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

June 17, 2004

United's Tilton Tries To Revive Airline
United Airlines may need loan guarantees, labor concessions and assorted other financial boosters to get back to robust health. But if colleagues' descriptions of his life are accurate, what Glenn F. Tilton, the airline's chief executive, needs most is sleep. "He's in Washington one day, Frankfurt the next, Singapore the third, and back at his desk at week's end," said James J. O'Connor, the United director who led the committee that wooed Mr. Tilton from ChevronTexaco two years ago. "The man is positively indefatigable." He probably has no choice. Airline experts say it will take every ounce of personal energy and dedication - and more than a soupçon of sheer luck - for Mr. Tilton to make the skies friendly for United again. Indeed, Mr. Tilton is facing tasks that are every bit as formidable as those he faced as chief executive of Texaco, where he presided over both a bankruptcy and a merger. The New York TImes | Posted 6:30 a.m.
-- NY Times: No Government Bailout for United
-- RM News: Ruling could come as soon as today

• Airline bailouts were a bad idea back in 2001, and they're a bad idea now. The United States government has better ways to spend its money than to prop up several dying carriers - and only postponing the inevitable. Send us your comments.

Independence Air Takes Off At Last
For seven months, Independence Air existed only in TV and radio spots featuring the likes of James Carville, in newspaper ads trumpeting "lower than low" fares, and inside Washington's Dulles International Airport, where employees were taught a new way of running an airline. Yesterday, the airline took its boldest step yet. It flew. Independence Air Flight 1995 pushed back from Dulles's Gate 2A at 6:29 a.m. -- one minute ahead of schedule -- bound for Atlanta. And an airline was born -- actually, reinvented -- amid skepticism from industry analysts, preemptive strikes by competitors and enthusiastic reviews from customers delighted to get a bargain. The Washington Post | Posted 6:45 a.m.

Is Travel Insurance Worth It?
Nancy Mantini's 80-year-old mother-in-law always wanted to visit her native Poland with her grandchildren. But last summer, just before they purchased the trip, Mantini's father-in-law was diagnosed with cancer. Mantini said they had no reason to believe he was in any immediate danger, but, to be safe, she bought travel insurance recommended by her travel agent: $168 policies for each of the seven travelers. When her father-in-law died unexpectedly three weeks later, shortly before they were to depart, Mantini's family canceled the trip. They subsequently put in a claim with the insurance provider, assuming their situation would be covered. But the company, World Access, refused to pay—and Mantini's family was out more than $10,000. MSNBC | Posted 7 a.m.

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• And finally ... more reaction came in yesterday to my column on extreme reservations, which MSN posted a prominent link to. "I thank you for this very helpful list," wrote Julie Kane. "I have to disagree with Michael McNeil's point of view, that an airline exists only to transport someone from point A to point B. Maybe for him being on an airplane isn't an important experience, but for many of us who don't fly often, the flight is often as interesting as the destination!" Posted 7:10 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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