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

December 20, 2004

Alaskans Will Vote On Cruise Tax
A citizen's initiative to tax the cruise ship industry and enforce stricter environmental standards has been approved by Lt. Gov. Loren Leman for the August 2006 primary. The initiative would institute a $50 head tax and a 33 percent tax on onboard gambling revenue, and would subject the industry to Alaska's corporate income tax. It also increases fines for illegally dumping waste from $500 to $5,000 and requires cruise ships to hire marine engineers to monitor wastewater treatment and pollution control equipment. (Juneau Empire) Posted 5:35 a.m.
• Referendum Could Happen Sooner (Daily News)
• Maui Considers Cruise Taxes, Too (Maui News)

Good luck. The cruise industry is bound to fight these new fees, and it has a powerful ally - maritime law - to protect it.

TSA Bars Access to Training Data
How much has it cost to run the police canine program at Louisville International Airport? What equipment does the program have? When were canine officers trained, and did they pass certification evaluations? All of that information is available to the public under Kentucky's Open Records Act. But the federal Transportation Security Administration said it was "sensitive security information" and directed the airport to deny a Courier-Journal request for that information, as well as reports relating to two incidents in which airport canine officers mishandled explosive materials. (Courier-Journal) Posted 5:45 a.m.

United Pension Deal is 'Dangerous'
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. and leaders of its pilots union have agreed on a deal under which the pilots will not oppose termination of their pension plan but will receive a $550 million note convertible into company stock when the airline emerges from bankruptcy protection. The deal, which still must be approved by the pilots themselves, would clear a significant obstacle to UAL's reorganization. However, the head of the government's Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which would become responsible for pilots' pensions if the plan is terminated, called the deal a "dangerous precedent." (Washington Post) Posted 5:50 a.m.

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Air and Space
About a year ago, the new annex of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum opened next to Dulles Airport in Virginia. This spacious museum allowed the Smithsonian Institution to display many of the aircraft that had been held in storage for the first time. Here you will find the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay," that dropped the atom bomb on Japan and the once super-secret SR-71 Blackbird spy plane. (Travelcomment.com) Posted 5:55 a.m.

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Southwest Gears Up For Love Field Fight
Southwest Airlines has fired the first warning shot toward American Airlines and Dallas/Fort Worth Airport in a bitter fight to determine who can fly out of Dallas Love Field and whether long-range, nonstop flights ultimately will be available to and from the close-in Dallas airport. Love Field, Southwest's home base, has been restricted by a 25-year-old federal law that prohibits arrival at or departure from any destination other than cities in the four states adjoining Texas. (Washington Times) Posted 6:05 a.m.

Grateful Dead Songwriter Contests Search
John Perry Barlow, a 56-year-old former songwriter for the Grateful Dead, was settled into his airline seat for departure when a flight attendant asked him to get his belongings and leave the plane immediately. Airport security workers at San Francisco International Airport had come upon some suspicious-looking wires inside his checked luggage while conducting a routine inspection. No explosives turned up, but screeners allegedly did find a hypodermic needle in a suitcase along with a small amount of marijuana and illegal hallucinogenic drugs in a bottle of ibuprofen. (Washington Post) Posted 6:10 a.m.

Homeless For a Night
Being stranded overnight in an airport helps a person appreciate the plight of the homeless. It's hardly the same as camping out under a bridge on a subzero night. An airport is warm and lighted, and comparatively safe. But bedding down on chairs for five or six hours heightens a person's appreciation of having a place, even if it's temporary, and of having some control. (Denver Post) Posted 6:15 a.m.

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