Tea Party gets the Royal Caribbean treatment with a cruise dubbed The WND Tea Party at Sea - Photo By Captain-tucker at http://commons.wikimedia.org/

The WoldNet Daily is sponsoring a cruise dubbed The WND Tea Party at Sea aboard Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas this coming September 19^th – 26^th, 2010.

The WoldNet Daily, also known as the WND is sponsoring the Royal Caribbean cruise as a setting for “true patriots who are passionately committed to the principles of liberty and freedom as granted to us by the Founding Fathers.”

Joseph and Elizabeth Fara will be the hosts and will include an impressive array of guest speakers including former presidential candidate Alan Keyes and former Admiral Jeremiah Denton who also will speak. Other headliners include Jerome Corsi, author of numerous New York Times best-sellers as well as some of the WND’s own staff writers who are also bestselling authors.

Also onboard will be Hannah Gile’s who gained national attention back in Sept. 2009 for helping to expose corruption within ACORN when she posed as a prostitute in an undercover video sting. Leading to legislative action against the group.

For Tea Party faithful that can’t make the September voyage there will be another Royal Caribbean adventure taking place by WorldNet Daily in January 2011.

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Government may remove BP oil cap in anticipation of tropical storm

The Gulf of Mexico region is preparing for the worse as a tropical storm could force the government to remove the BP oil cap that has so far contained the release of oil from the Deepwater Horizon well.

According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami there is a cluster of thunderstorm converging in the Bahamas that have formed a tropical depression Thursday morning. Current storm tracks anticipate the storm reaching the spill site in about 2 ½ days.

With the tropical storm bearing down work on the well has come to a standstill forcing BP to stop efforts to complete the relief tunnel it had been working on that they hope will permanently solve the issue of free flowing oil in the Gulf. The storm could disrupt the time table BP set to have the relief tunnel completed by late July.

Right now retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen was in a wait and see situation to determine if necessary vessels would be ordered out of the area or not. If crews are ordered to leave it could be up to two weeks before they are allowed back in the area to take up where they left off.

Right now experts are trying to decide if BP can successfully monitor the plugged well from shore. If not the decision to reopen the cap could be made, allowing the oil to flow freely into the Gulf according to Allen.

The issue is that if they can’t monitor the situation from shore and underwater pipes burst or leak from other location, it could cause a bigger more wide spread problem than simply allowing the oil to flow freely till they can return to the site.

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Air Traffic Controller - Photo By Department of Defense

Last week a United Airlines flight waiting to land at Reagan National Airport came within less than a mile of a business jet that was climbing after taking off from another nearby airport. The United Airlines pilot can be heard on an air-traffic-control recording saying to his controller, “That was close,” according to Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R., Wis.),  who was a passenger on the United flight who has listened to the recording.

This is not an isolated incident as government officials have become concerned over a rash of near-collisions involving airliners of late. There have been at least a half dozen incidents In recent months in which airliners came close to colliding with other aircraft, including in San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Burbank, Calif., and Anchorage, Alaska. In some instances, pilots made last-second course corrections to avoid collisions after cockpit alarms warned of an impending crash.

A new program that encourages controllers to disclose their mistakes has resulted in the FAA receiving about 250 to 300 reports a week. In exchange for honest reporting by air traffic controller the agency promises not to use the information to punish employees. Instead, the reports are used to spot trends. The program is modeled on a similar program for airline pilots.

In response to the troubling statistics being gathered the FAA is convening a summit of employees and management, as well as other safety experts, in Washington on Aug. 17. The summit will mark the third time in less than four years the agency has hosted a special meeting to address urgent safety problems.

Sometime this fall the FAA hope’s to restart a program that had been discontinued after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that gives controllers a chance to ride in cockpit jump seats so that they can experience air-traffic operations from a pilot’s perspective.

Despite the near misses major airline crashes have actually dropped significantly over the past decade in large part due to advances in safety equipment in cockpits, such as the collision-warning systems.

However, one consequence has been that it’s easy for controllers and pilots to lose their edge as a result of such equipment, said former Transportation Department Inspector General Mary Schiavo.

Baggage fees are just one of many new airline fees House Democrats are considering taxing

There’s no doubt that the number of fees airlines are charging passengers has increased significantly over the last few years and not House Democrats are considering legislation that would tax the fees airlines are collecting on the fees.

Airlines have added fees on numerous items and service recently including paying for meals, pillows, blankets, headphones, seat selection, beverages, to check the luggage and more. Such fees have been criticized by House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D., Minn.) and Rep. Jerry Costello (D., Ill.) calling the fees “backdoor price increases”.

Government data has shown that airlines are increasingly relying on ticket surcharges to offset spikes in fuel prices and overcome weak demand. The airlines collected roughly $1.3 billion dollars from fees for checked baggage and reservation changes in the first three months of this year, a 13% increase over the same period in 2009.

The government currently collects a 7.5% excise tax on passenger fares but not on ancillary fees. By applying the excise tax to baggage fees, which provided about $2.5 billion in revenue for airlines last year, would have led to an additional $186 million in federal excise taxes, according to congressional investigators.

Spirit Airlines President Ben Baldanza defended the “a la carte” fee model, saying that it gives passengers a choice of what services they chose to pay for.

Taxing the fee revenue would hurt industry and consumers, he said. “Such taxes would surely harm competition, raise costs and slow the industry’s recovery from a decade of losses,” he said.

Baldanza added that the ancillary fees shouldn’t be taxed because such services “do not use the infrastructure that the tax is intended to pay for.”

The Department of Transportation recently proposed rules requiring greater transparency of airline fees. The rules would require that ticket prices include fuel surcharges and greater prominence of other ancillary fees on websites. The rules would also require that passengers be reimbursed when their luggage is late or lost.

Consumer advocates praised the proposed rules, saying they would help consumers compare prices more easily.

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Several years ago back when bags flew free and meals were included with certain flights the airlines would also do more for passengers if a flight was cancelled or significantly delayed.

It used to be common for stranded travelers to get a somewhat fair compensation for when the airlines were at fault for a cancellation and sometimes even if it wasn’t the airlines fault such as bad weather. Back around 5 or so years ago airlines paid for hotels and even meals much more readily, but these hard economic times the airlines will do just about anything to get out of paying for such costs even if they are at fault.

Bill Mosley, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation, said that the federal government does not regulate what airlines must do for passengers on canceled flights, though carriers are legally obligated to fulfill any promises made in their contract of carriage which is the lengthy document that governs ticket purchases.

Of course if you were to read this document you’d find that the word “may” has replaced “will” in most circumstances so as to make it so the airlines are responsible for next to nothing and thus not responsible to adequately compensate passengers whose flights get cancelled.

Among the events that are considered beyond the airline’s control are: bad weather, acts of God, terrorist activities, war, strikes, “any shortage of labor, fuel or facilities” and “any event not reasonably foreseen, anticipated or predicted” by the airline.

So basically only actual problems with the aircraft itself “may” get a passenger who “asks” some sort of reasonable compensation, but in many cases even then it just may not happen. In fact Southwest airlines includes a “mechanical difficulties” clause in its contract.

Once upon a time airlines used to try to book a stranded passenger on another airlines, but again they now say they “may” do so and more and more that simply isn’t happening as airlines are working together less and less.

The best a stranded traveler can do these days is to be nice when you do get stranded as airline representatives do have some leeway so if you have a special circumstance such as a wedding or funeral they “may” see if they can do something to help you out. Otherwise your ext option could be to buy another ticket on another airline then sue the offending carrier in small claims court to get your money back from your original ticket purchase.

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Juneau Alaska Cruise - Photo By Stephen C. Dayton

JUNEAU, Alaska – Several cruise lines which had been fighting the state of Alaska over a per passenger head tax have dropped their suit after reaching a compromise with state legislators as reported by MSNBC.

According to an article in the Anchorage Daily News, Governor Sean Parnell met with several cruise line executives and expressed interest in a compromise that would cut the tax from $46 to $34.50 per passenger in exchange for an end to the suit and the return of more cruise ships to the region.

The tax itself has helped to raise roughly $38 million per year for the state, but for local businesses it wasn’t such a good deal.

The tax was at least partially to blame for the cruise industry to reduce the number of ships that normally sail into Alaskan ports which would reduce the number of passengers that would shop in Alaskan town by roughly 140,000 people.

Alaska, which has the highest cruise ship passenger tax in the world, depends heavily on income from tourism and the cruise lines bring the state nearly 1 million passengers every year so working out a compromise on the tax rather than going through a long court battle was something both sides could benefit from.

Cruise lines will be reimbursed an additional amount each time a ship calls in Juneau, Ketchikan or both. If ships stop in Ketchikan they will be refunded an additional $7 per person and $8 per person for calls in Juneau. With 75% of cruise ships stopping in both of these ports it can further reduce the total tax from $34.50 down to $19.50 per person.

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solar eclipse - Photo By NASA Goddard Photo and Video at Flickr.com

LOS ANGELES (CA) – If you want to see a total eclipse of the sun you’ll need to make some travel plans.

A total eclipse of the sun will only be visible to a rather narrow area of the earth’s southern hemisphere this year. The moon’s shadow will obscure the sun across the south pacific, darkening the skies over Easter Island, the Cook Islands, southern Chile and Argentina.

The show should begin around sunrise and will last for just a little over 5 minutes at the most in an area over open water and will be shorter over land masses.

A solar eclipse is an event where the moon and the sun line up with the earth so as the moon passes between us and the sun it blocks out the sun for a brief time, but the location on earth where this can be seen is generally somewhat narrow and the location changes every year.

This year the eclipse will not be visible from any major cities. Last year the solar eclipse was the longest one of the 21^st century and fell across a large portion of Asia. Unfortunately inclement weather prevented many observers to get a less than spectacular show.

It is important to never look directly at the sun even during a solar eclipse with the naked eye. Special viewing glasses should be worn to protect the eyes.

Next year’s eclipse will occur in November and will be visible from northern Australia and the South Pacific.

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Transition Flying Car - Photo from terrafugia.com

WOBURN (MA) – Science fiction shows and cartoons like George Jetson have been promising us flying cars for decades, but Terrafugia (ter-ra-FOO-gee-ah) a company out of Woburn Massachusetts is finally making that a reality.

Terrafugia, been working closely with the FAA have since cleared hurdles that will now make it possible for a person to fly their car. To be more exact, fly their new Transition® by Terrafugia. The Federal Aviation Administration granted a special weight limit exemption to the Transition with a maximum takeoff weight of 1,430 pounds, including fuel and passengers. Gas mileage on the road will be around 30 mpg.

“It’s the next ‘wow’ vehicle,” said Terrafugia vice president Richard Gersh. “Anybody can buy a Ferrari, but as we say, Ferraris don’t fly.”

It doesn’t come cheap though with a price tag of around $194,000 which may not include extras such as a transponder or GPS, radio or an optional full plane parachute for extra safety.

While the vehicle will be able to fly and drive on roads it’s being pitched as more of a plane that can be driven with folding wings so you and the family can hit the road.

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U.S. Passport - Photo By bryansblog (Bryan Shrode) at Flickr.com

There are some big price increases when it comes to US passports starting July 13th.

If you already have a passport you’ll see your renewal fees shoot up to $110 from $75, according to the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs. If you’re getting a new passport adults will see a jump in price to $135 from $100, while those for minors will increase from $85 to $105.

John Echard, spokesmen for the Bureau of Consular Affairs says blame it on technology. “The switch to the e-passport with the chip and the additional security features are what is increasing the costs. It’s a lot more expensive to make passports now than it used to be.”

Since October of 2006 new passports and renewals have had an electronic chip embedded in the cover that carries all the information in the passport as well as facial recognition data. A US passport owners picture is digitally mapped and stored on the chip so when the passport is swiped, the information shows up on a computer screen for the screener. The government refers to this new version as an e-passport.

The new fees will help the Bureau of Consular Affairs cover the costs of everything from making and issuing passports, assisting crime victims to helping Americans bring home relatives who have died overseas. The bureau also is in charge of evacuating U.S. citizen in the event of a natural disaster.

While many people won’t like the new fees the increased fees are necessary to keep up with technology and for added security that the face recognition aspects provide.

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Google announced that they are serious about getting into the online travel market by offering $700 million cash for ITA Software which is a key travel search software firm. ITA currently provides airline flight information that is used by Google’s search competitors such as Bing.

For Bing (a Microsoft Search Engine) this must be disconcerting as Microsoft has invested heavily in the travel area and Bing depends on the data provided by ITA. Other non-search companies that use the data provided by ITA and thus may be feeling the heat are big players such as Expedia, Kayak and Cheap Flights. In fact Kayak had at one point tried to purchase ITA Software, but ultimately failed.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt explained that the reasoning behind the deal was that many consumers are currently frustrated with the way to search for airline ticket prices online, with prices often fluctuating and presenting a frustrating user experience. As such Google must feel that by purchasing ITA Software they’ll be able to rectify that pain point for online searchers and provide a cleaner more streamlined process.

Schmidt said, “We expect this will go through.” though he expects that there will be a delay in completing the ITA deal due to significant review of the deal by antitrust regulators.

The travel market generated $88.4 billion in sales last year and if this deal gets pass regulators it will clearly put Google in the driver’s seat against such competitors as Microsoft and Kayak.com.

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