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

July 26, 2004

CDC: More Travelers Need Shots
Travelers to high-risk areas should receive typhoid fever vaccinations even if they plan to stay for only a few weeks, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Vaccination is an important means of preventing typhoid fever, which is spread largely through contaminated food and water, but deciding who needs to be vaccinated remains challenging, according to the report in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. Dr. Ellen Steinberg Stevenson from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues reviewed US typhoid fever surveillance data from 1994 to 1999 in order to clarify indications for typhoid vaccination and to identify high-priority groups for improved vaccine coverage. Nearly three-quarters of the reported cases of typhoid fever were associated with travel, the authors report, with only 7 percent occurring as part of regional outbreaks. Reuters | Posted 6:30 a.m.
• Doctors Help Overseas Travelers Prepare (Enquirer)
• CDC Information on Typhoid Fever (CDC)

Tell me about it. I've had my own run-in with the dreaded Norwalk Virus, and I can tell you it's no fun.

Pilot Fatigue Problem is Growing
The nation's top airlines are still wallowing in red ink, and their pilots are tired - some literally exhausted. Or so says Jane Meher. That's not her real name. As a pilot who's not a union official, she says she's forbidden by contract to talk to the press. Still, she was concerned enough about what she sees as a deteriorating safety standard that she came forward. And so did others. "Every pilot I talk to feels like they're being pushed to the limit," says Captain Meher. "It hasn't created a problem yet, but it could." AP | Posted 6:45 a.m.

Can Delta Carry Song's Tune?
On the steamy tarmac at gate D33 of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport sits what may be a model for the future of Delta Air Lines Inc., a snazzy white-and-green Boeing 757 operated by its lower-cost subsidiary, Song. Baggage handler Michael J. Moriarty exults that sliding bins on Song's 757s make loading luggage fast and easy, helping him turn around Song flights in 50 minutes. At Delta, hand-loading the heavy bags into holds often pushes turn times to an hour and a half. Business Week | Posted 7 a.m.

Back to Square One For Screeners - After the attacks of Sept. 11, one of the first things the U.S. government said it needed was a better way to decide who should be screened more closely at the airports, so it would spend less time on harmless grandmothers and more time on people who might actually pose a threat. But almost three years later, travelers are still being chosen for the more thorough secondary screening using a system developed in the 1990s, based on factors like whether the traveler paid cash for the ticket. IHT | Posted 7 a.m.

Is American in Trouble? - After staving off bankruptcy a year ago, American Airlines slashed costs below many of its competitors and its executives talked brightly about returning the largest U.S. carrier to its former glory. Analysts praised American, which eked out a tiny profit from April to June - only its second winning quarter in three years of crushing losses. Investors bid the stock price up for a time. Now, however, fresh doubts emerge about American's ability to regain its strength against the tide of high fuel prices, which have wiped out hope that the carrier might earn a profit this year, and an onslaught of competitors pushing low fares even lower. AP | Posted 7:05 a.m.

Another Confused Walk on The Tarmac - Security bosses at Perth Airport have launched an investigation into how a man was allowed to walk on to the tarmac and then board a Qantas flight bound for Singapore yesterday. Airport security was alerted when it was realised the elderly gentleman, who was described as confused and disoriented, had managed to walk across the airport apron and board the Boeing 767. Herald Sun | Posted 7 a.m.

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• Off the Record... I don't want to give Annie Jacobsen any more virtual ink this week, except to point out that her suggestion that she was witnessing a dry run of some kind for a terrorist attack has been completely debunked. Told you so.

Butch Stewart might want to consider pulling his ads out of the Guardian after a scathing commentary in Sunday's edition criticizing him for his "mixed couples only" rule at Sandals. Posted 7:10 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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