• What's elliott?
• About elliott
• Contact us

t o p i c s

• Business
• Commentary
• Destinations
• Help
• Leisure
• Technology
• Vault

Copyright Elliott Publishing. All rights reserved. For more information, call (305) 453-4781 or send e-mail to us.

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

November 25, 2004

Weather Hampers T-Day Travel
Thanksgiving weekend travelers crowded airports, bus and train stations and highways Wednesday, putting up with tight security and bad weather that included heavy snow in the nation's midsection, rain in the Northeast and thunderstorms in the South. According to a survey conducted for AAA by the Travel Industry Association of America, 30.6 million people, or 3 percent more than in 2003, were expected to hit the road during the holiday weekend, even with gasoline prices nearly one-third higher than a year ago. An additional 6.6 million are likely to travel by plane, train or bus. Highways were bumper-to-bumper in Georgia as drivers faced thunderstorms and a threat of tornadoes, part of a system that killed four people elsewhere in the South. (AP) Posted 6:35 a.m.
• What's Up? Check Out 'Delay Map' (USA Today)
• 'Turkey of a Travel Day' (York Daily Record)

Why am I filing Travel Notes today? It wouldn't be right to leave my post during the busiest travel week of the year.

ACLU: Airport Pat-Downs Discriminate
Airport-security pat downs might constitute sexual harassment and discriminate against women, the American Civil Liberties Union said yesterday. After receiving numerous complaints from throughout the nation, the ACLU hopes to meet with top Homeland Security administrators next week to ask whether screeners are given specific standards on how to select passengers and conduct secondary screenings. (Seattle Times) Posted 6:45 a.m.

Woman Crashes Car Into Hotel Lobby
A car smashed through the lobby doors of the Sheraton Hotel near Portland International Airport late Tuesday night. The landrover smashed through the front of the Sheraton. Airport police told KGW they received reports of a woman acting strangely and hours later, she crashed her landrover into the hotel. Police said the woman hadn’t taken her medication, possibly causing the strange behavior. (KGW) Posted 6:50 a.m.

----------

No Guarantees
A lot of hotels promise you'll find their best rates on their Web sites. But what if you see a better price somewhere else? When one hotel guest tries to make file a claim on a hotel chain's best-rate guarantee, he finds out how difficult it is to get a hotel to honor its pledge. Impossible, actually. Find out what a best-rate guarantee is worth - and how you can file a successful claim the next time you book a hotel room. (Triprights.com) Posted 6:55 a.m.

---------

Airlines Cough Up Passenger Data
U.S. airlines turned over a month's worth of passenger data Tuesday to Homeland Security officials, who want to test a massive, centralized passenger-screening system. The Transportation Security Administration ordered America's 72 airlines to turn over their June 2004 domestic passenger flight records by Tuesday afternoon. The airlines had initially questioned the order because of privacy concerns, but they all complied. (Wired News) Posted 7 a.m.

St. Thomas Braces For Record Cruise Arrivals
When St. Thomas merchants welcomed 12,646 passengers on five cruise ships last Tuesday, they knew their world-renowned harbor was in for a record winter. Like some other ports in the region, St. Thomas saw reduced cruise-passenger traffic during three weeks of storms. (PRW) Posted 7:05 a.m.

Plane Skids Off Runway in Lansing, Mich.
Northwest Flight 1933 from Detroit was scheduled to arrive in Lansing at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday night. Weather pushed its arrival back an hour. When it finally touched down, on its second attempt, it slid off the runway into a field. (WILX) Posted 7:10 a.m.

>> Yesterday's Notes | Tomorrow's Notes <<

E-mail Elliott | Other bloggers | About this blog

Latest Travel Notes | Complete Archives