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

June 30, 2004

Ship Repossessed Before Cruise
More than 100 passengers expecting to take a 19-day cruise along Alaska's coast were turned away because their ship had been repossessed. Cruise operator Society Expeditions posted a statement on its Web site that said mortgage holders took possession of the World Discoverer before it was to depart on June 18. The cruise ship was to take passengers throughout the Bering Sea to remote islands, bird rookeries and walrus haulouts, at a cost of $6,865 per passenger, according to the Nome Nugget. The cruise operator, which also sells trips to Antarctica and other exotic locales, said problems in the travel industry had led to fewer customers. "These unusually low numbers have led to financial shortages, and we regret to inform you that our mortgage holders have unexpectedly taken possession of the World Discoverer," Society Expeditions' statement read in part. AP | Posted 6:30 a.m.
-- Nome Nugget: Ship headed to Singapore (second item)
-- Society Expeditions: Blames 'problematic' industry

• What troubles me about the Society Expeditions situation is how vague it's being about the meltdown - and circumstances surrounding any possible refunds. Sadly, with the way the system works, customers could lose some (or all) of the money they spent on their cruise. Send us your comments.

Siblings Sue Southwest Over Weight
A brother and sister from northern New Mexico are suing Southwest Airlines for humiliation after an airline employee told them, in front of other passengers, that they had to buy extra tickets because their weight would cause "comfort and safety" problems for others. Andrea Kysar of White Rock and Martin McLaughlin of Espanola were booked to fly from Indianapolis to Albuquerque in July 2002 when the incident occurred, according to the lawsuit filed recently in state district court. The siblings, along with Kysar's husband and daughter, had flown to Indianapolis on Southwest to attend memorial services for their mother. The airline did not invoke the policy requiring additional tickets when they flew to Indianapolis. Sun-Times | Posted 6:45 a.m.

It's Cloak and Dagger at Air Canada
Air Canada went to the extraordinary length of hiring private investigators to sift through a WestJet Airlines Ltd. executive's garbage, pieces of which were then sent on to be digitally reconstructed, according to court documents that shed new light on the cloak-and-dagger fight playing out between the rival air carriers. The documents filed by Air Canada acknowledge for the first time that the airline hired investigators who hauled away the curbside trash of the executive it suspected of improperly tapping into its computers for confidential information. Some of the shredded or fragmentary documents they retrieved were sent to a company in Texas for digital scanning. Globe and Mail | Posted 7 a.m.

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• And finally ... is the TSA getting messy on the job? That question is raised by reader Shannon O'Connor, who wrote to tell me about several recent screening experiences at the airport. "Whoever went through my bag opened clear Ziplocked plastic bags containing toiletries - shampoo, conditioner, lotion, etc. - apparently uncapped the enclosed bottles, and then didn't seal everything back up," she reports. "So I've ended up with clothing and shoes saturated with shampoo or other cosmetic liquids." Has this happened to you, too? Let me know. Posted 7:10 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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