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

October 7, 2002

> Inside

* Flying the Funny Skies
* Fly Free?
* Streamlined Site
* How the Sausage is Made
* It's Pledge Month!
* Secret to a Good Trip? It's in the Cards
* Suite Steal
* Is SMS Stupid?
* Going Down in Curacao
* Con Air With Kids
* Begging Airlines
* Smell the Roses
* Little Airline Lies

> This Week in Travel

** Flying the Funny Skies
The airline industry's current malaise is no laughing matter. Or is it? Yeah, things are bad. The nation's carriers could lose more than $8 billion this year. They're hitting up Congress for billions in aid, and they're cutting flights and adding onerous new fees to their tickets. At a time like this, the whole industry should feel dejected. So what's with all the jokes? >> Read the commentary.

> By the Way

** Fly Free?
What are your favorite strategies for getting a free airline ticket? Send us an e-mail and please don't forget to include your full name, city, and what you do for a living. Your answer may appear in a future column.

** Streamlined Site
Elliott.org is new and improved this week. It now features more than 1,000 columns going back to 1996 in a faster format so that you can download pages quicker. I've added new navigational features by topic so that you can find what you're looking for easier. Stories on the front page are clearly labeled so that you can tell archived content from new material. And (last but not least) I've also removed all of the annoying pop-up ads for this newsletter.

** How the Sausage is Made
Some of you have asked how I can crank out so many articles and commentaries about travel every week. Or, to put it differently, "how IS the sausage made"? The answer is simple: I get help. Every newsletter query (like the one above) helps generate anecdotes, story ideas and important leads. Why don't I just interview the "experts" on travel and pass the information along to you? Because, quite frankly, you are the experts -- you're out there traveling every day.

> It's Pledge Month!

Elliott's E-Mail is an independently-produced, reader-supported newsletter. Twice a year, in May and October, we ask our subscribers to pitch in with their financial and intellectual support. We can't do it without you!

Here's how you can help:

* Send me your story ideas, suggestions and queries. This is how journalism is done in the 21st century, and your participation is vital. E-mail me at or send me an instant message. On AOL, the screen name is elliottdotorg. On MSN, it's msn@elliott.org.

* Buy a travel book on our sister site's bestseller list. Every time you purchase a book on the Ticked.com Top Ten, you help support this newsletter. (Plus, you help determine which book is next month's number one title.)

* Become an underwriter. Not only will you help pay the bills here, but as a "thank you" I'll also send you one of several useful premiums ranging from art to autographed copies of a travel bestseller.

> Our Sponsor

** EasyTravelAir.com
The must-have travel accessory to get through the post-9/11 airport is the EasyTravelAir Security Pouch. The hands-free pouch lets you display your ID and boarding pass and keeps your credit card, passport and other travel essentials safe and secure. Get one free when you buy three. Only $14.99 each. Call (800) 282-1469 to order or click on the link above.

> Elliott's Commentary

** Secret to a Good Trip? It's in the Cards
People frequently ask me about what they can do to have a better trip. One thing I've been telling them lately is to carry the right cards. I'm not talking about credit cards here, but rather the kind of cards that fit in your laptop computer. They're called PCMCIA cards - that's shorthand for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association. But everyone just refers to them as "PC cards." To borrow a phrase, I don't leave home without mine. >> In Power Trip.

** Suite Steal
A hotel guest loses $12,000 worth of computer equipment and property in a burglary. It looks like an inside job, but the property will only reverse the room charges as a "gesture of good will" and pay out $1,220 in damages from its insurance company. Could Chief Inspector Clouseau, the bumbling detective from the Pink Panther movies, have done a better job handling this incident? A look at the case of the missing laptop computers. >> Details in an all-new Travel Troubleshooter.

** Is SMS Stupid?
No one ever seems to wonder if Short Messaging System technology belongs on a cell phone. That's probably because SMS is already a hit in Europe, especially with teen-agers who have learned to use a phone keypad to type with uncanny proficiency. And despite some hardware and interoperability issues, the text-messaging protocol is now catching on in the States, too. But someone should be asking if SMS is a good idea. >> In The Travel Technologist.

** Going Down in Curacao
After my first bite of barbecued iguana, Vicki the diving instructor asked, "So?" I was tempted to say, "Tastes just like chicken," because it did taste like chicken, but that's not what she wanted to know. Curaçao's giant lizards, when properly prepared, are thought to have aphrodisiac qualities. Even the word for iguana in native Papimentu sounds suggestive: yawanna. I jokingly raised my eyebrows. Vicki laughed. The rest of the students giggled. They looked as if they were wondering too - well, is he or isn't he? >> In Destinations.

** Con Air With Kids
Debbie Witt's flight from Honolulu to Chicago was boarded and ready for takeoff when an announcement came across the loudspeaker about some passengers with "special needs" who needed to get on the plane. Moments later, seven prisoners were paraded down the aisle by four security guards and seated in the back. "The prisoners were squalid-looking and in shackles. They brushed up against everyone on the aisle all the way to the very back of the plane, including myself. They were seated among the other passengers," she recalls. >> In The Travel Critic archives.

> Ticked.com Talk

** Begging Airlines
The airline industry is in a bind. The major airlines, for the most part, have created a business where every time a plane takes off they lose money. From a small businessman's point of view, this situation can't last long without some "white knight" swooping in with a parade of wagons full of money. In the old days, airlines could float bonds and borrow money. Not any more. >> Read Charles Leocha's column.

** Smell the Roses
My wife Linda and I occasionally would load up our SUV with a cooler, a change of clothes, and our dogs of a dozen years, Mackie and Murphie. Off we would go for the day or the weekend. Looking back, I now realize how much our furry companions helped us appreciate some of the often overlooked pleasures of travel. Here's what they taught us. >> Read more in Terry Riley's column.

** Little Airline Lies
Sometimes it is the little lies and the petty deceits that reveal the big picture and the larger truths. And when you stare into the heart of darkness that is the Big Six airlines, you can see how their little fibs are greasing the skids for their fast-track ride onto the scrap heap of history. We frequent flyers know all about the carriers' big lies: the phony schedules; the at-the-gate kabuki whenever a flight is late or delayed or cancelled; the cat-and-mouse fare games and upgrade scams; and the code-share deals that allow one airline to claim another carrier's flights and services as its own. >> Read more in Joe Brancatelli's column.

> Other Sponsors

** Ticked.com Top Ten
What are travelers reading? Find out at Ticked.com's Top Ten list of bestselling travel titles. Compiled monthly, the list features the most-purchased travel books on the Internet, thanks to the Web site's affiliate relationship with Barnes & Noble. Whether you're looking for something to read on your next trip or wondering what to buy for the traveler in your life, the Ticked.com Top Ten can help.

** AnitaVacation.com
Do you need a vacation? Do you need fresh ideas, news, and information to be inspired? Look no further than AnitaVacation.com. Editor Anita Dunham-Potter gives you timely insider tips on consumer travel issues, in-depth vacation features, and the best deals to favorite destinations, air travel, cruises, and much more. Sign up today for our free weekly newsletter with even more advice, viewpoints, and deals that show you how to have better travel experiences ~ because everyone needs a vacation.

** Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Experience history when you travel. Seek out the major and not-so major museums and learn more than a book will ever teach you. We can hook you up with a historical tour that takes you off the beaten path.

** ThriftyTraveling.com
A newsletter filled with travel tips and resources as well as late-breaking destination-oriented news and bargains you can use. Each issue is packed with a wide variety of useful information that will help you save money and travel safely without stress. It also has special Over-50, Solo Travel, and Net News sections.

> Talk to Us!

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