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ELLIOTT'S E-MAIL
The Last Honest Travel Newsletter
http://www.elliott.org

April 16, 2001

> Inside

* Verdict Indicts Airline Industry
* Exclusive: Entrepreneur Survey
* Unconventional Advice
* Connecting on the Cheap
* Miranda Reads Rivals His Rights
* Confessions of a Flying Tech Commuter
* If Standards Don't Fly, We Lose
* Freebasing Points
* Attendants With Attitude
* Leave Your Palm Off!
* Brancatelli: What's So Good About Travel?
* Grimes: Can You Get a Free Ticket?

> This Week in Travel

** Verdict Indicts Airline Industry
Ever since the beginning of the passenger rights revolution, every major case against a traveler accused of "air rage" has come down in favor of the airline. Until now. The acquittal of John C. Davis, charged with breaking a ticket agent's neck in Newark, sends a disturbing message to the industry: if passengers are treated like livestock, expect them to behave like livestock - and don't come to us for sympathy. Is anyone listening? - CE

** Heard a Rumor? Got News?
If you've come across any interesting travel or technology-related news, let us know at Elliott's E-Mail. We'll check it out. Send a note to editor@elliott.org or call (410) 626-9618.

> By the Way

** Exclusive: Entrepreneur Survey
Be part of Entrepreneur magazine's survey on business travel. If you're the founder of a company with fewer than 100 employees and still own the business and make the day-to-day decisions, your opinions are wanted. You can contact Laura Tiffany directly at ltiffany@entrepreneur.com or give her a call at (949) 261-2325. If you're a publicist for a company that fits the bill, please feel free to nominate your client.

** Unconventional Advice
Elliott's E-Mail gets even better this week with the debut of a new feature, Elliott's Cheap Travel Tip. You've come to rely on Elliott's E-Mail and elliott.org for cutting-edge commentary about travel and technology. Now you'll also get an insider tip on how to save money every week. Unconventional advice. Unconventional savings. Best of all, it's free.

> Elliott's Cheap Travel Tip

** Connecting on the Cheap
Getting an Internet connection on the road can be costly - anywhere from 60 cents to more than $2 a minute at an airport business center or hotel. How to get around it? The first-class lounge often offers free or very reasonable access. But what if you're not a frequent flier? No problem. As I discovered last week, you just have to wait a while. When an airline screws up your reservation (or even if you have a long layover) you can often ask for - and receive - passes to the lounge. But be nice about it; the ticket agents are under no obligation to give you anything.

** Your Tip Here!
If you have a great moneysaving tip for travelers, e-mail cheap@elliott.org. If your tip is selected, we'll credit you as one of our cheap travel experts and mention your moneysaving product, service or idea.

> Our Sponsor

** RoadNews.com
Subscribe to the Laptop Warrior Digest, a free monthly e-mail discussion list newsletter published by Roadnews.com that shares reader exchanges on today's hot mobile computing issues. Sign up for the newsletter at http://www.roadnews.com/html/Digest/i-lw-signup.htm or check out past topics at http://www.roadnews.com/html/Digest/archive-index.htm

> Elliott's Commentary

** Miranda Reads Rivals His Rights
What's in a name? If you're LastMinuteTravel.com, just about everything. That would explain the lengths to which the Atlanta travel site has gone to protect its moniker. LastMinuteTravel.com trademarked not only its name, URL and motto, "Just Released Offers. Just Go," but guarded its rights with an uncommon vigilance. In this week's Inside Interactive Travel at http://www.elliott.org/interactive/2001/last.htm

** Confessions of a Flying Tech Commuter
The fact that Steve Marra flies from one meeting to the next isn't that unusual. Like many business travelers, taking a plane is the most efficient way of getting from point 'A' to point 'B' for the Santa Clara, Calif., marketing executive. It's the length of the trips that are atypical. Marra, who works for a new company called Liquidprice.com, makes short hops between regional airports in the Bay Area. He pilots the aircraft himself. Read this week's Travel Technologist at http://www.elliott.org/technology/2001/flying.htm

** If Standards Don't Fly, We Lose
The scene at last week's CeBIT convention in Hanover, Germany, was enough to make any seasoned traveler chuckle. A group of Bluetooth developers tried to demonstrate their new wireless technology to a crowd of attendees, hoping to creating the biggest network for Palmtop computers ever. Instead, the exhibition fizzled and turned into what one reporter called an "embarrassing flop" for the emerging standard. Read this week's bonus Travel Technologist at http://www.elliott.org/technology/2001/bluetooth.htm

** Freebasing Points
If frequent flier points are the crack cocaine of the travel industry, as critic Chris Elliott claims, then consider his latest column drug counseling. A reader wants to know why he can't redeem his miles for a hotel stay in New York. Don't bother, says Elliott. Read the rest - or have yourself committed. Get the details in this week's installment of ChrisCrossings at http://www.elliott.org/ask/2001/crmiles.htm

** Attendants With Attitude
Do flight attendants hate us? After Jay Johnson's last trip on US Airways, he might be forgiven for thinking so. Traveling from Baltimore to Charlotte, he overheard an elderly woman ask an air host for help lifting her carry-on luggage into an overhead compartment. "She refused," he says. "Then the flight attendant chastised her, saying the airline didn't pay her to lift luggage and that she would not get disability coverage if she injured her back. I helped the woman get her luggage stowed." From the vault at http://www.elliott.org/vault/critic/1999/fa.htm

> Audio Commentary

** Leave Your Palm Off!
It's possible to check e-mail wirelessly from a plane without paying for those expensive in-flight phones ... but should you? In this week's audio commentary, get the answer. Click on Outtakes from the Laptop Traveler at http://www.elliott.org/audio/outtakes/2001/palm.mp3

> Other Voices

** Brancatelli: What's So Good About Travel?
Knowing we were headed into a bleak period of airline strikes, a miasma of merger-related disruptions, and a winter of economic discontent, Biztravel.com's Joe Brancatelli suggested last month that the site create its own good karma by talking about what was good about business travel. For a bunch of road-hardened skeptics with one too many bad flights under your collective belt, you guys really produced. At http://misc.biztravel.com/content/news_and_views/branc/branc.htm

** Grimes: Can You Get a Free Ticket?
When you try to spend the miles that you've so carefully earned from air travel, charging purchases to a credit card, and buying products that accumulate bonus miles, don't expect to get the ticket you want, warns Smarterliving.com's Paul Grimes. He offers a few tips on how to get around the system in his latest column at http://www.smarterliving.com/columns/paul/When20010405.1.html

> Other Sponsors

** AirJet Airline News
This issue of Elliott's E-Mail is also underwritten by AirJet Airline News, the largest electronic airline news magazine on the Internet. News updated hourly at http://www.airlinebiz.com/wire/

** WeBeenThere.com
Because you've waited a long time for this vacation and you don't need any surprises. Webeenthere.com provides an extensive list of expert travel agents with firsthand information and the personalized service necessary to plan a perfect "no surprises" vacation for every traveler. All of its agents have gone through a rigorous screening process to ensure that their expert knowledge is up-to-date and extensive. Click on http://www.webeenthere.com

** Travelsucks.com
If you hate paying too much for airfare, you'll want to subscribe one of Travelsucks.com's travel bargain newsletters. The site now offers 63 different newsletters that list bargain airfare by geographic areas. And while you're there, you won't want to miss the travel nightmares submitted by readers. Click on http://travelsucks.com/travelbargains.html

> Your Opinion Matters

Read something you disagree with? Got a story idea or a gripe? Your opinion can make a difference. E-mail us at editor@elliott.org or call (410) 626-9618 with any comments, feedback or suggestions about anything in this newsletter. Your participation won't just make it a better service, but it could also improve travel.

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