Alison Stewart: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. The weather's getting warmer. The end of the academic year is coming up, and that means summer vacation is on the horizon. Before you fly, you might want to check the news and whether any of the recent travel changes could affect your plans. Yesterday was the deadline for REAL ID, the new form of license you'll need to fly domestically.

The policy is finally taking effect after almost two decades of delays. At the end of the month, Southwest Airlines will start charging fees for checked bags. Joining me now is NerdWallet lead writer, Sally French. We'll talk about these changes and some tips to help you save and earn points as you travel this year. Hi, Sally.

Sally French: Hi. Thank you so much for having me. All sorts of exciting changes in travel.

Alison Stewart: Yes, REAL ID went into effect yesterday, sort of. We'll get into that. First of all, what is REAL ID?

Sally French: Yes. REAL ID is this long-awaited change in travel where you need to have a designated REAL ID-compliant ID to go through TSA. You can tell if your ID is REAL ID compliant if there is a star. It depends on what state your ID is, but it would be a gold star or a black star. You need to have that to get through security. If you don't have that, there are some alternatives. Things like a passport, a Global Entry card can also work.

Alison Stewart: The plan has been that travelers needed REAL ID to fly after May 7th. That was the big deadline. Then the head of Homeland Security said something different. What did he say?

Sally French: The deadline kept getting pushed back more and more, but finally yesterday was the day that they actually started enforcing it. Now, what's interesting is even yesterday, only 81% of travelers across the nation were REAL ID compliant. That means 19% of travelers still are not REAL ID compliant, even after years of saying this is going to go into effect. Now, for those people who are not REAL ID compliant, you don't need to panic.

Many airports have actually been having separate lanes for people who are not compliant, and that's where they go through additional screening. They might be asked some extra questions, something like that. For what it's worth, the Department of Homeland Security did put out a statement yesterday saying that the rollout went smoothly. Many airports didn't even really need to use those extra lanes. The good news for travelers is they probably do not need to panic.

Alison Stewart: All right, so how does someone get REAL ID? They suddenly realize, "Oh, I need this thing."

Sally French: Yes. You need to go to your DMV to get that new updated ID, and what we're seeing is many DMVs are out of appointments. I even heard some DMVs are extending their hours to allow people to fit more appointment time slots in there. I've even talked to colleagues who've said, "I've tried to go to my DMV to get an appointment, and I just can't." Do keep checking for those time slots. If you check your DMV and there are no appointments available or they're super far out, keep checking because sometimes people don't show up, and you might be able to snag a last-minute appointment.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Sally French, lead writer at NerdWallet. We are talking traveling. Are you traveling?

Sally French: [chuckles] We can tackle.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: Are you traveling this summer? Do you have questions? 2124-3396-9221-2433, WNYC. Tell us about where you're going, where you think other people should go. Also, how to save money along the way. We want your travel questions and your travel plans for the summer. 2124-3396-9221-2433, WNYC. Let's talk about some other identification-related news. The United Kingdom recently instituted something called Electronic Travel Authorization. What is that?

Sally French: Yes, so this is also something that you need if you are a US citizen going to the UK. This went into effect on January 8th, and you basically need to fill out a digital form online in advance. It's not some sort of big process where you need to go through a giant in-person interview or anything, but it is something that you need to do online before you go to a trip in the UK. This is valid for trips up to six months for tourism, visiting family, friends, short-term study, or business. You can do this online and make sure you do, because otherwise, you won't be able to get in. It costs £16 to apply. It's very simple. You do need a passport, which you need to get into the UK anyway, and that's how you get into the UK.

The other important thing to note is for travel elsewhere in Europe, a lot of people don't realize that they also need to have a valid passport not just for the day of their visit, but to get into the EU or the Schengen area, your passport must be valid for at least six months at the time of your entry. That means if you are going to Europe in July and your passport expires in August, that can be risky. An immigration officer may refuse your entry, so make sure that your passport has enough time after its expiration date if you are planning a European vacation this summer.

Alison Stewart: I didn't want to ask you about that Electronic Travel Authorization. What's the explanation for it?

Sally French: Oh, you know, that's a good question. You might need to ask people in the UK about why they're doing that. In general, we are just seeing more and more of "Papers, please," when it comes to travel. We are seeing that with the REAL ID, is a "Papers, please," sort of thing. The UK is doing that too. It is something that is important for travelers to be aware of before they get on a plane is that they need to be prepared, and many people just aren't.

Whether that's because they are planning a last-minute trip to see maybe a sick relative who-- I just didn't know that I would need my passport this month to see my relative in a different country," or people who simply are just overwhelmed because there's so much that goes into travel. You have to plan the trips, the international phone plan, all of these things, and people just forget, like, "I need to have my passport with six months of validity."

Alison Stewart: Let's talk about some new costs that US travelers will be seeing. Southwest Airlines announced a bunch of huge changes for fees for checked bags. Why are these changes getting so much attention?

Sally French: Southwest felt like the holdout. I was a huge Southwest fan myself in that they included so many things, and it just really eliminated this headache of feeling like I was being nickeled-and-dimed. Southwest had allowed two free checked bags, which was almost unheard of in travel, at least for domestic and economy travel. They also allowed for no change fees, no cancellation fees. This is something that many airlines tapped into as part of the pandemic. Southwest had always been a leader in this. Southwest also allowed you to cancel flights up to 10 minutes in advance, and you would get that money in the form of travel credit that never expired.

Now you can still do that, except that those travel credits now do expire, depending on the ticket, between 6 and 12 months after cancellation. It is important to know that a lot of these airlines are cracking down and looking for more ways to make money. Now, I will say it is not all bad news. Definitely Southwest is looking to drive revenue in other ways. Southwest is not alone. Many airlines are also looking for ways to increase revenue, whether that's increasing checked bag fees, increasing fees to choose your seat. I do have actually good news for you. What NerdWallet has found is that airfares are actually dropping. Over the past year, airfares are down 5.2%.

That's really shocking when you consider, exactly, inflation. We're all familiar with inflation, and it's going up. Here's where it gets even more shocking. Over the past 10 years, airfares are down 12.1%. The inflation rate over the past 10 years is 35.4%. Not only are airfares increasing less than the rate of inflation, which would already be good on its own, they are actually down from this huge inflation rate, otherwise. That's really important to note, but what we see is what airlines are doing is they are charging lower base rates and they're really sucking you in with this $79 fare to go across the country. Then what happens is I've seen airlines that charge more than that just to check your bag.

They're making it up for things like bag fees, fees to choose your seat, of course, all of these change and cancellation fees. We do see that often, many people spend the same as they might have last year or 10 years ago, sometimes more, because they are paying for all these extra fees. The good news is if you are a bare bones traveler and you say, "I don't need to check a bag, I don't care if I have the middle seat, I don't need to sit next to my partner or my friend on the flight. I will sit literally anywhere," you can save a lot of money.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Sally French, lead writer at NerdWallet. We are talking about travel. Let's talk to Carrie from Croton-on-Hudson. Hi, Carrie, thanks for calling, All Of It.

Carrie: Hi, thank you for taking my call. I love y'all. [chuckles] I listen a lot.

Alison Stewart: Love it. What's going on?

Carrie: I was calling. I'm going to be traveling to Machu Picchu and the Galapagos. Trip of a lifetime. Very exciting and celebrating some things. One thing, as a tip, when I was booking it, I very offhandedly said, "Oh, do you take a AAA discount or AARP?" They did. That saved like $2,000 because that's a big trip. I'd say don't be shy about asking for discounts.

Alison Stewart: Good advice. Thank you so much for calling in. Sally, you want to weigh in?

Sally French: Well, you know, I love this tip because you mentioned AARP. First off, their membership is so affordable. You can find a membership for $16 annually, sometimes even less if you opt into that auto-renewal. What a lot of people don't realize is even though AARP is for Americans ages 50 and older, anyone can join, no matter your age. I am less than 50, but I am an AARP member because Carrie is totally right, there are so many discounts involved with AARP.

Even if we're not going to Machu Picchu, I would love to go with you, but there are discounts for all sorts of hotel brands. I'm talking Hilton, IHG, Wyndham. Discounts on rental cars, discounts on cruises. Often, the discounts are much, much more than the AARP membership alone. Something like a zip card discount is $20 off an annual Zipcar membership. With AARP, you're paying 12 or you're paying $16, so you're practically making money right there. Great tip.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Harris. Hey, Harris, where are you going?

Harris: Hey, calling from Woodstock, New York. A longtime listener, first-time caller. I'm supposed to board a domestic flight this afternoon, but I only have a New York State Enhanced ID, not a REAL ID. I'm getting a lot of confusing info online about what is REAL ID compliant. Am I going to have any issue, and this is especially if I cannot find my passport right now?

Alison Stewart: Oh, no. Do you have any advice for Harris?

Sally French: Yes. It is very straightforward to tell if your ID is compliant. Whip out your ID right now, Harris. If there is a gold or black star, you are okay. I still don't want you to panic. I know your flight is this afternoon. Get to the airport early, typically, two hours in advance is recommended for you. Three hours, I would recommend, because you will need to go through the potential of an extra screening, but I still am optimistic for you. Just get there early and be prepared.

Alison Stewart: Good luck, Harris. My guest is Sally French, lead writer at NerdWallet. We are talking traveling. I did want to remind listeners that there is apparently a new pope. White smoke has been seen at the Vatican. We don't have a name yet, but stay with NPR and WNYC for more information. All right, so this person types as a musician. "I'm so upset Southwest changed their baggage rules. I was able to bring my guitar on before. What does your guest recommend now?"

Sally French: I feel so bad because, yes, the baggage rules were so nice for people who have this huge-- something like a guitar that you can't just fit under your carry-on. Now, there are some ways to avoid Southwest checked baggage fee. One of them is by holding Southwest elite status. That might not be attainable for you if you don't fly a ton. The other thing you can do is apply for certain Southwest credit cards.

Many of these cards offer free checked bags as a benefit for holding the card. Now, you do have to account that a credit card with Southwest is going to incur an annual fee, but if you travel enough, then sometimes the annual fee on the credit card is easily outweighed by what you would pay on baggage fees.

Alison Stewart: Yes, one of the people wants to know which credit cards would be the best to collect, transfer, and use points for travel.

Sally French: That's a good question. NerdWallet typically breaks travel credit cards into two categories. One is branded with the actual travel brand, so a specific airline like Southwest, a specific hotel, and then there are general travel credit cards. Now, if you are someone who always flies with the same airline, because maybe only one airline even serves your home airport, or you're just doing the same route all the time, then having a card branded to that airline can be good.

Typically, you get better perks at that airline we just mentioned. Free checked bags are often a benefit on many airline credit cards. At the same time, NerdWallet also recommends more general travel credit cards that earn transferable rewards. These are things like the platinum card from American Express, the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the Capital One Venture X. These cards earn more general points that you can book on all sorts of travel. For people who don't want to be locked into a certain travel brand, often these are a better bet.

Alison Stewart: All right, you put together a list of the cheapest US cities for a July 4th vacation.

Sally French: I did.

Alison Stewart: It includes Palm Springs, Bozeman, Montana, Savannah, Georgia. What makes these cities "cheaper"? They're great locations, by the way.

Sally French: They are. We looked at cities that had the lowest average round-trip fares for the Fourth of July week. Now, I do want to point out the cheapest city was Palm Springs. Palm Springs is so hot during the Fourth of July.

[laughter]

Some of these have to do with those seasonal variations of-- Maybe a lot of people don't want to go to Palm Springs for the Fourth of July. It's lovely in October, but so hot in July. I think a city like Palm Springs is great because also hotels really drive down the rates. If your ideal Fourth of July is laying by the pool anyway, then Palm Springs is your place to go. Now, there are other destinations that aren't quite as hot as Palm Springs. Other cities that we recommend that have lower-than-average fares are Bozeman, Montana. Great getaway to go to many national parks.

Hilo, Hawaii. What's really interesting about Hilo, Hawaii, is that we see so much overtourism. We see so many cities that have more tourists now than pre-pandemic. Hawaii is one of those states that has not seen its numbers come back to since the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, we are typically seeing-- In fact, in March 2025, visitor arrivals across Hawaii were just at 97.3% of what they were in March 2019.

Alison Stewart: We got a text here that says, "Can the guest speak about travel insurance for domestic travel as well as international travel? Is it better to pay for the increase of air," it says, "or for the privilege of being able to cancel." Oh, so would you pay for the privilege of being able to cancel your airfare?

Sally French: Yes. Travel insurance is one of those things that not everyone needs to get it. It is an added cost, and sometimes the cost can be hundreds of dollars. Typically, the cost is the percent of your overall trip price. It really depends on factors like how stuck are you going to be if a flight gets canceled? Are you going to a place where you can stay with relatives instead, or do you mind extending longer? That said, there are certain trips where we really recommend you have travel insurance.

I'm talking about something like you're flying to go catch a cruise. Now, if that flight is delayed by one day and then you can't get on the cruise, not only have you missed out on one day of your trip, but you didn't make the boat. You missed the entire trip. That's where travel insurance can definitely make more sense. Now, I do have some advice for you, and that is that many premium travel and travel credit cards actually offer travel insurance as a benefit for booking that trip on the card.

You'll typically see this benefit on cards with very high annual fees. I'm talking many hundreds of dollars, but you look at the cost of travel insurance for certain trips, and it's more than the annual fee on the card itself. Look at what the travel insurance policy might cost if you purchase it out of pocket, and then consider looking to a credit card. Something like the Chase Sapphire Reserve has excellent travel insurance coverage, and that card has an annual fee in the many hundreds of dollars realm, but it could overall be better for you.

Alison Stewart: All right. What are some good vacations in European cities that won't cost us a lot?

Sally French: Oh, that's a good question because, actually, NerdWallet analyzed the cheapest European cities to fly to in 2025. We are seeing lots of cheap airfares going into Reykjavik, Iceland, Paris, France, Munich, Germany, Dublin, Ireland. These are all cities where we're seeing really cheap airfares. Now, the catch is that many of these cities are actually expensive to spend your time in. Here's where you can get a little tricky with it. NerdWallet recommends that you fly into one of these airports, where you can get a really cheap transatlantic flight, and then from there, catch a budget airline to your final destination.

Of course, Europe has an amazing train network, so many of these cities are connected by train. NerdWallet also really recommends that you go for that second city trend. A second city is the second most popular city in a country or in a region, and often it's always going to be cheaper than that first most popular city. I'm talking about some place like Hamburg if you're going to Germany. You might get a really cheap flight into Munich, but then hop on the train over to Hamburg, and you'll likely find a cheaper hotel.

Alison Stewart: Sally French, lead writer at NerdWallet. Thanks for all the tips.

Sally French: Thank you.

Alison Stewart: By the way, if you have an Enhanced ID, you can use it to travel the same as REAL ID. Enhanced ID also allows you to cross borders into Mexico and Canada. How you know. If your New York State license or ID does not have a star or a flag on it, then you do not have a REAL ID-compliant document. There you go. There's more All Of It on the way. Stay with us.