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

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October 28, 2004

Report: Screeners Improperly Trained
Airport screeners still don't have enough access to practice equipment, aren't properly trained to handle deadly weapons and aren't tested on passengers' rights, according to a Homeland Security Department report released Wednesday. The department's inspector general, Clark Kent Ervin, said training and testing has improved since the days when screeners got an advance look at tests, some of which had laughably easy answers. Congress has been pressuring the Transportation Security Administration to improve screeners' ability to prevent weapons and bombs from getting on planes. In April, Ervin told lawmakers that screeners performed poorly. The report said airports would be less vulnerable with "improved selection, training and monitoring of screeners.'' But it noted that screeners on their own cannot detect all dangerous items all of the time. AP | Posted 6:35 a.m.
• Ex-Agent Gets Tagged as 'Threat' (Arizona Republic)
• Read Past DHS OIG Reports (DHS.gov)

My sources within TSA tell me that Ervin is playing election-year politics. I don't know about that. Read the reports for yourself and decide.

Independence Air May File Chapter 11
Independence Air's parent company reported a big loss yesterday, and industry analysts say the Northern Virginia airline could file for bankruptcy by January. The airline's chief executive officer warned of another "significant operating loss" by the end of the year amid record-high fuel prices and tough competition. Similar problems are deepening throughout the industry. On Tuesday, ATA Airlines became the nation's first low-cost carrier to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is offering to sell some of its assets, including takeoff and landing slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, to pay off its debts. Washington Times | Posted 6:45 a.m.

Air Travel Complaints Drop - in Canada
There seems to be less turmoil in the skies for Canadian airlines, as fewer complaints were reported last year compared with 2002, says the country's air travel watchdog. The Air Travel Complaints Commissioner registered 1,058 complaints last year - well below the 1,770 in 2002. While most airlines did better, Jetsgo bucked the trend, Liette Lacroix Kenniff said in her report Wednesday. In the first half of last year, passengers filed 19 complaints against Montreal-based Jetsgo, four per cent of the total involving Canadian companies. From July to December, that jumped to 27 complaints about Jetsgo - 8.4 per cent of all complaints against domestic airlines. CP | Posted 6:50 a.m.

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Just Following Orders - What's travel insurance worth? If you booked your airline ticket through Priceline and Uncle Sam comes calling, not much. Even though one traveler takes out a cancellation policy to cover a possible change in his fiancée's schedule, the site won't budge after he's redeployed. Should it? How can you prevent this from happening to you? And what, exactly, is in the fine print of those insurance policies? > All-new featured story from Triprights,com | Posted 7 a.m.

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Delta, Pilots, Reach Cost-Cutting Deal - Troubled US carrier Delta Air Lines has reached an outline cost cutting agreement with its pilots, a deal that could save it from bankruptcy. A spokesman for the pilots' union said a "tentative agreement" had been reached, but no details were released. Delta, which declined to comment, said earlier this month that it needed to cut between 6,000 and 7,000 jobs and cut costs by $5bn a year. BBC | Posted 7 a.m.

America West Posts Loss and Predicts More - America West Holdings Corp. on Wednesday posted a third-quarter loss and forecast losses going forward as soaring fuel prices, weak revenue and excess industry capacity broke a stream of profits at the parent of America West Airlines. The Phoenix-based company also said it was scaling back growth plans for 2005, citing high jet fuel prices and too many seats for sale. Analysts have been critical of airlines for offering too many seats without adequate demand to fill them. Reuters | Posted 7:05 a.m.

Agent Accused in Second Theft - A travel agent was charged Wednesday with cheating a client only two weeks after he was accused of stealing $120,000 from another customer who entrusted him with her life savings. Dariusz J. Szteborowski, 39, of Rocky Hill, was charged with first-degree larceny, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. In several transactions in August, prosecutors said Szteborowski took about $51,000 from an unidentified customer who wanted the money wire-transferred to his mother in Poland. AP | Posted 7:10 a.m.

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