Travel Log - News Archives

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New Zealand Disabled Protest Wheelchair Policy

Otago Daily Times reports on a new Air New Zealand policy governing those with diabilities says anyone who needs help from two or mare people to move between a wheelchair and an airplane seat, must have their own support person lift their upper body while an airplane staff member lifts their legs. Seesm reasonable but many are opposing the policy supposedly because bringing that extra support person, who does not need to travel, is an added burden to the disabled traveler. The airline has instituted the the policy because 103 of its employees have been injured while assisting wheelchair bound passengers. So the dilemma rages. Should a wheelchair bound person expect airline personel to assist while boarding or should the disabled be required to make their way to their seat with the assistance of a friend or family member? Or should the airline put its employees at risk requiring them to lift wheelchair bound passengers?

Protesters have signed a petition asking the airline to reconsider its policy.

Steve Hall | August 2, 2004 | News | Permanent link | Comments (0)

Cell Phone Use to be Permitted In Flight

Following a recent announcement from Lufthansa stating the airline would offer in-flight Internet access, the Seattle Times reports American Airlines is about to remove the last barrier to a peaceful flight. The airline conducted a trial run last month on a modified aircraft that allowed passengers to use their cell phones inflight. American Airlines expects to roll this out across its entire fleet by 2006. Now, along with screaming kids, we can listen to teenagers have fights with their girl/boyfriends as we contemplate highjacking the cockpit or sitting in the bathroom the entire flight for a bit of peace.

Steve Hall | July 30, 2004 | News | Permanent link | Comments (0)

Greece Suffers Tourism Slump Despite Olympics

Even with the summer Olympics about to descend upon Athens, the country of Greece has seen a tourism slump caused by the strong Euro, a sluggish international economy and delayed construction projects. Seattle Times reports as of mid-July many thousands of beds out of a 62,000 bed count in Athens have yet to be reserved and about half of Olympic event tickets have yet to be sold.

Steve Hall | July 30, 2004 | News | Permanent link | Comments (1)

Boston's DNC Traffic Disaster A Non-Event

As a resident of the Boston area, over the past few months I have been subjected to endless predictions of traffic related horror because the Democratic National Convention was coming to town. Well, now it's here and it's a non-event. Usually willing to weather any sort of obstacle placed in their path, hundreds of thousands of hardened New Engladers have steered completely clear of the Boston area this week making for one of the biggest non-events the area has ever seen.

''God bless the Democrats," said Republican Scott Watkins, who said he made ''record time" on his drive from Haverhill to East Boston and back yesterday. ''We should have this [convention] once or twice a month."

Among those who did choose to commute into the city, there was an air of dreaded anticipation for something that never materialized. ''It was scary. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop," said Karyn Courtney, who's commjute was about 20 minutes shorter than normal yesterday. ''This is weird. It's a ghost town."

The Boston Globe reports eats on normally packed trains, busses and subways were empty. Traffic officials have reported that traffic inro Boston has been reduced by 50 percent - a truly stunning accomplishment.

Steve Hall | July 27, 2004 | News | Permanent link | Comments (0)

Amtrak Requires Reservations for All Trips to NY Around Republican Convention

Amtrak issued an alert today:

Amtrak will require customers to make reservations for nearly all of its trains that serve New York City during the week of the Republican National Convention next month, and the railroad will take other safety and security-related measures during the convention.

Amtrak will not change its current, published schedule of trains operating in and out of New York during the convention. However, most of those unreserved Amtrak trains serving New York City that currently require only a ticket for passage will require reservations for all route segments within the Washington-Boston Northeast Corridor, including the Upstate New York Empire Service, during the convention.

Rick Bruner | July 26, 2004 | Advice, News | Permanent link | Comments (0)

Man Travels Autobahn By Skateboard

When one is desperate for money, there's no end to the things one will do. Deutsche-Welle reports a 38 year old Swedish traveler suprised motorist as he zoomed down the German autobahn near Winnweiler and was stopped by police who didn't arrest him but were very interested in why he might choose to skateboard the autobahn. Police report he was down to his last two Euros and was travelling to Berlin where he had friends who could lend him money to get home. At least he was smart enough to know the shortest distance between two point is a straight line - or the German autobahn.

Steve Hall | July 24, 2004 | News | Permanent link | Comments (0)

Use Your Cell Phone While You Cruise

New technology makes it possible. Carnival Cruise and Royal Caribbean Cruises are starting to roll out the new service. Details here.

Rick Bruner | July 21, 2004 | News | Permanent link | Comments (0)

Peruvian Airline Grounded, Un-insurable After Landing on Drug List

Borneo Bulletin reports the Transportation Ministry of Peru has suspended the operations of Aero Continente following the airlines inability to secure an insurance policy after being placed on the U.S. government's blacklist for suspected drug traffickers. The airline handled 60 to 70 percent of the vountry's domestic flights and a contingency plan to handle Aero Continente's flights is being created. In addition to suspicions surrounding the airlines involvement with drugs, Aero Continente Founder Fernando Zevallos now on trial following several U.S drug probes.

Steve Hall | July 18, 2004 | News | Permanent link | Comments (0)

How United.com Does Big Business Online

Posting this week got off to a slow start because Steve and I were both at the Internet marketing conference AdTech for Monday and Tuesday. In fact, insatiable bloggers that we are, we were running the AdTechBlog. Luckily, we can get some mileage out of a cross-post to this blog here, as the keynote speaker on Monday was Pete Peterson, president of United.com's Travel Distribution and Airlines Loyalty Services, who gave a terrific presentation with loads of details about what has made United.com such as success online (25-30% of the company's overall revenue comes through the online channel). See details here.

UPDATE:
Oops. This blog post is signed Andras Revesz, but it was actually Rick Bruner who wroteit. For the record... (but who's counting?)

Andras Revesz | July 16, 2004 | News | Permanent link | Comments (1)

Marriott Posts Profits of $160 Million

Largest U.S. Hotel Operator Marriott International's quarterly earnings rose to $160 million up from $125 million a year ago. Reuters reports total revenue rose to $2.4 billion up from $2.02 billion a year ago. Revenue per available room rose 13 percent worldwide and 9.3 percent in the U.S. indicating a strong uptick in travel. Analysts interpreted the results as positive indictor of the industry's return to health.

Steve Hall | July 15, 2004 | News | Permanent link | Comments (0)