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

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September 20, 2004

US Airways Employees Wait For Worst
For US Airways employees, the unease is intensifying as the carrier takes its second dip into bankruptcy restructuring in two years. In the first restructuring, the carrier's employees agreed to give up $1.2 billion a year in pay and benefits. Now, they are bracing for another wave of cutbacks and wondering how to keep their lives intact. US Airways pilot Steve McKee is among the employees who expect to lose their jobs. "Frankly, I expect to lose my job in the next 90 days," said Steve McKee, a pilot who flies Boeing 737s for the airline. Washington Post | Posted 6:45 a.m.
• Time For a Trustee at US Airways? (USA Today)
• Lakefield is "Stressed" By Bankruptcy (Post-Gazette)

This couldn't be happening to a better group of airline workers, unfortunately. Case-in-point: When the airline recently refused to refund the airfare for a family of a child whose cancer had relapsed, the employees came together to pay for the tickets. That, at a time when their own livelihoods were very much in question.

Business Travel is Rebounding
A strengthening economy is giving companies more confidence to loosen the purse strings on business travel – but only a little bit. Corporate travelers will probably take more trips next year, but they'll do it with only slight increases to the overall budget, consultants say. Travel spending will rise 4.6 percent in 2005, according to the national hospitality group of Marcus & Millichap, a real estate investment brokerage. Other industry forecasts will be released in October. Travel managers are stretching their dollars by using deeply discounted airline tickets and curbing employee expenses. "Cost containment is here to stay," said Ruth Philpott, general manager of hotel procurement for American Express Business Travel's consulting division. Dallas Morning News | Posted 6:35 a.m.

Sun Princess To Be Sanitized
Sanitation crews are working around the clock to try to stop the spread of what might be the latest Norwalk outbreak on a local cruise ship. Princess Cruises spokesperson Julie Benson says the Sun Princess has reported a total of 71 cases of a gastro-intestinal illness, likely the Norwalk virus. Benson notes in tight spaces like cruise ships, Norwalk is easily spread. She adds the number of daily cases on the Sun Princess appears to be dropping. The Province | Posted 6:35 a.m.

Senator: Flaw in Overseas Airport Security - The federal government must push for tighter security at foreign airports — including a tenfold increase in American security agents overseas — or start suspending some incoming foreign flights, Sen. Charles Schumer warned yesterday. "The screening of U.S.-bound planes at foreign airports is dangerously ineffective and our government is doing very little to tighten up," Schumer said. The senator wrote to Rear Adm. David Stone, head of the Transportation Security Administration, requesting that the number of TSA representatives stationed overseas be increased from 20 to 200 to better assess security at foreign airports. NY Post | Posted 7 a.m.

Court Ditches NZ-Qantas Deal - A planned tie-up between Australia's Qantas and Air New Zealand has been thrown out by New Zealand's High Court. The decision ends a two-year effort by the airlines to fight off low-cost carriers by combining forces. Both countries' competition watchdogs had rejected the deal, arguing that the reduction in consumer choice had outweighed the benefits. BBC | Posted 7:05 a.m.

Iraq Airline Takes Flight Again - Iraqi Airways resumed international flights for the first time in 14 years, with a plane taking off Saturday from Jordan for Baghdad and another leaving the Iraqi capital for Damascus, Syria. The Iraqi Airways flight from Amman to Baghdad was the state airline's first international flight since sanctions were imposed on Saddam Hussein in 1990. "This is the start of regular flights by Iraqi Airways," airline spokesman Raad Aghabi said. AP | Posted 7:10 a.m.

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• Off the Record ... For John Frenaye, it isn't a question of if one of the network carriers will liquidate. It's a question of which one will do it first. In a just -posted column, he tells you how to navigate the liquid skies - and how to protect yourself when your airline goes belly-up. Posted 7:15 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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