Cellphone use on airplanes, it would seem, is on extended hold in the United States.

The national union representing flight attendants wants Congress to ban in-flight phone calls, and survey after survey of airline passengers shows strong opposition to allowing cellphones on planes.

So while domestic airlines rush to wire their cabins to provide in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity, there is no indication whether, or when, passengers in the United States might be able to make a cellphone call at 37,000 feet.

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On my last trip to Europe, I didn’t bring my usual $200 cash reserve. With just a few bucks in my wallet, I landed in Madrid, relying entirely on two ATM cards and no cash safety net. It turned out OK. At the airport, I withdrew some euros from an ATM machine, and tucked the bills into my money belt. After decades of traveling to Europe, I have found that the cheapest, safest way to go is to pay with cash for most items, and withdraw money as I zip from one place to the next. The reason? To cut down on fees and fraud.

Tipping in British hotels can be a grey area. Readers often complain that when they add a service charge to a credit or debit card at the end of a hotel stay – typically 10 to 12 per cent of the restaurant part of the bill – it’s frequently unclear how the money is distributed.

They’re right to be concerned. A proportion of the charge is usually retained as a ”handling cost” for credit card and banking charges or payroll processing costs. And there’s no legal requirement for the hotel to allocate a specific proportion of the remaining amount to the staff who’ve given the service.