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

May 20, 2002

> Inside

* Save US Airways
* Your Favorite Last-Minute Travel Site?
* The Troubleshooter Lives
* Heilman Tops List - Again
* Worth Recommending
* "Undiscovered" Travel Experts
* Good Deals are 'Inn' Season
* No Dream Vacation in Tahiti
* A Last Look at the Mail
* Tipsters on the Take
* Find the Best Fare Now
* Can a Vacation Save Your Life?
* Airfare Camelot

> This Week in Travel

** Save US Airways
Market forces should have killed US Airways long ago. Years of mismanagement, a bungled merger with United Airlines and the burden of the industry's highest labor costs, left the Arlington, Va., carrier in critical condition. Pulling the plug on the airline may seem like the reasonable - even humane - thing to do. But we shouldn't let it expire.

> By the Way

** Your Favorite Last-Minute Travel Site?
Which last-minute travel site do you use the most? Which one is your favorite? 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.

** The Troubleshooter Lives
You really shouldn't have! When some of you heard that they were pulling the plug on The Travel Troubleshooter, my weekly column that helps people solve their travel problems, I got hundreds of messages saying 'Don't let them.' Well, good news: the Troubleshooter is, to quote the old Monty Python skit, not dead yet. Far from it. National Geographic Traveler has invited me to join its staff as a contributing editor and ombudsman. I'll be penning a new column, tentatively called Trip Fix. So to all of you who wrote in, I say: thank you. You did a good thing.

** Heilman Tops List - Again
Joan Rattner Heilman's book "Unbelievably Good Deals and Great Adventures That You Absolutely Can't Get Unless You're Over 50" tops our bestseller list again this week. (Hey, don't look at me - I just count the sales.) But there are new contenders this week for the number one slot - and there are some who have dropped out of the race. Find out who's up and who's down. Click on our Top 10 Travel Books list.

** Worth Recommending
SpamKiller from McAfee is easily the most effective anti-spam application I've ever tested. In the last week alone, it's reduced the amount of annoying commercial messages by more than 50 percent. If you've got problems with unsolicited e-mail, give it a try.

** "Undiscovered" Travel Experts
There are plenty of Web sites out there that link to the most popular - and overexposed - travel experts. You know, the talking heads that have columns in major daily newspapers, TV shows and bestsellers. What about the other voices? This week I'd like to recommend two: Bob Cowen, whose lively InternetTravelTips.com site offers a fresh and irreverent perspective on the travel business, and John Discala, the guy behind the best travel portal on the Internet, JohnnyJet.com. Next week I'm going to post a list of undiscovered travel voices - please send your nominations.

> Our Sponsor

** You
You are the reason this newsletter happens every week - your e-mails, tips and phone calls. Your help is critical to the survival of the cutting-edge commentary and news that this Web site produces. Without your pledge, it just won't happen. For more information on how to become an underwriter, click here.

> Elliott's Commentary

** Good Deals are 'Inn' Season
Some of you out there are cringing. I just know it. You saw the word 'inn' above my byline and maybe you remember the last time I wrote about bed and breakfasts. After that story appeared on CNN.com I thought I'd never darken the door of a small hotel again. Well, this should come as good news to both the irate innkeepers and their disheartened guests. I've revisited some of the properties I badmouthed, and while the experiences were generally positive, it's the deals that compel me to recommend a B&B this summer. In The Travel Tightwad.

** No Dream Vacation in Tahiti
When she booked her dream vacation to Tahiti, her agent assured her that her hotel had snorkels and outrigger canoes free of charge and available for our use. But when she got there, she found out it didn't have the outriggers, and the snorkels were rented for a "nominal fee." And that was just the beginning. Find out how one dream vacation turned into a surcharge nightmare. In The Travel Troubleshooter.

** A Last Look at the Mail
Last week I promised I'd take a look at the mail this column received during more than four years on the Internet. There's a good reason for this retrospective. Not only is this column ending in a few weeks, which is probably as good an excuse as any to look back. But reader responses sometimes also offer instructive insights into the world of tech travelers, or what industry insiders like to call "end-users." And as I review some of these notes, I often wonder if the manufacturers and developers are bothering to read the feedback they get from customers. In The Travel Technologist.

** Tipsters on the Take
Careful who you consult for dining and entertainment recommendations on your next trip. You just might get a paid advertisement in response. Many concierges who sit attentively at their desks in hotel lobbies by day are wined and dined nightly by restaurants eager for their approval. Others are offered - and accept - cash kickbacks in exchange for sending hotel guests their way. The alternative, travel guide books, are usually no more credible. In The Travel Critic Archives.

> Ticked.com Talk

** Find the Best Fare Now
Contrary to what the folks at Orbitz want you to believe, they do not have a monopoly on the lowest published airfares these days. Expedia and Travelocity and others have come up with various ways to beat even the last-minute published Internet fares provided by the airlines. Today, with the Web fares and all the hoopla that goes with them, consumers need to be even more careful. Read more of Charlie Leocha's column.

** Can a Vacation Save Your Life?
Two years ago, 39-year-old Karen Pope had a mild heart attack while pregnant with her first child. A year later and pregnant again, the former sales manager from Alamo, Calif., suffered another heart attack and knew she needed to do something. Her cardiologist prescribed a vacation, but not just a trip to the beach: He sent her to Healthy Heart, part of the Life Enhancement Program at the Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Tucson, Ariz. Read more in Kathy McCabe's column in USA Today.

** Airfare Camelot
Value Pricing was the initiative of Robert Crandall, then the chief executive of American Airlines. On April 9, 1992, he strode into the ballroom of a New York hotel, swept away about 15 years of slush from the airline hillsides and announced a pricing plan with just four fares. He also did a damned good job of condemning the pricing system he was about to replace. Read more in Joe Brancatelli's column.

> Other Sponsors

** The Great Alaskan TourSaver
Going to Alaska? You need this book! Recommended by Frommers! More than 30 totally free offers on train rides, cruises and tours throughout Alaska. More than 100 2-for-1 offers all around the state. Flightseeing, the finest lodges, fishing charters--all at 2-for-1 savings ONLY in the Great Alaskan TourSaver. Check out the list of deals on the Web.

** 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. Click here for details.

** 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. Click here for your FREE sample now.

** Single Parent Travel
Are you a single parent? Like to travel? Then sign up for our free monthly newsletter that's designed specifically for the traveling single parent. It offers informative advice about proper travel documentation, tips on how to handle the kiddies on those long trips, and a place to meet other single parents and be heard. Click here.

> Charter Underwriters

* AirJet Airline News - Airline news updated hourly.

* Applied Psychology - Security tips and more online.

* Bonjour Paris - This site's French connection.

* Journeywoman - The premier travel resource for women on the Internet.

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