{"id":408,"date":"2008-04-29T10:04:49","date_gmt":"2008-04-29T15:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2008\/04\/on-the-road-with-joe-brancatelli-2\/"},"modified":"2016-12-17T20:44:26","modified_gmt":"2016-12-18T02:44:26","slug":"on-the-road-with-joe-brancatelli-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2008\/04\/on-the-road-with-joe-brancatelli-2\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Road with Joe Brancatelli"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ontheroad\"<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Joe Brancatelli is editorand publisher of JoeSentMe.com<\/a><\/strong>, a
\nnon-commercial Web site for business travelers.<\/em><\/p>\n

NEED TO KNOW<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credit cards only when you buy plane tickets: <\/strong>The surprise bankruptcy of Frontier Airlines<\/strong> last month was caused by a sudden demand for additional "holdbacks" from the carrier’s credit card processor. And the bankruptcy should be a reminder that the only safe way to buy a plane ticket is to use your credit card. Put away your debit card. Forget PayPal. Ignore any other payment system an airline suggests you can use. It’s credit cards. Period. Why? The Fair Credit Billing Act requires credit card companies to remove a charge if an airline tanks before you can use your ticket. But you don’t have that protection if you use your debit card, a check, PayPal,cash or any other payment method. If your airline tanks and you haven’t paid with a credit card, you go to the end of the unsecured creditors’ line and you’ll never see your money again. What’s this got to do with Frontier? The airline’s credit card processor, First Data, was obviously concerned that Frontier might stop flying, so it decided to hold back a greater share of Frontier’s credit card receipts as a partial offset against potential cardholder claims. Frontier is asking its bankruptcy judge to stop First Data from increasing its holdbacks.<\/p>\n

HOTEL BEAT<\/strong><\/p>\n

More hotels open in more important places: <\/strong>Westin<\/strong> has opened a 210-room property in Huntsville, Alabama<\/a><\/strong>. The lakeside hotel is part of the Bridge Street Town Center that is locatedwithin Cummings Research Park, the second-largest technology park in the country. \u2026 Marriott<\/strong> has opened a 245-room Courtyard hotel in Hong Kong<\/strong><\/a>. The harborfront property is located on Hong Kong Island near the Macau Ferry Pier. Rates start around US$200 a night. \u2026 A 97-suite Cambria Suites<\/strong> hotel has opened at Savannah Airport on Y. Johnson Hagins Drive. \u2026 St. Regis<\/strong> has opened a 299-room property in Singapore<\/strong><\/a>. \u2026 Joie de Vivre renovated the former Radisson in Sunnyvale, California, and reopened it as the 124-room Domain Hotel<\/a><\/strong>. If you think that name is Silicon Valley cute, consider this: The hotel’s restaurant is called Bytes. \u2026 Crowne Plaza has hoisted its flag on the Brock Plaza hotel in Niagara Falls, Canada<\/strong>. \u2026 The Hawaiian island of Molokai is basically out of the tourist business. The 22-room Molokai Ranch and the 18-hole Kaluakoi Golf Course have both closed after the owners feuded with local residents, most of whom oppose tourism development. <\/p>\n

AIRPORT REPORT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Frontier shrinks and Southwest grows in Denver: <\/strong>Bankrupt Frontier Airlines<\/strong> is dumping service to five cities from its hub in Denver. In the next 45 days, the carrier will drop flights<\/a><\/strong> to Sioux City, Iowa; Jacksonville,Florida; Little Rock; Memphis; and Tulsa. All of the service was operated with commuter jets. Meanwhile, Southwest is growing again in Denver. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Beginning on June 4, it will launch two daily nonstops to Portland,
\nOregon, and two daily nonstops to Indianapolis. \u2026 Clear
\nregistered-traveler lanes have opened in Salt Lake City. But officials
\nat Atlanta Hartsfield have decided not to launch registered-traveler
\nservice after all. Instead, it will add four new security checkpoints
\navailable to all travelers. \u2026 Dewar’s Clubhouse<\/strong>, a golf-and-scotch bar, has opened in the Central Concourse in Honolulu<\/strong><\/a>. And a Gordon Biersch restaurant and brewery will open in the Ewa Concourse next month. \u2026 New Orleans<\/strong><\/a>
\ncar renters take note: A $5 airport-imposed fee will be applied to all
\nairport rentals. The funds will be used to build a consolidated
\ncar rental<\/a><\/strong> facility.\n<\/p>\n

FLY RIGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Very much ado about a very minor travel problem: <\/strong>About
\nthree in ten flights<\/a><\/strong> run late on an average day, lost-luggage rates are
\nskyrocketing, service is deteriorating, the fare structure is a
\nmess and everyone worries about the financial health and safe operation
\nof the nation’s airlines<\/a><\/strong>. So what does the Department of Transportation tackle? Denied-boarding compensation, which affects just one in
\nevery 10,000 fliers. Effective this month, fliers who are involuntarily
\nbumped will receive $400<\/strong> if they do not reach their domestic
\ndestination within two hours of the original arrival time or their
\ninternational destination within four hours of their original schedule.
\nIf the delay is longer, the payment is $800. If there is a silver
\nlining in this otherwise irrelevant decision, here it is: The bumping
\nrules now apply to flights with as few as 30 seats. (The old rules
\ndidn’t apply unless you were booked on an aircraft with more than 60
\nseats.) That means virtually all commuter flights<\/a><\/strong> are now subject to
\nthe involuntary bumping rules. By the way, a reminder: These rules do
\nnot apply in voluntary-bump situations where you agree to give up your
\nseat.<\/p>\n

WALLET WATCH<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fares and surcharges soar, rules tighten: <\/strong>First,
\nthe fare hikes and surcharge jumps: Led by United Airlines<\/a><\/strong>, the Big Six
\ncarriers increased fuel surcharges by another $10-$20 round trip. And
\nhere’s the big other shoe: United<\/strong>, American<\/strong><\/a> and Delta<\/strong><\/a> have imposed an
\nacross-the-board 3-5 percent fare increase, which increase ticket
\nprices by as much as $70 round trip. Now the rules changes: United also
\nraised the change fee<\/strong>on domestic tickets to $150 and the international
\nchange fee to $250. Most carriers immediately matched. Carriers have
\nalso restored Saturday-stay rules<\/strong> to almost all of its lowest-priced
\nfares. \u2026 Given the rampaging price of oil, even discount carriers like
\nSouthwest and JetBlue<\/strong> have been forced to react. Southwest Airlines
\nsaid that it would raise fares by $3-$10 one-way on flights operating
\nbetween June 13 and August 17. And JetBlue Airways<\/strong> will charge for a
\nsecond checked bag starting on June 1. The fee will be $20. \u2026 Finally,
\nanother revenue-generating idea from US Airways<\/strong><\/a>: The airline will
\ncharge $5-$30 per segment for a seat assignment in so-called "Choice
\nSeats"<\/strong> in coach. It’s similar to the program launched by Northwest<\/strong>
\nAirlines<\/strong><\/a> two years ago. Elite members of the US Airways Dividend Miles
\nprogram are exempt from the charge.<\/p>\n

LIFE WITH LAPTOP<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get that icky stuff off your hard drive: <\/strong>A
\nfederal appeals court in San Francisco has ruled that Customs agents at
\nthe airport don’t need any evidence of wrongdoing to search the
\ncontents of a passenger’s laptop, thumb drives and other storage
\ndevices. The theory supported unanimously by the court’s three judges:
\nA laptop is luggage and Customs agents don’t need evidence of
\nwrongdoing to search luggage because it is the equivalent of a border
\nsearch. (The Supreme Court previously ruled that luggage searches at
\nthe airport are the equivalent of border searches.) All of this would
\nbe a fascinating legal argument in andof itself, but keep this in
\nmind: The case began in 2005 when a Customs agent stopped a traveler on
\nhis return from the Philippines and asked him to turn on his computer.
\nThe agent then found images he believed to be child pornography. The
\nflier was arrested for transporting child pornography and traveling to
\nthe Philippines to have sex with a minor.<\/p>\n

Read more "On the Road with Joe Brancatelli" at
\nroadwarrior.orbitz.com<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Related Orbitz resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n