Boarding Pass

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 407th issue of your monthly overseas travel magazine. We present, among other things, a mix of reader-written firsthand accounts and news items, such as the following.

Three airlines that misinterpreted Transportation Security Administration rules and kept dozens of passengers cooped up on a plane in Rochester, Minnesota, for almost six hours — in violation of a law prohibiting unfair and deceptive practices in air transportation — have been fined by the US Department of Transportation.

Heading from Houston to Minneapolis/St. Paul on Aug. 7, 2009, a Continental Express flight operated by ExpressJet had to divert to Rochester because of bad weather. Mesaba Airlines, the only airline staffing the Rochester airport at the time, agreed to assist the incoming passengers. When the flight arrived, however, the captain was told by a Mesaba employee that there were no TSA screeners on duty and so the passengers could not enter the terminal.

Actually, according to TSA rules, the passengers could have entered the terminal so long as they remained in a secure area — certainly preferable to sitting in a plane with overused toilets.

The first airlines ever to be fined for lengthy tarmac delays, Continental and ExpressJet collectively were assigned a civil penalty of $100,000 and Mesaba Airlines was hit for $75,000.

In a three-week sweep inspecting all of the luggage scales at John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports in New York, Oct. 19-Nov. 6, 2009, the Department of Consumer Affairs found 48 of JFK’s 608 scales and nine of LaGuardia’s 133 scales to be faulty. Stop-Use Orders were placed on the miscalibrated machines, each of which were off by more than one pound.

Upon reinspection, all of the faulty scales at JFK passed, but two at LaGuardia still were inaccurate and were condemned. In the 2008 inspection, 10 scales at JFK ultimately were condemned.

Trends in the wind — except for duty-free items, passengers will not be allowed to use cash to purchase food, drinks and entertainment on Delta and Northwest flights in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Bermuda. Credit cards only. Both cash and plastic will continue to be accepted on their transatlantic, transpacific and South American flights.

Back in 2008, over an eight-month period the Ontario health ministry had 1,500 reports of bedbugs in Toronto, many being found in offices. The fear is that they will spread to public transportation. The website www.bedbugregistry.com has been receiving the most filings from people in Toronto and Vancouver.

Wow! Mexico City now offers visitors staying in its hotels complimentary health insurance, covering emergency medical care, ambulance services, hospital stays and prescription drugs, not to mention emergency dental care as well as transportation home (repatriation) for medical reasons or in the case of death.

When the presence of H1N1 flu in Mexico sent tourism plunging, the capital responded with the initiative called Tourist Assistance Card, run through the private insurer MAPFRE.

Anyone checked into a Mexico City hotel is automatically covered. A guest needing emergency medical assistance just calls the local number 54 80 68 98 to reach a center manned by multilingual operators, who will send help. For emergency services, a deductible of $30 does apply per event. Anyone with simpler health problems may call that number to learn where to go for assistance.

If the caller is not helped, he should call 01 800 008 90 90 and register a complaint.

Other items provided in the program, subsidized by the Ministry of Tourism of Mexico City, are legal assistance in case of robbery or loss of documents or belongings; assistance in case of luggage loss; assistance in case of flight delay or cancellation; the informing of emergency contacts; forwarding of forgotten belongings; touristic advice; city event reservations, and more. Just call the number above.

For more info, visit www.mexicocity.gob.mx.

The largest cruise ship ever built, Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas, set off from Ft. Lauderdale on her inaugural sailing in the Caribbean Dec. 5.

With 16 passenger decks, it rises 236 feet above the waterline. Passenger capacity is 6,296 (of which 5,400 are double occupancy), plus 2,165 crew. In addition to multiple restaurants, shops, theaters, swimming pools, etc., it offers the first at-sea living park (including 56 trees); a 750-seat AquaTheatre amphitheater; two surf simulators (only two?); two rock-climbing walls; a zip-line; a mini-golf course; a carousel, and little incentive to leave the ship to learn about other cultures.

ITN subscriber Nancy Bunyan of Lihue, Hawaii, booked Vantage Deluxe World Travel back-to-back tours of Iceland, Sept. 1-12, 2009, and Croatia/Montenegro, Sept. 12-26. According to Vantage, she was initially informed that “every effort would be made to time her flight’s arrival in Croatia on the 12th.”

When Nancy received her itinerary two months before the trip, she didn’t understand why her flight from Reykjavik to Zagreb was on Sept. 11, having her miss the last day of the Iceland tour, but she assumed that all was in order. It was not.

When she arrived in Croatia, she had no hotel reservation for that night, since the second tour did not begin until the next day.

She paid $40 for a taxi and another $377 for a room. Travel insurance would not reimburse her in this instance, not one of carrier delay or sickness but simply a matter of scheduling.

Vantage wrote to ITN, “Unfortunately, the best flight available for Ms. Bunyan to arrive in time to start her second part of the tour was one that arrived on the evening of the 11th and in that case, since she was not starting her Vantage tour, she was responsible for paying for her own hotel and taxi expenses.” It was added, “… it is certainly understood that expenses outside of a trip itinerary would be the sole responsibility of the passenger.”

The lesson to be learned — do not expect a firm’s booking agent to automatically, or even courteously, point out anything like a “hole” in the schedule or, as we’ve learned with other companies in the past, such things as flight connections that are too tight. When you receive your itinerary, look over everything for discrepancies. Ask questions.

Phyllis Schlesinger of New York City wrote, “I would like to thank Abbie Salny of Wayne, New Jersey, for her information regarding the Paris Métro card in the November issue’s ‘Travelers’ Intercom.’ I will be traveling to Paris and found this article very helpful. Thank you for printing it.”

Abbie provided a translation of the instructions on the encroaching bus and Métro ticket-dispensing machines that are replacing manned booths and which even some locals have trouble using.

Darrell W. Booth of Houston, Texas, came up with a thoughtful way to recycle: “As a longtime subscriber of ITN, I look forward to each issue. My wife, Debra, and I pass along some of them to our local hospital, where I would think they are enjoyed.”

Longtime subscribers know that ITN used to print a list of foreign national tourist offices found in the United States. We still maintain the list, but, due to space limitations, we now post the Tourist Office Directory on our website, offering to mail reprints ($2.50) to anyone without computer access upon request.

The ITN Reference Index, updated twice a year (in time for the March and September issues) also now appears only on our website and also is available to be mailed.

Really longtime subscribers will remember a Q&A column in ITN called Worldwide Travel Advice. It was written by a grand, remarkable lady: Paige Palmer of Bath, Ohio. Paige passed away in her sleep on November 21. She was 93.

Forget Jack LaLanne. Paige told me she was the first in the US to have a daily TV show on fitness (1948). She expanded the show to cover fashion and travel and later wrote several books on the subjects, including six travel guides. Besides meeting heads of state and celebrities, she was the first to interview the Dalai Lama after he fled Tibet.

I kept in touch with Paige since she stopped writing her column in February 1999; its stretch spanned from the very first issue of ITN in March 1976. It was always so uplifting to talk to her. Such positive energy! She never stopped being active in her community, attending museum fund raisers and entertaining friends.

Paige was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame in 2000, and if you want to see an inspiring life story, visit www.clevelandwomen.com/people/paige-palmer.htm. She never said, “It can’t be done.” — DT