Orbitz sale alert

This fall, impressive new water slides are coming to Carnival cruise lines. Debuting on the Imagination and the Inspiration ships, each WaterWorks/Twister water slide will be about four-decks high and about 300-feet long. American Airlines will test in-flight Internet access. Starting in 2008, passengers on some routes will be able to log onto the Internet via Wi-Fi at broadband speeds. The price hasn't yet been set, but will probably be about $10 a flight. Other airlines are in talks with various Wi-Fi service providers, including Southwest, JetBlue, and Virgin America. [via The Seattle Times] Europe is on course to require its airlines to be more honest in their advertisements. British-based budget airlines, including easyJet, Ryanair, and bmibaby are being required by the country's Office of Fair Trading to include the cost of taxes and fees in the prices they advertise. The cost of taxes and fees are sometimes double the advertised fares. A similar ruling by the European Parliament is on track to affect other low-cost carriers in Europe by the end of the year, according to the Telegraph. Rome will hold a citywide, all-night party on Sept. 8. [For details, read La Notte Bianca 2007.] In other news, the fashion designer Rudolph Valentino is so happy at the success of his recent show at the Ara Pacis museum that he's agreed to open a museum in his own honor in Rome, rather than Paris, where he did much of his life's work. [via the Globe and Mail] Does Elvis live in Buenos Aires? Some people in Argentina think so, and they've put together a nine-minute long, documentary-style, English-language video featuring interviews with citizens of Buenos Aires who claim they have seen the King living in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. The video aims to promote a new book by a lost soul named Jeronimo Burgues, who has apparently spent a decade interviewing more than 150 people to make the case that Elvis went to Buenos Aires as part of some sort of witness-protection program, in exchange for incriminating evidence against the Mafia. I prefer to think that Elvis--if he went to Argentina instead of Heaven--simply realized that Argentina is a great travel bargain for Americans. (A tip of the hat to Buenos Aires Spotting.)

Launched in June, TV Trip's growing collection of unbiased hotel videos lets you scope out neighborhoods, lobbies, restaurants, and rooms before you book--so you can avoid any unpleasant surprises. Professional cameramen shoot the videos, which are paired with Google maps, starting rates, and descriptions by the editors. Unlike most sites featuring hotel footage, TV Trip doesn't accept user-generated or hotel-supplied videos, nor can hotels pay to be featured (the site makes its money through ads and commissions from its booking partners). The brainchild of former managers of Expedia Europe, tvtrip.com began with 15 major European cities and tackles the U.S. in September. Related: Trivop.com, an online travel agency in Europe, was the first website to offer videos of several hotels in Western Europe.

Pilot Ray Stark has offered his personal explanation at the official Southwest Airlines Blog. He says that pilots have a key decision to make when pulling away from the gate. It's up to the pilot to listen to reports from air traffic control and judge whether or not they should let passengers board the plane. His personal rule is that if it sounds like air-traffic control won't let the plane take off for another hour, he won't let passengers get on board. But sometimes air traffic control provides a faulty forecast. This pilot's explanation is helpful, but it's worth noting that even he thinks that an hour long delay on the tarmac is, well, highly undesirable. To put his post in context a couple of weeks ago, a Southwest spokesperson told a group of reporters that the airline opposes any federal rule mandating that planes must take passengers back to the gate if an airplane has sat on the tarmac, even if it's for specifically rare and extreme delays of three hours or more. Earlier: Four tips for coping with flight delays and cancellations.

Southwest Airlines may change its boarding procedure. In a test that began this week in San Antonio, passengers are asked to board the plane one-by-one in an assigned order, rather than board in one of three groups. When passengers check-in for their flight, they're assigned individual boarding numbers. Once they board the plane, they still have their choice of seats on a first-come, first-served basis. [Dallas Morning News] Tour operator Jet-A-Way Holidays has gone belly up. If you have an outstanding trip, contact the company by email. [Modern Agent] New airport X-ray machines may speed up security lines. Screeners at Cleveland airport's Concourse C checkpoint are permitting laptop computers and liquid-filled containers to be screened inside their carry-on bags--sparing travelers from having to remove items from their bags. New equipment allows the screeners to peer inside bags using three-dimensional images. Dallas-Fort Worth and Baltimore-Washington International airports will be next to get the machines. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution] More workers are buying additional vacation days. Seven out of every 50 large companies now permit employees to purchase additional vacation days, according to a report in BusinessWeek. If your company does not currently offer this service, consider suggesting it to your benefits department. The cost of the additional vacation time is deducted from your pay over the year, often in pretax dollars. Xerox began offering the benefit this year, and about 2800 of its 28,400 U.S. workers purchased an additional week. Disney-MGM Studios will change its name in January. The new name will be Disney Hollywood Studios. [The Mercury News] Avoiding America may be the latest travel trend. Air New Zealand is offering round-the-world tickets that avoid stopovers in the U.S., aiming to attract travelers from Australia and New Zealand who are heading to Europe. Some non-Americans like to avoid the U.S. because our country requires passengers hopping planes to other countries without leaving our airports to be fingerprinted and to have their baggage rechecked. Air New Zealand's round-the-world (RTW) service from Auckland to Europe provides a hassle-free transfer at Vancouver, British Columbia, skipping layovers in L.A. or Hawaii. This program is part of a larger trend of people avoiding the U.S. But don't think that Air New Zealand is anti-American. They're just pro-business. In fact, for trips starting October 26, the airline is catering to Americans by offering round-the-world tickets departing out of L.A, with stops in Auckland, Hong Kong, and London, for a starting price of $3,110. That rate is an unusually good value when compared with the starting prices for RTW tickets on the three major airline alliances. New Iraqi airline bans Iraqis. [Jaunted]