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

March 18, 2004

New York Considers New Hotel Taxes
Visitors to New York City may soon find another $1.50-per-night hotel tax added to their bills to help finance the proposed expansion of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. That's if executives from the hotel industry convince Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the City Council, and other officials to approve such a plan that supporters say could defray some of the project's initial $1.4 billion cost. Jonathan Tisch, chairman of NYC & Company, the city's convention and visitor's bureau, yesterday mentioned the $1.50 per-key, per-night, per-occupied room tax as one of several ways the city and state could finance the first phase of the convention center's expansion. Newsday | Posted 6 a.m.
-- Times: Developer balking at hotel plans
-- Reuters: Visitors already pay 13.6% hotel tax

• This is, without a question, taxation without representation. Travelers are the victims. Any questions? Send us your comments.

Delta Loses Alzheimer Passenger
An El Paso family is accusing Delta Air Lines of losing a 79-year-old man with Alzheimer's disease who was traveling to El Paso from New York on Monday. Antonio Ayala, who in addition to Alzheimer's suffers from kidney disease, stopped on Monday in Atlanta on his way to El Paso to be with family, but he never made his connecting flight, family members said. Cecilia Flowers, of El Paso, said that her family had understood that the airline would escort Ayala by wheelchair to his next flight at the Atlanta airport. "When we booked the flight, we asked them if they did that service, and they guaranteed us that they did," Flowers said. But the airline "just let him walk off the plane and he wandered off." El Paso Times | Posted 6:20 a.m.
-- CBS: Man could have gone into coma without help

-- From a Delta insider: "The family neglected to tell Delta that he had Alzheimer's and needed assistance. They only told the ticket agent he needed wheelchair assistance which he declined when the flight attendant on board confirmed with him the request prior to landing. Flight attendants aren't typically in the habit of forcing wheelchairs on passengers that don't want them unless some sort of special note is made. If the family had simply told Delta and paid the special services fee, (referred to as unaccompanied minor but can be used for anything of course), versus simply requesting a (free) wheelchair service, this never would have happened. Save a buck, lose your grandfather for a few days. I am very happy he is home now but you really can't blame the airline for this in my opinion." Posted 10:45 a.m., March 21

Trusted Traveler Program Gets OK
The Bush administration wants to begin testing in June a program that would allow certain airline travelers not considered terrorist threats to avoid extra security inspections at airports, a federal official said yesterday. Under the "registered traveler program" passengers would pay a fee and submit to government background checks. If they are not found to be potential threats, they would avoid being randomly selected for the follow-up screening that some travelers face at checkpoints where carry-on bags pass through metal detectors. David Stone, acting chief of the Transportation Security Administration, said the goal is to move law-abiding travelers more quickly to their planes and permit screeners to focus more on people about whom the government has less information. AP | Posted 6:30 a.m.
-- Post: TSA defends bypass of airport workers

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• And finally ... is Ted really the end of United? The rumor mill is humming with word that the Chicago carrier is about to breathe its last. But I think US Airways is a step closer to liquidation than United. Just my opinion, for what it's worth. Posted 6:40 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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