Here's a Quick Summary of Last Week's Big Travel News

Last week was full of important travel events, some good some bad. Let's deal quickly with the poor developments first, so that we can devote most attention to the positive.
 
The eruption of violence in Egypt, following the deaths of 70 spectators at a soccer march in Port Said, was of a wholly different nature than previous outbreaks of that sort and it has radically changed the safety situation in that country. Protestors accused not simply the military but the local police of being complicit in the soccer riot, and physically attacked police posts and police officers, who generally withdrew from the scene (and are no longer functioning as an effective police force). It became undeniable, last week, that Egypt for the time being does not have an effective, local police presence, on which the tourist can rely for safety in a whole range of situations. And I must therefore withdraw the expressions of confidence I have previously made and alter my belief that Egypt is currently safe to visit. For the time being, it isn't, and a great country has, temporarily at least, been removed from the list of potential travel destinations.
 
In a childish response to the Department of Transportation's new pro-consumer regulations, requiring (among other things) that passengers may cancel a booking within 24 hours, without incurring penalties, the equally childish Spirit Airlines announced last week that it will add a $2 "unintended consequences" surcharge to all its air tickets, designed to reimburse that poor, deserving airline for the alleged damage it will suffer from the new rule. (Actually, prior to the new rule-making, several large airlines, including industry leader Delta, had themselves voluntarily announced that passengers would be permitted to cancel without penalty within 24 hours of booking a flight). Let me voice an angry opinion. The President of Spirit Airlines, who is also the author of numerous other extra, pesky, and unique-to-Spirit charges and fees imposed upon passengers, is a real piece of work from whom we have come to expect such petty retaliations. How much longer will consumers regard Spirit as a source of inexpensive flights?
 
Last week, too, Malev Airlines of Hungary went bankrupt,
removing a popular carrier from a number of both trans-Atlantic and intra-European flights. Though Malev's routes may now be flown by Ryanair, it won't be the same, and we must all mourn the loss of a once-popular carrier.
 
But greatly overcoming these dire developments was the fact that the Department of Transportation, under the leadership of Secretary Ray LaHood, succeeded last week in turning aside various airline-sponsored lawsuits designed to prevent the Department's latest pro-consumer regulations from going into effect. And therefore, last week, they became operative: hence, airlines will be required to include all fees and government taxes in the airfares they advertise. And, as you've already heard, passengers will be permitted to cancel their reservations without penalty, within 24 hours of making them.
 
As for those taxes and fees, they are sometimes almost as high as the airfare itself, and numerous travelers have been shocked to learn -- too late in the booking process -- that the $350 flight they thought they had booked was really costing $700 including all mandatory fees and taxes. The new regulations will enable all of us to have a clearer (and valuable) understanding of the cost of travel.
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Published on February 07, 2012 08:39
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