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

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September 28, 2004

Cruise Lines Under Attack Over Access
Dorene Giacopini is embroiled in a national legal debate that could affect millions of Americans, particularly as baby boomers age. The issue: whether foreign-flagged cruise ships operating out of U.S. ports must comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act to accommodate people like her. The special education mediator from this Bay Area suburb uses a wheelchair and had researched her vacation carefully, settling on an Alaskan cruise operated by Los Angeles-based Crystal Cruises. Crystal had assured Giacopini that most of the Crystal Harmony was accessible. She had hoped to zip around the ship to attend to her 88-year-old mother. Instead, she says, she was rendered helpless. Los Angeles Times | Posted 6:45 a.m.
• NCL Sued For Passenger Access Problems (Chronicle)
• Stroke Survivor Advocate For Disabled Travelers (APP)

I'm not sure this will come to anything. The cruise lines have flouted American laws for decades. Why stop now?

Hotels Face Surcharge Lawsuits
Lawyers are turning the tables on hotels that ding customers with hidden surcharges for everything from pools to electricity. Customers get coupons for discounts off their next stay. Attorneys get big fees. The latest proposed settlement involves the nine-hotel Station Casinos in Las Vegas. It would give $5.50 in coupons good for room discounts to 940,000 eligible former guests who stayed in the hotels between April 1, 2001, and April 4, 2004, the court class-action notice states. The hotels added $1 a day for room telephones, whether they were used or not, and a $3.50-a-day energy surcharge to room bills. USA Today | Posted 6:35 a.m.

Airlines Will Lose Up To $4 Billion in '04
The global airline industry stands to incur losses of between $3 billion and $4 billion this year as surging oil prices wipe out any hope of profit created by rising passenger traffic, the International Air Transport Association said on Monday. IATA expects domestic and international airlines to spend $10 billion more on fuel than forecast this year, a 25 percent increase that comes as carriers remain weakened by three years of crises. "This will create tension in the industry because after $30 billion (of losses), another year with a loss between $3 billion and $4 billion is very very dramatic," IATA director general and chief executive Giovanni Bisignani said. Reuters | Posted 6:35 a.m.

More Storms Ahead For 'Hurricane State'? - Florida is reeling from its worst ever hurricane season, with two full months of potential tropical storms still to go. "We've had enough," screamed the banner headline in the weekend edition of the Miami Herald. Hurricane Jeanne had just come ashore, slamming into what tourism officials call the "Treasure Coast". Three million Floridians were urged to leave home in the latest storm That is a long swathe of beach and barrier islands that starts about 100km north of Miami and lately it has been the state's prime hurricane target. BBC | Posted 7 a.m.

American Drops Fare Hike - American Airlines has rescinded the majority of fare increases the airline imposed last week to offset high jet-fuel prices, the company said Monday. It marks yet another in a series of attempts by major airlines to raise fares that were foiled when competitors didn't follow suit. The higher fares have been rescinded in all but a few small markets, said Jackie Young, spokeswoman for Fort Worth, Texas-based American. Biz Journal | Posted 7:05 a.m.

The Cat Strikes Back - I was flying to Nashville last week with my 21-year-old daughter to explore some new musical ideas with a record label there. Ironically, I was trying to remain low-profile because of the speculation that it might have raised in the music world about a return of "the Cat." Media attention was the last thing I wanted. But it seems God wanted otherwise. Los Angeles Times | Posted 7:10 a.m.

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• Off the Record ... Are the flight attendants on low-fare carriers ruder than those on network airlines? Is the service, like the amenities, no-frills? James Wysong had to wonder after the reaction to his last column, in which he suggested you'd get shortchanged in the service department when you flew on a cheaper airline. In fact, a lot of readers e-mailed him to say they'd been treated better by crewmembers on the low-cost carriers. So which is it? Here's his conclusion. Posted 7:15 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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