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

February 23, 2004

EasyJet, the Sequel: EasyCruise?
EasyJet founder Stelios Haji sold shares in the airline worth £14 million to finance a 'little shopping spree' and bought a cruise ship, a hotel and ten mini-busses. It's thought Haji is planning to establish EasyCruise, a no-frills cruise ship company, which would travel between Majorca, Nice, Corsica, Rome and other cities on a 14 night trip, costing about £14 a day. Passengers, who are likely to be in their 20s, 30s and 40s, would have to pay for their bedding and clean their own rooms. Haji also plans to set up EasyHotel, with the first hotel opening in London later this year, and EasyBus, a short-distance mini-bus service. On Business | Posted 6:20 a.m.
-- Times: Coming soon, EasyJet cell phones?

• There's nothing "easy" about these no-frills Euro carriers. Their relentless cost-cutting (scant legroom, no window blinds, locking seats in place) are being ridiculed on this side of the Atlantic. Hey Stelios, can't wait to see the boat. Send us your comments.

Don't Wait for Fluctuating Rental Rates
I made a big, albeit correctable, mistake last month while planning a weekend ski trip to a resort 70 miles from Denver. I booked air fare and accommodations but dawdled on renting the SUV I figured I would need for snow country. By the time I priced it, the cheapest three-day SUV rental from Denver's airport totaled nearly $300, including taxes and fees. That exceeded both my lodge stay and the lowest round-trip Los Angeles-Denver airfare I found. And I would still have to buy gasoline. Moral: Shop for the car before you book a non-refundable airfare. (Or do what I did for that February weekend: Book a round trip to the resort on a shuttle service for $92 -- less than the taxes and fees on some SUV rentals.) Mercury News | Posted 6:30 a.m.
<-- Gambling: Don't put off car until last minute

Concession Talks Start at US Airways
After two days of exploratory talks with senior US Airways executives, pilots union leaders have agreed to talk more about cutting costs at the financially troubled airline. The airline's other employee groups are in a less cooperative mood. Yesterday, the airline's mechanics called off a meeting with executives that was scheduled for next week. And the leader of the airline's flight attendants union urged the airline to spend more time "repairing" its relationship with employees as it shares the details of its cost-cutting plan. Despite cutting nearly $2 billion in costs during its seven months in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, US Airways says it has to reduce expenses by an additional 25 percent. MSNBC | Posted 6:40 a.m.
-- DCT: Southwest, Frontier start fare war

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• And finally ... we reported last week that the TSA has started fining passengers who bring banned items with them (someone has to foot the $1 billion bill for CAPPS II, after all). But the word among passengers is that a docile, complacent demeanor is also needed in order to make it through without paying up. TSA screeners, they claim, are slapping them with penalties just for having an "attitude." Posted 6:50 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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