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

June 4, 2001

> Inside

* Another Reason to Hate Orbitz?
* Elliott's Orbitz Commentaries
* Wanted: Your Secret Moneysaving Tips
* Even More Media Mentions
* Elliott's Cheap Travel Tip
* A Turbulent Time for the Bottom Line
* Roam, Roam on the Range
* Stuck With Seatmates
* Roam Free
* Grimes: Misleading Travel Ads
* Brancatelli: Chutzpah!

> This Week in Travel

** Another Reason to Hate Orbitz?
Orbitz, the controversial airline-owned travel site, quietly went live last week. A formal launch announcement is expected today, but it seems the verdict is already in: a significant part of the travel industry, including agents and online travel retailers, loathes Orbitz and wishes the government would shut it down. Question is, will consumers also hate it? Only time will tell. If the site can't live up to its lofty promises of delivering the cheapest fares and the best customer service, then its adversaries will have little to worry about. If it can, then its opponents probably deserve to go out of business. -CE

** Elliott's Orbitz Commentaries

>> Ten Things Every Travel Site Should Avoid
This commentary from last June really got Orbitz' attack-dog publicists on my case and prompted one of them to eventually call one of my editors to try and get me fired. It didn't work. Read the whole story at http://www.elliott.org/interactive/2000/orbitz.htm

>> Can Purple Demon Avoid Orbitz Errors?
You want trouble? You got trouble. After more interactions with the company - none of them pleasant - I became convinced that Orbitz wasn't a bad idea, but a badly executed idea. The whole article is at http://www.elliott.org/interactive/2000/hotwire.htm

>> This is Not a Story About Orbitz
After still more back-and-forth with company officials, I concluded that Orbitz' publicity machine was doing little more than reading the headlines on my stories. So I wrote a headline to make their day. Didn't work. Read the whole thing at http://www.elliott.org/interactive/2001/overreact.htm

>> Airlines Double as Travel Agents
The Department of Justice is investigating it. Southwest Airlines is suing it. Consumer groups are attacking it. And it hasn't even opened business. Here's my US News & World Report story about this week's expected Orbitz debut. More at http://www.elliott.org/vault/usnews/2001/orbitz.

> By the Way

** Wanted: Your Secret Moneysaving Tips
If you've been harboring a secret travel tip that's saved you lots of money, this is your week to confess. Whether it's a strategy for cutting costs on a hotel, an airline ticket, a cruise or a car rental, I want to hear from you. E-mail tip@elliott.org or call me at (410) 626-9618. If you don't want your name mentioned, don't worry. You can always do this anonymously. But just do it.

** Even More Media Mentions
I'm deeply grateful to the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Canada's National Post for recent mentions of this newsletter's columns or of yours truly. Next to word-of-mouth, these press mentions are the best way of letting travelers know that there's one more person on their side. So, thanks again.

> Elliott's Cheap Travel Tip

** Turn on the Charm
Why bother with the Internet for a last-minute hotel deal when you have your personal charm? That's the moneysaving tip that comes to us this week courtesy of reader Mary Hunt. Even when you're quoted a rate, you have to ask: "Is that the best you can do?" she says. Often, a hotel will lower its prices at the counter just for the asking. She's had a property cut its prices by as much as 50 percent because she kept requesting a better rate. "But be nice about it," she adds, "because they don't have to give you anything."

> 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

** A Turbulent Time for the Bottom Line
Given the delays and cramped seats, air travel has been painful enough for steerage-class passengers at a time when the big airlines were making money. Now, if the numbers are to be believed, service could get worse. The domestic airline industry is locked in a recessionary tailspin the likes of which it hasn't seen in years. Hammered by labor strife, soaring fuel costs, and a soft economy, the airlines are pleading poverty. Read more in US News & World Report at http://www.elliott.org/vault/usnews/2001/turbulent.htm

** Roam, Roam on the Range
Blame Canada. That's what Michelle Taylor did when she got a $430 cellular phone bill that included hefty roaming charges for venturing north of the border. "Roaming never entered my mind because I have a 50-state calling plan," says the Carrollton, Texas, saleswoman. Find out more about roaming charges and how to avoid them. Read this week's Travel Technologist at http://www.elliott.org/technology/2001/roam.htm

** Stuck With Seatmates
Screaming babies. Chatty tourists. Jittery first-timers. To the frequent travelers who get trapped next to these passengers, the trauma can leave permanent psychological, if not physical, scars. Just ask Eva Weems. On a sold-out flight from Orlando to Raleigh, N.C., she sat next to a man who weighed "no less than 600 pounds" and perched on top of the armrests in the center seat next to her. "I was completely squeezed into the window," recalls Weems, a purchasing specialist for the U.S. Postal Service. "I couldn't move and couldn't even see past him." From the vault at http://www.elliott.org/vault/critic/1998/seatmates.htm

> Audio Commentary

** Roam Free
> Avoiding roaming charges on your cell phone isn't all that difficult. Not when you've got travel technologist and commentator Christopher Elliott to help you sort through it. Click on this week's Outtakes from the Laptop Traveler at http://www.elliott.org/audio/outtakes/2001/roam.mp3

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

> Other Voices

** Grimes: Misleading Travel Ads
Suppose you saw a newspaper ad for bread priced at 75 cents. When you read the small print at the bottom, however, you'd learn that 75 cents was the price for half a loaf, and that you'd be required to buy the whole thing. So the total cost would become $1.50 - plus sales tax, of course. SmarterLiving.com's Paul Grimes says it happens all the time in the travel industry. Read more at http://www.smarterliving.com/columns/paul/Misleading20010531.1.html

** Brancatelli: Chutzpah!
Do you know that old definition of chutzpah? A teenager murders his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he's an orphan. What follows is the airline equivalent of chutzpah, reports Biztravel.com's Joe Brancatelli. It is also a nifty little example of why you can't believe a word the nation's major carriers say about flight delays and why no one should listen when they demand we spend more tax dollars on additional runways and new airports. Click on http://www.biztravel.com

** 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

** 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/

** 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

> 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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