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

July 2, 2004

It's Going to Be a Busy, Busy Weekend
Longer airport lines and a record number of traffic fatalities are expected this weekend as the nation heads into its biggest travel season since before 2001. Security concerns have done little to dampen travel plans. AAA estimates 39.4 million Americans will make holiday trips of 50 miles or more over the next four days. That's a 3.4% increase over last year's July Fourth holiday, which set a record for Independence Day weekend travel. About 34.4 million will drive, and 4.4 million will fly. USA Today | Posted 6:30 a.m.
-- NY Post: Red, white and 'zoom' - surge coming
-- WIVB: Watch border crossings for big delays

• For just once, I'd like to see someone follow up on these "predictions" by counting how many travelers actually hit the road over the weekend. But there's no accountability, as I pointed out in a recent commentary. Send us your comments.

Look Out For Low-Fare Lies
We've all seen the tables of "lowest air fares" in the Sunday papers. I remember using them regularly. But I've never really examined them for accuracy. I always assumed they were a true listing of low fares. Not so. They're often flat out wrong. In fact, the charts I just examined in the Boston Globe (and many other newspapers) are often wrong and misleading. Just after Independence Air began flying to Boston from Washington, I took a look at the "lowest round-trip air fares chart" in the Boston Globe. Strangely, Independence Air wasn't mentioned at all. And jetBlue wasn't mentioned anywhere as having the lowest air fares. Travelcomment.com | Posted 6:45 a.m.

US Airways Lowers Fares - A Little
US Airways, the dominant carrier serving Syracuse, responded to the arrival of low-fare competitor Independence Air on Thursday with new, lower fares of its own. The same day Independence Air started eight daily flights from Syracuse to Washington, D.C., US Airways cut fares on its five daily flights to the nation's capital. Its new "GoFare" round-trip fare for tickets purchased 14 days in advance will be as low as $178, with last minute fares as low as $278, on flights between Hancock Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The new fares are a big drop for US Airways; its round-trip fares on the route used to top out at about $900. Its new fares are not quite as low as those charged by Independence Air, however. Independence charges as little as $118 and at most $206 for round-trip flights between Hancock and Washington Dulles Airport in Dulles, Va. Post-Standard | Posted 7 a.m.

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• And finally ... if you've made it to the bottom of this blog, and you're living in the United States, then do yourself a big favor: take the rest of the day off. I think I'm the only travel writer actually working the day before the Independence Day holiday weekend. Really, I don't think travel is that interesting. Posted 7:10 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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