• 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.

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

July 9, 2001

> Inside

* This Week: United Targets Continental?
* Censored: Ticket Lies
* Exclusive: Truly Irreverent Holiday Advice
* Attention, Media Relations Professionals
* Force the Hotel to Sell
* Rewards: Collect or Not?
* New Charges Shock Travelers
* Air Share
* Angling for Upgrades
* Surcharge Antidote
* Riley: Dead Err
* Brancatelli: The End Of The Beginning

> This Week in Travel

** United Targets Continental?
Last week's news that the United-US Airways deal was almost certainly dead came as absolutely no surprise. For months, industry-watchers have speculated that the agreement was quickly unraveling, so the carriers' admission that they were talking about calling the whole thing off was a non-event. But this does not end United's obsession with growing by acquisition, if airline insiders are to be believed. They say that UAL's next target is Continental. - CE

> Censored from the Sunday Travel Section

** Ticket Lies
Last week's tip on getting a refund in the wake of the airfare wars angered some readers, who noted that a different set of rules applied to tickets booked online. While this may indeed be true - some carriers sell special "Internet only" fares - it also is a fact that an airline may not selectively apply its contract of carriage to its tickets. Several travelers have successfully negotiated a refund even when they bought the ticket online, plus avoided any change fees. Remember, your ticket agent often understands the airline rules no better than you do, and you can take advantage of that ignorance. (If you've negotiated a refund on a ticket, let us know how you did it. E-mail editor@elliott.org with the name of the airline and details of the incident. Don't forget to include your full name, city, and what you do for a living.)

> By the Way

** Exclusive: Truly Irreverent Holiday Advice
Have you discovered a way to avoid the discomfort of traveling around the holidays? Maybe a quieter time to travel around Thanksgiving or Christmas, or a place to go where American travelers don't bother to go? If you do, then your tips are wanted for a story that will appear in a major travel magazine later this year. Please send your comments to feedback@elliott.org along with your full name and city of residence.

** Attention, Media Relations Professionals
Your expertise is needed. Elliott's E-Mail is trying to double its number of subscribers by the end of the year - and it won't happen without your help. How do you get the word out about a noncommercial weekly e-mail newsletter without completely selling out? Only you know the answer to that, and this week, your suggestions would be very much appreciated. Just e-mail them to pr@elliott.org and please include your name and a phone number where you can be contacted.

> Elliott's Cheap Travel Tip

** Force the Hotel to Sell
This week's cheap travel tip comes from reader Jeff Bushee, who uses an innovative booking strategy to secure rooms on Friday and Saturday nights even when the property insists there are none available. Note: this only works if you have to stay at a hotel more than four days. Book two separate reservations, one for the end of the week, the other for the beginning of next week. Then call the property and tell them you got the dates wrong - you're missing Friday and Saturday. "They should force-sell the Friday and Saturday rooms and combine the reservation," says Bushee. "Let them come up with the idea. If they know their system can do it, they will." Got a moneysaving tip? Send it to tip@elliott.org.

> Our Sponsors

** IgoUgo's Real New York
Get the best of what locals and frequent visitors have to say about the world's most exciting city at http://www.igougo.com. IgoUgo, nominated as Best Travel Site by the Webby Awards, is now selling its first guidebook, IgoUgo's Real New York. Nothing's canned. Everything's up-to-date. It's written by real travelers, just like you. In IgoUgo's Real New York you'll find many New Yorks, seen through the eyes of some of the best IgoUgo guides. This is a detailed, interactive guidebook as rich in perspectives as the city itself... Click here for more info: http://www.igougo.com/guidebook/guidebook_ny.html

** Readers Like You
If you care about quality travel industry coverage and want to support the leading consumer advocacy Web site, you can become an underwriter, too. It's easy, it's painless and it's totally anonymous. Just click on http://www.amazon.com/paypage/P34Z3D2F0Z734N for details.

> Elliott's Commentary

** Rewards: Collect or Not?
Frequent flier miles seem to come with more and more financial transactions - credit card charges, long-distance phone calls, mutual fund investments, mortgage payments - so you'd think that half the U.S. is flying free these days. Not so. While it's true that there are now fewer blackout dates - times when you can't use miles to buy a ticket - it doesn't necessarily follow that getting a reward ticket is any easier. In Kiplinger's Personal Finance at http://www.elliott.org/vault/kiplinger/2001/miles.htm

** New Charges Shock Travelers
Hotel energy surcharges, which made a limited debut out West in the land of rolling blackouts and soaring utility bills this spring, are now in wide release across the country. Maybe too wide of a release. The unexpected extras are affecting frequent travelers in general and travelers who use technology, specifically. Read this week's Travel Technologist at http://www.elliott.org/technology/2001/surcharge.htm

** Air Share
If you're tired of getting the runaround from commercial airlines but not quite ready to buy a corporate jet, there's a way to use a private plane without paying a bundle. In much the same way you would buy a resort timeshare, you can now buy fractional ownership in an aircraft. In Entrepreneur Travel at http://entrepreneur.com/Magazines/Copy_of_MA_SegArticle/0,4453,290332----1-,00.html

(Long URLs tend to break apart when e-mailed; just cut and paste the address into your browser for best results.)

** Angling for Upgrades
When frequent flier cards fail to work their charm, and when gate agents can't be sweet-talked into a better seat, Rob Shimmin has seen desperate passengers pull out a pen and take a final stab at the elusive upgrade. The so-called "Russian approach"-presumably named after the post-Communist era travelers who pioneered it-involves a creative seat reassignment. "Simply scribble '1A' over your seat allocation and then plunk yourself confidently at the front of the aircraft," explains the Brussels-based consultant. From the archives of The Travel Critic at http://www.elliott.org/vault/critic/1998/upgrade.htm

> Audio Commentary

** Surcharge Antidote
Getting hotel surcharges removed from your bill isn't difficult. But you've got to know what to ask for - and who to talk to. The answers are in this week's Outtakes from the Laptop Traveler at http://www.elliott.org/audio/outtakes/2001/antidote.mp3

(Note: You need an MP3 player on your computer to listen to the audio commentaries.)

> Other Voices

** Riley: Dead Err
First there was the email Terry Riley got from Charles Hullett, a frequent traveler from Nebraska. Charles was sitting next to a retired United Airlines exec on a flight to Florida when the guy up and kicks the bucket. The following week Charles inquired about the event as he checked in for his return flight. Did the deadheading employee die? Find out by clicking on http://errtravel.com/archives/today.htm

** Brancatelli: The End Of The Beginning
Curb your enthusiasm concerning the reported death of the hated United-US Airways merger. As Churchill warned after an Allied victory in the early days of World War Two: This is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. But it may be the end of the beginning. Biztravel.com's Joe Brancatelli explains why. Click on http://www.biztravel.com and click on News & Views for more.

** 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.

> Other Sponsors

** Alaska Travelgram
Scott McMurren's Alaska Travelgram e-mail newsletter. Punchy, timely information on travel in, out and around Alaska! For a free subscription, click on http://www.alaskatravelgram.com

** 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/

** Gayjet: For gay and lesbian travelers, and our friends
Click on http://www.gayjet.com for gay-friendly destination research, trip planning, global calendar of gay and lesbian tours and events, informative articles and ... cut-throat prices! PLUS your chance to win FREE airline tickets! Don't keep Gayjet a secret. Forward this to all your friends!

Travelers: Visit http://www.gayjet.com Travel Professionals and Media: Visit http://www.mark8ing.com

> 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.

ELLIOTT'S E-MAIL is published weekly by http://www.elliott.org. To unsubscribe, please go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/elliottslist and follow the directions.