Sustainable travel

I need to fly to Boston, one-way from New York, with my pug, Howard. Adam has a conference there and we're meeting him. Any guesses which airline we'll be flying? On Delta, it'd cost me $324.01 (or $218.50 if I fly through Charlotte and Atlanta), and that's not including the $75 fee to carry Howard on. The fare is $74 on JetBlue, not including the $50 pet fee. When you buy a ticket for a pet, you have to call, and normally JetBlue charges $10 for buying a ticket over the phone--but they waive it when you're buying a pet ticket, because there's no way to do it online. (That's just common sense, but I can't count the number of times airlines have charged me a fee even though I had no alternative way to avoid it. And I don't know if Delta would charge for the phone call, since I had to hang up after waiting on hold for 10 minutes.) I've never found JetBlue's loyalty program very appealing, but when the airline has service and prices like this, it doesn't have to be. My loyalty continues to grow anyway.

I've been quiet on the topic of the "passenger's bill of rights," because I'm a cynic about it passing in any worthwhile form; the airline lobby is pretty strong. But I've come to believe in one part, and am ready to shout about it: The federal government MUST declare a maximum time that passengers can be held on the tarmac. How long should that be? I say three hours. At which point, the pilot should be obliged to drive the plane back to the gate, where passengers can get off if they choose. Just because you pay for a ticket doesn't mean that you can be held against your will for time on end. It's unfortunate that the government has to get involved, but if the airlines had behaved better, we never would have reached this point. EARLIER: In June, Delta kept passengers of flight 6499 on the tarmac for seven hours. How bad was this experience? You can get a sense by watching this seven-minute video, filmed and edited by a passenger. Photo by TylerDurden1 (we hope he's no longer a member of Fight Club) via Flickr and Creative Commons.

Peter Tarlow is a Texas rabbi and religion professor who, decades ago, became fascinated by security issues facing the tourism industry. His main impulse has been to bring together the best minds in the field to think about how to improve security for travelers. Every year, in larger and larger conferences, he has brought together hotel owners, airline owners, law enforcement officials, and other travel groups, prompting them to trade ideas on how security can be improved. This week, he's running the XVI International Tourism Security and Safety Conference in Las Vegas. Along the way, Tarlow has become one of the nation's acknowledged thought leaders on the topic, and president of the Tourism & More consulting company. Tarlow is currently taking questions from readers like yourself. (Click here to submit a question.) He will respond with answers in an online chat tomorrow (Tuesday) at BudgetTravel.com between noon and 1 p.m. Eastern time. Tarlow and I recently talked about today's top security issues. He unnerved me with the following thought: Many famous hotels are in denial about the safety of their buildings... Currently, he says, many hotels have no truly effective plans for emergencies. For example, many hotels have unrealistic ideas about how quickly their guests would be able to evacuate. They also lack plans for rescuing guests who are severely overweight and physically impaired. These folks may struggle to step down stairwells when elevators aren't working. Tarlow hopes that several hotels will do more to improve their security. But he says that pressure from the public and from law enforcement will be needed. Resort areas, such as the coastal beaches of Hawaii, also need to improve security for guests, he says. For instance, many travelers injure themselves or lose their lives when they attempt to surf and swim in the Pacific Ocean. One innovative program Tarlow is touting is that resort areas should partner with local universities to tap into the knowledge and manpower of students enrolled in kinesiology classes. These students would come up with creative ways to get the word out about ocean safety. If you have any questions about tourism safety, broadly defined, please submit your question to Tarlow now.

Is a stay at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando your idea of a perfect family vacation? Have you been there so many times that you can plan a Disney vacation in your sleep? If so, then Mickey and company want to hear from you ASAP! As part of a year-long promotion, Disney is searching for a few good moms--twelve in fact--who, according to the folks at Disney, "have mastered the art of planning a Walt Disney World vacation." Once selected, the lucky dozen will be part of the Walt Disney World Moms Panel, an online forum where future guests can request advice about planning a Disney vacation. Even better, the dozen winners will receive a five-night vacation for four to the Orlando resort. Disney will be accepting submissions from Sept. 6, 2007 through Oct. 5, 2007, and interested applicants can visit disneyworldmoms.com for more information. Do you have what it takes? [Photo by Ms. Jessie Barber. See her portfolio at Flickr.]