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

September 26, 2004

>> Inside <<

* Not Dreaming of Jeanne
* Question of the Week: Stupid Travel Expense Policies
* Join IAG's Exclusive Travel Panel
* Latest Travel Info: Free. Value: Priceless
* This Week in Travel
* Neeleman: 'Fixated' On Bottom Line
* Home, Suite Motor Home
* Planes and Paint Thinner
* What If My Airline Liquidates?
* Who's Responsible?
* Delayed Bill is a Pane
* Flashback: Pillow Talk
* It's All About The Bed
* No Bed in My 'Destiny'
* Bothered & Badgered at B&Bs
* 5 Reasons to Check Out Early

>> First Off <<

** Not Dreaming of Jeanne
By the time you read this, hurricane Jeanne will be bearing down on us here in Mouseville. And I only say this because even though we love getting your e-mails, these storms have a way of making phones and power go down for days at a time, so please be patient with us. We have a terrific issue this week - an exclusive interview with JetBlue CEO David Neeleman, plus really useful columns from John Frenaye, James Wysong and Terry Riley on everything from travel safety to dealing with an airline liquidation. And there's a troubleshooter column on one motorist's efforts to dispute a bill for a cracked windshield that she says she isn't responsible for.

>> Underwritten By <<

** FirstClassFlyer.com
Want to fly first class for less than what others pay for coach? Looking for free and purchased upgrades, 2-for-1s, advanced ticketing techniques, and a fast-track to elite status strategies? Look no further ... these hot deals and more are available at First Class Flyer's Web site.

>> By The Way <<

** Question of the Week: Stupid Travel Expense Policies
If you've ever worked for a company, you've probably run into a stupid travel expense policy. For example: the corporation will pay for as many pricey phone calls from your hotel room, but if you buy a phone card to try to save a few bucks, it won't reimburse you. Or your company will allow you to order as many drinks from the bar in your hotel lobby, but won't cover the bottled water from the minibar. Ridiculous? Sure. Inconsistent? Often, these policies are. Here's your chance to sound off about your experiences. Please e-mail us with your stories of silly company travel policies - and then go online and take a really quick three-question survey. As always, please include your full name, city, and what you do for a living.

> About that free luggage. Here's the deal: We've changed our policy about the Travelpro giveaway slightly. Anyone who e-mails us for any reason will qualify. So if we have your e-mail address on file, you're automatically entered in the drawing.

> Trying to e-mail me? Please read this first.

** Join IAG's Exclusive Travel Panel
Want to sound off regularly about the state of the travel industry? Sure you do. Our friends at Innovation Analysis have extended an exclusive invitation to this newsletter's subscribers to share your views on everything from online bookings to business class seats. Irritated about having to buy onboard meals? Steamed about ticketing fees? If you're on the IAG panel, you'll get to tell travel suppliers how you really feel - and IAG has promised they'll make it worth your while (can you say "incentives"?). > Here's how to become a member.

** Latest Travel Info: Free. Value: Priceless
Travel Notes, the new daily travel newsletter, doesn't cost anything. There are no ads, no pitches of any kind. Just the day's top travel stories in quick-read format. Why would we give something like that away? Because the information is too valuable to hoard, too important to sell. Sign up now and find out why View From the Wing says Travel Notes does "a bang-up job summarizing the day's travel news and offering brief commentary." > Details are here.

>> This Week in Travel <<

News, opinion and analysis from Elliott's Travel Notes.

> Hurricane Jeanne Zeroes In On Florida (9/24)

> Court Curbs Branson Travel Club (9/23)

> Travel Expected To Surge This Fall (9/22)

> Hotels in 3 Cities May Suffer Strike (9/21)

> US Airways Waits For Worst (9/20)

> See archived blog postings or catch up on today's news.

> NEW! Sign up for Travel Notes by e-mail. Find out more.

>> Also Underwritten By <<

** Cheapflights.com
Flights price comparison site. Compare sales, specials and cheap flights to New York, Las Vegas, Orlando, London, Cancun, San Jose and over 600 more destinations. Cheapflights.com provides a quick and independent picture of the market for cheap flights from airlines (including Southwest and JetBlue), travel agents and specialist discounters. > Find cheap flights now.

>> On Elliott.org <<

** Neeleman: 'Fixated' On Bottom Line
These aren't the best of times for the airline business. Fuel prices are soaring, profits are plummeting and bankruptcies have become almost routine. But JetBlue Airways apparently didn't get that memo. It continues to prosper and expand (earlier this month, it added service from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). Not that it's always been a smooth ride for the new airline - last year, for example, it admitted to handing over passenger records to a Defense Department contractor. Christopher Elliott recently asked JetBlue's chief executive, David Neeleman, how the company has managed to navigate the turbulent skies. > Details in Interview.

** Home, Suite Motor Home
What do you buy when you already own a house in River Ranch, Fla.; another in Newark, Ohio; and a campground in Ruidoso, N.M.? A luxury motor coach. At least that's what retired oil engineer Ed McCauley did when he paid $297,000 for his 33-foot-long 2004 Country Coach Allure, which has a living room so spacious "you could have a dance in it," says his wife, Phyllis. Luxury motor coaches - don't you dare call them campers - are the latest craze in upscale vacation abodes. Demand for motor homes has doubled in the last decade, to about 320,800 units a year, according to the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association. > In an archived US News & World Report.

>> On Ticked.com <<

** Planes and Paint Thinner
It seems as if everyone wants to be a low-fare airline these days. Even the network carriers are revamping their product to make them look like low-fare airlines, with upstarts like Song and Ted taking to the skies. The discounters' bottom line is to offer low-priced travel to a certain destination, minus all the bells and whistles. Most of the time it's cattle-car service and passengers end up feeling like a number. But they pay a fraction of the normal cost. What I find so incomprehensible is that the managers at the full-service airlines have been caught so off guard. Why did they think this concept was certain to fail? > In A Frank Steward.

>> On Travelcomment.com <<

** What If My Airline Liquidates?
These aren't the best of times to be an air traveler. US Airways' chairman has said that in the event of a second bankruptcy filing there's only a one to two percent chance the airline would survive. And his airline just filed for Chapter 11 protection. Delta is grasping at straws to stay afloat. United is still mired in bankruptcy with emergence nowhere in sight. American has been disturbingly quiet. ATA is looking to default on a government loan. Northwest is busy making - and then unmaking - ludicrous pricing decisions. The last airline to go belly-up was TWA, which was absorbed into American. I'm not sure that most of today's travelers remember when Eastern or Pan Am ceased operations. It's anyone's guess who will be first to liquidate (and yes, I believe there'll be more than one). But the real question is: What do I do? > In John Frenaye's column.

** Who's Responsible?
A couple items came across my desk this past month. Business Travel News reported that fewer than 40 percent of corporate travel departments track their employees while they are on the road and only about half of corporate travel managers oversee travel security at all. (It may be that this responsibility is taken up by some other corporate function such as corporate security, but one wonders.) The other bit of news comes from Australia where, in the wake of the Bali terrorist attacks, the government may act to require travel agents to give their clients copies of the Department of Foreign Affairs travel warnings about the countries those travelers will be visiting. Putting these two news items side-by-side raises the question, "Whose responsibility is it anyway to look after you when you're away from home." > In Terry Riley's column.

>> On Triprights.com <<

** Delayed Bill is a Pane
It's been six months since you rented a van. But what's this? A $486 bill for a chipped windshield? And if you don't pay up right away, the car rental company is threatening to send your name to a collection agency. Given the choice between paying for damage she didn't inflict and having her credit rating destroyed, one exasperated traveler asks for help. Find out if she's liable for the windshield - and how you can prevent this from happening to you. > In Fix My Trip.

>> Also Underwritten By <<

** Journeyware.com
The new destination for exceptional luggage, business/tech cases and travel accessories from leading brands like Travelpro, Lewis N. Clark, RoadWired and more. Great prices, fast, free UPS ground shipping on orders of just $50 or more! All with a level of uncompromising, personal service that you might not be used to getting these days (especially if you are a frequent traveler). Enter coupon code ELLIOTT and click "update" at checkout for an additional 10% off any order.

>> Flashback: Pillow Talk <<
This week, we're taking a look back at all of our columns about beds - including missing beds, bed and breakfasts and better beds. Flashback is sponsored by Dream of Italy, the award-winning newsletter about Italy.

** It's All About The Bed
Phoebe Eskenazi endured many sleepless nights before checking into the Royal Sonesta Hotel Boston for a weekend. The Alexandria, Va., teacher was recovering from a bout of asthmatic bronchitis and just couldn't get any rest. But when she collapsed into an extra-cushiony Serta bed created just for the hotel chain, she fell into a deep slumber. "It was one of the most comfortable beds I've slept on," she raves. Eskenazi and her husband were so smitten they took a Sonesta bed home - for $1,600, including shipping. "It is all about the bed," says Sonesta spokeswoman Deborah Roker. The hotel industry is starting to agree. In US News & World Report.

** No Bed in My 'Destiny'
If you book a cabin with three beds, but only get two, what does your cruise line owe you? That's the question one reader asks after her travel agent promises her a big cabin on her Caribbean cruise. But when she and her family board Carnival's Destiny she discovers no third bed in her room. What's going on? > In Fix My Trip.

** Bothered & Badgered at B&Bs
Cynthia Barry became part of the bed-and-breakfast backlash when the proprietor of the inn she was visiting during a trip to England tried to break down the door to her room one morning. "He ranted and raved because we did not take our showers until after breakfast," she recalls. "He said that there were rules for staying in a bed and breakfast and that we should know them." During his door-front tirade, she says, the innkeeper accused the Clearwater, Florida, traveler of "slumming" - visiting a run-down neighborhood for amusement - and threatened her with bodily harm. "We did not know if this angry, crazy man would hurt us or try to kill us. We were very frightened of him and the situation." In The Travel Critic.

** 5 Reasons to Check Out Early
If you're an experienced traveler, you know the TV show "Fawlty Towers" is based more on fact than fiction. The 1970s sitcom, set in a small British inn that's mismanaged by a young John Cleese, features every imaginable hotel horror: Rodents in the food, deranged guests and awful service. For anyone who's spent some time on the road, every episode offers something to laugh - and cry - about. Yet watching the series through the eyes of a seasoned traveler is interesting. As you wince at the terrible things happening to the victims of "Fawlty Towers," you find yourself wondering, "At what point would I just check out?" > In Power Trip.

>> Even More Underwriters <<

** ProTravelGear.com
The new SearchAlert re-settable combination padlock from Outside The Box offers unique innovations in luggage security. SearchAlert may be opened with an override device controlled by Transportation Security Administration agents. No SearchAlert lock should be cut off by TSA agents. In fact, we offer a free replacement if it's ever cut off. SearchAlert features a Security Window which changes color from Green to Red when any override device is used. $9.99 each or two for $17.98 Available exclusively online. Enter coupon code: ELLIOTT for a discount. Click here to order.

** Net-roamer.com
Access the Internet anywhere in the World through a local call, keeping your own email address and home ISP at a reasonable cost per minute. User-friendly point and click software enables analog dial-up, ISDN, and broadband. Thousands of access points, many "all-cities" and "toll-free" with access throughout the country that you are visiting. No sign-up fees. No minimum usage or monthly quotas. Pay for usage only. Detailed usage reports. First half-hour free. Professional, personal service. > Check it out.

** Free ... Flights ... Faster
Want to travel faster, safer, smarter, cheaper, better... and earn more frequent flier miles in the process? Subscribe to the Internet's premier travel newsletter. Every week, The FrequentFlier Crier delivers travel news you can use: frequent flyer program updates, special fares, industry news and trends. > Sign up (free).

>> Who's Reading Elliott's E-Mail? <<

* Demographics
* Elliott's E-Mail newsletter circulation - 28,326
* Travel Notes by E-Mail newsletter circulation - 3,240
* Last month's total unique visitors
Elliott.org - 68,002
Ticked.com - 30,006
Triprights.com - 10,265
Not2far.com - 3,597
Travelcomment.com - 12,996
Total network visitors - 124,886

>> Talk To Us <<

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