• What's elliott?
• About elliott
• Contact us

t o p i c s

• Business
• Commentary
• Destinations
• Help
• Leisure
• Technology
• Vault

Copyright Elliott Publishing. All rights reserved. For more information, call (305) 453-4781 or send e-mail to us.

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

February 20, 2004

Travelers With Banned Items Fined
Anyone trying to sneak a knife onto an airplane could be fined $250 and a passenger with an explosive could get as much as $10,000 under new guidelines. Thousands of airline passengers board planes every year carrying banned items such as cuticle scissors, box cutters and guns. Tom Blank, assistant administrator for transportation security policy, testified before Congress last week that the Transportation Security Administration has intercepted more than 1,650 firearms, more than 3 million knives and more than 57,000 incendiary devices since shortly after the terrorist hijackings on Sept. 11, 2001. Mark Hatfield, TSA spokesman, said the new schedule of fines shows that the agency is serious about keeping dangerous items off planes. “’I forgot I had the gun in the bag’ is not an acceptable excuse,” he said. Daily Journal | Posted 6:20 a.m.
-- Read full text of TSA's new civil enforcement policies
<-- DMN: Cargo security concerns after 'stunt'

• Considering that someone has to foot the $1 billion bill for CAPPS, it's about time the feds started billing air travelers for their sins. But that doesn't change the fact that its new screening system, as it stands, is deeply flawed. Send us your comments.

Credit Card 'Rewards' Can Be Costly
The credit card arena is a hyper-competitive place, with card issuers rapidly introducing new products, many with extraordinary packages of bells and whistles that are designed to attract high net-worth individuals. But clients should be aware that these cards come at a price and can be inappropriate, depending on an individual’s credit history. One recent entrant into the premium card sweepstakes is CIBC’s CIBC Aventura Gold VISA card, which offers rewards that include a private wine tour in France, Formula 1600 auto-racing lessons and a 30-minute flight in a Russian MiG 25 fighter jet. But at the going rate of one point for every $1 charged to the card, a cardholder would have to spend $3 million to accumulate the points required for the MiG 25 flight package. Investment Executive | Posted 6:30 a.m.
-- Credit cards scale back direct-mail pitches

NY is Most Expensive Destination
A new study suggests that New York city is the most expensive business destination in the country, followed by Chicago. Daily business-travel costs -- including hotel, rental car, and food expenses -- averaged $445.77 in New York; $384.58 in Chicago; and $367 in the third-place Boston. Crain's Chicago Business reported Thursday. Corporate travel planners who are looking to shave some costs from a company's business-travel budget rely on this data, gathered by Business Travel News. UPI | Posted 6:40 a.m.

-----------------------------------

• And finally ... is the TSA "nothing but smoke and mirrors," as passengers claim on a blazing-hot bulletin board string? The assertion follows a bureaucratic nightmare of a screening process in Sacramento, in which an air traveler was forced to jump through a lot of proverbial hoops before getting on a plane. And the answer is: Maybe. Posted 6:50 a.m. | Send us your comments.

>> Yesterday's Notes | Tomorrow's Notes <<

E-mail Elliott | Other bloggers | About this blog

Latest Travel Notes | Complete Archives