A responsible traveler receives an inoculation before traveling abroad.

Recently the Center for Disease Control has become increasingly concerned about the large number of international travelers who don’t take health precautions very seriously and thus post the risk of spreading dangerous, infectious diseases to other travelers.

In the past two or three years, the CDC has logged over 650 reported cases of tuberculosis among travelers, carried principally by air when arriving or returning to the U.S. With the speed and abundance of air travel, a serious disease such as this has the potential to spread farther and faster than more notorious infections such as the famous case of Typhoid Mary.

Chicken pox and shingles also rank high among diseases that have the CDC concerned, especially because no one can say with certainty how many such cases go unreported each year. These are spread on cruise ships as well as airliners.

In such cases, to borrow a phrase from conservative football fans, “the best offense is a good defense.” Whenever one travels outside the U.S., it’s wise to contact the CDC or your local city or county health office to see what inoculations or preventatives are required or recommended for the destinations you plan to visit.

It’s estimated that a shocking two-thirds of travelers to Asia and Latin America who should arrange for them, do not get travel inoculations before leaving home. More than half of those traveling in areas subject to malaria have failed to take the necessary preventive measures. With numbers that large, the odds that you’ll be sitting next to one of them on a long flight are pretty high.

The solution is to see a travel doctor (often employed by the city or county of your residence) four to six weeks before your travel date to start the required course of recommended inoculations or preventative medications. Why a travel specialist instead of your family doctor? Because exotic viral diseases move and change, making it impossible for your personal physician to keep up to date with the current geo-spread of, say, dengue fever.

Also, your personal recommendation may change based on your own age or health status. Children, pregnant women, or those on certain medications need the benefit of a travel specialist when choosing travel vaccinations and precautions.

The more exotic the destination, the more necessary such measures become. (Remember that if you’re flying to and from Johannesburg for business, there’s a good chance you’ll be seated next to someone who’s been on safari.)

Those who are among the four-in-ten who act responsibly can travel with peace of mind, knowing they have protected themselves as well as members of the public in their close proximity.

It goes without saying that in addition to travel inoculations, care when consuming water is enormously important to your travel health.

For more about travel vaccinations, visit the CDC’s information page.

Ash above the Iceland volcano, as seen by a NASA satellite. Full disclosure: we lightened the image a bit in Photoshop to make it easier to see the details.

We captured this NASA satellite image of the Iceland volcano the other day. Yes, it’s been out of the news (mostly) but it’s still sending ash into the sky.

The thing is, disruptive as it is to travel, with the perversity of color digital imagery, it’s actually kind of beautiful from space. We thought you’d like to take a look.

Extra credit if you can pronounce it: Eyjafjallajokull.

President Obama announces plans for tightening airport security.

Just as the “twelfth man” can help a football team achieve a victorious season, so too can the public help with security. And these days, it’s more and more important that we are watchful as travelers, particularly when we fly.

There is no doubt that FBI agents and others have successfully foiled the attempts of bad guys in cases we’ll probably never learn about. But in the case of the tennis shoe bomber, the underpants bomber, and the hijackers aboard the United flight that landed in a Pennsylvania field on September 11, travelers were the final line of defense.

In each of those cases, passengers swung into action after the plane was aloft. However, it’s much more in our interests to sniff out potential trouble and contain it before take-off. To do so, we can be proactive in these ways:

1. Pay attention early. Lift your head from the newspaper/laptop/text message in the check-in and boarding areas and look around at those who will be getting on the plane with you, particularly if you are traveling to a major U.S. city.

2. Speak up. If someone seems to have erratic or unnatural behavior in the waiting area, quickly and quietly alert the gate agents and ask them to call security. If the agents at your gate are too busy to approach, find an agent at a nearby gate, or ask a newsstand vendor to call security for you.

3. Trust your instincts. If security fails to act on your request, and you’re still uncomfortable about the person who has caught your attention, politely insist on changing flights and tell the gate agent why. Your concern will protect you and also raise the attention level of those in charge.

4. Gather proof. Your phone can grab a helpful, quick image of a suspicious individual or an abandoned package, which you can show to security officials to help them identify and follow-up on the subject of your concern. (No need to get too close, though.)

5. Be sociable and observant. Engage your seat-mate in a friendly little chat as soon as you are seated, before the plane pulls away from the gate. Ask where they’re from, what they’ll be doing in your destination, where they started their journey … the usual traveler questions. If you feel something is abnormal — someone is too jittery, evasive or uncomfortable — then alert the flight attendant, especially if others also seem wary of your seat-mate’s irregularities. Remember, the plane will not leave the gate until all passengers are seated so as a last resort, simply stand up until you are satisfied that flight attendants have solved the problem.

As travelers we can’t become airborne vigilantes, but we must realize that in a complex and fluid situation such as air travel, the authorities simply cannot see everything ….

… even if they do capture the naked images of every passenger with those invasive, full-body scanners.

Peg Prideaux, CTC
010810

When should government employees be able to see naked images of your family?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from television shows such as
Law & Order and CSI, it’s that once something exists on a hard drive, it can never really be erased.

This is the first thought I have whenever the topic of full-body X-ray scan comes up. It’s the new-new thing in airport security, designed to thwart the latest danger to air travelers, which is, among other threats, your 16-year-old daughter.

To protect the traveling public, airport security is going to take pictures of her, naked, to make sure she has no weapons.

She won’t “feel” naked because the camera will look right through her clothes to record her image.

“Don’t worry,” officials say, because after the security team studies the photos, the digital images will be immediately destroyed. That’s because
(a) guys always tell the truth about deleting photographs of naked girls,
(b) no one will try to hack into the hard drive containing all the pictures, and
(c) stolen material never gets posted to the Internet.

Obviously, airport scanner security will have to be stronger than other systems that have leaked social security numbers, bank passwords, and confidential memos from secret Congressional investigations. Because if it’s not, your daughter’s picture will be out there for everyone to see, for the rest of her life.

Look, security is certainly a good thing, but so is common sense. Are X-ray images a benefit to travelers, or are they a public accident waiting to happen? What do you think?

Peg Prideaux, CTC
110409

P.S. If you’d like to see a sample of an airport X-ray image, brace yourself and then click here.

Estimated time of departure for Boeing's 787? It's anyone's guess.

Built with advanced carbon fiber construction, the 787 is much lighter than it would have been using traditional materials, resulting in 20 percent fewer emissions and 20 percent greater fuel efficiency, although its speed will remain about the same as a 747.

Inside: Larger luggage bins, bigger windows, and cleaner air.

Outside: Curved wings.

And yet: No telling when you’ll be able to fly in it.

The 787 is touted as holding great promise for the world’s airlines as well as for the global network of parts suppliers and sub-contractors on the ground; but the complexities of innovating with many new partners have overwhelmed Boeing’s original plans and delayed the 787’s delivery, a multi-billion-dollar boo-boo.

So you don’t get to fly in it yet.

Late 2010 … Maybe

Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA), first purchaser of the 787, is still waiting for planes it had planned to put into service two years ago. Boeing’s current estimate for delivery is late 2010, and skeptics call that an estimate to write on the calendar in pencil. And who are these skeptics? Well this week, it includes just about everyone in the investment community.

And why is that? Well, we won’t pretend to have a Wall Street decoder ring, so let’s just say the coffee-shop gossip around Seattle, where the plane gets its final assembly, has included a lot of head-scratching about how the 787 will keep its wings attached to the fuselage. It’s an essential question that leaves plenty for engineers work out while executives have some ’splainin’ to do to Boeing shareholders.

It’s not the kind of problem anyone likes to have this far into the game.

And naturally, it’s a big reason why you don’t get to fly in it yet.

Once Boeing gets the engineering squared away, and the jets are finally ready for scheduled production, and the shareholders have calmed down, then the airlines will have a choice of seating configurations ranging from 210 to 330 seats. As commercial airlines continue to need cash, it doesn’t take rocket scientist to predict how that will turn out.

And you’ll know that for sure, once you get to fly in it.

– Peg Prideaux, CTC
090409

New luggage fees ... is the sky the limit?

American Airlines is the next-to-last major U.S. airline to announce baggage fees for international flights. Coach passengers will soon be charged $100 round-trip for a second suitcase to Europe, India and the Caribbean; but first-class passengers will not pay the fee.

United Airlines is the only remaining big U.S. carrier that doesn’t (yet) charge fees for a second bag to Europe; but industry experts expect they will join the party soon. Why? Simple ‒ because airlines make millions of dollars on luggage fees, and they need the cash.

So, how can you avoid the fee?

Strategy No. 1: Fly by private jet, or fly first class with a commercial airline. This is our favorite option for all the obvious reasons.

Strategy No. 2: Use airline miles to upgrade to first class. Another really good option.

Strategy No. 3: If you can’t fly first class, then book a foreign carrier (they don’t levy the second-bag charge).

Strategy No. 4: Conserving cash? The most thrifty solution is to trade US airline mileage points for coach travel on foreign carriers. Expect to make compromises in your preferred flight dates or schedules to make this happen.

One carrier’s air miles are valid throughout the network of airlines that belong to that airline’s alliance group, listed below. Regional U.S. carriers (too many to list here) that feed into larger airlines often get similar air mile trades. For example, one of our staff uses Alaska Airlines miles to travel on foreign carriers through Alaska’s agreement with American.

The alliance partners are:

STAR ALLIANCE
US Carriers: United Airlines, US Airways
Foreign Carriers: Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana, Austrian, BMI, EgyptAir, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, Swiss International Airlines, TAP Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines

Example: Travel round-trip from North America to Europe in economy on Lufthansa for 50,000 miles. The equivalent travel in first class requires 140,000 United Airlines miles.

ONEWORLD ALLIANCE
US Carrier: American Airlines
Foreign Carriers: British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, JAL Japan Airlines, LAN, Malév, Qantas, Royal Jordanian

Example: Travel round-trip to Europe in economy off-peak or regular economy for 20,000 or 30,000 miles respectively (transatlantic travel only) on British Airways. First class on BA is 125,000 American Airlines miles.

SKYTEAM ALLIANCE
US Carriers: Delta Air Lines, Continental Airlines
Foreign Carriers: Aeroflot, AeroMexico, Air France, KLM, Alitalia, China Southern, Czech Airlines, Korean Air

Example: SkyMiles are awarded in only two categories (coach and premium). To travel in coach with Air France, round-trip from North America, requires 60,000 miles in low season, 90,000 miles in medium season, and 125,000 miles in high season. The same travel in premium class costs 100,000 Delta Air Lines miles in low season, 200,000 miles in medium season, and 350,000 miles in high season.

Caveat: The mileage amounts quoted here are from the airline charts as of today, and are provided principally as a basis of comparison. Your specific itinerary, travel date, or airline combination may have wrinkles that require additional points. Or as the airlines always say, everything is subject to change without notice.

‒ Peg Prideaux, CTC
082709

P.S. Strategy No. 5: Pack really, really light. A terrible option for those who like to shop.

P.P.S. UPDATE 09/11/09: As we predicted, United Airlines has added hefty charges for a second suitcase: $100 round-trip for transatlantic travelers; $60 round-trip for Mexico and the Caribbean. Save $5 each way when you book passage for your second bag on the airline’s website, www.united.com.

Tarmac Act: Musician Dave Carroll mourns his broken guitar

To the dismay of every iPhone/iPod-connected twenty-something, there are still a few humans who have not yet seen the music video, United Breaks Guitars. Some haven’t even heard of it.

It’s a good story so let’s catch up.

About a year and a half ago, singer-songwriter Dave Carroll and his band, Sons of Maxwell, were headed to a performance. They flew United Airlines with a connection in Chicago. There, at O’Hare Airport, Carroll says baggage handlers chose to throw his guitar rather than stow it. The damage was significant, and the repair estimate came in at around $1,200.

Carroll tried to get United to accept responsibility for repairs; but after a year of getting nowhere, he informed United that his band would make not just one, but a trio of music videos to commemorate the way the airline had treated him.

You can see where this is going.

United probably thought that Carroll had more bravado than bravura; but to the viral delight of more than five million You Tube viewers, the singer was true to his word. The first video, United Breaks Guitars, has brought fame to the Sons of Maxwell, while the airline has become the current symbol of big business attitudes gone bad.

We’ve all encountered those companies that put a higher value their internal policies and red tape than on their customers. In such circumstances most of us huff and puff until our friends don’t want to hear any more about it. Sometimes we write a vitriolic letter. But here comes Dave Carroll to set that frustration to music — a gentler yet more powerful approach to upbraiding the company that was once the home of friendly skies.

The band’s second video, United Breaks Guitars: Song 2, was released a couple of days ago and has chalked up 200,000 views already.

So, United may have a PR problem (some would say self-inflicted), but you have the opportunity to hear the complaint and tap your toes at the same time:

United Breaks Guitars: Song One
United Breaks Guitars: Song Two
Dave Carroll Music

‒ Peg Prideaux, CTC
082509

Anyone who has been in a similar situation knows how frustrating it can be.

Often flight attendants insist that passengers remain strapped into their seats, with little or no fresh air, food or water and, occasionally, malfunctioning toilet systems. Inside, cabin temperatures (and tempers) tend to rise.

Congress has heard about it from enough travelers to propose legislation that would require airlines to let passengers off the planes. Airlines have a number of good reasons for not wanting to do so; but tell that to your bladder, your blood pressure, or your baby.

Commercial jets line the runway, waiting to take off.

What You Can Do

If you’d like to avoid being stuck on a hot runway in an aluminum fuselage, then fly by private jet if you can. This way you can avoid the most congested airports altogether. Otherwise, choose one of the best performers with almost no incidence of three-hour delays: Southwest, Hawaiian, and Alaska Airlines.

P.S. Want to register your opinion with Congress? Dial the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your representative’s office. (Look up your representative here.)

– Peg Prideaux, CTC
081909