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E L L I O T T' S TRAVEL NOTES
Travel news, opinion and analysis

April 15, 2004

Delta Air Lines' Woes Deepen
Delta Air Lines and its pilots union appear headed for a showdown over wage concessions after the nation's third-largest carrier reported another huge quarterly loss, warned of mounting debt and said radical changes might be needed to turn things around. The Atlanta-based company has not been able to reach a deal with pilots to cut their pay during on-again, off-again talks over the past year, and both sides remained steadfast in their positions Wednesday as Delta posted a $387 million first-quarter loss. The situation puts Delta on a dangerous course. At its current rate of burning cash - $500 million in the January-March period - the airline only has enough cash on hand to last until summer 2005. The carrier also has $20.6 billion in debt and a falling credit rating, making it more expensive to borrow. AP | Posted 5:20 p.m.
-- AP: Delta also faces an image problem

• Will Delta declare bankruptcy? Rumors that the carrier will file for Chapter 11 protection have been around for the better part of a year. Now, they seem more likely to be true than ever. Send us your comments.

U.S. Threatens Euro Air Sanctions
The U.S. government revived the threat of hefty fines and the loss of landing rights for airlines flying across the Atlantic if the European Union blocks them from supplying data on passengers as required under a U.S. security law. "We of course will do what we need to do to ensure that flights coming in are properly secured," C. Stewart Verdery, Jr., an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said in a videoconference call from Washington. Senior lawmakers at the European Parliament are scheduled to decide Thursday whether to challenge in court an E.U. agreement to share data with Washington on passengers flying to the U.S. AP | Posted 6:20 p.m.
-- Washington Times: Screening system faces delays

Cheap Tickets This Summer? Forget It
If you want a cheap vacation this summer, go see the Liberty Bell. But if you want to listen to Big Ben, that other famous bell cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, airfares are going to be steep. It's shaping up to be a very busy travel season this summer, and airlines, for a change, are jumping on the chance to bank higher airfares. Unlike past years, when deep-discount sales covered the summer season, early sales this year have often excluded travel between mid-June to mid-August. Peak-season tickets to some regions, especially Europe, are likely to be more expensive than they have been in three or four years. A Chicago-Rome round trip over the Fourth of July weekend was priced Tuesday at a whopping $1,720 for non-stop flights on AMR Corp.'s American Airlines. Wall Street Journal | Posted 6:30 p.m.

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• And finally ... this blog entry was posted on Wednesday evening so that we can catch a plane back to Miami on Thursday morning. But Travel Notes will be back to its normal self on Friday morning, hopefully. Happy tax day! Posted 6:45 p.m. | Send us your comments.

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