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E L L I O T T' S TRAVEL NOTES
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November 14, 2003

It's Your Fault That I'm Fat — Hotel fitness facilities are woefully lacking, according to a new survey by Lieberman Research Worldwide for Westin Hotels & Resorts. Almost two-thirds of those polled said they've encountered hotels without fitness facilities. About half of them said the properties with gyms were not to their liking. Roughly the same amount reported finding broken equipment, and 64 percent said the exercise rooms "feel like an afterthought." So, dear travelers, now we know who to blame when we pack on a few pounds the next time we go away. It's the hotel's fault. > Memo to United: Now that you've launched Ted here are two more brilliant ideas for low-fare spinoffs. 1) Ed, a standing-room-only airline using cargo jets (I mean, who needs windows, anyway?); and 2) D, featuring a fleet of Soviet-era Tupolev TU154s — an airline so awful that people will pay United to not fly it. Hmmm, I wonder what the "D" would stand for?

Note: I will be out of the office on assignment for the next few days. The next blog entry will appear on Tuesday, November 18.

November 13, 2003

Problem Child — This much can be said about "Ted," the new low-fare carrier from United formerly known as "Starfish." It promises to be half the airline that United is — and I don't mean that in just a literal sense (after all, "Ted" is the last three letters of United. Ha, ha — get it?) For all the rhetoric about this new carrier being different from its bankrupt parent, there's little evidence to suggest that it's no more than a stripped-down version of a full-service airline with a new paint job and a different brand. In other words, it's a legacy carrier's idea of what a no-frills carrier is. It gives me no pleasure to report this, because I think United is really trying to turn itself around the right way, with measured reforms designed to improve the customer-service experience. Sadly, Ted seems to be a problem child United could do without.

November 12, 2003

Back From the Brink — How close did we come to losing Alamo and National last month? Closer than anyone thought. According to car rental analyst Neil Abrams, the rescue of their parent company, ANC Car Rental, by Worldwide Accelerated Leasing Inc. literally came at the eleventh hour. "The viability of the whole ANC business was highly in question," he told Business Travel News. Now I know that if rental cars somehow sprouted wings, then companies like ANC would have qualified for billions in federal aid and commanded the attention of news editors everywhere. But that doesn't mean we should ignore this important industry segment, does it? > Chill out: Is Google censoring your travel news? Several travel Web site publishers have complained to me that Google's context-specific ads default to nonprofit notices when certain controversial terms appear on their pages. Their solution? Remove the offending words, naturally. Call it the Google Gag. What do you think?

November 11, 2003

Lock 'Em Up — Where do disreputable tour operators go when they've done something really, really bad? Why, to prison, of course. Travel Weekly reports that David Anderson, owner of David Anderson's Safaris and Luxury Adventures Ltd., was sentenced to 117 days time served in the county jail, plus five years probation with terms and conditions, and the restitution of more than $230,000 owed to customers. Anderson had plead guilty to 32 counts of failing to make refunds to customers or failing to put customers' deposits in trust funds as required by law. Sadly, as I've reported on this blog, few of the travel industry's shady characters ever end up behind bars. But this site can certainly do its part. That's why, when readers pointed out this morning that our server was generating ads for a travel agency card mill — a company that sells travel agency certifications regardless of your qualifications — we promptly blocked the offending advertiser, with our apologies.

November 10, 2003

Sky Nannies — Gulf Air today introduced the world's first airborne baby-sitter. The so-called Sky Nanny service, which will be available on routes between London, Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi and from Bahrain to Sydney starting on November 23, uses flight attendants trained in nanny techniques by the "world-famous Norland College." Air travelers find children more annoying than drunks, "arm rest huggers" and nosy neighbors, according to research published by the airline. As the father of a 17-month old, I think it's about time. I know flight attendants aren't supposed to double as baby-sitters, but it's nice to know some crewmembers are trained to handle a little monster on a long flight. Even if it's my own little monster.

Note: This Web log represents my personal views at the time of their writing. My views are subject to change without notice. Further, I can't vouch for the accuracy or integrity of links to source information.

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