He missed his chance to take this sci-fi toy for a spin during Star Wars weekend, so Aren came back to MGM Studios today. It was a slow day at the park, and he had plenty of time to show off for Mommy.
From the monthly archives:
June 2007
Which states have the most dangerous roads? A study by the National Center for Excellence in Rural Safety (CERS) at the University of Minnesota claims to have the answer, but you probably couldn’t guess the winners even if you tried. You’d pick states with busy roads like New York, Florida, California and Illinois. I did. And I was wrong.
If you’re traveling on JetBlue today, you might want to check your flight status. The airline is “precancelling” scores of flights because of severe weather, as it has done several times since its infamous Valentine’s Day meltdown. But today’s cancellations appear to be far more aggressive than any other airline’s, including Northwest’s. Of 579 flights being tracked by FlightStats, 259 have departed, 102 are canceled, and only 35 percent are running on time. Some 80 flights are delayed more than 45 minutes.
This summer’s soaring gas prices, airfares and hotel rates are making the great American vacation less affordable than it’s been in years. But it doesn’t have to be for you. Here are seven secrets for saving money — and having a sizzling summer vacation — that I discovered while shooting my new TV show, What You Get For The Money: Vacations.
One of the most common complaints I get from car rental customers is that they’re being charged for damages that they weren’t responsible for. They wonder if the companies are double-dipping — charging multiple customers for the same repair — as at least one franchisee has admitted to doing. But proving that kind of behavior is difficult.
ELLIOTT’S E-MAIL
First aid for travel
June 27, 2007
The skinny on clothing-optional vacations. Leading off this week’s travel blog is an item about the growing popularity of nude vacations. And since it’s the middle of what is shaping up to be a hot summer (in more ways than one) I figured I’d throw in a few archived [...]
Bernard Horwath is quoted a room rate of $425 a night at a Mexican resort. But when he checks out, he’s in for an unpleasant surprise: $276 in additional charges because of currency conversions from dollars to pesos. His agency, American Express Platinum Travel, tells him the extras are his responsibility. But are they?
Americans are more interested in nude vacations than golf, mountain biking and tennis, a survey released by Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell/Yankelovich Partners as part of its 2007 National Leisure Travel Monitor has revealed. The YPB&R findings conclude that nude recreation has gone “mainstream.”
Thanks to an absurd post-9/11 policy called “no waivers, no favors,” most airlines will charge you either a $100 change fee or force you to pay for a new ticket when you make an innocent mistake while booking your flight — like typing your maiden name instead of your married name.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics has finally confirmed what industry soothsayers have been predicting for a while: Airlines had the first profitable January-to-March quarter in seven years.
A credit card dispute is usually the final option when you’re having trouble with a travel company. But for Carl and Helen Quesnell, it became the first choice — and apparently the best one.
Aren walks along the beach at Anna Maria Island, Fla. Actually, this was the closest he came to the water. The waves were unusually large for Florida’s West Coast today, and he preferred to keep a safe distance.
Car rental companies are among the most inventive in the travel industry when it comes to fees and surcharges designed to line their pockets. But just when you thought you had heard it all, along comes a new scam.
If the first three months of this year are any indication, air travelers are in for one hell of a summer. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics this morning released traffic figures for the first quarter of 2007, showing that in March, domestic airlines operated fewer flights but carried more passengers. Claustrophobic travelers, beware.
News of yet another trapped-on-the-tarmac episode is making the rounds this morning, with reports that a Cathay Pacific Airways flight bound for Hong Kong spent more than seven hours parked at a San Francisco International Airport gate yesterday.
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