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ELLIOTT'S E-MAIL
http://www.elliott.org

June 3, 2002

> Inside

* A Great Summer for Travel?
* Cheap Luggage
* Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
* 'Penny Pincher' Tops Bestseller List
* Posh, Not Pricey
* More Yield Management Strategies
* Adieu, Troubleshooter
* Until We Meet Again
* The Squares of Savannah
* The Joys of the Red-Eye
* The Way it Should Be
* Revenge of the Ramp Rats
* Summer Travel Strategies

> This Week in Travel

** A Great Summer for Travel?
Surprise! After a dismal spring for travelers - one marked by intrusive airport security searches, fluctuating air fares, and more fears of domestic terrorism - experts tell us we're about to have one of the best summer travel seasons on the books. But let's hope that the travel industry remembers what made it great: not just low prices and fewer crowds, but a genuine appreciation of the traveler.

> By the Way

** Cheap Luggage
Where do you find the least expensive luggage? On the Web? In a retail store? A catalog? It's time to name names - and prices. Send us an e-mail, and please don't forget to include your full name, what you do for a living, and contact information. Your response might appear in a future story.

** Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
We've got three 'good news' items this week. The May subscription drive was our most successful ever, thanks to you. (Here's a complete list of new underwriters.) Over the weekend, we also topped 9,000 newsletter subscribers for the first time. That's another important milestone you helped make happen. And last, but not least, for those of you following Aren's progress - we finally made it home from the hospital on Thursday after a several difficult days in intensive care. You can see updated photos on his Web log.

** 'Penny Pincher' Tops Bestseller List
Joel L. Widzer's book "The Penny Pincher's Passport to Luxury Travel: The Art of Cultivating Preferred Customer Status," tops the list of bestselling travel books this week. Meanwhile, Neil Teplica's "100 Things to Do Before You Die" slips to number two.

> Our Sponsor

** Volunteer Vacations Guide
Aid a good cause while taking a vacation - the updated and expanded Volunteer Vacations Guide includes nearly 140 organizations looking for domestic and international volunteers. The guide alerts you to volunteering projects, noting length of volunteer stays, age and experience requirements, costs, goals and locations for each organization. The Volunteer Vacations Guide provides a complete picture and explains the advantages and negative points potential volunteers need to consider before signing on.

> Elliott's Commentary

** Posh, Not Pricey
And the winner is . . . Cozumel. In a U.S. News survey of 223 travel agents, the Mexican island off the eastern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula topped the list of destinations that offer the best vacation value in North America and the Caribbean. Secluded St. Bart's, on the other hand, is the place to go if your cash flow is endless. The Caribbean isle led the ranks of spots that give the least value for the dollar. In U.S. News & World Report.

** More Yield Management Strategies
In last week's column, I compared the airlines' mysterious yield management systems to a game. In this installment of the Travel Tightwad, I'm going to tell you how to stack the metaphorical deck in your favor - and win. Airfare sales, which were the topic of last week's story, are a great way of getting on the right side of the yield management equation. But if you overlook the other opportunities to play the system, you'll miss out. In The Travel Tightwad.

** Adieu, Troubleshooter
I could blame Sept. 11, but that's such a tired excuse. I could fault a soft economy or even a lack of readership, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate, either. I think the most accurate - and articulate - explanation for why the Troubleshooter is ending its run in some news outlets is that it was time to move on. This column has evolved during the last four years, from a personal soapbox into a real "troubleshooter" column that helps people solve their travel-related problems. Details in The Travel Troubleshooter.

** Until We Meet Again
Auf wiedersehen, Travel Technologist. The German word, which loosely translates into "goodbye," actually means "until we meet again." After five years of doing this, I know it's never goodbye until you're six feet under. This is the third farewell column I've had for the Technologist. This is more auf wiedersehen. Check out The Travel Technologist.

** The Squares of Savannah
Savannah is for squares. The 24 open areas that define this Southern city tell a bittersweet story you won't read in any tourism brochures. It's a tale that pits preservation against 'progress' - parks versus three-story parking garages and advocates of renovation against the market forces that want to raze every architecturally significant building. In Destinations.

** The Joys of the Red-Eye
It starts with the pills. Peter Shankman pops them like candy the day before. Then he goes on a drinking binge - "a liter an hour, at least" - and doesn't stop until it's all over. "Afterwards, you're not necessarily the friendliest person," admits the Manhattan marketing consultant. "If you're not careful, you might even end up with a cold." Shankman is engaging in an increasingly common travel ritual: preparing for an overnight flight, otherwise known as the "red eye." The pills are vitamin C capsules; the drink, bottled water. The payoff is undeniable. In The Travel Critic Archives.

> Ticked.com Talk

** The Way it Should Be
The Transportation Security Administration today announced that bomb detection machinery has been installed in every airport in the country and that individual security checks will be scaled back over the next months. This was the culmination of extraordinary teamwork between Washington D.C. politicians and bureaucrats and some of America's leading corporations and research institutes. Right. Read more of Charlie Leocha's column.

** Revenge of the Ramp Rats
Marvin and many of his co-workers, so-called ramp agents at Miami International Airport, regularly commit crimes during the course of their workdays. They can spot a suitcase that looks full of loot (they rely mostly on hunches, as a good Customs agent does when deciding whether to search a traveler for contraband), open the bag (locks pose no deterrent), and in a matter of seconds pocket a gold bracelet and earrings, a few packs of cigarettes, and a bottle of expensive perfume. They'll set aside a video camera and a T-shirt they fancy. Later, if the coast is clear, they can spirit these bulkier items down the ramp, into a transport vehicle, and at the terminal into a secure hiding place like a tote bag, eventually an office locker or a car. Read more in Kathy Glasgow's story in the Miami New Times.

** Summer Travel Strategies
So now that we're officially at the unofficial beginning of summer, the obvious question arises: How are we going to survive this summer on the road? It goes without saying that this will be a summer like no other in American business travel history. Airport security remains onerous and convoluted, many travelers legitimately fear a reprise of terrorist activity and a few of the nation's major carriers are teetering on the edge of fiscal collapse. Read more in Joe Brancatelli's column.

> Other Sponsors

** DisneyDollarless
Do you wish you could visit Walt Disney World more often - or even at all? DisneyDollarless is a free email list that can help you do just that! DDL is also a unique vacation support network where members answer trip planning and cost-cutting questions, trade used guide books, exchange travel coupons, book group cruises, and earn Disney prizes among other fun activities.

** The Alaska Travelgram
Punchy, timely information on travel in, out and around Alaska. Learn about fares the airlines won't publish. Find the secret spots that local "Sourdoughs" save for themselves. And learn fun facts about the "Last Frontier". Written by Scott McMurren, longtime travel columnist for the Anchorage Daily News. Free subscription.

** M-Travel
The stock markets are down. The luster is off the dot-coms. But the application of mobile technology in the travel industry is alive and well. Although still in its infancy, mobile travel sales and services will be the biggest thing in wireless commerce. Visit the only Web site devoted exclusively to mobile communications and travel technology. Free weekly e-mail newsletter.

** Family Travel Forum
Summer's coming and you need the best resource for travel with kids? Join the FTF community for first-hand accounts, great vacation ideas and the editors' pick of real deals, free festivals, and regional events.

> Your Opinion Matters

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