Arthur's Blog: Week's End Round-Up of Significant Events that Could Impact Your Travel Plans

It's been a fairly quiet week in travel. Prince Harry is no longer cavorting in the fleshpots of Las Vegas, and only a single country -- Pakistan -- has been added in the last several days to the State Department's list of places to avoid.

The most significant news of practical interest to travelers is that the pilots of American Airlines are apparently engaged in a work slow-down in protest against the proposed terms of their contract with the airline presented to the bankruptcy court. The result is that a major percentage of AA's flights are nearly an hour late in leaving and arriving, and a huge number of American Airlines flights are being cancelled, wreaking havoc on the travel plans of a great many people. (And, by the way, it was not me or other bloggers who called attention to the problem but the esteemed travel editor of the Wall Street Journal.)

The other significant travel news was announcement of a major airfare sale to London by Virgin Atlantic Airways for most of the remaining weeks in 2012, and from all eight of Virgin Atlantic's gateway cities in the U.S.: New York; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Miami; Orlando; Vegas; Los Angeles; and San Francisco. But it's an example of how high fares have risen that these off-season offers of $854 round-trip from New York and $930 from Los Angeles, are regarded as "sales." Though the discounted prices include all fees, taxes and surcharges of every sort, a tab of $900 or so doesn't seem that cheap to me, and the British pound has also risen a bit in value in recent weeks.

In the world of cruising, various lines are now announcing that they will sell you the right to enjoy unlimited hard drinks (martinis, scotch-and-waters, manhattans, whiskey-sours, beer and wine, you name it) for $49 a day. Two ships of Carnival cruises have joined Royal Caribbean and Celebrity in offering the drink-yourself-silly plan, and I'm betting that other lines will follow in the next few days. If you're a determined guzzler, you might inquire before booking your next sailing. And keep in mind that all-inclusive hotels already offer this facility for no extra charge, but rather included in their rates. I well remember my first visit to a Sandals resort in the Caribbean, where I saw various young people imbibing daiquiris and margaritas at 8 a.m. in the morning. They were free!

The re-positioning cruises of Celebrity Cruises in October and November, as sold by Online Vacation Center, deserve a mention. OVC's gimmick is to throw in air transportation to Europe to board the ships (which then take two weeks to cross the Atlantic to Florida), plus a couple of nights at a European hotel in advance of the cruise, and then to charge less than $2,000 for the totally-all-inclusive two-week package, on an upscale ship. That's quite a bargain, and you can learn more by phoning the cruise discounter at 800/329-9002.

And finally, the State Department's list of countries to avoid has now reached a total of 33 (some are listed because parts of the nation -- not all of it -- are deemed to be unsafe). As a service, they are (starting with the most recent to be named, and proceeding to the oldest): Pakistan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Sudan, Algeria, Libya, North Korea, South Sudan, Guinea, Mali, Syria, Israel, Iraq, Congo, Central African Republic, Kenya, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Haiti, Somalia, Philippines, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Cote d'Ivoire, Burundi, Eritrea, Niger, Chad, Yemen, Colombia, and Mexico. That still leaves plenty of the world to be visited safely.