Split personalities: A wine tour of the Rhone

With major airlines making headlines by losing billions of dollars and entering bankruptcy protection, passengers are justified in being a little concerned about their next flight. Filing for bankruptcy doesn't mean a carrier is about to shut its doors. Heck, an airline could survive the process without inconveniencing a single passenger. But invoking Chapter 11 is not a good sign. In the early 1990s, America West, Continental, Pan Am, Midway, and TWA all filed for bankruptcy; America West and Continental are the only two still around. And while TWA was sold with little disruption to travelers, Midway went belly-up overnight, stranding customers with few options. No one knows if a major carrier will cease operations anytime soon, but at the very least a period of consolidation among airlines seems imminent. Be aware before you buy: Airlines enter Chapter 11 to reorganize debt--and to give them leverage when it comes to agreements with creditors and labor unions. It's a more dire situation when a carrier goes into Chapter 7 bankruptcy, when planes and other assets are liquidated and routes are often canceled. There are no telltale indications that an airline will be OK, but getting concessions from labor unions is generally considered a good sign (if not for the workers). When unions refuse to budge, it often spells trouble. Pay with a credit card: The Fair Credit Billing Act gives credit card customers the right to dispute charges for services not received. People who never get the chance to use tickets can at least get reimbursed by the bank that issued their card. Use miles sooner rather than later: Your frequent-flier miles might be safe if your airline files for bankruptcy or is bought by a competitor. Then again, they could become worthless overnight. Airlines can change, or even eliminate, miles programs at a moment's notice, so use miles whenever you have the chance. Another safeguard: If you're a frequent flier with an airline in financial trouble, reserve through that airline but fly on one of its stable code-share partners. Know the law: The Aviation & Transportation Security Act stated that passengers holding tickets on a defunct airline are entitled, within 60 days of cessation of services, to go standby on any U.S.-based airline that flies that route, for a $25 fee. The law was passed as a temporary measure in the aftermath of 9/11, but expired Nov. 19, 2004. Congress expects it to be reinstated, but as of December 2004 passengers with tickets on defunct airlines have little recourse than seeking reimbursement from their credit card companies. Have a worst-case-scenario plan: If you're at the airport when your airline ceases operations, rather than simply waiting for a standby seat on another carrier to open up, use your cell phone or laptop to research flight schedules. It's a good idea to know which airlines fly to your destination and whether alternative airports offer similar connections. Airport flight guides are usually available in booklet form, or they can be downloaded from the airport's website.

No one said life, or travel deals, were fair. Single travelers have long been on the short end of the travel package stick, sometimes having to pay almost the price of two adult fares for a private room. Down on below the solo traveler, at the bottom of the pile of neglected travel groups, are single parents traveling with children. In recent years, some tours have started offering "single parent specials," but they often turn out to be "special" in name only. When you do the math, they turn out to be nothing more than a slight reduction on the usual two-adult rate. Single parents have searched for years in vain for travel organizations that take their kind seriously. Why does no one seem to cater to their market? It basically comes down to money. Travel companies are in business to make money and maximize profits. They are happiest when things are simple, when clients agree to cookie-cutter packages intended for double occupancy. Attempts are made to keep changes (and work on the tour operator's part) to a minimum. But not everyone fits into the categories a tour operator wants (usually a family with two parents or an adult couple). Driven mad by the lack of options, many single parents have started networks to exchange travel advice, options, and recommendations on their own. One of these single parents is Brenda Elwell, who runs singleparenttravel.net and writes a monthly newsletter for the site. A single parent for more than 20 years, Elwell has traveled around the world leading tours, often bringing her two children along with her to South and Central America, the Middle East, the Orient, and on countless road trips. The monthly newsletter is filled with advice for single parents, such as how to teach a child to read a map (while you're driving), how to plan activities that everyone will enjoy, and how to budget day-by-day expenses on your trip. What Elwell has learned in the course of her experiences is that high prices are just one the aggravations for the single parent. Activities on packages are another. Take your typical cruise or resort. The usual family package separates children from the adults during the day. The kids go to daycare or play games with other kids, and the parents play golf or take in some sun. Many parents want a break from their usual responsibilities and are more than happy to have the children out of their hair for the day. But single parents tend to work long hours, and want to spend their vacations together with their children. At many resorts at night, there are plenty of romantic things for couple to do--dancing, hot tubbing and the like. "Single adults with children feel out of place in most resorts," says Elwell. "They are just not set up for them, and it's not fair." In response, Elwell has put together a survey on the needs of single parents, the results of which she plans to publicize widely within the travel industry (and hopefully bring about much-needed change). If you'd like to take part in the survey, simply go to singleparenttravel.net/survey. All survey respondents will automatically be enrolled in a lottery, the prize being a free vacation for three at a Beaches resorts. The survey takes approximately five minutes to fill out, and all information will be kept confidential (not to worry, they won't sell your name and email address!). More sources for singletons and their kids We've found a few other sites that may also be helpful for the single parent struggling to put together a vacation that you and the children will enjoy. Family Travel Forum has a message board familytravelforum.com/forum/singletravel where people post questions, offer advice, and sometimes plan trips together with other single parents. Parents Without Partners (parentswithoutpartners.org) is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting single parents and their children. Its Web site occasionally has links to travel resources and articles aimed at single parents. Single Parent Central (singleparentcentral.com) and Single Parent Magazine (singleparentmagazine.com) also host general online message boards where you can find occasional discussion of travel issues. More Web sites and resources will surely arise in the future as travel organizations realize this is a large market of people who are not going to disappear. But be careful if you're surfing the Web looking for single parent travel opportunities. In our searching, we found that many sites for "single parent travel" turned out to be dating or mail-order bride services, and swingers' vacations! No joking.

The Real Deal: Roundtrip direct flight from New York City to Papeete, Tahiti for $1,000 for weekend roundtrip airfare When: July 7-Dec. 15, 2005 Gateways: New York City (JFK) Details: Maximum stay is four days Book By: June 30, 2005 Contact: Air Tahiti, airtahitinui-usa.com Independence Day will bring New York City and Tahiti closer together this year -- only a nonstop flightaway. Air Tahiti Nui,  the leading carrier to French Polynesia, has launched a direct flight from New York City to Papeete, Tahiti, with operations starting this July. The highly desired and much-needed nonstop connection will make travel to the remote Tahitian Islands a lot easier and quicker for busy East Coasters. The 12-hour direct flight (the return flight from Papeete is 45 minutes longer) will take off three times a week -- Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays -- from JFK in a spacious airbus carrier with a seating capacity for 294 passengers. In light of the new launch, Air Tahiti Nui already has discount offers for New York flights lined up to go into effect in July. The leading discount special is priced at $1,000 for weekend roundtrip airfare with a maximum stay of four days, good between July.7 and Dec. 15, 2005. In order to qualify for the fare, you must choose Thursday departure from New York and a Sunday departure from Papeete. For other restrictions and booking rules go to Air Tahiti Nui's website. To put this new route and fare into perspective, the next lowest airfare from NYC to Tahiti in July is $1,940 on American. For a total of $1,369, you can fly to Tahiti from NYC and back and stay there for three nights. Tahiti Vacations is offering a weekend land-only package, starting at $369 and good for travel between Jul. 4 - Oct. 31, for a three-night stay at Le Meridien Tahiti in a lagoon view room. The offer includes all transfers and hotel taxes and you'll receive the special $1,000 roundtrip airfare from New York. Another special from Air Tahiti Nui starts at $1,609 and includes a roundtrip from New York, a welcome lei, five nights at Moorea at Hotel Kaveka, inter-island travel via air and ferry, three night in Tahiti at Tiare Noa Noa, transfers and baggage handling. You must use a code for the offer, which is valid starting in July. For more information, visit the website.

On the quays leading to a store-lined main street, a scraggly group of hawkers fidgets nervously as they await the imminent onslaught of 1,400+ visitors. At curbside stands bearing English-language signs, they will have short minutes to dispose of their cheap straw hats, their gaudy T-shirts. As the tenders deposit a regiment of humanity from the giant vessel anchored offshore, noise and confusion erupt. A military band blares away. The first arrivals go dashing to a celebrated perfume shop, while others rush to ranks of foul-smelling tour buses or to stand in line for casino admission. And that is the scene encountered many times in a single week by Americans sailing through the Caribbean on certain massive cruise ships. Others, repelled by the urban qualities they traveled so many miles to avoid, are opting for a wholly different seagoing experience, on a 'tiny' ship--one that accommodates 60 to 150 passengers and goes to quiet ports or secluded beaches. In a backlash from current mega-cruiseship trends, a market is growing for yacht-like vessels with shallow drafts enabling them to go directly onto palm-lined shores or to small marinas in cozy bays. Their customers often are an affluent but unpretentious lot who relax on board in shorts and sandals, follow no schedules at all, and attend no ship 'events'--there aren't any. Ashore, they dine quietly in the fresh-fish restaurant of a backwater town, or lie reading a paperback novel in a rope hammock, hearing nothing but sea gulls and waves. Among the 'tiny' ships (many of which are marvelous refurbished tall-masted vessels) that bring you that form of paradise are: Windjammer Cruises Like that cabin boy in Two Years Before the Mast, you'll stumble in dazed excitement onto the teakwood decks of an actual ocean schooner with sails--as sleek as a greyhound, but with the tiny, cot-equipped cabins you'd expect on so narrow a vessel. You have the run of the entire ship: bowsprit, even crow's nest and at the wheel--and are actually encouraged to help the professional crew with steering the ship. Each day you anchor off a quiet beach or tiny port, to which your lunch is brought by kitchen crew wading through the surf. You live throughout in shorts and sandals, in sheer relaxation or happy camaraderie with like-minded, unpretentious, adventure-seeking people from all over the world who have heard of these renowned ships. They range in size from the 'giant' S/V Legacy (122 passengers) and S/V Polynesia (126 passengers) down to the M/V Amazing Grace (96 passengers), S/V Mandalay (72 passengers), S/V Flying Cloud (66 passengers) and M/S Yankee Clipper (64 passengers, a former scientific survey ship equipped with two large sails). You sail through the Grenadines, the exotic Leeward Islands of the Caribbean, the ABC Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and to other highlights of the West Indies. Windjammer also has cruises to the Bahamas and Las Perlas islands, off Costa Rica. And you pay only $800 to $1,400 for a six-day cruise in most cabins, plus airfare from the U.S. Persons staying aboard for 12 consecutive nights get (a) $50 discount, and (b) free lodgings on board for the intermediate Saturday and Sunday when the ship is in port. Since the ships vary their itineraries each week, never repeating an island in succession, numerous passengers opt for the two-week pattern and spend their two intermediate nights exploring the port of embarkation on foot, returning each night to the ship for meals and bed. For details, contact Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, P.O. Box 190120, Miami Beach, FL 33119 (phone toll free 800/327-2601 for reservations or information, 800/327-2602 for brochures or visit its Web site at windjammer.com), and ask them also about their singles' cruises and week-long 'pirate-themed' sailings. For more info, email: info@windjammercruises.com. American-Canadian Caribbean Line Budget-priced cruises of Central and South America in winter, the inland waterways of New York State, Rhode Island, Montreal, Quebec, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi and 'Intercoastal' in summer, on yacht-like ships carrying as few as 84 passengers apiece. Rates average $220 per person per day, not including airfare to embarkation cities. On each ship, 'bow ramps' allow passengers to walk, not climb, from the ship to the most isolated and inviting beaches. For literature, contact American-Canadian Caribbean Line, Inc., P.O. Box 368, Warren, RI 02885 (phone 401/247-0955, or toll free 800/556-7450). Or visit the Web site at accl-smallships.com. Clipper Cruise Line Elegant luxury yachts carrying only 100, 122, 128 and 138 passengers apiece, the Yorktown Clipper, Clipper Adventurer, Clipper Odyssey and the Nantucket Clipper confine themselves to the most secluded and lightly trafficked waterways, using rubber Zodiac landing craft to access the wildest of beaches and romantic hidden coves. Throughout the year, ships sail to the Americas from Alaska and Western Canada, to the intra-coastal waterways of the US, all the way down to the ports of Mexico and the great Orinoco River in Central America. And there are other more unusual itineraries, visiting Antarctica and Oceania in winter, China, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Japan in fall, and a wide variety of destinations in spring and summer from Japan's inland sea to Scandinavia, Greenland, Russia, and the Mediterranean, in addition to North Africa and the Antarctica Penninsula. Naturalists and several other varieties of scientists are on board to deliver lectures. For all their exquisite attentions and amenities, prices fairly high: an average of $500 per person per day for most cabins, but can go as low as $250. For literature, contact Clipper Cruise Line, 11969 Westline Industrial Drive, St. Louis, MO 63146-3220 (phone 314/655-6700 or toll free 800/325-0010 outside Missouri). Visit its Web site at clippercruise.com. Windstar Cruises The newest (1990), longest (617 feet), tallest (masts 20 stories tall), and maybe largest of the world's sailing ships is the Wind Surf, berthed in the Mediterranean most of the year, it winters in the Caribbean. Refurbished in 2003, it places its passengers in cabins 188 square feet in size or in suites of 376 square feet, and plies them with every luxury (like impulsively buying 300 pounds of lobster at a native market for consumption at a beach barbecue that day). The total passenger complement is 308, on ships whose sails are directed by computer; the mood is casual elegance, the charge about $335 per person per day--which is not as high as you'd expect for an experience as exclusive as this. Two sister ships, the Wind Spirit and the Wind Star sail from Costa Rica or St. Thomas in the winter, the Greek Isles in summer, all for approximately the same rates (which do not, however, include air fare to and from embarkation points). For details, contact Windstar Cruises, Ltd., 300 Elliott Ave. West, Seattle, WA 98119 (phone 206/ 281-3535 or 800/258-7245 for information, 877/827-7245 for brochures). Or visit the Web site at windstarcruises.com. Blackbeard's Crusies Operates three 65-foot tall masted sloops, housing 22 passengers and six crewmembers apiece, that make seven-day/six-night cruises from Miami to the Out Islands of the Western Bahamas, primarily for diving. Boats leave Miami on Saturday afternoons throughout the year, return the following Friday morning, charge from $749 per person for the entire week, take you for three to four dives a day off the boat, then spend the nights in calm anchorages on the placid 'lee' side of Bimini, Freeport or the Berries Islands--once rumored to be a playground for pirates. Can you go if you're not a diver? Absolutely, says the small firm (in business for 20 years), provided you're not expecting a 'shuffleboard (activity filled) cruise'. Rather, the non-diver will pass the time snorkeling off the beach, shell-hunting on deserted islands&staying up late for conversation under the stars&or simply sleeping in.' Blackbeard's address is: P.O. Box 661091, Miami, FL 33266 (phone 305/888-1226 or 800/327-9600, Web: blackbeard-cruises.com). Traverse Tall Ship Company Three, four and five-day cruises of the waters of the Great Lakes, aboard the Manitou, a replica of 1800's 'coasting' cargo schooner, from Traverse City, Michigan from June through September. Average daily prices are $204 per couple; $118 for singles; $56 for children, including meals. The company also operates cruises of a couple of hours duration aboard the from $33 per person, less for children. The company can be reached through its Web site tallshipsailing.com or by calling 800/678-0383 or 231/941-2000. Mailing address is: 13390 SW Bayshore Drive, Traverse City, MI, 49684.