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

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October 20, 2004

New 'Secure Flight' Under Attack
Beginning next month, the Transportation Security Administration will be testing a new airline passenger-profiling system, based on records turned over by airlines on all passengers who took flights during the month of June. Department of Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge announced the new tracking system, dubbed Secure Flight, Aug. 26. But the American Civil Liberties Union – which has two lawsuits pending against the government over Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System I (CAPPS I), its current profiling program – warns that the new system doesn't do nearly enough to address endemic problems that hound hundreds of passengers to this day. "We're representing a variety of clients who've found themselves trapped up in this system," Jay Stanley, a spokesperson with the Washington, D.C., branch of the ACLU, told the Bay Guardian. Bay Guardian | Posted 6:35 a.m.
• Security Screening Goes Offshore (Post)
• Earlier: DHS Requests Proposal For No-Fly (GCN)

I'm not sure how replacing one questionable system with another questionable system is going to help.

Newark Screeners Face Firing
At least nine security screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport have been removed from their posts -- and face possible dismissal -- after failing two separate tests designed to assess their abilities to detect weapons and explosives, a U.S. aviation security official said yesterday. But airport screeners say the number of their colleagues who have been disciplined in recent days is at least twice as high as the official count and growing. The action by the federal Transportation Security Administration is the result of an ongoing, annual evaluation of Newark Airport's checkpoint and baggage screeners. Star-Ledger | Posted 6:45 a.m.

Despite Losses, Song Keeps Singing
The people now running Delta Air Lines aren't crazy about the swirly lime-green paint scheme on jets flying for its Song discount unit. Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein calls it "garish" and once said the unit ought to be named "Swan Song" because he thought the whole concept was questionable. Yet Song not only survives in the Atlanta-based airline's new turnaround plan, it will grow. The 18-month-old "airline within an airline" will get a dozen more jets, a 33 percent increase in its fleet, under the plan announced in mid-September. Grinstein, who has led Delta since January, describes himself as a convert to Song, although some skepticism remains among Delta's leaders. AJC | Posted 6:50 a.m.

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A Burning Question - Being awakened in a hotel in the middle of the night by the sound of a fire alarm is nothing new — certainly nothing new to me. Over the years, I’ve evacuated a dozen hotels in three countries in response to fire alarms. Sure, most of the alarms turned out to be false, but four — four! — were the real deal: Lights, sirens, fire trucks, firefighters, smoke and flames! There were no casualties in the fires I escaped, but people did die in other hotel fires during those years. According to the National Fire Protection Association, the number of what it calls “civilian” deaths from hotel fires has been dropping over the years, but there are still about two dozen people killed each year in hotel and motel fires in the US > Featured all-new story from Ticked.com | Posted 7 a.m.

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Continental May Ask For Concessions - Continental Airlines might soon ask employees for concessions, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gordon Bethune said Tuesday. The brief comments by the outgoing CEO were the most specific to date about any such move by the Houston-based airline. Reporting a third-quarter loss brought about in part by the sky-high price of fuel, Continental said Tuesday it expects even more losses if things don't change in an industry where some of the biggest players are in bankruptcy. Houston Chronicle | Posted 7 a.m.

Bankruptcy Looms For ATA - The corporate credit rating of ATA, one of the US airlines facing serious liquidity problems, was downgraded yesterday by Standard & Poor's to CCC-, only a couple of notches above default. S&P said the downgrade reflected the airline's weakening liquidity with an increasing likelihood that it would be forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection "in the near future" FT | Posted 7:05 a.m.

Long Beach Airport Worker Guilty Of Theft - A Long Beach Airport baggage handler who pilfered nearly a half a million dollars in jewelry, electronics and clothing from American Airlines passengers pleaded guilty Monday to grand theft and receiving stolen property. Edgar Mejia, 32, accepted a plea bargain that will allow him to serve three years in prison for his crimes. If convicted at trial, he would have faced a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison if convicted at trial. Press Telegram | Posted 7:10 a.m.

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