moving parts- then a dedicated travel insurance policy is really worth considering. You can get a pretty affordable single trip policy or a more substantial annual policy that covers every trip you take in a year. I'm a big fan of annual policies for families like ours who travel multiple times a year because the math usually works out in our favor, and we're never in a position of scrambling for coverage right before a trip. That peace of mind is also just worth so much. You can usually customize the plan to beef up whatever specific coverage is important to you for that year. Like let's say boosting medical evacuation if you know you have a cruise in the works. I'll put a link to squaremouth in the show notes. That's what I use to compare policies, and you can filter by coverage types that matter the most to you. Now if you're traveling internationally, there's one more thing I want you to know about EU 2 61. This is a European Union regulation that requires airlines to compensate passengers for significant delays and cancellations on flights departing from EU airports, and on EU based airlines arriving into the EU. That compensation can be big. This is what saved us when our flights home from Portugal got messed up by United. We wound up getting 600 euros per person in addition to reimbursement for our extra hotel night, meals and taxis. I didn't have great credit card coverage and our annual policy had actually expired the day before the trip. But thanks to EU 2 61, that story had a happy ending. It is not part of the EU anymore, but the UK has basically identical rules. Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland are also part of EU 2 61, even though they aren't part of the eu. I know that's confusing. Turkey has pretty much the same rules as well. And then there are a few countries like Canada that have similar rules, and in some cases they're even more generous, but the EU generally has the most streamlined process and really good enforcement. I can tell you from my own experience that United initiated payment of our claim a day after I filed the compensation piece, and it was really easy. Unfortunately, the US doesn't have anything equivalent. There's no federal law that requires airlines to compensate you for delays or cancellations the way EU 2 61 or similar laws do. What you get here is mostly up to the airlines goodwill and their own policies, and those vary a lot. Some airlines are really good about taking care of passengers when things go wrong. Others will hand you a$12 meal voucher and call it a day. When our flight to Costa Rica on Southwest was disrupted last year, Southwest was the only airline caught up in that particular mess that pushed flights to the next day while their competitors were able to just move flights by a few hours. But Southwest didn't cover anything for us. No hotels, no meals, no taxis. We were totally on our own, both logistically and financially. So I was really thankful that we had a good travel insurance policy at the time. Know your rights, and don't assume you'll be taken care of just because something wasn't your fault. The bottom line is before your next trip, make sure you have at least one layer of protection in place. Credit card coverage, a travel insurance policy, or both. Don't find out what you're missing when you're standing at a gate at 11:00 PM with some very tired kids. Number four, getting TSA precheck, Global Entry or clear before summer. This one might be the most universally applicable thing on the list. And if you don't have at least TSA precheck yet, I want you to go sign up the minute this episode is over. Here's the situation. Last month there was a lot of conversation about airport wait times, and some of that was directly tied to the government shutdown. TSA agents weren't getting paid and- no shock here- a lot of them stopped showing up. Thankfully, that's resolved for now, and agents are getting paid again. But during that period, nearly 500 TSA agents quit. And I think it's gonna be really hard for them to recruit new agents for a job where they've experienced two periods of no pay in the last six months alone. Staffing is just gonna be a big challenge for the TSA going forward. And then there's this little thing called the World Cup. It runs from June 11th to July 19th in cities across North America. I think they're expecting something like 1.2 million international visitors to the us, plus there are millions of Americans who plan to travel to the games. A friend of mine is flying outta Seattle this summer and she didn't realize that she'd booked her departure the day after the USA Australia game. Every hotel in the city is sold out and they had to find somewhere else to stay. And I'm sure the airport is gonna be a total mess for them. All of that's on top of what was already gonna be a busy summer travel season. So long lines are coming your way, and the best thing you can do right now is make sure that you are not standing in them. Let's talk about your options. TSA pre-check is the baseline. It costs around$80 for five years, so 16 bucks a year, and it gets you into the dedicated pre-check lane in the US where you don't have to take anything outta your bags. The line is almost always faster than the regular one, and the experience is just so much less chaotic. Kids under 12 can automatically go through with a parent who has pre-check, which is a huge deal for families. If your kids are under 17 and they're traveling on the same reservation as you, they can go through with you too. But if your kid is between 13 and 17 and has their own confirmation number, that includes Southwest Companions, which we learned the hard way, they do need to get their own TSA pre-check number. The good news is that the process is super easy, no matter your age. You apply online and then schedule an in-person appointment to finish things up. But here's what a lot of people don't know: you can do your precheck interview at most Staples locations and if you have a clear kiosk at your airport, you can usually do it there too if you show up just a few minutes early. So there's really no excuse for putting this one off. There are dozens of credit cards that offer statement credits for TSA precheck, and the great thing is that you can use them for anyone. So like if you've collected a few different travel credit cards over the years, you can get pre-check free for yourself, your partner, your teens, for grandma, for your bestie that's joining you on the next girls trip. It's such a quick and easy win, and it makes travel in the US just that much easier. The next step up is global entry. It costs$120 for five years and includes TSA precheck. One thing that's nice is that kids are free if they're signing up for it with a parent. That's a pretty new change and I'm grateful for it. So if you travel internationally at all, global entry could be a great choice. You get the benefit of TSA pre-check on your way out, and then it speeds you through immigration when you arrive back in the us, which can be a huge help. That being said, the logistics of getting global entry are a lot harder. There are only two ways to do the interview, either in person at an enrollment center before your trip or when you're returning from an international. It can be really hard to snag the enrollment center interview slots unless you're super flexible and not every city has one. Our closest option is an hour away and it has really limited hours that just wouldn't work for my husband and kids. And there's no point in only one person in the family having global entry because everyone else would still have to wait in the regular line. Our global entry applications were pending for a very long time until we finally had an international return at a time when the immigration officers were available to conduct interviews. I'm glad we finally got it done, but if you want global entry before summer, you need to apply now because even the initial review can take a few weeks. In terms of paying for it, it's the same story as pre-check. There are dozens of cards that'll give you a credit to cover the cost. Keep in mind that you can only get a credit for one of those programs on each card every four or five years, so make sure you keep track of which credits you've already used. But I wanna pause here and give you a free alternative. The mobile Passport Control app, the logo on the app store just says MPC. You can download it in advance and fill out the info for everyone in your group. Then when you land and your plane is taxing, you each just have to take a selfie in the app. A lot of airports have a dedicated line for MPC and it can be just as fast as the global entry line. People who don't travel a ton just don't know about it. We'll use this when we fly back to the US with grandma next year because she doesn't have global entry. Now Clear is a different program. It's not government run like Pre-check and global entry. Clear is a private contractor that uses biometrics, so your eyes or your fingerprints, to verify your identity at the airport. Instead of showing your ID and boarding past to an agent, you step up to a clear kiosk and it confirms who you are instantly. Then you go directly to the security screening lane, and if you also have pre-check, you generally go to the pre-check screening lane. The layout's a little different at bigger airports, so you have to make sure you go to the right line. Sometimes it'll be labeled as clear plus pre-check. Clear also works at some stadiums, which can help if there's a really long line to get in. I'll give you a personal example. Earlier this year at the Seattle airport I had Clear and precheck. Seattle has newer Clear eGates, and it was amazing. I walked up to the clear kiosk, hit a green button to get started, verified my identity in about three seconds and walked straight to the pre-check lane. That was it. It was easily 10 minutes faster than the regular pre-check line and more than 20 minutes faster than the general line. I've also heard of some people skipping two hour lines with clear, and to me, if it's the difference between missing a flight or making it, I think clear is worth it. Now it's not always that big of a difference. In fact, sometimes I skip clear in Columbus and just use the pre-check line because it can take an extra few minutes to add the kids at the clear kiosk. And our security lines just aren't all that long. If you always fly those small or mid-size airports, you might not need clear. But in places like New York or LA it's a huge difference. Right now clear costs$209 a year for adults, but if you have a United or Delta credit card, it's only$169. You can add a family member for$125, and kids under 18 are totally free. They just go through with their parents. I think that's pretty reasonable for a family rate when you add it all up and if you have an Amex Platinum, Hilton Aspire, or a few other cards, clear is included as a benefit. Ronnie and I both have the Amex Business Platinum, and this is one of our favorite perks, just for the peace of mind it gives us, if you're not sure whether Clear is worth it for you because you just don't travel that much. Maybe you have one big summer trip through a really busy airport clear, sometimes offers guest passes and trials that'll let you give it a whirl before you commit to an annual membership. It's worth looking into if you're on the fence, especially since you only need to set it up for the adults. The bottom line is if you don't have pre-check, sign up for it today, or if you're a big international traveler and can make the interview logistics work, go for global entry instead. And if you want the smoothest possible airport experience, clear is a really nice upgrade. Number five, auditing your passports and setting renewal reminders. This one is so easy to overlook, but the consequences can be really severe. So I wanna make sure to put it on this list. Go right now, or the moment you finish this episode, after you've done your TSA pre-check application and find every passport in your house, look at the expiration dates and write them down somewhere you'll actually see them, or maybe even put them in a spreadsheet. Here's why it matters more than most people realize. It's not enough for your passport to be valid on the day you travel. There are a lot of countries now that require your passport to be valid for three to six months after the end of your trip. So if you're going to Europe in August and your passport expires in October, you might think you're fine, but depending on the country, you could be denied boarding before you even leave home. I actually have a good friend who had to scrap an entire trip to Ireland the day before because son's passport was gonna expire right when they got back. But three months is required. Don't let that happen to you. Passport processing times have also been unpredictable. There have been times over the last few years when routine renewals took months longer than expected. I mean, imagine what'll happen if there's another government shutdown. The recommendation is to start the renewal process at least six months before you need it, and I'd say that's the minimum. If your passport's gonna expire within the next year or so, I'd seriously consider renewing now, even if you don't have a trip booked yet. Think through when you're actually gonna travel. Factor in that three to six month buffer requirement and set a reminder for when you need to have an updated passport in hand. Then back up another few months for processing time, and that's when your reminder should go off. I'll give you an example from our own family. My son Jacob's passport expires in July, 2027. We already have trips on our schedule for 2027. And because so many countries require that validity buffer, I've essentially decided that I need to take care of his passport before spring break. We get back from Costa Rica in January, 2027, so my plan is to apply for his new one right when we get back from that trip. I've already got a reminder set. By the way, in case you didn't notice, I didn't say renew when I was talking about my son's passport there. And that's because miners need a whole new passport, plus the application has to be done in person, like they've never had one before. And you have to give their old passport in when you apply. The passports they get back are only good for five years. It's all such a drag. It is a lot less stressful for adults because we can generally renew online and we get to hold onto our existing passports and keep using them during the process. Plus, adult passports are good for five years, so you're not having to get a new one every time you turn around. But that kind of thinking, working backward based on your actual travel schedule, is so much better than just assuming you've got plenty of time. Because sometimes you just don't. Okay, so there are your five things. Book Hyatt stays before May 7th, if that's part of your point strategy. Grab your flights now, but build in flexibility. Make sure you have coverage in case your plans get disrupted. Get your pre-check, global entry or clear situation sorted before summer hits and go audit your passports today. None of these is hard. Most of them are things you've probably been meaning to do, but the difference between a savvy traveler and a stressed out traveler is often just doing the things before the last possible minute. With all the crazy things going on in the travel world. It's that much more important. Thanks so much for listening today. If this episode helped you feel like a more prepared traveler, please share it with a friend who could use a nudge in the right direction. And be sure to follow wherever you're listening and drop a five star review. As always, you can find show notes down below and more practical travel tips at thefamilyvoyage.com. Until next time, safe travels.