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

August 23, 2004

Nervous Passengers Avoid US Airways
With US Airways signaling it could go into bankruptcy for a second time next month, local travel agents find themselves booking flights away from the airline amid worries it might not be there when it comes time for their customers to take off. Paul Busang, the president of Gulliver's Travels Inc., a Shadyside based travel agency that focuses mainly on leisure travel, quickly counted up $4,600 US Airways lost in the span less than two hours last week. One set of four clients who expected to use US Airways to take a January vacation to Panama had their flights switched to America West. Mr. Busang said he has other examples of clients actively avoiding flights on US Airways and expects more. Business Times | Posted 6:30 a.m.
• US Airways Chairman: Liquidation Possible (Reuters)
• S&P Cuts Airline's Debt Rating Further (BusinessWeek)

No one likes to see an airline go out of business, even if it's the worst-run company in America. I agree with columnist Jack Markowitz that there's still some hope for US Airways. But it's fading fast.

Air Marshal Hotel Policy Blows Cover
Travelers checking into budget hotels near major airports might be surprised to find themselves standing next to undercover federal air marshals. They'll be the guests asking for "the air marshal's discount." So much for working undercover. Under a new policy, when air marshals travel away from their home bases -- as they do continually -- they will have to stay at a short list of selected hotels. They will also be required to identify themselves as air marshals to receive a special rate their agency has negotiated with the innkeepers -- below the regular government discount they now get. That, as many air marshals see it, is the latest bureaucratic blow to their effort to maintain security and keep potential terrorists from identifying them. Los Angeles Times | Posted 6:35 a.m.

Most Air Travelers Would Share Data
If you have no problem with airlines sharing your personal information with the government in order to prevent a terrorist or criminal attack, you are in the majority. According to the results of Ponemon Institute's first Privacy Trust Survey for the Airline Industry, 77 percent of the more than 5,000 Americans responding to our survey want both the government and the airline industry to take the necessary steps to protect them from terrorism threats — even if it involves background checks and voluntary fingerprinting. Darwin | Posted 6:45 a.m.

Prank Abandon Ship Warning Rattles Passengers - At 3:45 on the morning of July 31, as the Carnival Cruise ship Miracle was sailing into New York Harbor, a warning to abandon ship came over the public address system. Hundreds of passengers, many of them groggy from sleep, began to head toward their evacuation stations and put on life jackets. Others heard the announcement more clearly and were puzzled that it seemed to be a warning only for members of the crew to abandon ship. Boston Globe | Posted 7 a.m.

Passengers Hurt as Jet Dives to Avoid Collision - A TAP Air Portugal jetliner dived sharply to avoid colliding with a smaller aircraft near the Azores Islands on Friday, injuring 31 passengers and two crew, the company said. . The Airbus A310, carrying 131 passengers and eight crewmembers from Lisbon, was on its approach to the mid-Atlantic islands when a cockpit alarm and the local air traffic control tower warned the pilot of a collision with a twin-engine Beechcraft, officials said. AP | Posted 7:05 a.m.

Average Joes Can't Get Off No-Fly List - The nation's confusing array of terrorist watch lists -- like those that snagged Sen. Ted Kennedy and Rep. John Lewis -- can be easy to get on, but far more difficult to get off. It took Kennedy, one of the country's best known senators, three weeks and several calls to federal officials to separate his identity from that of a person with a similar name on the no-fly list. Sun-Times | Posted 7:10 a.m.

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• Off the Record ... several readers of my Q&A column, The Travel Troubleshooter, have sent me angry e-mails during the last 24 hours because of a recent story about Hertz charging a customer nearly $3,000 for an engine replacement. In the end, the bill stuck despite my efforts to have the fee removed. The readers berated me for not siding with the traveler, and they wondered why I would bother to publish a column in which I couldn't get a successful resolution. The long answer is posted in my column charter. But the short answer is that the customer is not always right, and I'm not perfect. Unlike some of the other columnists who help people solve their travel problems, I won't pretend otherwise. Posted 7:15 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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