I'm a frequent flyer. Shop 10 Prime Day travel deals I'm packing first ✈️
When I'm not shopping, I'm traveling; when I'm not traveling, I'm shopping. And somewhere in the middle of my endless buying sprees and jaunts abroad, I'm shopping for travel essentials ahead of my next getaway—a fun little overlap of interests, if you will.
Last year alone I took over 30 flights and (as to be expected) learned a lot along the way, including the top travel essentials I can't fly without. There are the usual suspects: A durable luggage set, portable charger and insulated water bottle. But there are also a ton of under-the-radar gems I discovered through Amazon—like the genius Trtl Travel Pillow or Bagsmart's Hanging Toiletry Bag.
Amazon Prime Day deals: Travel essentials on sale
Many of my most trusted travel products are currently discounted at Amazon's Prime Day 2025 sale, and since I'm not in the business of gatekeeping, I created a shopping guide of the best Prime Day deals on travel essentials—all vetted and recommended by yours truly. Check out my favorites below:
More: Pack up the savings on travel essentials from Béis, Calpak, Amazon
Amazon Prime Day 2025 begins on Tuesday, July 8 and will end on Friday, July 11. Unlike past Prime Day sales, this is the first year the event has been extended from two days to four days.
USA TODAY Shopping will be monitoring all the savings throughout Prime Day 2025, so be sure to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Instagram to stay updated!
In order to get access to the best Prime Day deals, you'll want to sign up for an Amazon Prime membership. Currently, new members can sign up for a one-week trial for less than $2 to access the top Prime deals.
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Buzz Feed
a day ago
- Buzz Feed
20 Handy Travel Products That Reviewers Say They Pack For Every Trip
A digital luggage scale will make sure that you aren't slammed with an overweight luggage fee (ugh) or having to move stuff from your checked bag to your carry-on to avoid said fee (also, ugh). A set of Sea Bands with a little nub that targets the acupuncture point on your wrists meant to help reduce nausea. This'll be great in case anyone gets motion sick in the car or on a boatride. A set of DEET-free handy mosquito-repelling bracelets in case the thought of putting something else on your skin besides SPF (like smelly bug repellent) sounds like a total nightmare. An airplane seat-back organizer because those seat back pockets are NEVER as big as you need them to be. With this, you can actually store your snacks, water bottle, and so much more without having to get up and get stuff out of the overhead throughout your flight. A Venus travel razor that'll spare you some precious space in your bag without sacrificing quality. On a recent cruise, it didn't take up too much room on the minuscule shower shelf so I wasn't fighting for space *as* much while feeling like Buddy The Elf in the shower. A portable door lock to attach to any regular old door for your hotel, vacation rental, room in a guest house, or, well, just any door. It's super easy to install and won't damage the door. It'll be a comfort for solo travelers, especially. An Apple AirTag for each bag to give you some peace of mind while you wonder how your checked bag is doing in the hold below. A luggage-mounted cup caddy with a pocket for your bagel or croissant (look at you being fancy so early in the morning!) so you can steer your way to your airport gate with your caffeine in tow. A flat RFID-blocking fanny pack can work underneath your clothes or as just a regular waist bag. So it's a little go with the flow — within reason. An anti-theft neck wallet that's also RFID-blocking so you'll more easily navigate your cruise-ship excursions without having to keep your hands hovering over your pockets the entire time. Pickpockets exist, and you've gotta be aware of 'em, but let's focus on taking in the sights. A TSA-friendly toiletries set you can easily fill, clean, and then refill with your go-to regular products. And the bag is sturdy as HECK. Or if you're not in need of containers, a clear TSA-approved toiletry bag to Lego-fit all your liquid and spreadable bbs in there with ease. Some reusable bottle bags because did you even go to the Champagne region if you didn't bring back some goodies? Even better: If your bottle breaks in this, the bag catches the spill! A 2-in-1 travel pillow and blanket in case you've found in-flight options seriously lacking and can't get any shut-eye without a cozy blanket. A roomy beach bag with a waterproof section can hold your phone, Kindle, and other items that ABSOLUTELY cannot get wet. A portable crib canopy to create a sleep pod for your little one. And it even has pouches for a monitor and fan! Sleeping in unfamiliar places is tough enough for adults. Let's make it easier on the kids too — which in turn will also make the adults happier. A 4-in-1 travel adapter that'll work for a wide range of countries because you shouldn't have to google which adapters you need before every international trip. There are better things to do, like talking yourself into packing that one dress you've only worn once but MIGHT wear on this vacation. A simple luggage strap to hold your essentials like a travel pillow, jacket, personal item, and more as you scoot along through the airport and once you land. Here's to quickly gathering all your stuff post-screen and freeing up those hands! A trifold travel wallet so all your important documents are in one place and you're not wearily holding up the line when it comes time to show the TSA agent your passport and boarding pass. A soft faux-leather tote will be the perfect personal item on the plane so you don't even have to pack it in your carry-on! And it would be useful as a day bag (of course keep your valuables zipped up concealed and tucked away inside) with plenty of room for your souvenirs.
Vox
6 days ago
- Vox
Personalized prices sure sound like a bad idea
is a senior technology correspondent at Vox and author of the User Friendly newsletter. He's spent 15 years covering the intersection of technology, culture, and politics at places like The Atlantic, Gizmodo, and Vice. If you do find yourself shopping for a flight, a pair of underwear, or even a concert ticket, and you want to be treated like a stranger, make yourself a stranger online. Getty Images During Amazon's semi-annual Prime Day bonanza, the underwear I usually buy were on deep discount at a price so low I assumed it was just for me, the frequent shopper. I got three packs and felt good about it. But a few days ago, when I saw the news that Delta was using AI to personalize its flight prices, I got mad. I started to suspect that something sinister was behind my great deal on drawers at Amazon. Was that sale just for me? Where else have I been paying personalized prices? Delta CEO Glen Hauenstein actually announced last year that the airline was using AI to do 'a full reengineering of how we price and how we will be pricing in the future' at its annual Investor Day event. He promised, somewhat ominously, that airfares would be determined 'on that flight, on that time, to you, the individual.' Last week, Hauenstein ignited a furor telling investors that Delta was currently using the technology on 3 percent of flight prices and planned to boost that to 20 percent by the end of this year. User Friendly A weekly dispatch to make sure tech is working for you, instead of overwhelming you. From senior technology correspondent Adam Clark Estes. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Welcome to the era of hyper-personalized pricing. Companies are increasingly deploying AI-powered technology that is capable of identifying thousands of different real-time signals — everything from your location and loyalty status to your device and search history — to sell the same product to two different people for two different prices. This represents an advanced form of dynamic pricing, the age-old practice of adjusting prices based on market conditions. With the help of algorithms and reams of data, some businesses are taking a new, personalized approach: surveillance pricing. Dynamic pricing is perfectly legal, but surveillance pricing and the accompanying privacy concerns are new. Suffice to say, consumers don't like the idea of companies using AI to set prices. On Wednesday, Democratic Rep. Greg Casar announced plans to introduce a bill that would ban surveillance pricing at a federal level. Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego accused Delta of 'using AI to find your pain point — meaning they'll squeeze you for every penny' and sent the company an angry letter, which was cosigned by Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. And earlier this month, New York enacted a law that requires sellers to disclose when personalized algorithmic pricing is in effect, with similar legislation under consideration in other states. Consumers don't like the idea of companies using AI to set prices. When I asked George Slover, general counsel of the Center for Democracy and Technology, about pricing models like this, he said, 'This is a different animal than what the airlines have been doing in the past, and it is more personalized and more intrusive.' Delta denies anything untoward is happening here. The company said in a statement, 'There is no fare product Delta has ever used, is testing, or plans to use that targets customers with individualized offers based on personal information' and that fares are 'based solely on trip-related factors like advance purchase and cabin class.' In other words, according to the company, AI helps Delta set prices using metrics the airline already uses to determine airfares. Amazon, too, says it doesn't use surveillance pricing after a botched experiment 25 years ago. Still, surveillance pricing is already a documented phenomenon. Kroger offers different discounts to different customers based on personal data, according to a Consumer Reports investigation published in May. Target settled a lawsuit and paid $5 million in fines after a local KARE 11 news investigation in Minneapolis found that prices in the Target app changed when customers entered the perimeter of a store. And a ProPublica investigation revealed that the Princeton Review charged Asian families higher prices for college prep services. 'It is a more sophisticated and algorithmically driven and selective price gouging,' Slover said of surveillance pricing, which he calls bespoke pricing. 'You are focusing on one particular individual based on their vulnerability and susceptibility. If you're wondering who to blame for this trend for this era of computer-optimized price schemes, the answer is surprisingly obvious: It's airlines. Well, and Jimmy Carter. Airline prices have always been a black box The era of dynamic pricing as we know it started in 1966, when American Airlines launched its Semi-Automated Business Research Environment, or SABRE. This computerized reservations system became the company's nerve center, where data about every reservation and cancellation was kept. After President Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act into law in 1978, which allowed airlines to set their own prices, American Airlines leveraged the data they collected through SABRE to maximize profits. The company even created a new system called DINAMO to do so, and within a few years, dynamic pricing became industry standard. American Airlines led the way, launching its Super Saver fares and helping drive down the price of flights for leisure travelers while business travelers footed the bill for the discounts. However, it wasn't always clear why some seats were cheaper than others. This is still the black box approach to airfare pricing we're living with today. Related How airlines squeeze you for every penny Airfares can vary widely based on a number of factors, from the number of discounts the airline releases to when the passenger books the flight. The person you're sitting next to on any given flight could have paid twice as much as you — or half as much. It's getting harder to figure out how to game the system, too, as computers have improved and algorithms have gotten more sophisticated. And now there's AI. Does this mean Delta will know when you're flying to a funeral on short notice and charge you full fare, because it knows you'll pay it? Probably not, according to Laurie Garrow, a professor of aviation at George Tech. 'The characteristics that they're looking at to do this discounting are characteristics about your trip — how far I'm booking in advance, what market, how many people are traveling together, historic purchase patterns in the aggregate — that's what's being fed to the AI,' Garrow said. 'It's not things that are being hypothesized, like, 'Am I going to a funeral?'' In other words, what Delta knows about is based on the data you've given it, especially when shopping for flights. It turns out that what's happening with Amazon prices is a little less nefarious. The company uses dynamic pricing with the help of algorithms — it constantly changes prices based on supply and demand — but Amazon says it doesn't do personalized or surveillance pricing. So that super low price on boxer briefs wasn't just for me. Amazon reportedly changes its prices up to 2.5 million times a day, or about once every 10 minutes, but those fluctuations show up for all customers. 'Algorithmic pricing exploits a vast asymmetry of information,' said Elise Phillips, policy counsel at Public Knowledge. 'Given that there is often little transparency in how these algorithms function, it's fundamentally unfair to consumers.' What you can do to avoid the algorithm's gaze It may feel impossible to escape the reach of dynamic pricing both online and off. Again, it's not just airlines and Amazon doing it. Ticketmaster, which is infamous for dynamic pricing, and its parent company Live Nation are being sued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for illegally operating a monopoly. (So is Amazon.) Kroger is being scrutinized not only for its personalized discounts but also its new electronic shelf labels, which change the prices of groceries for arbitrary reasons. Uber has normalized surge pricing, and is now finding new ways to overcharge customers. If you do find yourself shopping for a flight, a pair of underwear, or even a concert ticket, and you want to be treated like a stranger, make yourself a stranger online. You can avoid spending money with companies who use dynamic prices, if there's a good alternative. (For air travel, unfortunately, that's nearly impossible because most airlines use a form of dynamic pricing.) Nevertheless, if you do find yourself shopping for a flight, a pair of underwear, or even a concert ticket, and you want to be treated like a stranger, make yourself a stranger online. You can do this several different ways. Use a VPN when you shop online. And then try it using incognito mode in Chrome or a private browser window in Safari to keep data out of the algorithms' hands. You could even use a privacy-focused browser, like Duck Duck Go, to avoid even more trackers. Heck, try all three approaches and see if the prices change. It is theoretically possible that surrendering your personal data could lead to lower prices. That doesn't make it right, though. 'Just because the technology exists, we don't just have to let companies do what's most profitable for them,' Brian Callaci, chief economist at the Open Markets Institute, told me. 'You know, the whole point of capitalism should be working for us and not the other way around.' A version of this story was also published in the User Friendly newsletter. Sign up here so you don't miss the next one!
USA Today
7 days ago
- USA Today
✈️ This Trtl travel neck pillow is a game-changer for long flights—and on sale now
Save up to 60% at the Trtl Big Travel sale this week. From melatonin gummies and sleep tea to traditional ear plugs, I've tried almost every remedy under the sun to help improve the quality of my sleep on long flights. But of all the hacks and gadgets, few have been quite as effective as the Trtl Travel Neck Pillow, an ergonomic (and frankly atypical) alternative to standard neck pillows. This pillow has a plush, patented design that makes it easy to rest while you're on the go—no matter if you're on a redeye flight or road trip. It's a travel must-have that I absolutely swear by, and for a limited time, it's on rare sale—along with tons of other genius Trtl travel accessories. For a limited time, Trtl is offering up to 60% off popular travel products at its Big Travel sale. From travel neck pillows to sleep eye masks and compression socks, you'll feel prepared to conquer any getaway with these travel essentials—all on sale this week: Save up to 60% at Trtl's Big Travel sale MORE: Book your dream vacation for the right price! Shop top travel deals on hotels, flights ✈️ MORE: Shh! The Béis secret sale has up to 50% off viral weekender bags and luggage 👀 Trtl is a travel accessory brand that's garnered internet attention (and hype) for its innovative, oftentimes atypical products that are designed to help elevate a person's travel experience. Shop more Trtl deals on travel accessories Trtl offers a range of cool travel products and accessories, ranging from sleep eye masks (perfect for redeye flights) to travel water bottles. The best-selling Trtl product is undoubtedly the Trtl Travel Neck Pillow, which boasts a patented, ergonomic design that ensures your head sits upright on a flight—helping you to achieve your best night's rest.
