Takeoffs & Landings
May 12, 2011
The next time a car-rental company asks for a gas receipt, don't assume it's just confirming the price. It might be checking the gas station's address -- so it can charge you more. Rental customers say they've been billed a few extra dollars recently for filling up the tank at a station that wasn't near the return lot. This is especially true at airport locations, which are typically miles from a gas station. While not confirming it checks addresses, an Avis spokesman says the company does ask for gas receipts ``to make sure the tank comes back the way it was left.'' Consumers, of course, are outraged. ``There's no reason to do this,'' says Michaele Ashington-Sears, who runs a newsletter in Orlando, Fla.. More Vacancies? The hotel industry's incredible string of successes may have finally hit a wall. For the first time in 57 months, the industry's national occupancy rate fell, with 73.9% of rooms filled in July, down from 74.1% in the year-ago month, according to Smith Travel Research in Hendersonville, Tenn.. It's too early to draw any conclusions, but the drop could be good news for travelers. They've had trouble just getting rooms in some cities and are paying higher rates. Here's a look at the movies some of the major airlines will be showing in September. The most notable occupancy drops were in the heartland states -- Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and the Dakotas -- and in the Mountain states. Occupancies did rise in cities along the east and west coasts and in luxury hotels. Shrinking Act Hate those small commuter planes? Brace yourself for more of them showing up on popular routes. As a cost-saving move, more airlines -- like Delta and American -- are turning over more of their shorter routes to commuter partners. So instead of big jets, expect to find more 50-seat planes flying between, for example, New York and Montreal; Dallas and Harlingen, Texas; and Portland, Maine, to Newark, N.J. ``Nobody wants their 727 or MD-80 gone,'' says Douglass Abby, a Washington aviation consultant. On the bright side, he adds, the commuters are using slightly larger, more modern planes. And without this step, some of the big airlines might simply eliminate service on some of these routes. Cruise Alert Worried about security, the federal government is cracking down on how cruise-ship luggage is handled. According to some major cruise lines, the Federal Aviation Administration now wants all cruise luggage -- at the end of trips -- to be hand-checked at airline check-in stands. This is because cruise passengers don't always carry their bags off the ship; porters do it as a convenience, which the FAA views as a security risk. The change ``has caused an unbelievable mess outside the cruise terminals in Miami,'' says Michaele Thorpe of Cruise Week. ``There was no notice, warnings and no staff to do this.'' A spokesman for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines said the company was working on ways to avoid delays. Odds and Ends Gasoline prices this holiday weekend are down -- but still high. According to the American Automobile Association, the national average price for regular unleaded gas in August was $1.25 a gallon, the third straight month of declines, but still at a five-year high for that month. ... British tourism officials are seething over advertisements in London's Underground that attack the city's air quality. The ads, sponsored by the Scottish Tourist Board, happen to mention Scotland's beautiful scenery and clean air. ... Planes keep getting older; the median age of jets world-wide was 12.5 years at the end of 2010, up from 10.5 years in 1985, according to Air Cargo Management Group in Seattle. --Jacquelyne Frances and Debbie Prior
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
