THE world's largest passenger jet, the Airbus A380, arrived today in Bangkok, the first leg of its four-city Asian tour, as the European aero giant aimed to expand growth against competitor Boeing.
The double-decker plane landed at Bangkok's glitzy Suvarnabhumi Airport from Toulouse, southern France, where the European plane maker is headquartered, a Thai public relation firm for Airbus said.
The super jumbo will make a round trip from Bangkok to Thailand's northern tourist hub, Chiang Mai, tomorrow then fly to Hanoi on Sunday.
The A380 will be a showcase of Asia's largest air show in Hong Kong as it is expected to fly across the city's famous Victoria harbour on Monday. The plane will then arrive on Wednesday in Seoul, the last stop of the Airbus promotional tour.
Singapore Airlines is set to become the first to fly the A380 on October 25 with a flight from Singapore to Sydney.
An online auction for that flight is under way, with bidders offering thousands of dollars for coveted seats on the first commercial flight of the super jumbo.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Travelers: Expect delays and nice weather
The nation's top aviation official warned holiday travelers to prepare for long waits this Labor Day weekend as the summer with the worst delays ever comes to a close. The good news: Weather over most of the USA is forecast to be clear.
"With traffic up, the number of people flying up, I think everyone had better get to the airport early and be a little braced up," Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Marion Blakey said Thursday. "Bring along a good book."
This year has been a nightmare for travelers, with lengthy delays on the tarmac and large numbers of flight delays. Through June, 27.1% of flights were at least 15 minutes late or canceled, a record for the period, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Figures released Thursday from the FAA show this summer is the worst ever for flight delays. From June through Monday, the FAA recorded 159,000 delays, a 19% increase over last year, the agency said. The delays are also sharply higher than 1999 and 2000, which had been the benchmarks for severe delays.
The good news for travelers this weekend is that weather over most of the country — particularly at the congested East Coast and Great Lakes airports — is forecast to be clear.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Federal Aviation Administration | Labor Day | Air Transport Association | Hartsfield | Mark Ressler
"From Boston to D.C., across to Detroit and the Midwest, over to Chicago and Minneapolis, all the way over to Denver, that corridor is in good shape for the weekend," said Mark Ressler of the Weather Channel.
Thunderstorms are expected in the Southeast and could cause slowdowns at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Ressler said. Hartsfield is the world's busiest airport.
The Air Transport Association (ATA), a Washington trade group representing large airlines, predicted 15.7 million passengers would travel from Wednesday through next Wednesday, a 2.6% increase over the same period last year.
When asked what passengers should anticipate, ATA spokesman David Castelveter said: "Regrettably, the answer is they should expect delays. On a blue sky day, they should expect delays."
Overall traffic levels are only slightly higher than last year, according to the FAA, but have increased sharply at key areas, such as New York City's three airports. That has meant that increasing numbers of delays occur due to high volumes of traffic, according to FAA data.
Americans are expected to travel at about the same level as last year, according to AAA, the travel advocacy group. Its survey estimates 34.6 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home this weekend.
"With traffic up, the number of people flying up, I think everyone had better get to the airport early and be a little braced up," Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Marion Blakey said Thursday. "Bring along a good book."
This year has been a nightmare for travelers, with lengthy delays on the tarmac and large numbers of flight delays. Through June, 27.1% of flights were at least 15 minutes late or canceled, a record for the period, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Figures released Thursday from the FAA show this summer is the worst ever for flight delays. From June through Monday, the FAA recorded 159,000 delays, a 19% increase over last year, the agency said. The delays are also sharply higher than 1999 and 2000, which had been the benchmarks for severe delays.
The good news for travelers this weekend is that weather over most of the country — particularly at the congested East Coast and Great Lakes airports — is forecast to be clear.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Federal Aviation Administration | Labor Day | Air Transport Association | Hartsfield | Mark Ressler
"From Boston to D.C., across to Detroit and the Midwest, over to Chicago and Minneapolis, all the way over to Denver, that corridor is in good shape for the weekend," said Mark Ressler of the Weather Channel.
Thunderstorms are expected in the Southeast and could cause slowdowns at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Ressler said. Hartsfield is the world's busiest airport.
The Air Transport Association (ATA), a Washington trade group representing large airlines, predicted 15.7 million passengers would travel from Wednesday through next Wednesday, a 2.6% increase over the same period last year.
When asked what passengers should anticipate, ATA spokesman David Castelveter said: "Regrettably, the answer is they should expect delays. On a blue sky day, they should expect delays."
Overall traffic levels are only slightly higher than last year, according to the FAA, but have increased sharply at key areas, such as New York City's three airports. That has meant that increasing numbers of delays occur due to high volumes of traffic, according to FAA data.
Americans are expected to travel at about the same level as last year, according to AAA, the travel advocacy group. Its survey estimates 34.6 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home this weekend.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Check out these cool pools
Remember spending the entire day at the pool when you were a kid? Playing "Marco Polo" till the sun went down, and then going home for dinner, exhausted and burnt to a lobster-red crisp?
Well, things have changed. The threat of UV rays means some parents don't want to expose their kids to hours of intense sun.
But if parents pack the sunscreen, there are plenty of pools in the area that can offer a full day of entertainment. These pools are designed to amuse the whole family, from the youngest to the oldest.
Some of these pools may be a bit of a drive. So At Play dove deep to find five pools where families can paddle around, and then check out some other nearby attractions in the evening.
POOL + PIZZA
The Cypress Cove Family Aquatic Park (801 S. Janes Ave., Woodridge; 630-985-5620) is not a typical community pool. It's more like a water park with several pools including a plunge pool, lazy river and a diving well. There are also three types of slides and a sand play area.
Amanda Nichols with the Woodridge Park District said families may want to plan for a five-hour visit.
After swimming, the full family can rinse off and head for dinner. One nearby restaurant, Home Run Inn (7521 Lemont Rd., Darien; 630-739-9696), is a pizzeria with a kids' menu, free parking and a full bar for Mom and Dad.
COSTS: Admission to Cypress Cove is $12, kids younger than 2 are free. Parking is free. Instead of visiting the concessions, parents are allowed to bring in water bottles and eat packed lunches in the picnic area.
For dinner at Home Run Inn, parents can cut costs with the children's menu. Kids 12 and younger can order a full meal, including beverage, side and dessert for $5.99.
POOL + PLAY
Rehm Pool (515 Garfield, Oak Park; 708-848-2929) has an Olympic-size pool that starts with a zero-depth entrance. The main pool also has a spray play apparatus where kids can control the water flow by turning valves. Rehm has an adults-only sun deck, wading pool for young children and a diving well with slides and diving boards. The concession stand is run by Robinson's Ribs.
Parents may want to pack up in the early afternoon to catch the Oak Park Festival Theatre's outdoor production of "Robin Hood" at Austin Gardens (1100 Ontario, Oak Park). The theater is offering two family nights, July 29 or Aug. 5.
Family night starts at 3:30 p.m. with storytelling and stage combat demonstrations. The two-hour play begins at 5 p.m.
COSTS: Both venues offer free parking so most money will go to admission. Pool admission is $8 per person, 1 year and older. For the play, a family package is $45 and covers two adults and up to four children.
For concessions, Rehm allows visitors to bring in water bottles and small coolers. And while concessions are available at Festival Theatre, theater president Joyce Porter said families can bring their own blankets and snacks. Purchase tickets at TheatreMania.com or by calling 708-445-4440.
SWIM + A SHOW
The White Water Canyon Water Park (8125 W. 171st St., Tinley Park; 708-342-4200) is a 5-acre water park. The main pool has zero-depth entry, a children's section, diving boards and slides. There is also a lazy river, sand play area and a new interactive play area with fountains and water cannons.
On hot days, families may enjoy up to five hours of pool play, said Karen Wegrzyn of the Tinley Park Park District.
Well, things have changed. The threat of UV rays means some parents don't want to expose their kids to hours of intense sun.
But if parents pack the sunscreen, there are plenty of pools in the area that can offer a full day of entertainment. These pools are designed to amuse the whole family, from the youngest to the oldest.
Some of these pools may be a bit of a drive. So At Play dove deep to find five pools where families can paddle around, and then check out some other nearby attractions in the evening.
POOL + PIZZA
The Cypress Cove Family Aquatic Park (801 S. Janes Ave., Woodridge; 630-985-5620) is not a typical community pool. It's more like a water park with several pools including a plunge pool, lazy river and a diving well. There are also three types of slides and a sand play area.
Amanda Nichols with the Woodridge Park District said families may want to plan for a five-hour visit.
After swimming, the full family can rinse off and head for dinner. One nearby restaurant, Home Run Inn (7521 Lemont Rd., Darien; 630-739-9696), is a pizzeria with a kids' menu, free parking and a full bar for Mom and Dad.
COSTS: Admission to Cypress Cove is $12, kids younger than 2 are free. Parking is free. Instead of visiting the concessions, parents are allowed to bring in water bottles and eat packed lunches in the picnic area.
For dinner at Home Run Inn, parents can cut costs with the children's menu. Kids 12 and younger can order a full meal, including beverage, side and dessert for $5.99.
POOL + PLAY
Rehm Pool (515 Garfield, Oak Park; 708-848-2929) has an Olympic-size pool that starts with a zero-depth entrance. The main pool also has a spray play apparatus where kids can control the water flow by turning valves. Rehm has an adults-only sun deck, wading pool for young children and a diving well with slides and diving boards. The concession stand is run by Robinson's Ribs.
Parents may want to pack up in the early afternoon to catch the Oak Park Festival Theatre's outdoor production of "Robin Hood" at Austin Gardens (1100 Ontario, Oak Park). The theater is offering two family nights, July 29 or Aug. 5.
Family night starts at 3:30 p.m. with storytelling and stage combat demonstrations. The two-hour play begins at 5 p.m.
COSTS: Both venues offer free parking so most money will go to admission. Pool admission is $8 per person, 1 year and older. For the play, a family package is $45 and covers two adults and up to four children.
For concessions, Rehm allows visitors to bring in water bottles and small coolers. And while concessions are available at Festival Theatre, theater president Joyce Porter said families can bring their own blankets and snacks. Purchase tickets at TheatreMania.com or by calling 708-445-4440.
SWIM + A SHOW
The White Water Canyon Water Park (8125 W. 171st St., Tinley Park; 708-342-4200) is a 5-acre water park. The main pool has zero-depth entry, a children's section, diving boards and slides. There is also a lazy river, sand play area and a new interactive play area with fountains and water cannons.
On hot days, families may enjoy up to five hours of pool play, said Karen Wegrzyn of the Tinley Park Park District.
Hawaii is smokin'
TOURISM officials in Hawaii are giving out flowery portable ashtrays in a bid to attract the lucrative young and smoking Japanese market back to the islands.
But the state-backed Smoking with Aloha campaign to reassure Japanese tourists they can smoke in Hawaii has angered anti-smoking groups.
"Japanese believe that Hawaii is smoke-free, and Hawaii bookings, especially for the group market, have suffered,'' said Yumi Ozaki, local director for Hawaii Tourism Japan, which has the state contract to market Hawaii travel in Japan.
Hawaii Tourism Japan, which markets Hawaii tourism in Japan, is trying to educate Japanese about the Smoke-Free Hawaii law that went into effect in December.
Among other things, it prohibits smoking in restaurants, bars and public buildings. But it does not ban all smoking.
The ashtrays, some 40,000 of which were made at a cost of about $1 each, are being distributed mainly by Japanese travel agents and wholesalers to smoking clients.
The Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii criticised the campaign.
"We shouldn't give the message that aloha means smoking,'' said Kathy Harty, interim president of the coalition.
"It's very unfortunate that they chose to go that route. Why don't they give non-smokers who chose to come here a lei? This is not really sending a message that Hawaii is concerned about good health,'' she said.
But the state-backed Smoking with Aloha campaign to reassure Japanese tourists they can smoke in Hawaii has angered anti-smoking groups.
"Japanese believe that Hawaii is smoke-free, and Hawaii bookings, especially for the group market, have suffered,'' said Yumi Ozaki, local director for Hawaii Tourism Japan, which has the state contract to market Hawaii travel in Japan.
Hawaii Tourism Japan, which markets Hawaii tourism in Japan, is trying to educate Japanese about the Smoke-Free Hawaii law that went into effect in December.
Among other things, it prohibits smoking in restaurants, bars and public buildings. But it does not ban all smoking.
The ashtrays, some 40,000 of which were made at a cost of about $1 each, are being distributed mainly by Japanese travel agents and wholesalers to smoking clients.
The Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii criticised the campaign.
"We shouldn't give the message that aloha means smoking,'' said Kathy Harty, interim president of the coalition.
"It's very unfortunate that they chose to go that route. Why don't they give non-smokers who chose to come here a lei? This is not really sending a message that Hawaii is concerned about good health,'' she said.
Calif. congressman 'regrets' Dulles Airport incident
WASHINGTON — Rep. Bob Filner said Wednesday he regrets a recent incident at Dulles Airport in which he allegedly pushed a United Airlines baggage employee, resulting in assault and battery charges.
Filner, D-Calif., offered few details of the Aug. 19 incident in a three-sentence statement issued after he returned from a week in Iraq.
"I was tired after a delayed flight and frustrated by the subsequent further delay of the entire flight's baggage. But I did not want things to turn out as they did, with offense obviously taken and much misunderstanding," the statement said.
"This is an episode that I regret and hope to move beyond."
His spokeswoman, Amy Pond, didn't reply to repeated phone and e-mail messages seeking additional information, including how Filner planned to plead to the charges. The congressman did not immediately respond to interview requests.
Filner allegedly attempted to enter an employees-only area, pushed aside an employee's arm and wouldn't leave when asked, according to Courtney Prebich, assistant media relations manager for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
Filner had disputed accounts of the incident as "factually incorrect" and said the charges were "ridiculous," but he didn't elaborate on that in his statement Wednesday.
The female employee, whom United declined to identify, did not require medical attention. However she decided to press charges and a Loudoun County, Va., magistrate issued a summons for Filner to appear on misdemeanor assault and battery charges in Loudoun County General District Court on Oct. 2.
As of Wednesday Filner had not been served with the summons because it must be delivered to him directly, Prebich said. She said airport authorities were in touch with Filner's attorney.
Filner is an eight-term incumbent who chairs the Veterans Affairs Committee and represents a San Diego-area district bordering Mexico.
Filner, D-Calif., offered few details of the Aug. 19 incident in a three-sentence statement issued after he returned from a week in Iraq.
"I was tired after a delayed flight and frustrated by the subsequent further delay of the entire flight's baggage. But I did not want things to turn out as they did, with offense obviously taken and much misunderstanding," the statement said.
"This is an episode that I regret and hope to move beyond."
His spokeswoman, Amy Pond, didn't reply to repeated phone and e-mail messages seeking additional information, including how Filner planned to plead to the charges. The congressman did not immediately respond to interview requests.
Filner allegedly attempted to enter an employees-only area, pushed aside an employee's arm and wouldn't leave when asked, according to Courtney Prebich, assistant media relations manager for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
Filner had disputed accounts of the incident as "factually incorrect" and said the charges were "ridiculous," but he didn't elaborate on that in his statement Wednesday.
The female employee, whom United declined to identify, did not require medical attention. However she decided to press charges and a Loudoun County, Va., magistrate issued a summons for Filner to appear on misdemeanor assault and battery charges in Loudoun County General District Court on Oct. 2.
As of Wednesday Filner had not been served with the summons because it must be delivered to him directly, Prebich said. She said airport authorities were in touch with Filner's attorney.
Filner is an eight-term incumbent who chairs the Veterans Affairs Committee and represents a San Diego-area district bordering Mexico.
FAA speeds up inspections of 737 jets
WASHINGTON — Airlines this week found four Boeing 737s with loose bolts in the wing that could have led to a fuel leak and fire, prompting federal officials on Wednesday to order speedier inspections of the popular aircraft.
The inspections were ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration after investigators in Japan found that a misplaced bolt likely triggered a blaze that destroyed a China Airlines 737 on Aug. 20 in Okinawa, the agency said. All 165 people escaped before a fireball engulfed the jet.
The discovery of more problems in the Next-Generation 737s — updated models of the jet built after 1998 — prompted the FAA to order airlines to complete inspections within 10 days instead of the original 24-day period, according to an Emergency Airworthiness Directive issued by the agency.
In four cases, bolts in the slat mechanism on the wing had become dislodged, said FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown. In one instance, the adjacent fuel tank was damaged, according to the agency's directive. The agency would not identify the airlines or where the planes were located.
Slats are panels at the front of a jet's wings. They slide forward before landing to increase the wing's lift so the plane can fly slower. Three days after the accident on the Taiwanese jet, Japanese investigators found that the slat mechanism had forced a loose bolt into the adjacent wing fuel tank and punctured it, said Kazushige Daiki, chief investigator at Japan's Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission.
Fuel spilled from the leak, pooled on the ground and ignited as passengers waited to exit.
Boeing is evaluating whether it should redesign the bolt on the slat to make it less likely to come loose, said spokesman Jim Proulx.
The FAA has required airlines to examine the bolt every 3,000 hours a jet operates until a more permanent solution can be put into place, Brown said.
Boeing has sold 2,287 of the newer 737s around the world, including 783 to airlines in the USA. Southwest Airlines, the largest operator of the jets in this country with 277, has already completed its inspections, said spokeswoman Edna Ruano. She declined to say what the airline found.
Continental, Delta, American, Alaska, AirTran and ATA also have the jets. The airlines "do not expect any impact to scheduled service," said Victoria Day, spokeswoman for the Air Transport Association.
Contributing: The Associated Press
The inspections were ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration after investigators in Japan found that a misplaced bolt likely triggered a blaze that destroyed a China Airlines 737 on Aug. 20 in Okinawa, the agency said. All 165 people escaped before a fireball engulfed the jet.
The discovery of more problems in the Next-Generation 737s — updated models of the jet built after 1998 — prompted the FAA to order airlines to complete inspections within 10 days instead of the original 24-day period, according to an Emergency Airworthiness Directive issued by the agency.
In four cases, bolts in the slat mechanism on the wing had become dislodged, said FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown. In one instance, the adjacent fuel tank was damaged, according to the agency's directive. The agency would not identify the airlines or where the planes were located.
Slats are panels at the front of a jet's wings. They slide forward before landing to increase the wing's lift so the plane can fly slower. Three days after the accident on the Taiwanese jet, Japanese investigators found that the slat mechanism had forced a loose bolt into the adjacent wing fuel tank and punctured it, said Kazushige Daiki, chief investigator at Japan's Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission.
Fuel spilled from the leak, pooled on the ground and ignited as passengers waited to exit.
Boeing is evaluating whether it should redesign the bolt on the slat to make it less likely to come loose, said spokesman Jim Proulx.
The FAA has required airlines to examine the bolt every 3,000 hours a jet operates until a more permanent solution can be put into place, Brown said.
Boeing has sold 2,287 of the newer 737s around the world, including 783 to airlines in the USA. Southwest Airlines, the largest operator of the jets in this country with 277, has already completed its inspections, said spokeswoman Edna Ruano. She declined to say what the airline found.
Continental, Delta, American, Alaska, AirTran and ATA also have the jets. The airlines "do not expect any impact to scheduled service," said Victoria Day, spokeswoman for the Air Transport Association.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
The lakes--and the land--made by man
LAND BETWEEN THE LAKES, Ky./Tenn. - The sun poked through as we crossed the Ohio River from Illinois into Kentucky, and by the time Paducah was in our rear-view mirror and we were turning south off the interstate at Kentucky Highway 453 toward Grand Rivers, there was hardly a cloud in the sky.
The sunshine was welcome for our two-day visit to the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (LBL), whose 170,000 acres (265 square miles) stretch between two rivers-turned-lakes halfway down southwestern Kentucky and into northwestern Tennessee. It was late June, so we could only imagine the colors visitors would experience during the October-November fall drive season, one of the LBL's peak times.
Damming the rivers
This rectangle of land with more than 300 miles of pristine shoreline, coves and bays came about in two steps.
First, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1938 began building the Kentucky Dam on the Tennessee River, which created 160,000-acre Kentucky Lake, the largest man-made lake in the eastern United States. Then, the Army Corps of Engineers in 1959 began work on the Cumberland River's Barkley Dam, which created 58,000-acre Lake Barkley to the east. A canal links the two lakes just below the dams at the northern end of the LBL.
While the dams were built to provide flood control and hydroelectric power, the island-like land they left behind is today a recreational center for boating, fishing, swimming, birding and hiking. It also has a living history farm, elk and bison prairie, planetarium and small zoo. Nobody has lived here since 1968, but a few cemeteries and historic ruins remain as memorials to the hundreds of people who were displaced over the years.
Following The Trace
Our adventure began a mile or so past Grand Rivers, the "Village Between the Lakes," where Kentucky 453 becomes The Trace, a winding scenic route that runs south along the spine of the 40-mile-long recreation area.
We stopped for information at the North Welcome Station, where Betty Stiles introduced herself as someone who was "rare these days" -- a local who had never lived anywhere but in the Land Between the Lakes and its neighboring towns.
Stiles, 67, was born and grew up in the mining community of Hematite, where the Woodlands Nature Station now is near Lake Barkley.
Before the TVA project began, she told us, there were seven "communities -- not towns" on what is now the LBL, "which had everything needed to produce iron: ore, wood and limestone." Today all that remains of Hematite and the other communities with such lyrical names as Golden Pond and Tiptop are the cemeteries. (Two bigger, real towns that had been regularly flooded on the Cumberland River were relocated.)
She was just 5, but Stiles said she remembered President Harry Truman coming to dedicate Kentucky Dam in 1945. In the 1960s, President John F. Kennedy made the LBL a National Recreation Area.
We continued our drive on The Trace to Silver Trail Road, one of dozens of smaller roads -- some paved, others gravel -- that web the LBL today. We followed it to the Woodlands Nature Station ($3, $2 ages 5-12, free 4 and under).
There we found a small museum of natural history, an elegant garden of colorful native wildflowers and a small zoo, where paths lead among grassy enclosures occupied by raptors and turkeys, a bobcat, coyotes and other local animals. Interpretive programs are offered daily. Several miles of hiking trails wind through the woods here, and canoes can be rented at the nature station from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day -- and after then on weekends through October.
There are no hotels or motels in the LBL, though the many nearby gateway communities offer plenty of accommodations. There are no "restaurants" either, though hamburgers, fries and other fast-food items can be purchased at Wranglers Outpost at Wranglers Campground. Otherwise, all you'll find are vending machines with snacks and drinks at the North, South and Golden Pond Visitors Centers, and at The Homeplace and Woodlands Nature Station.
Plan ahead, if camping
Camping, however, is popular on the LBL at four campgrounds: Hillman Ferry and Piney, where hundreds of sites provide electricity, water and sewers; Wranglers, which offers the same amenities (plus horses are welcome); and smaller Energy Lake, which provides electricity, water and a dump station.
Be advised that because camping vacations are so popular on the LBL, sites fill up fast. Early on a Sunday evening, we checked into the last available slot at Energy Lake, a tree-shaded campground in an elegant hilltop setting, where motor homes and trailers park side by side with tents. Fishing from the lake's dam above Lake Barkley and swimming in the cobalt lake are among activities campers come to enjoy.
After dropping off our trailer, we drove back to Silver Trail Road and followed it to its end at the still-imposing stone and brick ruins of Center Furnace, one of two remaining iron furnaces here.
The furnace, built in the 1840s, ran 24 hours a day, six days a week, and in a year could turn out more than 2,000 tons of pig iron -- enough, according to a placard, "to make four million horseshoes." Forty men worked the furnace and 200 more provided support for the nearly 60 cords of wood and two tons of limestone required every day. It closed in 1912 when, as Stiles had told us earlier, "there was no more wood to burn."
When the TVA and Corps came to build the dams, these hills had been logged nearly bare. Now they are once again thickly forested with tall oaks and hickories.
We ended the day on the other side of the LBL, watching a fine sunset over Kentucky Lake.
The next morning we left the campground and drove a few miles south to the 750-acre Elk and Bison Prairie (cost: $5 per vehicle)
, where we saw some of the 48 bison and 72 elk that live there. The elk are tagged and monitored because of concerns about chronic wasting disease, we were told by Jerry Mewbourne, information specialist at Golden Pond Visitor Center. But, he said, the populations of both species are growing.
Living history
Exhibits at the museum at the visitor center told the history of the area and lakes. There also was a planetarium with an 85-seat theater, where, under a 40-foot dome, visitors can watch "Search for Life in the Universe" and other programs exploring outer space ($3/$2).
Our next stop was The Homeplace, a 40-acre living history farm with 16 restored antique log buildings moved from elsewhere on the LBL, fields of crops such as tobacco, vegetable gardens, an array of farm animals and a half-dozen interpreters in period dress who illuminate life on a 19th Century-style farm ($3/$2).
Among them on the day we visited were Jessica Gertig, who was piecing a quilt on the porch of the dog-trot house, and cooper Bob Holliday, who was crafting a water-tight vessel from wood staves outside one of the barns. Holliday also sculpted wooden chair legs and banister rails on a spring-powered lathe -- a primitive but ingenious device. Tours of the farm are self-guided; we recommend allowing at least an hour.
Just south of The Homeplace is the well-preserved, pyramid-like Great Western Iron Furnace. It was built in 1854 to process ore into pig iron for rolling mills in the East. Because of a lack of ore and a rebellion among the slaves who worked it, this furnace was in use for less than a year.
Civil War connection
Near The Trace's south end in Tennessee is the Ft. Henry Trail system. In early 1862, the fort was held by the Confederates, but after heavy rains flooded it, Union Gen. Ulysses Grant's troops forced the Confederates to flee following a brief battle. Remains of the fort were permanently submerged by the creation of Kentucky Lake, but hardy hikers can follow the Southerners' retreat (with Grant hot on their trail) to Ft. Donelson, 11 miles east, just outside the recreation area. (To visit Ft. Donelson National Battlefield by car, drive east on U.S. Highway 79 just past the LBL's South Welcome Station.)
There are other, shorter hikes to take here and elsewhere in the LBL. For those who have the time and stamina, there are longer hikes, too, including a 65-mile trail that spans the entire length of the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.
- - -
IF YOU GO
GETTING THERE
The Land Between the Lakes is about 395 miles south of Chicago. To drive there, take Interstate Highway 57 south to Interstate Highway 24 southeast to Kentucky Highway 453 south.
THE BASICS
The Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is open year-round. The Golden Pond Visitor Center is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. The North and South Welcome Stations are open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. March through November (except Thanksgiving). The Elk and Bison Prairie is open from dawn to dusk daily. Hours/dates for the Golden Pond Planetarium and The Homeplace vary by season.
LODGING
LBL has four main campgrounds; some have primitive cabins, and one (Wrangler) is open to horseback riders and their horses. Wrangler is open all year, but the others are closed from December through February. Basic campsites cost $12, and go up to $16 with electricity, $20 with water and $24 with sewer -- but facilities vary. There also are numerous primitive camping sites. Reservations: 877-444-6777.
Otherwise, you'll have to spend the night outside the LBL. The best places to find accommodations are in the gateway communities of Grand Rivers, Aurora, Dover and Cadiz (see regional information below).
DINING
Wranglers Outpost at the Wranglers campground has fast-food service, but hours vary by season (call 270-924-2200 or 270-924-2269). That's it for food -- other than those vending machines.
INFORMATION
For the LBL: 270-924-2000 or 800-LBL-7077; www.lbl.org
For regional information: www.lbl.org/AreaResources Gate.html; (Kentucky) 800-448-1069 or 270-928-4411; www.kentuckylakebarkley.travel; (Tennessee -- Stewart County) 931-232-8290; www.stewartcountyvacation .com.
-- P.S.
The sunshine was welcome for our two-day visit to the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (LBL), whose 170,000 acres (265 square miles) stretch between two rivers-turned-lakes halfway down southwestern Kentucky and into northwestern Tennessee. It was late June, so we could only imagine the colors visitors would experience during the October-November fall drive season, one of the LBL's peak times.
Damming the rivers
This rectangle of land with more than 300 miles of pristine shoreline, coves and bays came about in two steps.
First, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1938 began building the Kentucky Dam on the Tennessee River, which created 160,000-acre Kentucky Lake, the largest man-made lake in the eastern United States. Then, the Army Corps of Engineers in 1959 began work on the Cumberland River's Barkley Dam, which created 58,000-acre Lake Barkley to the east. A canal links the two lakes just below the dams at the northern end of the LBL.
While the dams were built to provide flood control and hydroelectric power, the island-like land they left behind is today a recreational center for boating, fishing, swimming, birding and hiking. It also has a living history farm, elk and bison prairie, planetarium and small zoo. Nobody has lived here since 1968, but a few cemeteries and historic ruins remain as memorials to the hundreds of people who were displaced over the years.
Following The Trace
Our adventure began a mile or so past Grand Rivers, the "Village Between the Lakes," where Kentucky 453 becomes The Trace, a winding scenic route that runs south along the spine of the 40-mile-long recreation area.
We stopped for information at the North Welcome Station, where Betty Stiles introduced herself as someone who was "rare these days" -- a local who had never lived anywhere but in the Land Between the Lakes and its neighboring towns.
Stiles, 67, was born and grew up in the mining community of Hematite, where the Woodlands Nature Station now is near Lake Barkley.
Before the TVA project began, she told us, there were seven "communities -- not towns" on what is now the LBL, "which had everything needed to produce iron: ore, wood and limestone." Today all that remains of Hematite and the other communities with such lyrical names as Golden Pond and Tiptop are the cemeteries. (Two bigger, real towns that had been regularly flooded on the Cumberland River were relocated.)
She was just 5, but Stiles said she remembered President Harry Truman coming to dedicate Kentucky Dam in 1945. In the 1960s, President John F. Kennedy made the LBL a National Recreation Area.
We continued our drive on The Trace to Silver Trail Road, one of dozens of smaller roads -- some paved, others gravel -- that web the LBL today. We followed it to the Woodlands Nature Station ($3, $2 ages 5-12, free 4 and under).
There we found a small museum of natural history, an elegant garden of colorful native wildflowers and a small zoo, where paths lead among grassy enclosures occupied by raptors and turkeys, a bobcat, coyotes and other local animals. Interpretive programs are offered daily. Several miles of hiking trails wind through the woods here, and canoes can be rented at the nature station from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day -- and after then on weekends through October.
There are no hotels or motels in the LBL, though the many nearby gateway communities offer plenty of accommodations. There are no "restaurants" either, though hamburgers, fries and other fast-food items can be purchased at Wranglers Outpost at Wranglers Campground. Otherwise, all you'll find are vending machines with snacks and drinks at the North, South and Golden Pond Visitors Centers, and at The Homeplace and Woodlands Nature Station.
Plan ahead, if camping
Camping, however, is popular on the LBL at four campgrounds: Hillman Ferry and Piney, where hundreds of sites provide electricity, water and sewers; Wranglers, which offers the same amenities (plus horses are welcome); and smaller Energy Lake, which provides electricity, water and a dump station.
Be advised that because camping vacations are so popular on the LBL, sites fill up fast. Early on a Sunday evening, we checked into the last available slot at Energy Lake, a tree-shaded campground in an elegant hilltop setting, where motor homes and trailers park side by side with tents. Fishing from the lake's dam above Lake Barkley and swimming in the cobalt lake are among activities campers come to enjoy.
After dropping off our trailer, we drove back to Silver Trail Road and followed it to its end at the still-imposing stone and brick ruins of Center Furnace, one of two remaining iron furnaces here.
The furnace, built in the 1840s, ran 24 hours a day, six days a week, and in a year could turn out more than 2,000 tons of pig iron -- enough, according to a placard, "to make four million horseshoes." Forty men worked the furnace and 200 more provided support for the nearly 60 cords of wood and two tons of limestone required every day. It closed in 1912 when, as Stiles had told us earlier, "there was no more wood to burn."
When the TVA and Corps came to build the dams, these hills had been logged nearly bare. Now they are once again thickly forested with tall oaks and hickories.
We ended the day on the other side of the LBL, watching a fine sunset over Kentucky Lake.
The next morning we left the campground and drove a few miles south to the 750-acre Elk and Bison Prairie (cost: $5 per vehicle)
, where we saw some of the 48 bison and 72 elk that live there. The elk are tagged and monitored because of concerns about chronic wasting disease, we were told by Jerry Mewbourne, information specialist at Golden Pond Visitor Center. But, he said, the populations of both species are growing.
Living history
Exhibits at the museum at the visitor center told the history of the area and lakes. There also was a planetarium with an 85-seat theater, where, under a 40-foot dome, visitors can watch "Search for Life in the Universe" and other programs exploring outer space ($3/$2).
Our next stop was The Homeplace, a 40-acre living history farm with 16 restored antique log buildings moved from elsewhere on the LBL, fields of crops such as tobacco, vegetable gardens, an array of farm animals and a half-dozen interpreters in period dress who illuminate life on a 19th Century-style farm ($3/$2).
Among them on the day we visited were Jessica Gertig, who was piecing a quilt on the porch of the dog-trot house, and cooper Bob Holliday, who was crafting a water-tight vessel from wood staves outside one of the barns. Holliday also sculpted wooden chair legs and banister rails on a spring-powered lathe -- a primitive but ingenious device. Tours of the farm are self-guided; we recommend allowing at least an hour.
Just south of The Homeplace is the well-preserved, pyramid-like Great Western Iron Furnace. It was built in 1854 to process ore into pig iron for rolling mills in the East. Because of a lack of ore and a rebellion among the slaves who worked it, this furnace was in use for less than a year.
Civil War connection
Near The Trace's south end in Tennessee is the Ft. Henry Trail system. In early 1862, the fort was held by the Confederates, but after heavy rains flooded it, Union Gen. Ulysses Grant's troops forced the Confederates to flee following a brief battle. Remains of the fort were permanently submerged by the creation of Kentucky Lake, but hardy hikers can follow the Southerners' retreat (with Grant hot on their trail) to Ft. Donelson, 11 miles east, just outside the recreation area. (To visit Ft. Donelson National Battlefield by car, drive east on U.S. Highway 79 just past the LBL's South Welcome Station.)
There are other, shorter hikes to take here and elsewhere in the LBL. For those who have the time and stamina, there are longer hikes, too, including a 65-mile trail that spans the entire length of the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.
- - -
IF YOU GO
GETTING THERE
The Land Between the Lakes is about 395 miles south of Chicago. To drive there, take Interstate Highway 57 south to Interstate Highway 24 southeast to Kentucky Highway 453 south.
THE BASICS
The Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is open year-round. The Golden Pond Visitor Center is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. The North and South Welcome Stations are open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. March through November (except Thanksgiving). The Elk and Bison Prairie is open from dawn to dusk daily. Hours/dates for the Golden Pond Planetarium and The Homeplace vary by season.
LODGING
LBL has four main campgrounds; some have primitive cabins, and one (Wrangler) is open to horseback riders and their horses. Wrangler is open all year, but the others are closed from December through February. Basic campsites cost $12, and go up to $16 with electricity, $20 with water and $24 with sewer -- but facilities vary. There also are numerous primitive camping sites. Reservations: 877-444-6777.
Otherwise, you'll have to spend the night outside the LBL. The best places to find accommodations are in the gateway communities of Grand Rivers, Aurora, Dover and Cadiz (see regional information below).
DINING
Wranglers Outpost at the Wranglers campground has fast-food service, but hours vary by season (call 270-924-2200 or 270-924-2269). That's it for food -- other than those vending machines.
INFORMATION
For the LBL: 270-924-2000 or 800-LBL-7077; www.lbl.org
For regional information: www.lbl.org/AreaResources Gate.html; (Kentucky) 800-448-1069 or 270-928-4411; www.kentuckylakebarkley.travel; (Tennessee -- Stewart County) 931-232-8290; www.stewartcountyvacation .com.
-- P.S.
PDOT sees growth in India outbound tourist market
The Philippines Department of Tourism (PDOT) revealed that it is making headway in gaining a share in the growing Indian travel market with the arrival of a 125-strong executive group from Kodak India Pvt. Ltd. for a dealer incentive tour from September 2 to 6, 2007.
“This is one of the biggest group arrivals from India so far, showing that the strategic and complementary marketing efforts of the department and our partners in the industry are reaping tangible results,” Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano announced.
The secretary noted that the contingent will comprise of Kodak India’s management executives and representatives from its top dealers from the major Indian cities Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkatta.
PDOT and partner tour operators Mercury Travels in Mumbai, India and Select Global Travels, Manila have planned airport courtesies, including a lei reception and rondalla performance to welcome the group upon their arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. A gala dinner has also been organized, with the Illustrado-based dance troupe Terpsichore One to showcase a colorful and imaginative sampling of Filipino artistry. DOT Team India is also preparing a special pasalubong basket of various Philippine crafts and treats.
The itinerary includes a tour of Manila’s historic and cultural attractions, shopping at the city’s big malls and sight-seeing around Cebu’s urban district and beaches. The group will be billeted at the Manila Pavilion and Waterfront Hotel, Cebu.
According to PDOT Team India marketing head Glen Agustin, “We are making sure that their experience in the Philippines will be unique and memorable –from the attractions they will visit to the warmth and hospitality that the Filipino is known for. More than vacationers, we see them as potential promoters of Philippine tourism.”
Currently, PDOT is pushing the country’s shopping, entertainment and beach attractions to this particular tourist group. Cebu and Manila are the highlighted destinations since these are considered as the more cosmopolitan centers that will appeal to the market. Specific target groups are families and business persons who have a high propensity to shop and look for entertainment and recreational facilities.
Agustin further shared that the Philippines won the Most Promising New Tourist Destination and Best Pavilion Presentation at the Mumbai and New Delhi editions of the 2007 Outbound Travel Mart respectively.
The Outbound Travel Mart is India’s top tourism exposition that brings together representatives from hotels, resorts, tour operators, airlines and public tourism offices from 42 countries around the world.
Agustin explained, “These awards are a cue for us to really look into the Indian market because they’re clearly showing interest in what we have to offer. Singapore and Thailand are so far the most popular destination for this group. Our challenge is to meet their expectations based on their experiences. At the same time, we’re confident that we have something new in store for them.”
Visitor arrivals from India increased by 15.8 percent in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2006. A total of 13,651 tourists from this country came to the islands between January and June 2007.
“India is a very promising market. Traveler traffic at the international airports of Mumbai and New Delhi alone are already in the millions. Their economy is showing strength and their call center industry is creating a generation with a heightened awareness of the global village, which would translate into an interest for travel. These are clear signs that there are investment opportunities for Philippine tourism,” Durano added.
“This is one of the biggest group arrivals from India so far, showing that the strategic and complementary marketing efforts of the department and our partners in the industry are reaping tangible results,” Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano announced.
The secretary noted that the contingent will comprise of Kodak India’s management executives and representatives from its top dealers from the major Indian cities Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkatta.
PDOT and partner tour operators Mercury Travels in Mumbai, India and Select Global Travels, Manila have planned airport courtesies, including a lei reception and rondalla performance to welcome the group upon their arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. A gala dinner has also been organized, with the Illustrado-based dance troupe Terpsichore One to showcase a colorful and imaginative sampling of Filipino artistry. DOT Team India is also preparing a special pasalubong basket of various Philippine crafts and treats.
The itinerary includes a tour of Manila’s historic and cultural attractions, shopping at the city’s big malls and sight-seeing around Cebu’s urban district and beaches. The group will be billeted at the Manila Pavilion and Waterfront Hotel, Cebu.
According to PDOT Team India marketing head Glen Agustin, “We are making sure that their experience in the Philippines will be unique and memorable –from the attractions they will visit to the warmth and hospitality that the Filipino is known for. More than vacationers, we see them as potential promoters of Philippine tourism.”
Currently, PDOT is pushing the country’s shopping, entertainment and beach attractions to this particular tourist group. Cebu and Manila are the highlighted destinations since these are considered as the more cosmopolitan centers that will appeal to the market. Specific target groups are families and business persons who have a high propensity to shop and look for entertainment and recreational facilities.
Agustin further shared that the Philippines won the Most Promising New Tourist Destination and Best Pavilion Presentation at the Mumbai and New Delhi editions of the 2007 Outbound Travel Mart respectively.
The Outbound Travel Mart is India’s top tourism exposition that brings together representatives from hotels, resorts, tour operators, airlines and public tourism offices from 42 countries around the world.
Agustin explained, “These awards are a cue for us to really look into the Indian market because they’re clearly showing interest in what we have to offer. Singapore and Thailand are so far the most popular destination for this group. Our challenge is to meet their expectations based on their experiences. At the same time, we’re confident that we have something new in store for them.”
Visitor arrivals from India increased by 15.8 percent in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2006. A total of 13,651 tourists from this country came to the islands between January and June 2007.
“India is a very promising market. Traveler traffic at the international airports of Mumbai and New Delhi alone are already in the millions. Their economy is showing strength and their call center industry is creating a generation with a heightened awareness of the global village, which would translate into an interest for travel. These are clear signs that there are investment opportunities for Philippine tourism,” Durano added.
Greece in state of emergency as fire engulfs Peloponnese and Evia
Greece is experiencing the worst time of its recent history as from Thursday 23rd August fires cover almost the entire south-western Peloponnese Peninsula and Evia leaving 62 people dead so far and many injured. Many villages and forests were burned while Ancient Olympia, home to the ancient Olympics from 776 BC, was saved the last minute as huge fires circled the ancient site.
As the Athens News Agency reported, five out of seven prefectures in the Peloponnese, southern Greece, along with central and southern Evia were again ravaged by wildfires on Sunday (26 August), with 42 blazes contained overnight, including a handful of previously damaging fires in the greater Athens area, although new fires were continually erupting.
According to a fire brigade spokesman during a Sunday afternoon briefing, 63 new wildfires alone were reported in just a 24-hour period, of which 40 were quickly extinguished.
Ilia prefecture in the western Peloponnese is the worst hit area followed by Messinia, Lakonia and Arkadia prefecture. Another area which has suffered much from fires during the last days is Evia with strong fires to continue to burn even today (Monday 27 August).
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis in expressing his personal "grief and rage" over the wildfires, stressed that: "I am angered, as are all Greeks, by the fact that so many wildfires occurred in so many different parts. This is not a coincidence."
"The country is experiencing an unprecedented national tragedy, which cannot be described in words. A tragedy which, with grief, we are all together experiencing. The confrontation of this unprecedented situation requires a tough battle; a battle which, from the first moment, the state is waging with the support of hundreds of thousands of citizens throughout the country."
He went on to say "All the country`s prefectures are declared in a state of emergency ... For the evil to stop, and to start, as soon as possible, the healing ... The state is on alert. I call on all citizens to actively participate, with all the strength they possess, in this collective battle; a battle that must be won for the good of our country."
Europe has reacted quickly to Greece`s plea for help as fire-fighting aircraft from France, Italy and Spain have been deployed or about to be despatched to the affected areas. Specialised helicopters are also being provided by Norway, Germany and the Netherlands. A total of 13 aircraft are currently reinforcing Greece`s efforts in quelling the fires, in spite of adverse weather conditions.
"Member States of the European Union have once again demonstrated their solidarity with a country in a moment of crisis. Their quick reaction to Greece`s call for help will undoubtedly contribute to combating these forest fires effectively and hopefully prevent further casualties," said Stavros Dimas, Commissioner responsible for Environment and Civil Protection.
Arsonists are behind the fires according to the Greek government which offered a 100.000 to 1 million euro reward for information leading to the arrest of any of the arsonists.
An undetermined number of people are unaccounted for, authorities said, saying fears of an even higher death toll, while dozens of individuals, mostly in the southern Peloponnese, were hospitalised. Thousands of hectares of crops, pasture land and forests were scorched.
As the Athens News Agency reported, five out of seven prefectures in the Peloponnese, southern Greece, along with central and southern Evia were again ravaged by wildfires on Sunday (26 August), with 42 blazes contained overnight, including a handful of previously damaging fires in the greater Athens area, although new fires were continually erupting.
According to a fire brigade spokesman during a Sunday afternoon briefing, 63 new wildfires alone were reported in just a 24-hour period, of which 40 were quickly extinguished.
Ilia prefecture in the western Peloponnese is the worst hit area followed by Messinia, Lakonia and Arkadia prefecture. Another area which has suffered much from fires during the last days is Evia with strong fires to continue to burn even today (Monday 27 August).
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis in expressing his personal "grief and rage" over the wildfires, stressed that: "I am angered, as are all Greeks, by the fact that so many wildfires occurred in so many different parts. This is not a coincidence."
"The country is experiencing an unprecedented national tragedy, which cannot be described in words. A tragedy which, with grief, we are all together experiencing. The confrontation of this unprecedented situation requires a tough battle; a battle which, from the first moment, the state is waging with the support of hundreds of thousands of citizens throughout the country."
He went on to say "All the country`s prefectures are declared in a state of emergency ... For the evil to stop, and to start, as soon as possible, the healing ... The state is on alert. I call on all citizens to actively participate, with all the strength they possess, in this collective battle; a battle that must be won for the good of our country."
Europe has reacted quickly to Greece`s plea for help as fire-fighting aircraft from France, Italy and Spain have been deployed or about to be despatched to the affected areas. Specialised helicopters are also being provided by Norway, Germany and the Netherlands. A total of 13 aircraft are currently reinforcing Greece`s efforts in quelling the fires, in spite of adverse weather conditions.
"Member States of the European Union have once again demonstrated their solidarity with a country in a moment of crisis. Their quick reaction to Greece`s call for help will undoubtedly contribute to combating these forest fires effectively and hopefully prevent further casualties," said Stavros Dimas, Commissioner responsible for Environment and Civil Protection.
Arsonists are behind the fires according to the Greek government which offered a 100.000 to 1 million euro reward for information leading to the arrest of any of the arsonists.
An undetermined number of people are unaccounted for, authorities said, saying fears of an even higher death toll, while dozens of individuals, mostly in the southern Peloponnese, were hospitalised. Thousands of hectares of crops, pasture land and forests were scorched.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
An Answer to Flight Delays?
It's an air travel scenario that has become all too familiar for Marion Blakey, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). A severe thunderstorm hits a hub airport like Dallas-Fort Worth, grounding all of the planes there for two hours. Soon those delays spread to airports nationwide, and flights that weren't even bound for Dallas could be canceled. By that point, tens of thousands of passengers might be affected and millions in revenue lost by the airlines. And when the next storm hits, it will happen all over again.
"We are at a breaking point," Blakey says of the U.S. air transportation system. Flight delays will reach record highs this year, and they are expected only to worsen as more passengers fly in the coming years. There are many factors contributing to record flight delays: more passengers, more regional jets that hold fewer passengers, fewer air traffic controllers and airline labor disputes. But a significant reason for flight delays is congestion or breakdowns within the National Aviation System (NAS), which includes airports and the air traffic control centers. In June, problems with NAS caused 32% of all flight delays, according to the Department of Transportation. Some media reports put that number as high as 85%, which might be plausible considering that the Department of Transportation doesn't always have accurate data.
To alleviate NAS-related delays and prevent a system-wide failure, Blakey, whose term ends on Sept. 13, is calling on Congress to fund a new air traffic control system. She argues that the current system is outdated and overloaded and will break down by the year 2015 if action is not taken now. Her proposal, dubbed "NextGen," will cost an estimated $22 billion and will take until 2025 to fully implement. The proposal was crafted earlier this year by a task force that included representatives from the departments of Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce, NASA, the White House, and aviation experts from the private sector.
In a bold move, Blakey tacked on a request for NextGen funding to the FAA reauthorization bill, which determines the FAA's budget, that Congress must pass by Sept. 30. If Congress does not pass the bill by then, the FAA will stop collecting taxes and would only have enough money to function for two months. But lawmakers and aviation experts agree that NextGen must be funded. When Congress returns to session in September, figuring out how to fund NextGen will be a top priority.
The current air traffic control system in the U.S. uses radar technology from the 1950s that makes for inefficient routes and dangerous conditions during storms. Planes must fly a specific flight path so that they can be guided by air traffic control centers stationed on the ground. One cross-country flight, for example, could pass over two dozen air traffic control centers. Radar also takes up to 36 seconds to get an accurate read on a plane's position.
NextGen, rather than radar, uses satellite technology to give the real-time position of a plane. That gives planes more flexibility to leave the designated flight path — or "highways in the sky," as Blakey calls them — and chart their own routes that are either more direct or that dodge a storm system. The end result is that flights on average would be shorter and fewer planes would have to be delayed or canceled because of bad weather.
The satellite technology has already proven successful overseas and in the U.S. The European Union has upgraded to satellite technology in its air traffic control systems. Package delivery company UPS uses the technology in many of its planes and at its hub in Louisville, Ken. The FAA has also been testing it since the late 1990s in Alaska, which had a high accident rate because of the rough terrain in the state. Since the satellite technology was installed on small planes in Alaska, its accident rate there has declined 40%, says Blakey.
But these successes won't necessarily make NextGen a silver bullet. First is the question of safety. Because the satellite technology lets aircraft maintain shorter distances from each other, planes will be able to fly closer together. Blakey insists the planes will be at safe distances, but for air traffic controllers that's not enough. "We have 1100 fewer air traffic controllers working today than we did on Sept. 11," says Doug Church of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, a union currently in a labor dispute with the FAA. Air traffic controllers are already overworked, Church adds, and NextGen does not address the staffing issue.
The second problem is one of logistics. While NextGen's technology would open up the skies to more planes, airports are still limited in terms of space, explains Darryl Jenkins, an aviation expert who consulted the White House during the 1990s and now teaches at Ohio State University. "As long as we are constrained at the airports, we are still going to have problems in the entire system," he says. "We need more runways." Blakey agrees that runways are great in a lot of circumstances, and she points to how a new one at Atlanta's hub airport has eased congestion in the immediate area and nationwide. But NextGen does not include plans for more runways, and Blakey says that's because of space constraints and local politics.
The most pressing problem is funding — how to pay for a project that will total at least $22 billion and could reach as high as $40 billion. The first five years of NextGen will cost $4.6 billion alone. Both the airlines and the FAA argue that Congress should revise how the FAA is funded, specifically by requiring owners of private planes to pay more to fly. One recent report found that commercial airlines are paying for 94% of the airways but using only 73% of them. "The CEO of Google has a Boeing 767 — should he be paying a fraction of what the airlines pay to use the airways?" says David Castelveter, spokesman of the Air Transport Association, the largest airline trade group.
Perhaps the most telling statistic of all is that the American economy is losing $9 billion a year because of flight delays and cancellations. If a new air traffic control system is not implemented, that number will more than double by 2022, according to the Department of Transportation. "This is a problem that needs fixing right now," says Blakey. It's one delay that the FAA does not want to see.
"We are at a breaking point," Blakey says of the U.S. air transportation system. Flight delays will reach record highs this year, and they are expected only to worsen as more passengers fly in the coming years. There are many factors contributing to record flight delays: more passengers, more regional jets that hold fewer passengers, fewer air traffic controllers and airline labor disputes. But a significant reason for flight delays is congestion or breakdowns within the National Aviation System (NAS), which includes airports and the air traffic control centers. In June, problems with NAS caused 32% of all flight delays, according to the Department of Transportation. Some media reports put that number as high as 85%, which might be plausible considering that the Department of Transportation doesn't always have accurate data.
To alleviate NAS-related delays and prevent a system-wide failure, Blakey, whose term ends on Sept. 13, is calling on Congress to fund a new air traffic control system. She argues that the current system is outdated and overloaded and will break down by the year 2015 if action is not taken now. Her proposal, dubbed "NextGen," will cost an estimated $22 billion and will take until 2025 to fully implement. The proposal was crafted earlier this year by a task force that included representatives from the departments of Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce, NASA, the White House, and aviation experts from the private sector.
In a bold move, Blakey tacked on a request for NextGen funding to the FAA reauthorization bill, which determines the FAA's budget, that Congress must pass by Sept. 30. If Congress does not pass the bill by then, the FAA will stop collecting taxes and would only have enough money to function for two months. But lawmakers and aviation experts agree that NextGen must be funded. When Congress returns to session in September, figuring out how to fund NextGen will be a top priority.
The current air traffic control system in the U.S. uses radar technology from the 1950s that makes for inefficient routes and dangerous conditions during storms. Planes must fly a specific flight path so that they can be guided by air traffic control centers stationed on the ground. One cross-country flight, for example, could pass over two dozen air traffic control centers. Radar also takes up to 36 seconds to get an accurate read on a plane's position.
NextGen, rather than radar, uses satellite technology to give the real-time position of a plane. That gives planes more flexibility to leave the designated flight path — or "highways in the sky," as Blakey calls them — and chart their own routes that are either more direct or that dodge a storm system. The end result is that flights on average would be shorter and fewer planes would have to be delayed or canceled because of bad weather.
The satellite technology has already proven successful overseas and in the U.S. The European Union has upgraded to satellite technology in its air traffic control systems. Package delivery company UPS uses the technology in many of its planes and at its hub in Louisville, Ken. The FAA has also been testing it since the late 1990s in Alaska, which had a high accident rate because of the rough terrain in the state. Since the satellite technology was installed on small planes in Alaska, its accident rate there has declined 40%, says Blakey.
But these successes won't necessarily make NextGen a silver bullet. First is the question of safety. Because the satellite technology lets aircraft maintain shorter distances from each other, planes will be able to fly closer together. Blakey insists the planes will be at safe distances, but for air traffic controllers that's not enough. "We have 1100 fewer air traffic controllers working today than we did on Sept. 11," says Doug Church of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, a union currently in a labor dispute with the FAA. Air traffic controllers are already overworked, Church adds, and NextGen does not address the staffing issue.
The second problem is one of logistics. While NextGen's technology would open up the skies to more planes, airports are still limited in terms of space, explains Darryl Jenkins, an aviation expert who consulted the White House during the 1990s and now teaches at Ohio State University. "As long as we are constrained at the airports, we are still going to have problems in the entire system," he says. "We need more runways." Blakey agrees that runways are great in a lot of circumstances, and she points to how a new one at Atlanta's hub airport has eased congestion in the immediate area and nationwide. But NextGen does not include plans for more runways, and Blakey says that's because of space constraints and local politics.
The most pressing problem is funding — how to pay for a project that will total at least $22 billion and could reach as high as $40 billion. The first five years of NextGen will cost $4.6 billion alone. Both the airlines and the FAA argue that Congress should revise how the FAA is funded, specifically by requiring owners of private planes to pay more to fly. One recent report found that commercial airlines are paying for 94% of the airways but using only 73% of them. "The CEO of Google has a Boeing 767 — should he be paying a fraction of what the airlines pay to use the airways?" says David Castelveter, spokesman of the Air Transport Association, the largest airline trade group.
Perhaps the most telling statistic of all is that the American economy is losing $9 billion a year because of flight delays and cancellations. If a new air traffic control system is not implemented, that number will more than double by 2022, according to the Department of Transportation. "This is a problem that needs fixing right now," says Blakey. It's one delay that the FAA does not want to see.
Help! My shuttle's a no-show
(Tribune Media Services) -- Joan Cole's airport shuttle bus is a no-show. A customer service agent finally tells her to take a cab and promises to pay Cole's fare. But now Gray Line, the company that was supposed to pick her up, is ignoring her request for a refund. What should she do?
Q: On a recent visit to Las Vegas we purchased a round-trip shuttle bus ticket from the airport to our hotel through Gray Line. We followed all their instructions, calling to schedule our return well in advance of our departure as we had done many times before.
But this time our shuttle bus didn't show up. When I called them to say we were about to miss our flight, an agent told us that our bus was running behind schedule, and that we should arrange another ride to the airport. She promised to reimburse us if we mailed our receipt to Gray Line.
The cab ride from our hotel to the airport cost about $20, and when I got back home, I mailed the receipt to the company. I haven't heard a word from Gray Line since then. I've even followed up with a second letter and e-mail, but both have been ignored.
The money isn't what bothers me. I wonder if they do this often and how can they get away with it? Thanks for your help. -- Joan Cole, Andover, Minnesota.
A: A Gray Line shuttle should have been there when you checked out of your hotel, of course. The company's site leaves you with the impression that a ride is never far away. "We operate shuttle transportation continuously," it says. "You can always count on Gray Line Las Vegas to be on time -- with courteous and professional drivers, we get you there with flare!"
Well, the only thing that was probably flaring was your temper after Gray Line left you ride-less and late arriving to the airport. It could have smoothed things over by mailing you a prompt refund.
Maybe the check was in the shuttle that never arrived. Oh well.
I couldn't find any kind of contract language on the Gray Line Las Vegas Web site. Its parent company's site, Dallas-based Coach America, wasn't much more helpful with that information. The site was long on promotional language -- promising "safe and convenient" transportation that "takes the worry out of your travel plans" -- without any kind of legal agreement that defines its obligations to you, the passenger.
Sorry for being such a stickler about fine print, but it's unclear what Gray Line is obligated to do when it confirms your reservation. Obviously, it honors a vast majority of its reservations -- otherwise it wouldn't stay in business.
But does it have to? Based on the information it offers customers online, the answer is "no."
Now there are things that Gray Line can't control. Shuttles sometimes break down. Traffic happens. But it can control what happens next. Why not notify customers so that they can make alternate arrangements? A representative could have easily called your cell phone when the van failed to show up. Instead, Gray Line waited for you to call.
Here's what you should have done. Instead of waiting for the shuttle to be late, you could have called Gray Line a half-hour before your scheduled pickup, just to be sure everything was running on time. I do that now, after having missed more than a few flights because of a late bus, van or car service. It shouldn't be necessary, but unfortunately, it is.
I contacted Coach America on your behalf. A short while later you received a letter from Ryan Emison, a general manager in Las Vegas, apologizing for the no-show and assuring you "this is not our usual way of doing business."
Gray Line refunded your $20 and offered two free round-trip transfers on your next visit to Vegas.
Q: On a recent visit to Las Vegas we purchased a round-trip shuttle bus ticket from the airport to our hotel through Gray Line. We followed all their instructions, calling to schedule our return well in advance of our departure as we had done many times before.
But this time our shuttle bus didn't show up. When I called them to say we were about to miss our flight, an agent told us that our bus was running behind schedule, and that we should arrange another ride to the airport. She promised to reimburse us if we mailed our receipt to Gray Line.
The cab ride from our hotel to the airport cost about $20, and when I got back home, I mailed the receipt to the company. I haven't heard a word from Gray Line since then. I've even followed up with a second letter and e-mail, but both have been ignored.
The money isn't what bothers me. I wonder if they do this often and how can they get away with it? Thanks for your help. -- Joan Cole, Andover, Minnesota.
A: A Gray Line shuttle should have been there when you checked out of your hotel, of course. The company's site leaves you with the impression that a ride is never far away. "We operate shuttle transportation continuously," it says. "You can always count on Gray Line Las Vegas to be on time -- with courteous and professional drivers, we get you there with flare!"
Well, the only thing that was probably flaring was your temper after Gray Line left you ride-less and late arriving to the airport. It could have smoothed things over by mailing you a prompt refund.
Maybe the check was in the shuttle that never arrived. Oh well.
I couldn't find any kind of contract language on the Gray Line Las Vegas Web site. Its parent company's site, Dallas-based Coach America, wasn't much more helpful with that information. The site was long on promotional language -- promising "safe and convenient" transportation that "takes the worry out of your travel plans" -- without any kind of legal agreement that defines its obligations to you, the passenger.
Sorry for being such a stickler about fine print, but it's unclear what Gray Line is obligated to do when it confirms your reservation. Obviously, it honors a vast majority of its reservations -- otherwise it wouldn't stay in business.
But does it have to? Based on the information it offers customers online, the answer is "no."
Now there are things that Gray Line can't control. Shuttles sometimes break down. Traffic happens. But it can control what happens next. Why not notify customers so that they can make alternate arrangements? A representative could have easily called your cell phone when the van failed to show up. Instead, Gray Line waited for you to call.
Here's what you should have done. Instead of waiting for the shuttle to be late, you could have called Gray Line a half-hour before your scheduled pickup, just to be sure everything was running on time. I do that now, after having missed more than a few flights because of a late bus, van or car service. It shouldn't be necessary, but unfortunately, it is.
I contacted Coach America on your behalf. A short while later you received a letter from Ryan Emison, a general manager in Las Vegas, apologizing for the no-show and assuring you "this is not our usual way of doing business."
Gray Line refunded your $20 and offered two free round-trip transfers on your next visit to Vegas.
You'll wonder why Columbus ever left
GENOA, Italy (AP) -- Genoa, if you ignore the debate amongst scholars, is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. But after visiting the famed historic port, you might wonder why the explorer ever left.
Tricked out in all the wealth of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it must have been stunning. Even a half-millennium after its heyday, the Italian port cuts an impressive figure.
This Italian city follows closely behind two of my other favorite cities, San Francisco and Barcelona. Like both, it has lovely hilly terrain and a seafaring tradition. Yet, for some reason, Genoa slips under the radar of many guidebooks. The books we used in two previous trips to Italy carry nary a mention of the city. Our last trip was centered in the Piedmont region around Turin and we decided to add Genoa and the Italian Riviera. I'm glad we did.
Though Genoa can't elbow past Rome, Venice and Florence amid Italy's must-see cities, it is a fabulous spot. The prices are reasonable, it is less crowded with tourists, museums abound and it offers wonderful cuisine, with an emphasis on seafood and the local specialty, pesto.
A stroll through the Medieval center peels away the centuries. The labyrinth of narrow streets lives in nearly perpetual shadow as 500-year-old buildings lean in until they almost meet. No street follows a straight line for long and it's a challenge to keep a sense of direction. But getting lost is part of the fun. Every twist and turn reveals a surprise, from 500-year-old palaces and glorious churches to thoroughly modern Internet cafes and trendy little restaurants or the seedy red light district. There's the occasional surprise of a mini-traffic jam as determined Italian drivers inch past each other in the impossibly narrow streets.
Genoa was an important trade center by the third century B.C. Its sailors have plied the world's trade routes since the Phoenicians and Greeks. Genoa offered a jumping off spot for the Crusaders. And, it was a major player in European politics from the 13th through 16th centuries. Its merchants dumped their profits into stunning palaces lining the renamed Via Garibaldi. Back then, it was called the Via Aurea, or golden street, an appropriate name. Many of the 16th century palaces are now museums. And others have courtyards
But the waterfront is what really makes Genoa work. A large portion is renovated with a boardwalk, slips for yachts, a galleon (which was actually built for Roman Polanski's 1986 movie "Pirates"), restaurants, touristy shops and an interesting aquarium and the Galata Museo del Mare (Sea Museum).
I lost most of an afternoon wandering the museum. If you're a boat-in-a-bottle kind of guy or Patrick O'Brian fan, this place beats shore leave on the Barbary Coast with a pocket full of doubloons and a bottle of rum. It covers ships and sailors from the earliest vessels up to today. It has a complete reconstructed 17th-century Genovese galley, accompanied by a detailed profile of the men who powered these fast-moving ships with banks of oars. My wife loved the multimedia recreation of sea travel in the early part of the last century. Films contrast the crowded Atlantic crossing of America-bound migrants in steerage with the parties and dancing of flappers above. The museum's glassed-in rooftop gives a panoramic view of the still-working port and city climbing up a mountainside. It's also a great spot to watch the sun set over the Ligurian Sea.
The Acquario di Genova nearby bills itself as the biggest aquarium in Europe. It has the requisite sharks, penguins and dolphins that draw visitors to most major aquariums. But it also has a really neat exhibit of skates and rays, where you can actually touch their soft bodies. Another section highlights the contributions of world- traveling naturalists, including Charles Darwin. A tank of coral from the Red Sea is packed with colorful and outlandish-looking fish. This stop is certain to entertain children (and this adult).
Once you've built up an appetite looking at all the fish, the waterfront is crowded with restaurants. I savored the mussels and a traditional pasta with pesto and green beans at Le Maschere at 2/4r Via Ponte Calvi, down near the waterfront.
As the traditional birthplace of Columbus, Genoa could be excused for overdoing the promotion of the explorer. But Columbus' fame (and notoriety for some) doesn't seem to have taken over here. Sure, for the equivalent of about $4, you can squeeze into the tiny house where he allegedly lived as a child to see a disappointing display of what it might have looked like then. But Genoa isn't overrun with businesses, streets, squares and the lot named after him. You're likely to see the names Garibaldi and Doria more often. Giuseppe Garibaldi's military exploits in the mid-1800s were pivotal in Italy's unification. And Admiral Andrea Doria built Genoa's naval and political power in the early 1500s.
The town Nervi makes a lovely side trip from Genoa. It's where the rich went to get away from it all in the 19th century. At less than 10 miles from Genoa, it's a short train ride. The seaside promenade (Passeggiata Anita Garibaldi) deserves its fame. It follows the low cliffs along the sea's edge, hitting the occasional small beach. In season, the Parco Villa Grimaldi is said to display 2,000 varieties of roses, though we saw only one lonely bloom on our winter visit.
As a determined (some might say stubborn) hiker, I insisted we keep walking the coast in search of a perfect restaurant (many were closed during our off-season visit). We found perfection in the town of Bogliasco, at the restaurant il melograno (Via G. Mazzini 96 T 010 3474226). The seafood menu changes with the day's catch. We split what I awkwardly translate as a seafood sampler plate of delicate anchovies, shrimp scampi, oysters and a white fish I couldn't translate, followed by lobster ravioli and a whole grilled fish. Everything was so fresh, I half-expected it to swim off the plate and into my mouth. A very friendly regular, Silvio, coached us through the menu and spent the afternoon chatting with us over a decanter of Spumante, a refreshing Italian sparkling wine.
Though Genoa likely won't overtake its more famous peers among Italian destinations, it deserves a visit in an extended Italian vacation, or on one of the subsequent trips after Italy has won your heart and frequent returns.
Tricked out in all the wealth of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it must have been stunning. Even a half-millennium after its heyday, the Italian port cuts an impressive figure.
This Italian city follows closely behind two of my other favorite cities, San Francisco and Barcelona. Like both, it has lovely hilly terrain and a seafaring tradition. Yet, for some reason, Genoa slips under the radar of many guidebooks. The books we used in two previous trips to Italy carry nary a mention of the city. Our last trip was centered in the Piedmont region around Turin and we decided to add Genoa and the Italian Riviera. I'm glad we did.
Though Genoa can't elbow past Rome, Venice and Florence amid Italy's must-see cities, it is a fabulous spot. The prices are reasonable, it is less crowded with tourists, museums abound and it offers wonderful cuisine, with an emphasis on seafood and the local specialty, pesto.
A stroll through the Medieval center peels away the centuries. The labyrinth of narrow streets lives in nearly perpetual shadow as 500-year-old buildings lean in until they almost meet. No street follows a straight line for long and it's a challenge to keep a sense of direction. But getting lost is part of the fun. Every twist and turn reveals a surprise, from 500-year-old palaces and glorious churches to thoroughly modern Internet cafes and trendy little restaurants or the seedy red light district. There's the occasional surprise of a mini-traffic jam as determined Italian drivers inch past each other in the impossibly narrow streets.
Genoa was an important trade center by the third century B.C. Its sailors have plied the world's trade routes since the Phoenicians and Greeks. Genoa offered a jumping off spot for the Crusaders. And, it was a major player in European politics from the 13th through 16th centuries. Its merchants dumped their profits into stunning palaces lining the renamed Via Garibaldi. Back then, it was called the Via Aurea, or golden street, an appropriate name. Many of the 16th century palaces are now museums. And others have courtyards
But the waterfront is what really makes Genoa work. A large portion is renovated with a boardwalk, slips for yachts, a galleon (which was actually built for Roman Polanski's 1986 movie "Pirates"), restaurants, touristy shops and an interesting aquarium and the Galata Museo del Mare (Sea Museum).
I lost most of an afternoon wandering the museum. If you're a boat-in-a-bottle kind of guy or Patrick O'Brian fan, this place beats shore leave on the Barbary Coast with a pocket full of doubloons and a bottle of rum. It covers ships and sailors from the earliest vessels up to today. It has a complete reconstructed 17th-century Genovese galley, accompanied by a detailed profile of the men who powered these fast-moving ships with banks of oars. My wife loved the multimedia recreation of sea travel in the early part of the last century. Films contrast the crowded Atlantic crossing of America-bound migrants in steerage with the parties and dancing of flappers above. The museum's glassed-in rooftop gives a panoramic view of the still-working port and city climbing up a mountainside. It's also a great spot to watch the sun set over the Ligurian Sea.
The Acquario di Genova nearby bills itself as the biggest aquarium in Europe. It has the requisite sharks, penguins and dolphins that draw visitors to most major aquariums. But it also has a really neat exhibit of skates and rays, where you can actually touch their soft bodies. Another section highlights the contributions of world- traveling naturalists, including Charles Darwin. A tank of coral from the Red Sea is packed with colorful and outlandish-looking fish. This stop is certain to entertain children (and this adult).
Once you've built up an appetite looking at all the fish, the waterfront is crowded with restaurants. I savored the mussels and a traditional pasta with pesto and green beans at Le Maschere at 2/4r Via Ponte Calvi, down near the waterfront.
As the traditional birthplace of Columbus, Genoa could be excused for overdoing the promotion of the explorer. But Columbus' fame (and notoriety for some) doesn't seem to have taken over here. Sure, for the equivalent of about $4, you can squeeze into the tiny house where he allegedly lived as a child to see a disappointing display of what it might have looked like then. But Genoa isn't overrun with businesses, streets, squares and the lot named after him. You're likely to see the names Garibaldi and Doria more often. Giuseppe Garibaldi's military exploits in the mid-1800s were pivotal in Italy's unification. And Admiral Andrea Doria built Genoa's naval and political power in the early 1500s.
The town Nervi makes a lovely side trip from Genoa. It's where the rich went to get away from it all in the 19th century. At less than 10 miles from Genoa, it's a short train ride. The seaside promenade (Passeggiata Anita Garibaldi) deserves its fame. It follows the low cliffs along the sea's edge, hitting the occasional small beach. In season, the Parco Villa Grimaldi is said to display 2,000 varieties of roses, though we saw only one lonely bloom on our winter visit.
As a determined (some might say stubborn) hiker, I insisted we keep walking the coast in search of a perfect restaurant (many were closed during our off-season visit). We found perfection in the town of Bogliasco, at the restaurant il melograno (Via G. Mazzini 96 T 010 3474226). The seafood menu changes with the day's catch. We split what I awkwardly translate as a seafood sampler plate of delicate anchovies, shrimp scampi, oysters and a white fish I couldn't translate, followed by lobster ravioli and a whole grilled fish. Everything was so fresh, I half-expected it to swim off the plate and into my mouth. A very friendly regular, Silvio, coached us through the menu and spent the afternoon chatting with us over a decanter of Spumante, a refreshing Italian sparkling wine.
Though Genoa likely won't overtake its more famous peers among Italian destinations, it deserves a visit in an extended Italian vacation, or on one of the subsequent trips after Italy has won your heart and frequent returns.
Farecast says book Thanksgiving now
The Thanksgiving travel rush will bite you in the wallet if you don’t watch out.
According to Farecast.com, whose business is to anticipate and predict airfares, Aug. 22 is a key date to start shopping for Thanksgiving travel. The Web site’s fare-watchers say that timing is everything. Going on their study of Thanksgiving ’06 fares, they advise that the best prices are to be found the last week of August and first two weeks of September ... depending on each market, of course.
Farecast.com’s other findings:
1. The typical Wednesday-Sunday Thanksgiving itinerary is the most expensive, with last year’s national price for those travel days coming in at $414.
2. The date of departure is less significant than the date of return. Departing the Monday before Thanksgiving will only save an average of $30.
3. Travelers who extend their trip to return on Monday or Tuesday, however, may save $60-$100 per ticket. Returning early on Saturday might save $60, on average.
According to Farecast.com, whose business is to anticipate and predict airfares, Aug. 22 is a key date to start shopping for Thanksgiving travel. The Web site’s fare-watchers say that timing is everything. Going on their study of Thanksgiving ’06 fares, they advise that the best prices are to be found the last week of August and first two weeks of September ... depending on each market, of course.
Farecast.com’s other findings:
1. The typical Wednesday-Sunday Thanksgiving itinerary is the most expensive, with last year’s national price for those travel days coming in at $414.
2. The date of departure is less significant than the date of return. Departing the Monday before Thanksgiving will only save an average of $30.
3. Travelers who extend their trip to return on Monday or Tuesday, however, may save $60-$100 per ticket. Returning early on Saturday might save $60, on average.
Aer Lingus strike is off
Aer Lingus’ pilots union has suspended its planned strike for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
Though the airline will resume its full trans-Atlantic schedule, four flights remain canceled—including two affecting Chicago:
* Tuesday’s flight EI 105 from Dublin to New York and flight EI 104 from New York to Dublin.
* Wednesday’s flight EI 123 from Dublin to Chicago and flight EI 122 from Chicago to Dublin.
Aer Lingus has daily flights between Chicago and Dublin; only Wednesday’s flights are affected.
The Irish airline said reservations are still intact for customers who have been rebooked on alternate airlines and dates, and that passengers can change back without penalty. Bookings made via aerlingus.com can be altered online.
Passengers traveling within the next 24 hours can call 516-622-4010 to change travel plans.
Though the airline will resume its full trans-Atlantic schedule, four flights remain canceled—including two affecting Chicago:
* Tuesday’s flight EI 105 from Dublin to New York and flight EI 104 from New York to Dublin.
* Wednesday’s flight EI 123 from Dublin to Chicago and flight EI 122 from Chicago to Dublin.
Aer Lingus has daily flights between Chicago and Dublin; only Wednesday’s flights are affected.
The Irish airline said reservations are still intact for customers who have been rebooked on alternate airlines and dates, and that passengers can change back without penalty. Bookings made via aerlingus.com can be altered online.
Passengers traveling within the next 24 hours can call 516-622-4010 to change travel plans.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Talent in high places
CORTONA, Italy (CNN) -- Climb the steep stone alleyways of ancient Cortona at this time of year, past the Piazza d. Republica and up to the Teatro Signorelli, and you'll find the annual Tuscan Sun Festival waiting with the pros and cons associated with many such programs.
Easily among the pros is the jaw-dropping setting.
Armed with water bottles and sunscreen, festival goers by day climb to the 600-meter-high Medici fortress for a view down onto the Tuscan plain, and visit spots associated with the 2003 film based on Frances Mayes' book "Under the Tuscan Sun."
Ducking into trattorias to avoid quick rainstorms and seeking shade on some fiercely hot days, music and visual art followers have enlivened what turns out to be a relatively low-key, only mildly commercialized spot, free of the armies of tourists that can swarm nearby Siena, Florence and Rome.
One of the cons of programming a festival of this kind is that the stage is content-hungry. It requires the services of many artists. And when cancellations occur strictly through natural events -- illness, family emergencies and so on -- they can appear to be more frequent than they are because performances are clustered into a weeks-long format.
Many concertgoers who made the hike up to this mountaintop town for the fifth anniversary of the festival may have been disappointed when violinist Joshua Bell and then soprano Anna Netrebko canceled.
But then there are more pros: On Monday night, the the ailing Netrebko was replaced by the better-known and acclaimed Cecilia Bartoli.
And on Friday, the Teatro audience didn't have the pleasure of seeing Bell lead the Russian National Orche After all, 26-year-old Arabella Steinbacher is no stranger to stepping up when the moment presents itself: Her loudly cheered 2004 Paris debut put her onstage with Sir Neville Mariner and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France when a colleague became ill.
Born in Munich to a German father and Japanese mother, Steinbacher plays a 1716 Stradivari violin named the Booth (for an Englishwoman who once bought it for her son). The instrument, provided in an arrangement with the Nippon Music Foundation, has a particularly luminous tone in its upper registers. And the musician enjoys personal support from fellow German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.
If Vivaldi's popular suite of 18th-century "musical paintings" of spring, summer, fall and winter is something most of the audience members could have hummed in their sleep, Steinbacher seemed determined to give it a fresh sheen. In this, she follows Bell, who this season created a newly energized version of the music with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
Having made the most of the lucky accident of her chance to take the stage, Steinbacher followed by announcing two lush tango-charged works of the late Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla.
And the evening's second half was dominated by another demanding effort, this time the Moscow-born oboist Alexei Ogrintchouk. stra ensemble in his distinctively agile interpretation of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" quartets, but they did get to "discover" a younger violinist who knows how to seize her moment and run with it.
After all, 26-year-old Arabella Steinbacher is no stranger to stepping up when the moment presents itself: Her loudly cheered 2004 Paris debut put her onstage with Sir Neville Mariner and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France when a colleague became ill.
Born in Munich to a German father and Japanese mother, Steinbacher plays a 1716 Stradivari violin named the Booth (for an Englishwoman who once bought it for her son). The instrument, provided in an arrangement with the Nippon Music Foundation, has a particularly luminous tone in its upper registers. And the musician enjoys personal support from fellow German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.
If Vivaldi's popular suite of 18th-century "musical paintings" of spring, summer, fall and winter is something most of the audience members could have hummed in their sleep, Steinbacher seemed determined to give it a fresh sheen. In this, she follows Bell, who this season created a newly energized version of the music with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
Having made the most of the lucky accident of her chance to take the stage, Steinbacher followed by announcing two lush tango-charged works of the late Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla.
And the evening's second half was dominated by another demanding effort, this time the Moscow-born oboist Alexei Ogrintchouk.
He delivered the the oboe concerto of Richard Strauss, pumping out long, steady arcs of sound over the Russian National Orchestra ensemble conducted by Stéphane Denève. So difficult a breathing feat is the work that Ogrintchouk at times appeared almost to be gasping for air between phrases. The packed house followed every note, and cheered the oboist to an encore of his own, a reprise of a passage from the concerto.
After Thursday's conclusion to the Cortona festival with highlights from "Carmen" in the city's Piazza Santa Margherita, the "sun" festival operation for 2007 -- kicked off in Napa Valley in July -- next opens its newest installment, a festival in Singapore slated to run October 18 through 30. Read about the Napa start to this year's series of festivals
"Singapore is interesting," says Del Sole Foundation impresario Barrett Wissman, "because you have Chinese culture, Indian culture, Muslim culture, Malaysian and Indonesian cultures, all in one place. And a colonial culture.
"We have a lot of wonderful Western artists. We have (violinist) Pinchas Zuckerman, we have (pianist) Piotr Anderszewski coming, we have Mikhail Pletnev," founder of the Russian National Orchestra.
"And then we also have the Soweto Gospel Choir coming from South Africa, we have Chinese artists and wellness programs."
Meanwhile, Cortona's Etruscan museum hums with visitors, who can hear the sisters of the Church of the Trinity singing the Nona. The stately shell of Sant Agostino houses a special exhibition of J. Henry Fair's "Industrial Scars" series of toxic waste sites-gone-abstract under his lens.
And musicians and audience members mingle over the region's sangiovese-based wines from nearby Montepulciano.
And so August is springtime for Cortona, bustling with the added boost of the festival's traffic and yet still enough out of the way -- about a 90-minute drive down Italy's A1 expressway from Florence -- to slow down the most casual sightseers.
Easily among the pros is the jaw-dropping setting.
Armed with water bottles and sunscreen, festival goers by day climb to the 600-meter-high Medici fortress for a view down onto the Tuscan plain, and visit spots associated with the 2003 film based on Frances Mayes' book "Under the Tuscan Sun."
Ducking into trattorias to avoid quick rainstorms and seeking shade on some fiercely hot days, music and visual art followers have enlivened what turns out to be a relatively low-key, only mildly commercialized spot, free of the armies of tourists that can swarm nearby Siena, Florence and Rome.
One of the cons of programming a festival of this kind is that the stage is content-hungry. It requires the services of many artists. And when cancellations occur strictly through natural events -- illness, family emergencies and so on -- they can appear to be more frequent than they are because performances are clustered into a weeks-long format.
Many concertgoers who made the hike up to this mountaintop town for the fifth anniversary of the festival may have been disappointed when violinist Joshua Bell and then soprano Anna Netrebko canceled.
But then there are more pros: On Monday night, the the ailing Netrebko was replaced by the better-known and acclaimed Cecilia Bartoli.
And on Friday, the Teatro audience didn't have the pleasure of seeing Bell lead the Russian National Orche After all, 26-year-old Arabella Steinbacher is no stranger to stepping up when the moment presents itself: Her loudly cheered 2004 Paris debut put her onstage with Sir Neville Mariner and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France when a colleague became ill.
Born in Munich to a German father and Japanese mother, Steinbacher plays a 1716 Stradivari violin named the Booth (for an Englishwoman who once bought it for her son). The instrument, provided in an arrangement with the Nippon Music Foundation, has a particularly luminous tone in its upper registers. And the musician enjoys personal support from fellow German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.
If Vivaldi's popular suite of 18th-century "musical paintings" of spring, summer, fall and winter is something most of the audience members could have hummed in their sleep, Steinbacher seemed determined to give it a fresh sheen. In this, she follows Bell, who this season created a newly energized version of the music with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
Having made the most of the lucky accident of her chance to take the stage, Steinbacher followed by announcing two lush tango-charged works of the late Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla.
And the evening's second half was dominated by another demanding effort, this time the Moscow-born oboist Alexei Ogrintchouk. stra ensemble in his distinctively agile interpretation of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" quartets, but they did get to "discover" a younger violinist who knows how to seize her moment and run with it.
After all, 26-year-old Arabella Steinbacher is no stranger to stepping up when the moment presents itself: Her loudly cheered 2004 Paris debut put her onstage with Sir Neville Mariner and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France when a colleague became ill.
Born in Munich to a German father and Japanese mother, Steinbacher plays a 1716 Stradivari violin named the Booth (for an Englishwoman who once bought it for her son). The instrument, provided in an arrangement with the Nippon Music Foundation, has a particularly luminous tone in its upper registers. And the musician enjoys personal support from fellow German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter.
If Vivaldi's popular suite of 18th-century "musical paintings" of spring, summer, fall and winter is something most of the audience members could have hummed in their sleep, Steinbacher seemed determined to give it a fresh sheen. In this, she follows Bell, who this season created a newly energized version of the music with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
Having made the most of the lucky accident of her chance to take the stage, Steinbacher followed by announcing two lush tango-charged works of the late Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla.
And the evening's second half was dominated by another demanding effort, this time the Moscow-born oboist Alexei Ogrintchouk.
He delivered the the oboe concerto of Richard Strauss, pumping out long, steady arcs of sound over the Russian National Orchestra ensemble conducted by Stéphane Denève. So difficult a breathing feat is the work that Ogrintchouk at times appeared almost to be gasping for air between phrases. The packed house followed every note, and cheered the oboist to an encore of his own, a reprise of a passage from the concerto.
After Thursday's conclusion to the Cortona festival with highlights from "Carmen" in the city's Piazza Santa Margherita, the "sun" festival operation for 2007 -- kicked off in Napa Valley in July -- next opens its newest installment, a festival in Singapore slated to run October 18 through 30. Read about the Napa start to this year's series of festivals
"Singapore is interesting," says Del Sole Foundation impresario Barrett Wissman, "because you have Chinese culture, Indian culture, Muslim culture, Malaysian and Indonesian cultures, all in one place. And a colonial culture.
"We have a lot of wonderful Western artists. We have (violinist) Pinchas Zuckerman, we have (pianist) Piotr Anderszewski coming, we have Mikhail Pletnev," founder of the Russian National Orchestra.
"And then we also have the Soweto Gospel Choir coming from South Africa, we have Chinese artists and wellness programs."
Meanwhile, Cortona's Etruscan museum hums with visitors, who can hear the sisters of the Church of the Trinity singing the Nona. The stately shell of Sant Agostino houses a special exhibition of J. Henry Fair's "Industrial Scars" series of toxic waste sites-gone-abstract under his lens.
And musicians and audience members mingle over the region's sangiovese-based wines from nearby Montepulciano.
And so August is springtime for Cortona, bustling with the added boost of the festival's traffic and yet still enough out of the way -- about a 90-minute drive down Italy's A1 expressway from Florence -- to slow down the most casual sightseers.
AirAsia X joins queue for Gold Coast flights
BRISBANE travellers could soon be flocking to the Gold Coast to board cheap flights, with AirAsia X the latest low-cost carrier to plan flights from Coolangatta.
The move follows news last month that Singapore-based Tiger Airways will fly from the Gold Coast to Melbourne from December.
AirAsia X boss Tony Fernandes, pictured, said that the Gold Coast would be the first Australian destination for the Malaysian airline and he hoped to start flights later this year.
But Gold Coast Airport officials were tight-lipped about AirAsia X yesterday. Queensland Tourism Minister Margaret Keech lobbied AirAsia X to make the Gold Coast its first Australian destination during a tourism trade mission last month.
It estimated that three services a week from Kuala Lumpur to the Coast would create about $48.5 million a year in direct visitor expenditure.
The move follows news last month that Singapore-based Tiger Airways will fly from the Gold Coast to Melbourne from December.
AirAsia X boss Tony Fernandes, pictured, said that the Gold Coast would be the first Australian destination for the Malaysian airline and he hoped to start flights later this year.
But Gold Coast Airport officials were tight-lipped about AirAsia X yesterday. Queensland Tourism Minister Margaret Keech lobbied AirAsia X to make the Gold Coast its first Australian destination during a tourism trade mission last month.
It estimated that three services a week from Kuala Lumpur to the Coast would create about $48.5 million a year in direct visitor expenditure.
World first at Perisher for Planet X Winter Games
USA import Chris Benchetler scored silver with an impressive '720 caveman' and 18 year-old Charlie Timmins, also from Jindabyne, won bronze.
Six on the best
Battling it out for their share in the $25,000 prize pool and the Planet X Gold Medal were pro skiers Russ Henshaw, Christian Sirianni, Chris Benchetler (USA), Jono Lipsker, Oddy Graham, and Charlie Timmins, alongside Pro Snowboarders Max Cookes, Ryan Tiene, Mike Osachuck (CAN), Nate Perry, Jake McCarthy and Australia's number one ranked snowboarder, Andrew Burton.
World first with super winch
Gale force winds at the NSW alpine resort over the weekend had kept the 2008 Planet X Games weekend's organisers on their toes. However, clearing skies on Sunday enabled them to roll out their world first: using a high-powered Urban Rider winch to accelerate skiers and snowboarders into the ¼ pipe at high speeds. It was the first time the winch had been used on snow.
Port Macquarie's Ryan Tiene impressed judges with his style and technical skill on the ¼ Pipe Tow-in. He took out first place snowboarding honours while ex-winter Olympian Andrew Burton won silver. Renowned Canadian snowboarder Mike Osachuck took home the bronze.
Huck and Chuck
Blue winter skies broke through the clouds in time for the Planet X Huck and Chuck event. Competitors "Huck" or hike up to the top of the run and then "Chuck" or jump off the feature while performing a number of aerial manoeuvres. The event is a test of courage and endurance as well as freestyle skill.
Jake McCarthy – Perisher Blue team snowboarder and the youngest competitor in the field – impressed judges with a Switch Backside Five on his second hit. Melbourne rider Max Cookes - who completed the same trick as McCarthy but was marked down by judges on style - tied for second place with Ryan Tiene who landed a massive Frontside 3 Caveman.
Snowboard judge and editor of Australian and NZ Snowboarding magazine, Russell Holt, says Jake McCarthy didn't necessarily go as big as the other riders in the contest but showed greater technical skill.
"Ryan Tiene and Nate Perry actually came close to taking it out on their second jumps, both landing smooth Frontside 7's but both actually reverted the landing making it a little unclean" said Holt.
Local young guns stole the show in the Huck and Chuck Ski event. Seventeen-year-old Jono Lipzker came first after pulling off a huge Switch 7, while Russ Henshaw, scoring his second medal for the event, was runner-up. Melbourne skier Christian Sirianni placed third.
New voting format opens up to public
Planet X introduced three new contest formats for this year's Winter Games. The judging of the Braun CruZer3 Rail jam will for the first time be determined by the public.
Four videos of each competitor: Chris Benchetler (ski), Christian Sirianni (ski), Max Cookes (snowboard) and Ryan Tiene (snowboard) are viewable online at www.planetx.com.au.
Punters have until 30th September 2007 to vote for their favourite rider and have their say about who deserves the prize money and the gold medal for the Braun CruZer3 rail jam.
The winner of the Planet X Winter Games Gold Medal will be announced online at Planet X by October 5.
Six on the best
Battling it out for their share in the $25,000 prize pool and the Planet X Gold Medal were pro skiers Russ Henshaw, Christian Sirianni, Chris Benchetler (USA), Jono Lipsker, Oddy Graham, and Charlie Timmins, alongside Pro Snowboarders Max Cookes, Ryan Tiene, Mike Osachuck (CAN), Nate Perry, Jake McCarthy and Australia's number one ranked snowboarder, Andrew Burton.
World first with super winch
Gale force winds at the NSW alpine resort over the weekend had kept the 2008 Planet X Games weekend's organisers on their toes. However, clearing skies on Sunday enabled them to roll out their world first: using a high-powered Urban Rider winch to accelerate skiers and snowboarders into the ¼ pipe at high speeds. It was the first time the winch had been used on snow.
Port Macquarie's Ryan Tiene impressed judges with his style and technical skill on the ¼ Pipe Tow-in. He took out first place snowboarding honours while ex-winter Olympian Andrew Burton won silver. Renowned Canadian snowboarder Mike Osachuck took home the bronze.
Huck and Chuck
Blue winter skies broke through the clouds in time for the Planet X Huck and Chuck event. Competitors "Huck" or hike up to the top of the run and then "Chuck" or jump off the feature while performing a number of aerial manoeuvres. The event is a test of courage and endurance as well as freestyle skill.
Jake McCarthy – Perisher Blue team snowboarder and the youngest competitor in the field – impressed judges with a Switch Backside Five on his second hit. Melbourne rider Max Cookes - who completed the same trick as McCarthy but was marked down by judges on style - tied for second place with Ryan Tiene who landed a massive Frontside 3 Caveman.
Snowboard judge and editor of Australian and NZ Snowboarding magazine, Russell Holt, says Jake McCarthy didn't necessarily go as big as the other riders in the contest but showed greater technical skill.
"Ryan Tiene and Nate Perry actually came close to taking it out on their second jumps, both landing smooth Frontside 7's but both actually reverted the landing making it a little unclean" said Holt.
Local young guns stole the show in the Huck and Chuck Ski event. Seventeen-year-old Jono Lipzker came first after pulling off a huge Switch 7, while Russ Henshaw, scoring his second medal for the event, was runner-up. Melbourne skier Christian Sirianni placed third.
New voting format opens up to public
Planet X introduced three new contest formats for this year's Winter Games. The judging of the Braun CruZer3 Rail jam will for the first time be determined by the public.
Four videos of each competitor: Chris Benchetler (ski), Christian Sirianni (ski), Max Cookes (snowboard) and Ryan Tiene (snowboard) are viewable online at www.planetx.com.au.
Punters have until 30th September 2007 to vote for their favourite rider and have their say about who deserves the prize money and the gold medal for the Braun CruZer3 rail jam.
The winner of the Planet X Winter Games Gold Medal will be announced online at Planet X by October 5.
Foreign Roads Can Be Deadly for U.S. Travelers
Motor vehicle crashes -- not crime or terrorism -- are the No. 1 killer of healthy Americans in foreign countries. And the threat to travelers is poised to increase dramatically as worldwide economic growth gives more people access to motor vehicles.
Corporate employers, including energy giant Chevron, (CVX) are teaming with safety advocates to combat what they view as a rapidly worsening epidemic of highway deaths and injuries, particularly in developing countries.
"The road-safety problem worldwide for travelers and locals constitutes a growing public health crisis," says Tony Bliss, lead road safety specialist for the World Bank. He says it's "a far greater problem than many more widely acknowledged diseases."
Much of the growth in motor vehicle usage is in developing countries, where roads are sub-standard, signage deficient, traffic regulations lax and enforcement spotty. While local residents bear most of the risk of death and injury, travelers can be particularly vulnerable because of their lack of familiarity with surroundings and with local customs.
Frequent business travelers Mian Chin and Richard Hadden are two of many Americans involved in separate accidents abroad who say they're lucky to be alive.
Chin, 52, an atmospheric scientist from Maryland, was in a bus accident last August during a business trip from western China to Tibet. The bus driver said, " 'We're finished,' " she says. "We thought we were going to die."
The brakes failed on a steep mountain road, but, luckily for Chin and 24 others inside, the bus plowed into a herd of yaks, slammed into a retaining wall and stopped. One woman hurt her back, and Chin needed stitches on her arm and wrist, but it was "a miracle that no one was seriously injured," she says.
Travelers' risks are not limited to developing nations. Hadden, an author and a professional speaker in Jacksonville, was in a head-on collision in England in 2002 on a single-lane road bounded on both sides by 12-foot hedges. "Suddenly, a local man driving carelessly at about 50 mph came around a blind curve," he recalls. Both cars were totaled, but no one was hurt.
The World Health Organization and the World Bank estimated in a 2004 joint report that 1.2 million people are killed each year in traffic crashes, and 20 million to 50 million are injured or disabled. About 85% of the deaths are in low- and middle-income countries. The organizations predict that traffic fatalities worldwide will increase to 2.3 million in 2020, nearly double today's fatalities.
Corporate employers, including energy giant Chevron, (CVX) are teaming with safety advocates to combat what they view as a rapidly worsening epidemic of highway deaths and injuries, particularly in developing countries.
"The road-safety problem worldwide for travelers and locals constitutes a growing public health crisis," says Tony Bliss, lead road safety specialist for the World Bank. He says it's "a far greater problem than many more widely acknowledged diseases."
Much of the growth in motor vehicle usage is in developing countries, where roads are sub-standard, signage deficient, traffic regulations lax and enforcement spotty. While local residents bear most of the risk of death and injury, travelers can be particularly vulnerable because of their lack of familiarity with surroundings and with local customs.
Frequent business travelers Mian Chin and Richard Hadden are two of many Americans involved in separate accidents abroad who say they're lucky to be alive.
Chin, 52, an atmospheric scientist from Maryland, was in a bus accident last August during a business trip from western China to Tibet. The bus driver said, " 'We're finished,' " she says. "We thought we were going to die."
The brakes failed on a steep mountain road, but, luckily for Chin and 24 others inside, the bus plowed into a herd of yaks, slammed into a retaining wall and stopped. One woman hurt her back, and Chin needed stitches on her arm and wrist, but it was "a miracle that no one was seriously injured," she says.
Travelers' risks are not limited to developing nations. Hadden, an author and a professional speaker in Jacksonville, was in a head-on collision in England in 2002 on a single-lane road bounded on both sides by 12-foot hedges. "Suddenly, a local man driving carelessly at about 50 mph came around a blind curve," he recalls. Both cars were totaled, but no one was hurt.
The World Health Organization and the World Bank estimated in a 2004 joint report that 1.2 million people are killed each year in traffic crashes, and 20 million to 50 million are injured or disabled. About 85% of the deaths are in low- and middle-income countries. The organizations predict that traffic fatalities worldwide will increase to 2.3 million in 2020, nearly double today's fatalities.
Passport Rules Snag Child Support Cash
The price of a passport: $311,491 in back child support payments for a U.S. businessman now living in China; $46,000 for a musician seeking to perform overseas, and $45,849 for a man planning a Dominican Republic vacation.
The new passport requirements that have complicated travel this summer also have uncovered untold numbers of child support scofflaws and forced them to pay millions.
The State Department denies passports to noncustodial parents who owe more than $2,500 in child support. Once the parents make good on their debts, they can reapply for passports.
Now that millions of additional travelers need passports to fly back from Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and South America, collections under the Passport Denial Program are on pace to about double this year, federal officials told The Associated Press.
In all, states have reported collecting at least $22.5 million through the program thus far in 2007. The money is then forwarded to the parent to whom it is owed.
Some people never learn.
A boxer paid $39,000 in back child support to the state of Nevada last year to get a passport, which he lost. This year, his promoter had to loan him $8,930 so he could pay off his new child support debts and get a new passport to fight overseas.
In one case last year, a man got his parents to pay his overdue child support $50,498 to the state of Illinois.
"For us, it's been amazing to see how people who owe back child support seem to be able to come up with good chunks of money when it involves needing their passport," said Adolfo Capestany, spokesman for the state of Washington's Division of Child Support. "Folks will do anything to get that passport, so it is a good collection tool."
The $22.5 million reported to have been collected through the program this year is a conservative estimate. Some states voluntarily report the payments to the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, but other states don't.
It took all of 2006 to collect the same amount under the program, which began in 1998.
The new passport requirements that have complicated travel this summer also have uncovered untold numbers of child support scofflaws and forced them to pay millions.
The State Department denies passports to noncustodial parents who owe more than $2,500 in child support. Once the parents make good on their debts, they can reapply for passports.
Now that millions of additional travelers need passports to fly back from Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and South America, collections under the Passport Denial Program are on pace to about double this year, federal officials told The Associated Press.
In all, states have reported collecting at least $22.5 million through the program thus far in 2007. The money is then forwarded to the parent to whom it is owed.
Some people never learn.
A boxer paid $39,000 in back child support to the state of Nevada last year to get a passport, which he lost. This year, his promoter had to loan him $8,930 so he could pay off his new child support debts and get a new passport to fight overseas.
In one case last year, a man got his parents to pay his overdue child support $50,498 to the state of Illinois.
"For us, it's been amazing to see how people who owe back child support seem to be able to come up with good chunks of money when it involves needing their passport," said Adolfo Capestany, spokesman for the state of Washington's Division of Child Support. "Folks will do anything to get that passport, so it is a good collection tool."
The $22.5 million reported to have been collected through the program this year is a conservative estimate. Some states voluntarily report the payments to the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, but other states don't.
It took all of 2006 to collect the same amount under the program, which began in 1998.
National Express wins rail route
The transport group was awarded the contract to run the East Coast Main Line franchise by the Department for Transport after a bidding war.
National Express beat off opposition from Arriva, First Group and a joint venture between Virgin Trains and Stagecoach to win the contract.
The group will take over the operation from troubled GNER in December.
The new franchise, covering the arterial North-South rail route, will be called National Express East Coast.
It links London with Scotland, calling at Peterborough, Leeds, Doncaster, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness.
It was put out to tender last year after the US parent firm of British rail firm GNER was struck by financial troubles and could not afford to pay the £1.3bn it had promised the government for the right to run the service.
Extra services
"The whole deal is very good news, not only for passengers but for the taxpayer," said Transport Minister Tom Harris, speaking to the BBC.
Under the terms of the deal, National Express has agreed to pay the Treasury £1.4bn to operate the franchise until the end of March 2015.
The group, which also operates the Gatwick and Stansted Express and the inter-city services between Yorkshire, the east Midlands and London through Midland Mainline, has also pledged to invest in extra services, stations and on-board services.
National Express said it would inject £7.4m to upgrade stations, including the creation of 2,000 extra car park spaces, over the course of the seven-and-a-half years.
It also said that from December 2010, the number of weekday trains could rise from 136 to 161 and a new London-to-Lincoln service would also be added.
The company will spend £400,000 in reducing energy use at stations and train depots.
GNER had joined forces with Virgin Trains and Stagecoach in their joint bid for the contract, in the hope it would retain a stake.
GNER's chief executive Jonathan Metcalfe said: "Naturally, we are disappointed that our joint bid was unsuccessful, but we now have to look to the future and work with the successful bidder to create an even bigger and better railway.
"The needs of our passengers will always come first."
National Express beat off opposition from Arriva, First Group and a joint venture between Virgin Trains and Stagecoach to win the contract.
The group will take over the operation from troubled GNER in December.
The new franchise, covering the arterial North-South rail route, will be called National Express East Coast.
It links London with Scotland, calling at Peterborough, Leeds, Doncaster, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness.
It was put out to tender last year after the US parent firm of British rail firm GNER was struck by financial troubles and could not afford to pay the £1.3bn it had promised the government for the right to run the service.
Extra services
"The whole deal is very good news, not only for passengers but for the taxpayer," said Transport Minister Tom Harris, speaking to the BBC.
Under the terms of the deal, National Express has agreed to pay the Treasury £1.4bn to operate the franchise until the end of March 2015.
The group, which also operates the Gatwick and Stansted Express and the inter-city services between Yorkshire, the east Midlands and London through Midland Mainline, has also pledged to invest in extra services, stations and on-board services.
National Express said it would inject £7.4m to upgrade stations, including the creation of 2,000 extra car park spaces, over the course of the seven-and-a-half years.
It also said that from December 2010, the number of weekday trains could rise from 136 to 161 and a new London-to-Lincoln service would also be added.
The company will spend £400,000 in reducing energy use at stations and train depots.
GNER had joined forces with Virgin Trains and Stagecoach in their joint bid for the contract, in the hope it would retain a stake.
GNER's chief executive Jonathan Metcalfe said: "Naturally, we are disappointed that our joint bid was unsuccessful, but we now have to look to the future and work with the successful bidder to create an even bigger and better railway.
"The needs of our passengers will always come first."
Detroit gambles on casinos to increase tourism
DETROIT — Detroit is already the nation's fifth largest gambling market, according to 2006 statistics from the American Gaming Association. Now the city is hoping to position itself as a true gambling-based destination for tourists. The city's three casinos — Greektown, MotorCity, and the MGM Grand Detroit — are spending $1.5 billion to build sleek new hotels, expand their facilities, and inject some glitz into the gritty Motown landscape.
Until now, the casinos have mostly attracted day-trippers and coach tours from Ontario, outstate Michigan and neighboring states. The new hotels, with 1,200 luxury rooms and thousands of square feet of convention space, will enable them to market to well-heeled gamers willing to spend several days gambling and being entertained, said Frank Fantini, publisher of the electronic Gaming Morning Report.
"The casinos will have no problems filling up their rooms," Fantini said.
But "the fact they're only building 400 hotel rooms each is some indication of their assessment of the size of the drive-in tourist market," said Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno.
All three Detroit casinos opened in temporary facilities in 1999 and 2000. Casino Windsor across the river in Ontario, Canada, opened an interim facility in 1994 and settled into its current building in 1998.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Michigan | MGM Grand | Indian casinos | Motorcity | Greektown
MGM Grand's new $765 million complex includes a full-service resort spa and a 17-story hotel with electronic concierges in each room. Celebrity chefs Wolfgang Puck and Michael Mina have signed on to open restaurants in the new facility. You can gamble there now; the hotel is scheduled to open this fall.
Greektown Casino is spending $475 million to expand its existing facility, located in an ethnic district of the same name. A 20-story hotel opens next year.
Out on downtown's fringes, MotorCity Casino is spending $275 million on a 17-story hotel, opening this fall, with amenities such as marble bathrooms with separate soaking tubs and climate-customized rooms for repeat guests. It opened the first phase of its gaming floor expansion in June.
Casino Windsor is spending another $380 million ($400 million Canadian) to construct a 22-story hotel and remake itself as Caesars Windsor.
Officials with Travel Michigan and the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau say they're using the casinos and hotels as part of a bigger effort to market the city. Television ads in the Cleveland market include images of gambling, including one that calls Detroit "a real city."
Casino analyst Jake Miklojcik, president of Michigan Consultants, said the new facilities will help the city better compete for the gambling dollar in other states and within Michigan, which also has 18 Indian casinos. Between 20% and 30% of people with Players Club cards in Detroit hail from out of state, he said.
Casino officials also are working to lure convention business to their spacious new digs. "Not so much the gigantic conventions, but the Michigan-based associations — the optometrists, the gravediggers, whatever," Miklojcik said. "Those used to go to Detroit 25 to 30 years ago. Now they typically don't."
Tourism officials say they hope the casinos will help persuade leisure travelers to check the city out — people like Don Lucy, a Lee, Mass., resident who visited Detroit for the first time to watch the Boston Red Sox play the Tigers at Comerica Park. The retired teacher said he planned to return to Greektown later to hit the slots.
Friends balked when he told them he was visiting Detroit, and he worried as he drove past smokestacks and grimy industrial landscapes. "Once you get in the city central, it's beautiful, very nice," Lucy said. "I'd like to come back out here again. I like Detroit. I never thought I'd say that."
Until now, the casinos have mostly attracted day-trippers and coach tours from Ontario, outstate Michigan and neighboring states. The new hotels, with 1,200 luxury rooms and thousands of square feet of convention space, will enable them to market to well-heeled gamers willing to spend several days gambling and being entertained, said Frank Fantini, publisher of the electronic Gaming Morning Report.
"The casinos will have no problems filling up their rooms," Fantini said.
But "the fact they're only building 400 hotel rooms each is some indication of their assessment of the size of the drive-in tourist market," said Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno.
All three Detroit casinos opened in temporary facilities in 1999 and 2000. Casino Windsor across the river in Ontario, Canada, opened an interim facility in 1994 and settled into its current building in 1998.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Michigan | MGM Grand | Indian casinos | Motorcity | Greektown
MGM Grand's new $765 million complex includes a full-service resort spa and a 17-story hotel with electronic concierges in each room. Celebrity chefs Wolfgang Puck and Michael Mina have signed on to open restaurants in the new facility. You can gamble there now; the hotel is scheduled to open this fall.
Greektown Casino is spending $475 million to expand its existing facility, located in an ethnic district of the same name. A 20-story hotel opens next year.
Out on downtown's fringes, MotorCity Casino is spending $275 million on a 17-story hotel, opening this fall, with amenities such as marble bathrooms with separate soaking tubs and climate-customized rooms for repeat guests. It opened the first phase of its gaming floor expansion in June.
Casino Windsor is spending another $380 million ($400 million Canadian) to construct a 22-story hotel and remake itself as Caesars Windsor.
Officials with Travel Michigan and the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau say they're using the casinos and hotels as part of a bigger effort to market the city. Television ads in the Cleveland market include images of gambling, including one that calls Detroit "a real city."
Casino analyst Jake Miklojcik, president of Michigan Consultants, said the new facilities will help the city better compete for the gambling dollar in other states and within Michigan, which also has 18 Indian casinos. Between 20% and 30% of people with Players Club cards in Detroit hail from out of state, he said.
Casino officials also are working to lure convention business to their spacious new digs. "Not so much the gigantic conventions, but the Michigan-based associations — the optometrists, the gravediggers, whatever," Miklojcik said. "Those used to go to Detroit 25 to 30 years ago. Now they typically don't."
Tourism officials say they hope the casinos will help persuade leisure travelers to check the city out — people like Don Lucy, a Lee, Mass., resident who visited Detroit for the first time to watch the Boston Red Sox play the Tigers at Comerica Park. The retired teacher said he planned to return to Greektown later to hit the slots.
Friends balked when he told them he was visiting Detroit, and he worried as he drove past smokestacks and grimy industrial landscapes. "Once you get in the city central, it's beautiful, very nice," Lucy said. "I'd like to come back out here again. I like Detroit. I never thought I'd say that."
Q&A with Virgin's Richard Branson
Virgin America became the USA's newest airline when it made its inaugural flight last week (Aug. 8) from New York JFK to San Francisco.
USA TODAY's Ben Mutzabaugh was on the flight and sat down for a 20-minute interview with British tycoon Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group and Virgin Atlantic Airways. Mutzabaugh also posed questions submitted by Today in the Sky readers. Read on for a condensed transcript of the interview:
Question: What's your assessment of the first flight so far? (Asked about halfway through the flight).
Branson: I'm absolutely certain the thunderstorm (that held up the inaugural flight's departure) was some massive device concocted by American, United, Delta and Continental – their final attempt to keep us on the ground. I'm absolutely over the moon to be on the flight starting what we hope will be a complete revolution in the American airline business. I really think the American travelers have put up with a lot in the last fifty years. And I think the very fact that Virgin America is here, the other carriers will have to get their act together or they'll disappear. And that can only be good for the consumers, I think.
Q: Despite the government's initial concern about Virgin America's foreign ownership make-up, it seems like most airline customers have simply focused on the fares and service that Virgin America will bring to the U.S. market. We've also heard from many of our readers who submitted questions in Today in the Sky who say they simply hope Virgin America will raise the bar for other airlines. Is that gratifying to hear?
FIND MORE STORIES IN: American | San Francisco | United States | United | Delta | Virgin | Richard Branson | Virgin Atlantic Airways | Ben Mutzabaugh | UID | Virgin America
Branson: It's very gratifying. We obviously have to live up to it and I think we have lived up to it. I think if anybody gets on board a Virgin America plane …, they're really not going to want to get back on a legacy carrier again. So, we'll certainly set the bar very high. In America, about the only way of traveling by long distance is by air and the public deserves better.
Q: With all the delays and obstacles, why did you stick with it and not pull the plug? What kept you going? (Idea for question submitted by Today in the Sky reader prost77.)
Branson: I'm not the sort of person who gives up. And, you know, the industry as whole has not really changed for the better. The big carriers like American, United, Delta, Continental, etc. … they sort of stumbled into financial problems, they stumble into Chapter 11, they stumble out again, they stumble back in again. They don't really invest in product.
Therefore the opportunity hasn't gone away. Virgin goes where the consumer is taken for a ride and I think the consumer has been taken for a ride for a long time in the States. Taken for a ride in that they pay through the nose for a service that's not that great and they haven't been treated that well. So, I've always been convinced that if we could get a license to fly that ultimately we'd succeed.
Q: What's going to set Virgin America apart from other U.S. carriers? (General theme from multiple reader submissions).
Branson: I think it's everything. What I learned when I went into the airline business 21 years ago, is that the big things matter but the little things matter just as much. Let's start with a very little thing. Every single economy class seat enables you to plug in your computer if your battery runs down, something which most major carriers have not even thought about doing. In this day and age, that's very important.
Let's start with the big things. We'll have the youngest fleet and the most modern fleet of any airline in the world and we'll strive to keep it that way. Being really modern, being really young means our on-time departure record should be very good. Our maintenance record, obviously, will be very good.
Inside the planes, we've spent a lot of money and a lot of energy and a lot of experience over the years in making sure that the experience just feels good. You walk on the plane, it looks great. You sit in the seats, they're comfortable. You've got seats that give you decent legroom. You've got the best entertainment system in the world. We've reintroduced first class and a really good quality first class into flying. We're going to build something called a premium economy class which will be for people who want more legroom but can't afford first class. Though I hasten to say that our first-class price is tiny compared to the legacy carriers. The most expensive first-class ticket I think we've got is about $650.
We've got lots of fun things in the entertainment system. You can order your food from your seat. You can watch a film whilst you're ordering your food. You can chat with to people in the plane. You can play chess with other people in the plane. You can play poker with other people in the plane. You can comment on football matches that are taking place whilst you're watching them live on television with other people on the plane. You can chat somebody up on the plane, if they want to respond to you. If you got an empty seat next to you, you might be able to persuade them to come sit next to you. There's lots of little touches.
Q: What would you say to critics who would say that Virgin America's ownership structure is not in the spirit of U.S. law, even if it meets technical requirements?
Branson: My involvement in the airline, because of the U.S. law, is almost zero. In that, though I have an economic interest in the airline, I've got no voting shares. I've put all my shares into trust; They're voted by other people. If the American shareholders don't want me to fly on a Virgin plane, they can tell me I can't fly on a Virgin America plane.
But I do have an economic interest in this airline. I do have Virgin on the tail. If the American directors and shareholders ask me to come and help them put Virgin on the map in America, I'm happy to do so. … We've abided not just by the letter of the law, but abided by the spirit of the law. We've stood upside down, inside out – we've done everything necessary.
Q (modified from Today in the Sky reader Cantrex): Is the day coming sooner or later – or at all – when customers will be able to fly around the world on Virgin-branded flights from one continent to the next from one Virgin carrier to another?
I certainly never expected to be saying this: Bizarrely, you can now fly more places in more continents in the world on a Virgin plane than any other airline in the world. You have Virgin in Africa – Virgin Nigeria that flies throughout West Africa and it's just starting (in) East Africa. You can fly anywhere in Australia on a Virgin plane. You can fly to Australia, to Africa and to America on a Virgin plane. You'll soon will be able to fly from Australia to America on a Virgin plane. You soon will be able to fly anywhere in America on a Virgin plane. So, this little Virgin is quite proud of itself.
Q: Should United, American or even JetBlue be worried about Virgin America?
Branson: I think they've showed how worried they are by the efforts they took to smother Virgin at birth. They've gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure this Virgin was never born. All I can say this Virgin is not only born, but it's going to grow up into a beautiful woman like Virgin Atlantic did. I'm sure it'll have struggles Virgin Atlantic had. But I look forward to celebrating its 21st birthday like we celebrated Virgin Atlantic's 21st birthday last year. And I'll be just as pleased to cut the cake.
Q: When the first flight of Virgin Atlantic plane came to in New York back in 1984, you forgot your passport and that caused problems with U.S. customs. We've already had the rain today. Are there any other snafus that we haven't heard about?
Branson: I not only arrived without my passport (in 1984), but the mayor of New York had to swing a favor with customs to get me in. Having not met the mayor of New York, he then came to see me. I thought he was the waiter and asked if he could get me a drink. It wasn't a good start for our arrival in New York.
Q: So this start has been a little bit better?
Branson: So far, so good, anyway.
Q (adapted from Today in the Sky reader ERJ170): So far Virgin America has looked at cities like New York, Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles – will those big first-tier cities remain the focus for the short-term expansion. Or will high-fare midsize cities like Cincinnati or Minneapolis that have a dominant hub carrier come into the mix?
Branson: I'm sure they'll come into the mix. If the people like the service, if people buy our tickets, if people fly our planes, and they want choice, then we'll broaden it out to many other cities. I think Virgin has an advantage that no other new carrier has ever had in America. It's the best-funded new carrier in the history of new-carrier launches in America. It's got the best-known brand of any new carrier being launched in America.
Virgin Atlantic, which also carriers the Virgin brand, is generally either the most-respected airline in the world. Singapore sometimes beats us, but we're up there in the top sort of two most-respected. We've got Virgin Megastores in most major cities, which people seem to enjoy going to. We've got a very successful company – Virgin Mobile. So the brand already resonates well with the people who brought you the Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson, the Sex Pistols, Culture Club, the Spice Girls … so our background is entertainment and we're bringing that entertainment to the airline business as well.
Q: So would you say this Virgin America is a customer service/entertainment business or is it a transportation company. Where would you say Virgin America falls on that spectrum?
Branson: Obviously, you need good people to run the nuts and bolts of getting planes to and from places. But, in the end, every plane is a bit of metal. What makes the difference is the imagination that goes on inside those planes. The motivation of the staff, the smiles from those staff – and that's what makes for a special airline. We're very much in the entertainment business as well as the transportation business.
Q: The American market is bit more conservative market than some of Virgin Atlantic's overseas markets. In marketing to the U.S. audience and figuring out how to sell to it, how has the American market been different than the ones you are used to marketing too?
Branson: I don't think it's an issue. We're just gonna be ourselves. Sometimes we'll be irreverent. You know, Singapore Airlines are great, but their crew can be a bit Stepford-girlish. Our crews on Virgin America, they'll joke with you. They'll answer you back in a friendly way. They'll banter with you. They'll smile. They'll have fun. That's very much the Virgin ethos – to have fun.
USA TODAY's Ben Mutzabaugh was on the flight and sat down for a 20-minute interview with British tycoon Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group and Virgin Atlantic Airways. Mutzabaugh also posed questions submitted by Today in the Sky readers. Read on for a condensed transcript of the interview:
Question: What's your assessment of the first flight so far? (Asked about halfway through the flight).
Branson: I'm absolutely certain the thunderstorm (that held up the inaugural flight's departure) was some massive device concocted by American, United, Delta and Continental – their final attempt to keep us on the ground. I'm absolutely over the moon to be on the flight starting what we hope will be a complete revolution in the American airline business. I really think the American travelers have put up with a lot in the last fifty years. And I think the very fact that Virgin America is here, the other carriers will have to get their act together or they'll disappear. And that can only be good for the consumers, I think.
Q: Despite the government's initial concern about Virgin America's foreign ownership make-up, it seems like most airline customers have simply focused on the fares and service that Virgin America will bring to the U.S. market. We've also heard from many of our readers who submitted questions in Today in the Sky who say they simply hope Virgin America will raise the bar for other airlines. Is that gratifying to hear?
FIND MORE STORIES IN: American | San Francisco | United States | United | Delta | Virgin | Richard Branson | Virgin Atlantic Airways | Ben Mutzabaugh | UID | Virgin America
Branson: It's very gratifying. We obviously have to live up to it and I think we have lived up to it. I think if anybody gets on board a Virgin America plane …, they're really not going to want to get back on a legacy carrier again. So, we'll certainly set the bar very high. In America, about the only way of traveling by long distance is by air and the public deserves better.
Q: With all the delays and obstacles, why did you stick with it and not pull the plug? What kept you going? (Idea for question submitted by Today in the Sky reader prost77.)
Branson: I'm not the sort of person who gives up. And, you know, the industry as whole has not really changed for the better. The big carriers like American, United, Delta, Continental, etc. … they sort of stumbled into financial problems, they stumble into Chapter 11, they stumble out again, they stumble back in again. They don't really invest in product.
Therefore the opportunity hasn't gone away. Virgin goes where the consumer is taken for a ride and I think the consumer has been taken for a ride for a long time in the States. Taken for a ride in that they pay through the nose for a service that's not that great and they haven't been treated that well. So, I've always been convinced that if we could get a license to fly that ultimately we'd succeed.
Q: What's going to set Virgin America apart from other U.S. carriers? (General theme from multiple reader submissions).
Branson: I think it's everything. What I learned when I went into the airline business 21 years ago, is that the big things matter but the little things matter just as much. Let's start with a very little thing. Every single economy class seat enables you to plug in your computer if your battery runs down, something which most major carriers have not even thought about doing. In this day and age, that's very important.
Let's start with the big things. We'll have the youngest fleet and the most modern fleet of any airline in the world and we'll strive to keep it that way. Being really modern, being really young means our on-time departure record should be very good. Our maintenance record, obviously, will be very good.
Inside the planes, we've spent a lot of money and a lot of energy and a lot of experience over the years in making sure that the experience just feels good. You walk on the plane, it looks great. You sit in the seats, they're comfortable. You've got seats that give you decent legroom. You've got the best entertainment system in the world. We've reintroduced first class and a really good quality first class into flying. We're going to build something called a premium economy class which will be for people who want more legroom but can't afford first class. Though I hasten to say that our first-class price is tiny compared to the legacy carriers. The most expensive first-class ticket I think we've got is about $650.
We've got lots of fun things in the entertainment system. You can order your food from your seat. You can watch a film whilst you're ordering your food. You can chat with to people in the plane. You can play chess with other people in the plane. You can play poker with other people in the plane. You can comment on football matches that are taking place whilst you're watching them live on television with other people on the plane. You can chat somebody up on the plane, if they want to respond to you. If you got an empty seat next to you, you might be able to persuade them to come sit next to you. There's lots of little touches.
Q: What would you say to critics who would say that Virgin America's ownership structure is not in the spirit of U.S. law, even if it meets technical requirements?
Branson: My involvement in the airline, because of the U.S. law, is almost zero. In that, though I have an economic interest in the airline, I've got no voting shares. I've put all my shares into trust; They're voted by other people. If the American shareholders don't want me to fly on a Virgin plane, they can tell me I can't fly on a Virgin America plane.
But I do have an economic interest in this airline. I do have Virgin on the tail. If the American directors and shareholders ask me to come and help them put Virgin on the map in America, I'm happy to do so. … We've abided not just by the letter of the law, but abided by the spirit of the law. We've stood upside down, inside out – we've done everything necessary.
Q (modified from Today in the Sky reader Cantrex): Is the day coming sooner or later – or at all – when customers will be able to fly around the world on Virgin-branded flights from one continent to the next from one Virgin carrier to another?
I certainly never expected to be saying this: Bizarrely, you can now fly more places in more continents in the world on a Virgin plane than any other airline in the world. You have Virgin in Africa – Virgin Nigeria that flies throughout West Africa and it's just starting (in) East Africa. You can fly anywhere in Australia on a Virgin plane. You can fly to Australia, to Africa and to America on a Virgin plane. You'll soon will be able to fly from Australia to America on a Virgin plane. You soon will be able to fly anywhere in America on a Virgin plane. So, this little Virgin is quite proud of itself.
Q: Should United, American or even JetBlue be worried about Virgin America?
Branson: I think they've showed how worried they are by the efforts they took to smother Virgin at birth. They've gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure this Virgin was never born. All I can say this Virgin is not only born, but it's going to grow up into a beautiful woman like Virgin Atlantic did. I'm sure it'll have struggles Virgin Atlantic had. But I look forward to celebrating its 21st birthday like we celebrated Virgin Atlantic's 21st birthday last year. And I'll be just as pleased to cut the cake.
Q: When the first flight of Virgin Atlantic plane came to in New York back in 1984, you forgot your passport and that caused problems with U.S. customs. We've already had the rain today. Are there any other snafus that we haven't heard about?
Branson: I not only arrived without my passport (in 1984), but the mayor of New York had to swing a favor with customs to get me in. Having not met the mayor of New York, he then came to see me. I thought he was the waiter and asked if he could get me a drink. It wasn't a good start for our arrival in New York.
Q: So this start has been a little bit better?
Branson: So far, so good, anyway.
Q (adapted from Today in the Sky reader ERJ170): So far Virgin America has looked at cities like New York, Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles – will those big first-tier cities remain the focus for the short-term expansion. Or will high-fare midsize cities like Cincinnati or Minneapolis that have a dominant hub carrier come into the mix?
Branson: I'm sure they'll come into the mix. If the people like the service, if people buy our tickets, if people fly our planes, and they want choice, then we'll broaden it out to many other cities. I think Virgin has an advantage that no other new carrier has ever had in America. It's the best-funded new carrier in the history of new-carrier launches in America. It's got the best-known brand of any new carrier being launched in America.
Virgin Atlantic, which also carriers the Virgin brand, is generally either the most-respected airline in the world. Singapore sometimes beats us, but we're up there in the top sort of two most-respected. We've got Virgin Megastores in most major cities, which people seem to enjoy going to. We've got a very successful company – Virgin Mobile. So the brand already resonates well with the people who brought you the Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson, the Sex Pistols, Culture Club, the Spice Girls … so our background is entertainment and we're bringing that entertainment to the airline business as well.
Q: So would you say this Virgin America is a customer service/entertainment business or is it a transportation company. Where would you say Virgin America falls on that spectrum?
Branson: Obviously, you need good people to run the nuts and bolts of getting planes to and from places. But, in the end, every plane is a bit of metal. What makes the difference is the imagination that goes on inside those planes. The motivation of the staff, the smiles from those staff – and that's what makes for a special airline. We're very much in the entertainment business as well as the transportation business.
Q: The American market is bit more conservative market than some of Virgin Atlantic's overseas markets. In marketing to the U.S. audience and figuring out how to sell to it, how has the American market been different than the ones you are used to marketing too?
Branson: I don't think it's an issue. We're just gonna be ourselves. Sometimes we'll be irreverent. You know, Singapore Airlines are great, but their crew can be a bit Stepford-girlish. Our crews on Virgin America, they'll joke with you. They'll answer you back in a friendly way. They'll banter with you. They'll smile. They'll have fun. That's very much the Virgin ethos – to have fun.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Beaches across the country closed
WASHINGTON — Beaches across the country closed or posted warnings to swimmers a record number of times last year because of high levels of harmful bacteria, evidence that communities should do more to keep vacation beaches clean and safe, according to a national environmental group.
The Natural Resources Defense Council's annual "Testing the Waters" guide portrays the nation's favorite beaches as increasingly susceptible to contamination from storm water runoff, sewage spills and other sources of pollution.
"We are still not doing everything possible to protect the public," said Nancy Stoner, director of NRDC's Clean Water Project. "Pollutants continue to foul our waters, threatening human and ecological health."
DATABASE: Water quality at 3,500 popular U.S. beaches
PUBLIC HEALTH: Testing always comes too late
The NRDC report, to be released Tuesday, analyzed data collected by state and local government officials and compiled by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Environmental Protection Agency | Del | Gannett | Waters | Testing | NRDC | Water quality
The report, considered the most authoritative analysis of government testing at ocean and freshwater beaches, shows just how vulnerable beaches are to pollutants flushed through storm pipes, many of which empty directly into the ankle-deep water where children play.
"You could hardly design a more effective way of delivering pollution to the beach," Stoner said.
The group found that:
• More than 1,600 beaches temporarily closed or posted a swimming advisory last year due to bacteria levels that exceeded federal public health standards.
• Water samples from 92 beaches in 19 states exceeded public health standards 25% of the time or more.
• The number of days beaches were closed or advisories were posted increased 28% to a record high of 25,643 nationwide last year. (Each day any beach is closed counts as one closure day, so if 1,000 beaches were each closed one day, that equals 1,000 closure days.) Much of the increase was due to heavy rains in Hawaii that caused a dramatic increase in contaminated storm water.
• Not counting Hawaii, the number of closure and advisory days nationwide was up 7% last year, still a record for the 17 years NRDC has been tracking beach water quality. It was the second straight record year.
• Storm water runoff is by far the most significant source of contamination. It was cited as the reason for 10,597 closing or advisory days in 2006, nearly double the number from 2005.
•Of the more than 100,000 water samples taken at beaches last year, about 7% exceeded federal standards for bacteria.
• Closure and advisory days were up more than 90% on the New York-New Jersey beaches and the West Coast, largely due to storm water runoff and sewage system overflows. Closure and advisory days decreased in the Southeast and Gulf Coast because drought reduced storm water runoff.
EPA: Beaches 'in good shape.'
Government officials note that swimming at most coastal and Great Lakes beaches is safe most of the time, and the data confirm that.
NRDC's cautionary report stands in sharp contrast to the EPA's more optimistic assessment, which pronounced the nation's recreational shorelines "in good shape" at the start of this summer.
"We're seeing progress in keeping America's beaches clean, but significant challenges remain," said Benjamin Grumbles, EPA assistant administrator for water. "We want to move from a B-plus to an A."
EPA officials note that monitored beaches experienced contamination-related closures or swimming advisories only 5% of available beach days last year. And they say more beaches in more states are being tested since a federal beach water quality monitoring program was created in 2000.
Still, swimmers are often one rainstorm or sewage overflow away from being exposed to contaminated water, much of the time unknowingly.
That's because not all beaches are monitored, test results of water samples can take up to 24 hours, and officials aren't required to notify swimmers of higher-than-recommended bacteria levels.
Hard to say who got sick
Several studies have established a connection between swimming in water contaminated with human or animal waste and illness, including ear, nose, throat and eye problems, gastroenteritis, hepatitis and respiratory ailments.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention review for 2003 and 2004 reported 62 outbreaks of waterborne diseases associated with recreational water — not just beaches but also swimming pools and water parks — in 26 states and Guam. A total 2,698 people fell ill, including 58 who were hospitalized and one who died.
Data gathered as part of a collaboration among the CDC and other agencies reveal gradual increases in gastroenteritis outbreaks associated with recreational swimming.
Most studies are localized. A 2003 EPA study found that 10% to 14% of swimmers surveyed at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan and a beach on Lake Erie near Cleveland reported getting a gastrointestinal illness. Both beaches were affected by discharges from nearby waste treatment plants.
Last fall, several surfers reported severe sinus infections after spending time in the water near Rehoboth Beach, Del., where a storm water pipe funnels water from a small inland lake with a large goose population.
"I got a call from a buddy of mine who surfs, and he said he had the worst sinus infection of his life," said Mark Carter, a local kayak instructor and chairman of the Delaware chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, a conservation group. "I put out a little notice and about 10 people responded saying they had gotten ill."
Assessing exactly how many people get sick from swimming in polluted beach water is difficult because it's rare for beachgoers to cite that as a source of illness, according to health officials.
"It's a nebulous phenomenon," said Michael Beach, acting associate director for healthy water at the CDC.
The EPA is studying water quality and illness rates this year among swimmers in Alabama, California and Rhode Island as it tries to update bacteria standards in place for more than 20 years.
Monitoring on the rise
Each year, the EPA gives about $10 million to states for a federal beach water-quality monitoring program Congress created in 2000.
All 30 coastal and Great Lakes states now participate in the program. More than 3,500 beaches are monitored today, up from 2,182 in 2000, according to the NRDC.
That's still not every beach. State and local officials test the water at beaches most popular with swimmers and those most likely to experience bacterial contamination due to storm water outfalls or nearby sewage treatment plants.
Local and state officials decide how often to test. Some do it daily, others once a week.
All states have adopted the EPA's standards for unhealthy bacteria levels or use their own tougher standards. Under EPA standards, beach water is considered unhealthy when it contains a specified amount of enterococcus or E. coli.
Those levels are designed to make sure no more than eight people in 1,000 become ill after swimming in freshwater and no more than 19 in 1,000 become ill after swimming in salt water.
But even at beaches where the threshold is exceeded, the federal government has no authority to require states and local governments to ban swimming or post advisories.
And not everyone does. In Corpus Christi, Texas, for example, city officials have a policy of keeping warning signs off local beaches, said Jim Suydam, a spokesman for the Texas General Land Office.
Such policies are potentially hazardous, said Mark Gold, president of Heal the Bay, a Los Angeles environmental group. He said warning signs should be required when the public's health is at risk.
"Inadequate monitoring and poor public notification can lead to millions of swimmers unknowingly exposed to unacceptable health risks," Gold said a congressional hearing in July.
Congress is considering increasing funding for beach water quality monitoring and requiring states to quickly adopt new standards and testing technology that would alert beach officials right away if water contains harmful levels of bacteria.
The EPA is testing new DNA-based technology that can offer results within three hours of when a water sample is lifted from the surf.
READERS: Will this make you change any of your upcoming beach plans? Let us know.
The Natural Resources Defense Council's annual "Testing the Waters" guide portrays the nation's favorite beaches as increasingly susceptible to contamination from storm water runoff, sewage spills and other sources of pollution.
"We are still not doing everything possible to protect the public," said Nancy Stoner, director of NRDC's Clean Water Project. "Pollutants continue to foul our waters, threatening human and ecological health."
DATABASE: Water quality at 3,500 popular U.S. beaches
PUBLIC HEALTH: Testing always comes too late
The NRDC report, to be released Tuesday, analyzed data collected by state and local government officials and compiled by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Environmental Protection Agency | Del | Gannett | Waters | Testing | NRDC | Water quality
The report, considered the most authoritative analysis of government testing at ocean and freshwater beaches, shows just how vulnerable beaches are to pollutants flushed through storm pipes, many of which empty directly into the ankle-deep water where children play.
"You could hardly design a more effective way of delivering pollution to the beach," Stoner said.
The group found that:
• More than 1,600 beaches temporarily closed or posted a swimming advisory last year due to bacteria levels that exceeded federal public health standards.
• Water samples from 92 beaches in 19 states exceeded public health standards 25% of the time or more.
• The number of days beaches were closed or advisories were posted increased 28% to a record high of 25,643 nationwide last year. (Each day any beach is closed counts as one closure day, so if 1,000 beaches were each closed one day, that equals 1,000 closure days.) Much of the increase was due to heavy rains in Hawaii that caused a dramatic increase in contaminated storm water.
• Not counting Hawaii, the number of closure and advisory days nationwide was up 7% last year, still a record for the 17 years NRDC has been tracking beach water quality. It was the second straight record year.
• Storm water runoff is by far the most significant source of contamination. It was cited as the reason for 10,597 closing or advisory days in 2006, nearly double the number from 2005.
•Of the more than 100,000 water samples taken at beaches last year, about 7% exceeded federal standards for bacteria.
• Closure and advisory days were up more than 90% on the New York-New Jersey beaches and the West Coast, largely due to storm water runoff and sewage system overflows. Closure and advisory days decreased in the Southeast and Gulf Coast because drought reduced storm water runoff.
EPA: Beaches 'in good shape.'
Government officials note that swimming at most coastal and Great Lakes beaches is safe most of the time, and the data confirm that.
NRDC's cautionary report stands in sharp contrast to the EPA's more optimistic assessment, which pronounced the nation's recreational shorelines "in good shape" at the start of this summer.
"We're seeing progress in keeping America's beaches clean, but significant challenges remain," said Benjamin Grumbles, EPA assistant administrator for water. "We want to move from a B-plus to an A."
EPA officials note that monitored beaches experienced contamination-related closures or swimming advisories only 5% of available beach days last year. And they say more beaches in more states are being tested since a federal beach water quality monitoring program was created in 2000.
Still, swimmers are often one rainstorm or sewage overflow away from being exposed to contaminated water, much of the time unknowingly.
That's because not all beaches are monitored, test results of water samples can take up to 24 hours, and officials aren't required to notify swimmers of higher-than-recommended bacteria levels.
Hard to say who got sick
Several studies have established a connection between swimming in water contaminated with human or animal waste and illness, including ear, nose, throat and eye problems, gastroenteritis, hepatitis and respiratory ailments.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention review for 2003 and 2004 reported 62 outbreaks of waterborne diseases associated with recreational water — not just beaches but also swimming pools and water parks — in 26 states and Guam. A total 2,698 people fell ill, including 58 who were hospitalized and one who died.
Data gathered as part of a collaboration among the CDC and other agencies reveal gradual increases in gastroenteritis outbreaks associated with recreational swimming.
Most studies are localized. A 2003 EPA study found that 10% to 14% of swimmers surveyed at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan and a beach on Lake Erie near Cleveland reported getting a gastrointestinal illness. Both beaches were affected by discharges from nearby waste treatment plants.
Last fall, several surfers reported severe sinus infections after spending time in the water near Rehoboth Beach, Del., where a storm water pipe funnels water from a small inland lake with a large goose population.
"I got a call from a buddy of mine who surfs, and he said he had the worst sinus infection of his life," said Mark Carter, a local kayak instructor and chairman of the Delaware chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, a conservation group. "I put out a little notice and about 10 people responded saying they had gotten ill."
Assessing exactly how many people get sick from swimming in polluted beach water is difficult because it's rare for beachgoers to cite that as a source of illness, according to health officials.
"It's a nebulous phenomenon," said Michael Beach, acting associate director for healthy water at the CDC.
The EPA is studying water quality and illness rates this year among swimmers in Alabama, California and Rhode Island as it tries to update bacteria standards in place for more than 20 years.
Monitoring on the rise
Each year, the EPA gives about $10 million to states for a federal beach water-quality monitoring program Congress created in 2000.
All 30 coastal and Great Lakes states now participate in the program. More than 3,500 beaches are monitored today, up from 2,182 in 2000, according to the NRDC.
That's still not every beach. State and local officials test the water at beaches most popular with swimmers and those most likely to experience bacterial contamination due to storm water outfalls or nearby sewage treatment plants.
Local and state officials decide how often to test. Some do it daily, others once a week.
All states have adopted the EPA's standards for unhealthy bacteria levels or use their own tougher standards. Under EPA standards, beach water is considered unhealthy when it contains a specified amount of enterococcus or E. coli.
Those levels are designed to make sure no more than eight people in 1,000 become ill after swimming in freshwater and no more than 19 in 1,000 become ill after swimming in salt water.
But even at beaches where the threshold is exceeded, the federal government has no authority to require states and local governments to ban swimming or post advisories.
And not everyone does. In Corpus Christi, Texas, for example, city officials have a policy of keeping warning signs off local beaches, said Jim Suydam, a spokesman for the Texas General Land Office.
Such policies are potentially hazardous, said Mark Gold, president of Heal the Bay, a Los Angeles environmental group. He said warning signs should be required when the public's health is at risk.
"Inadequate monitoring and poor public notification can lead to millions of swimmers unknowingly exposed to unacceptable health risks," Gold said a congressional hearing in July.
Congress is considering increasing funding for beach water quality monitoring and requiring states to quickly adopt new standards and testing technology that would alert beach officials right away if water contains harmful levels of bacteria.
The EPA is testing new DNA-based technology that can offer results within three hours of when a water sample is lifted from the surf.
READERS: Will this make you change any of your upcoming beach plans? Let us know.
Island-hopping along Croatia's Dalmatian coast
Past double-decker sailing yachts with racks of bikes onboard. Past fishermen on low-slung dinghies, squinting at the clouds. Past hobbyists racing 4-foot-long remote sailboats like it was Croatia's own America's Cup.
But nowhere, nowhere was the catamaran that was supposed to whisk us out to Croatia's sun-drenched coastal islands.
"I think it's called the 'Navratilova,"' my husband said.
Thirty minutes later, when we did find the Novalja, we had to laugh. It was a catamaran ferry, not a sailboat. A speedy, muscular workhorse that links Split, the main port along Croatia's upper Dalmatian coast, to the islands of Brac, Hvar, Solta and beyond.
Our Croatian adventure had begun.
Spanish beaches too overbuilt for you? Italy and Greece too crowded? French Riviera sound too expensive? Maybe it's time to go island-hopping in Croatia.
Located east of Italy across the Adriatic Sea, Croatia expects over 200,000 American visitors this year -- nearly double the number that arrived in 2005. It also tied for the No. 2 hot destination this year in a survey by the U.S. Tour Operators.
And no wonder. The water is clean and clear, the sun constant, the crowds easy to ditch (except in Dubrovnik), the Croatian kuna a mere 5.33 to the dollar. I usually snort at tourist-advertising slogans, but Croatia's new one -- "The Mediterranean as it once was" -- is right on the money.
It's been quite the turnaround from the four-year war that engulfed the country in the mid-1990s as Yugoslavia disintegrated. Croatia emerged with a 1,100-mile coast; the crown jewel, the walled city of Dubrovnik -- a UNESCO heritage site -- and enough islands (1,185) to make Greek tourism officials sweat.
Plus, unlike other European destinations (anyone been to London lately?) Americans can afford the trip.
The hour-long ferry ride from Split to Bol was $4. Our 45-minute bus trip from Split's airport to the port was $5.50. Renting a bike for the day was $13. A made-for-two fresh seafood platter was $46. An all-day (14-hour) ferry excursion from the island of Hvar to Dubrovnik and back, complete with meals, was $128.
You get the picture.
Any visit starts with a flight into Split and ebbs and flows with the ferries, whose summer schedules run June through September. In May and October, the weather is still lovely but the ferries are more limited. Our trip ended with an overnight stay in Trogir, just north of Split, whose UNESCO-designated port was overflowing with 100-foot yachts (we counted 24) gearing up for a week of island-hopping with European tourists.
A warning -- don't be horrified by Split. Yes, its outskirts are a testament to the very worst of Cold War architecture, with rows upon rows of crumbling cement towers. But the center of town holds Diocletian's Palace, built in A.D. 293 for the Roman emperor, a must-see stone-walled maze of narrow streets, tiny shops, bars and restaurants.
From Split, we headed out to Brac, Croatia's largest island, and the timeless, charming town of Bol. Croatia's most popular beach, Zlatni Rat, lies less than a mile to the west, an undulating collection of smooth pebbles that sticks straight out into the sea and shifts daily.
Seas are quiet in the morning, building to a hearty afternoon breeze that draws kite sailors like bees to honey. It's free entertainment: An experienced kite sailor can leave you mesmerized with their graceful flips; a novice can leave you in hysterics as his kite plunges repeatedly into the sea.
On rented bikes over a rutted road, we explored the coast to the west. My husband, born and raised in California, said Brac's undulating mountain ridges reminded him of Route 1 -- without the traffic. At Murvica, a 15-minute hike down from the road brings you to your own private cove, nude sunbathing optional. More swimming sites lay to the east of Bol.
Over to Hvar island by ferry, we were the only tourists at Jelsa's grubby bus station, yet a meandering trip to Stari Grad with chattering local teens proved a delightful surprise. Winding through four inland towns, our driver squeaked his aging bus over a hilly obstacle course that only optimists would call a one-lane road. Teens were dropped off at immaculately kept houses, next to fields bounded by stone walls straight out of the Roman era.
Another bus took us from Stari Grad -- a lovely natural port close to where the massive, ambling car ferry from Split docks -- over the hill to the yachting mecca of Hvar.
Hvar's hip crowd favors the pricey drinks and fabulous views of Carpe Diem, the restaurant-club at the end of its pier. We dined across the harbor at Gostionica Kod Kapetana, along with two dozen overall-clad construction workers working late on the Hotel Amfora reconstruction next door.
Despite the lack of fancy clothes, we feasted like royalty. After we ordered, the busboy walked 30 feet to the Hvar pier, hauled up a rope bag and brought in our mussels. On Brac, a young fisherman in oilskins returned to port about 9 p.m., piled a box of squid and fish onto his moped and made emergency deliveries to Bol's seafront restaurants.
From Hvar, boat and ferry trips go daily to a half a dozen islands: Vis, a hotspot for food and celebrities; Korcula, which our hotel manager insisted even put the darling Hvar to shame; Bisevo and the Blue Grotto, a popular snorkeling and diving spot; Brac and the beach at Zlatni Rat; even Dubrovnik, 3 1/2 hours away, whose ancient walls are so beloved they can become unbearably crowded with summer cruise ship tourists.
Alas, we visited Hvar in late May, when the less-frequent boat trips clashed with our return ferry to Split. We did take a $9 trip to Palmizana on the nearby Pakleni Islands -- only to find that its touted "sand" beach was barely 20 feet wide. Feel free to skip it.
But a long walk from Hvar to the east brought spectacular sea views and a protected, blindingly white pebble beach, perfect for a relaxing afternoon.
We stayed at Hotel Croatia, a former hangout for top Serbian officials and the late Yugoslav dictator Josef Tito. If only I had an extra $5 million, I'm sure I could resurrect its lovely bones -- 14-foot ceilings, private balconies -- from underneath a garish '70s orange-and-green decor. But the front desk dashed my dreams, noting this was the last main hotel on Hvar still Croatian-owned and saying it planned to keep it that way.
No matter. I still have islands to visit, seafood to sample. I know the Internet sites for renting out Croatian yachts. I might even try kite-boarding -- if no one's looking.
BAA wins Heathrow protesters ban
BAA has won a High Court ruling banning certain protesters from Heathrow during a week-long climate change camp.
The injunction applies to Plane Stupid, which has a history of "direct action", and protesters from two other groups.
But organisers say the ruling is a setback for the airport operator, as it originally sought bans against 15 groups, covering five million people.
BAA said its injunction was aimed at protesters acting unlawfully, and was not aimed at stopping peaceful protest.
The ban will not apply to AirportWatch, an umbrella group covering five million people including members of the RSPB and National Trust, because it is too large to define.
But it will cover Plane Stupid and certain members of two other groups - Hacan Clearskies and the No Third Runway Action Group - if they were intent on unlawful action.
Thousands of people are expected to join the Camp for Climate Action between 14 and 21 August - which organisers say opposes the "lunacy of the government's airport expansion plans".
Mrs Justice Swift ruled at the High Court that there was a risk that "a terrorist group may use the disruption caused by the protesters to perpetrate a terrorist act".
Plane Stupid was banned because of its history of taking "direct action" - there were fears it would try to blockade the airport.
BAA had denied that it was trying to ban five million people using the roads and public transport around Heathrow by seeking the injunction, under the 1997 Protection from Harassment Act.
'Irresponsible' action
In a statement, it said it had the right to explore "every legal avenue" to protect its staff and passengers - 1.5m of whom are expected to pass through the airport during the week of the protest.
"It's our responsibility to make sure we do everything we can to guarantee their safety and comfort," a BAA spokesman said.
He added that, considering the current threat of terrorism, keeping the airport "safe and secure" was a "very serious business", and added that any action that would distract the police was "irresponsible".
Peter Lockley, of AirportWatch, told the BBC the group did not support direct action and were planning a peaceful protest. He said the injunction was limited as it was aimed at stopping activity that was unlawful anyway.
He added: "It's a good day for the freedom to protest."
Chairman of the anti-noise group Hacan Clearskies John Stewart added: "BAA had asked for the mother of all injunctions. They have received the mother of all setbacks."
Joss Garman from Plane Stupid also welcomed the decision.
"BAA have lost and lost badly. The Camp for Climate Action's going ahead".
The final terms of the injunction will be drawn up later.
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