TSA: More gate searches in store for fliers

A new, more aggressive effort by airport screeners aims to halt randomly selected passengers for a security check just before they step onto their departing plane, according to a government memo obtained by USA TODAY.

Scores of passengers have already been pulled aside for searches as they waited in line at airport gates for boarding calls. Each of the passengers had already passed through security checkpoints when a uniformed Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer asked them to step out of line to check their IDs or search their carry-on bags.

Passengers can be selected at random or for suspicious behavior, according to a TSA memo dated last Thursday. The program primarily targets riskier flights, according to the memo, which doesn't specify how flights are singled out.

The TSA says it has done occasional checks of passengers at airport gates and that the new stepped-up effort has nothing to do with any particular threat. Rather, the effort is focused on the notion that mixing up tactics makes it harder for terrorists to monitor how security works, said TSA spokesman Greg Soule.

"It serves as a random, unpredictable layer," Soule said.

The new effort raises concerns about passengers feeling hassled and flights being delayed. "I hope the TSA can work with airports and airlines to ensure that flights that may already be late aren't targeted," said Christopher Bidwell, security chief for the Airports Council International trade group.

Ed Wyatt said he was waiting to board a March 6 flight from Denver International Airport to Washington-Dulles when a TSA screener "grabbed somebody out of the line, opened up his briefcase and hand-wanded him."

"To me, it's just stupid," said Wyatt of Olney, Md. "Why do you have to screen someone twice?"

Soule said the TSA does consider passenger concerns, "but security is our No. 1 priority."

The motive for the program, theorizes aviation security consultant Rich Roth, is that the TSA fears that airport workers, who are not routinely screened, could sneak weapons into the secure area of an airport and give them to passengers.

Gate screening was done extensively in the months after 9/11 but was phased out in 2003 as the TSA sought to reduce passenger hassles and concentrate screening at checkpoints.

Adm. James Loy, who ran the TSA in 2002 and 2003, said screening at the gates was a visible sign of security that helped "regain confidence" of passengers who were wary of flying after 9/11.

The TSA began limited gate screening in 2007. The stepped-up effort started this year.

David Conklin of Washington, D.C., was mystified Thursday when a team of six TSA screeners showed up to check the IDs of passengers boarding a 50-seat jet flying from Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina to Washington National. "I didn't feel reassured," he said. "I felt, what is this next hassle I'm going to have to go through?"

Six Flags raises the 'going concern' flag

Six Flags Inc. (NYSE: SIX) disclosed in an SEC filing today that unless it can restructure its debt, it may have to file for bankruptcy.

"Given the current negative conditions in the economy generally and the credit markets in particular, there is substantial uncertainty that we will be able to effect a refinancing of our debt on or prior to maturity or the PIERS prior to their mandatory redemption date," the company said.
The company's auditor, KPMG, said that there was "substantial doubt" about the company's ability to continue as a going concern.

What's surprising -- and somewhat appalling -- to me is that the company continues to recruit aggressively on college campuses: Why would you waste young peoples' time and energy when you know that you're probably going to have to lay off a ton of people soon -- and really aren't in a position to do much hiring.

The good news for consumers is that the company's desperate need for revenue combined with the recession is leading to some pretty good deals on tickets

Supreme Clientele Travel And Donate Life Florida Organ & Tissue Donor Registry Team Up, To Raise Percentage Of Life-Saving Donors

With over 20,000 people in need of life-saving transplants in Florida alone, Supreme Clientele Travel and Donate Life Florida have teamed up with a new challenge for the state's travelers ... sign up to become an organ and tissue donor and help save millions of lives. Tragically, one-third of the 92,000 Americans currently waiting for life-saving organ transplants could die due to a lack of donors. But effective April 1, Floridians can help change that. Anyone who arranges travel services with Supreme Clientele Travel will be registered with the state's registry as a donor, with the potential to save eight lives and improve up to 50 others.
Supreme Clientele Travel will also donate 30% of all commissions earned to help promote and educate Organ & Tissue Donation.

Donate Life Florida was founded in 1997 through a consensus of all Florida-based donor programs in existence at that time. The primary reason for forming a coalition was to create an entity that could tackle projects that were too big for any one program to take on individually, including implementing national campaigns being offered by the Coalition on Donation.

Donate Life Florida has successfully educated Floridians through a variety of outreach efforts, including Get Carded, a college based campaign; Workplace Partnership For Life, an employer driven program; billboard and movie theatre advertisements and annual visits to the state capitol to educate our legislators about the importance of becoming a donor.

This significant change in recording Floridians' commitments to become organ and tissue donors will be marked by press conferences. Local officials, community leaders, celebrities, and those whose loved ones have donated, received, or are waiting for organs will participate. Specific event details will follow on a separate media advisory.

Choosing to become an organ and tissue donor acquires a new power -- the power to give someone a new life, and to give their families a lifetime of memories."

With the partnership between Supreme Clientele Travel and Donate Life Florida, donor information will be transmitted electronically directly from SCT to Donate Life's online registry. The traveler's decision acts as an advanced directive for organ and tissue donation, and for travelers drivers 18 and older, it does not require the consent of any other person.

For brochures and more information call 407-413-9578.
To donate- just book travel(car rentals, hotels, cruises, golf, airfare, event tickets and attraction tickets) at www.supremeclienteletravel.biz, 30% of all commissions are donated to Donate Life Florida.

Hilton Seeks To Launch New Luxury Brand

Hilton Hotels Corp. today announced it is negotiating to develop a new luxury brand in several gateway cities around the globe.

The brand, Denizen Hotels, will be positioned alongside Hilton's current deluxe offerings, the Waldorf Astoria Collection and Conrad Hotels & Resorts. Locations currently under negotiation include several within the United States—New York, Washington, D.C., Miami, Beverly Hills and Hollywood, Calif., Las Vegas and Austin, Texas—as well as in London, Mumbai, Montreal, Abu Dhabi, Buenos Aires, Cancun and Los Cabos, Mexico, Istanbul, Jerusalem and Panama City, Panama.

"While we continue to operate in a challenging macroeconomic environment, the addition of Denizen Hotels demonstrates our commitment to continuing to invest in our long-term growth," Hilton president and CEO Christopher Nassetta said in a statement. "Denizen hotels, a lifestyle brand that will attract business and leisure travelers across cultures and generations and has an authenticity that will appeal to today's sensibilities, will be highlighted by exceptional design and service at an accessible price point."

Denizen properties will vary from location to location, some designed for urban centers and others being larger destination resorts, Hilton said.

The brand is Hilton's second to launch this year, following the launch of midprice extended stay brand Home2 Suites by Hilton in January

For Business Travel
For Leisure Travel
24 hour Call Center (866)782-9838

Stay tax-free at the Helmsley Hotel in NYC

We suspect this news might have the late Leona Helmsley spinning in her grave, but her namesake lodging, the New York Helmsley Hotel, has announced a "tax-free" night for guests staying on April 15. That's about $50 off the $250 room rate.

For more information and bookings call toll free 866-782-9838

Visit www.yourbusinesstravel.info (business travel)
www.supremeclienteletraravel.biz (leisure travel)

Celebrate your birthday with a free night at a Disney World resort

The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort is planning to make the happiest place on Earth a little happier. Guests who book at least a three-night stay at the resort over their birthday will receive one free night's stay.

Disney devotees who celebrate their big day at one of the resort's posh eateries —

The birthday bonus comes on top of Walt Disney World's ongoing promotion that grants birthday boys and girls a gratis ticket to the theme park on their big day this year, no matter the number of candles on their birthday cake. Visit www.supremeclienteletravel.biz or call 866-782-9838 for more information.

SUPREME CLIENTELE TRAVEL PROVIDES NEWEST PHONE SIM CARD AT THE LOWEST CALLING RATES

United States of America (Press Release) March 13, 2009 --
Supreme Clientele Travel is now afilliated with Long Distance Post, LLC, one of the premier distributors of prepaid mobile phones, prepaid cellular service, and international long distance calling services, introduces OneSIMCard, the most feature-packed, pre-paid international cell phone service.

OneSIMCard is a prepaid international SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card that allows users to take their GSM phone overseas and make calls without incurring high roaming charges from their current wireless service provider.
(GSM is Global System for Mobile Communication, a widely used digital mobile phone standard.) OneSIMCard works in over 140 countries worldwide and offers rates that are lower than any competitive SIM card in the industry. In addition, it carries no monthly
fees and no expiration of the phone number.

A small printed circuit board that is inserted in any GSM/GPRS/3G based mobile device, OneSIMCard contains subscriber details, security information and a variety of other functions such as memory storage. When a long distance call is made from or to a foreign country, OneSIMCard immediately initiates the call at the low OneSIMCard rate - up to 85% lower than conventional long distance service.
source: FPR


New SIM Card Offers Most Complete Services

There are several options for utilizing the OneSIMCard product. Users can buy the card as a stand-alone product for use in any tri- or quad-band GSM phone. They can also purchase an international mobile phone with the card already inserted. Renting a phone is a perfect option for travelers going on a short trip abroad who will need the phone for less than 15 days, and who do not plan to take another trip within one year.

OneSIMCard also focuses on providing global mobile services to corporate international travelers. The service provides special features that allow management of a fleet of international mobile phones. OneSIMCard Web tools allow those overseeing corporate travel expenses to not only realize substantial savings on long distance calling, but to efficiently manage the OneSIMCard account of one or hundreds of employee accounts through a variety of easy-to-access features. These include viewing or changing user's card balances; setting users' SIM card recharge options; blocking/unblocking any user's SIM card for fraud protection; reassigning cards to new users; sending instruction e-mails to users, broadcasting SMS messages to a group and more. Visit www.yourbusinesstravel.info to get your card today.

Car Rental Cos. Decelerate In Fourth Quarter

Slowing demand, soft pricing and increasing fleet costs resulted in fourth-quarter losses for all three major publicly traded car rental companies.

Hertz Global Holdings last week reported a $1.21 billion loss for the fourth quarter of 2008, with revenue down 16 percent for the quarter to $1.8 billion. "Unfortunately, the progress we made in many areas during 2008 was outweighed by the severe impact on the overall falling demand, competitive pricing and higher fleet costs as residual baggage declined in the car rental business as well as the more significant downturn in our highly profitable rental segment," Hertz chairman and CEO Mark Frissora said in a statement.

U.S. pricing was down by 6 percent at airport locations and by 2 percent at off-airport locations, according to Hertz, as the company was unable to sustain a price increase announced in late October.

Avis Budget Group reported a $121 million loss for the quarter, citing what CEO Ronald Nelson called an "unprecedented set of challenges." The company enacted an aggressive cot-cutting plan during the quarter, eliminating more than 2,100 positions, closing 27 locations and reducing expenses, including those of its loyalty program.

Car rental revenues for the quarter were down 9 percent, driven by a 6 percent decrease in rental days and a 6 percent decrease in time and mileage revenue per day, Avis Budget reported. Fleet costs, meanwhile, were up 11 percent.

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group also reported a $72.2 million loss for the quarter, more than double the $30.6 million loss it reported in the same period of 2007. Revenue for the quarter was down 9.8 percent compared with the prior year, driven by a 6.8 percent decrease in revenue per day and a 3.2 percent drop in rental days.

The company said it expects its rental revenues to drop between 6 percent and 12 percent this year compared with 2008.

Airport Check-in: Businesses, airlines eye air-traffic control

WHAT'S NEW

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has formed a coalition of business, tourism and airline officials to lobby for full funding of initiatives aimed at overhauling the country's air-traffic control system and reducing delays that plague the region's airports.

The newly formed National Alliance to Advance NextGen, as the modernization plan is called, is composed of nearly 100 organizations. NextGen is an advanced Global Positioning System that helps air-traffic controllers move aircraft more efficiently and is a key component in the Federal Aviation Administration's plans to upgrade the national airspace system.

As part of an FAA reauthorization bill, funding for NextGen is expected to require $8 billion to $10 billion for the first 10 years, and $15 billion to $22 billion through 2025, according to the coalition. The group also called for the technology to be deployed in the New York region first, since a large portion of the nation's delays can be traced to three airports — JFK, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty — in the area.

• Even as the nation's air traffic fell, SuperShuttle, the shared van service company, says its business improved in 2008 due to travelers looking for cheaper transportation options to the airport. Its passenger volume at the 11 airports where it has operated at least a year rose by 2.3% from 2007. Air traffic at these airports fell 6.6%, it says.

Airlines say they lost more than $8 billion in 2008

The world's airlines lost up to $8 billion last year, far more than the $5 billion previously estimated, a global industry body said on Monday.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said airline losses exceeded $4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, a period in which the global credit, financial and economic crises became acute.

"Airlines are now losing money at the operating level," IATA said in its latest Airlines Financial Health Monitor.

While falling oil prices have provided some respite in past months, many airlines committed themselves to paying higher prices in the last months of 2008 because of hedging, IATA said.

The Geneva-based body had previously estimated industry-wide losses at $5 billion in 2008.

FAA settles with Southwest Airlines for $7.5M

Southwest Airlines will pay a fine of $7.5 million for flying planes that had missed critical safety checks — $2.7 million less than government regulators initially ordered.

The agreement announced Monday by the Federal Aviation Administration also gives the Dallas-based airline nearly two years to pay the fine in three installments of $2.5 million each. The first installment is due in 10 business days from the signing of the agreement.

Last year FAA ordered Southwest to pay $10.2 million, which would have been the largest fine in the agency's history. The airline protested the fine and had been in negotiations with FAA for the past year.

The largest fine against an airline by FAA remains a $9.5 million penalty against Eastern Airlines in 1987 that wasn't fully paid because the airline went bankrupt. The $7.5 million settlement agreement with Southwest marks the next largest, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said.

The airline was fined for flying 46 Boeing 737s on 59,791 flights without performing mandatory inspections for fuselage cracks. An estimated 145,000 passengers flew on the unchecked planes on 1,451 flights over an eight-day period in the spring of 2007 after the FAA had notified the airline of the inspection problem.

Federal investigators charged FAA's cozy regulatory climate with airlines led to the suppression of whistle-blower complaints against Southwest. After the allegations were made public, FAA announced stepped-up inspection efforts of all carriers' maintenance records, leading to hundreds of planes being grounded in early 2008.

The settlement agreement also requires Southwest to pay an additional $7.5 million if it does not accomplish 13 safety-related steps, including:

• Increasing by eight the number of onsite technical representatives the airline has at companies that perform major maintenance on its airplanes.

• Allowing FAA inspectors improved access to information used for tracking maintenance and engineering activities.

"This agreement furthers aviation safety by requiring important improvements to the airline's safety program. Some of those safety measures exceed FAA regulations," said FAA Acting Administrator Lynne A. Osmus.

Southwest said in a statement: "This settlement with the FAA will allow us to focus on safety going forward, rather than on issues that are behind us and that have since been addressed."