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

June 18, 2004

Airline Travel Goes Hollywood
The airline industry is hurting -- but not in Hollywood. Steven Spielberg's latest movie, "The Terminal," which opens Friday, takes place almost entirely in a film-set version of the international terminal at New York's Kennedy airport. NBC's prime-time fall lineup includes an airport drama called "LAX," for Los Angeles International Airport. "Airline," the A&E cable network reality show, was so popular it has been renewed for a second season. In "The Terminal," Tom Hanks plays Viktor Navorski, whose tiny European homeland erupts in a coup while he is en route to America. Unable to go home, his passport useless, Navorski spends an entire year at the airport, trying to sleep on uncomfortable seats, getting a job there, even having a little PG-13 romance with Catherine Zeta-Jones. Atlanta Journal Constitution | Posted 6:30 a.m.
-- NY Times: 'Terminal' at times 'to the point of banality'
-- Contra Costa Times: 'Terminal' is terminally gooey

• I'll probably catch 'The Terminal' in the theater - if I can. After all, as someone who has been widely criticized for a series of columns on worst airports, best airports and worst international airports, I should probably see what Tinseltown thinks of today's airports. Send us your comments.

Loan Rejected For Bankrupt United
A federal panel has rejected United Airlines' bid for $1.6 billion in government loan guarantees that its senior managers had portrayed as key to its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was the second time in 18 months that the Air Transportation Stabilization Board had turned down the financially strapped airline. As a result, industry experts said, United could face management upheaval and further cutbacks. Despite the latest setback, Glenn Tilton, United's president and chief executive officer, remained optimistic about the airline's chances of emerging from bankruptcy even without the loan. Nonetheless, he expressed disappointment in the decision announced Thursday. San Francisco Chronicle | Posted 6:45 a.m.

Air Travel Can Be a Pain (in the Ears)
Air travel can be a pain, but when that pain involves the ears there may be something wrong that goes beyond the obvious. Persistent ear pain has caused some business travelers to give up air travel, said Dr. Jordan S. Josephson, a nasal and sinus specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, whose patients include frequent flyers. They thought the culprit was normal sensitivity to the changes in cabin air pressure, he said, and the usual home remedies -- from chewing gum to swallowing hard with a closed mouth -- didn't help. The problem, as it turned out, was sinus-related. "A lot of people need to look for someone who understands sinus and ear physiology," Josephson said in an interview. Allergies or infections there can cause swelling in the Eustachian tubes, which connect the middle ear and the back of the nose, and significant ear problems may result. Reuters | Posted 7 a.m.

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• And finally ... so it turns out we were unprepared for 9/11 after all. The reports coming out of the commission hearings are - I think you'll agree - pretty disturbing. But at the same time, it's naive to think we could stop something similar from ever happening again. Terrorists aren't dummies. They'll try something new, something different. And then we'll just have another commission to tell us ex post facto that we weren't ready for it. Posted 7:10 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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