Swiss Snapshots Online

CNN Travel posted 25 great photos of Switzerland on its Snapshot series. I'm guessing the editors had a hard time narrowing the submissions down, because it's difficult not to take a great picture in Switzerland. Many of the historic main cities -- Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne and Lucerne -- are set on lovely lakes. The mountains are jaw-droppingly beauitful year-round, when flowers fill the meadows and when snow covers them under a deep blanket of white. Picturesque towns and villages tucked into mountain valleys pose alluringly for photographs too, and when the Swiss put on traditional clothes, which can vary from valley to valley, and perhaps pull out their haunting Alphorns (like the Swiss Tourism image above, with the Matterhorn in the background) , the memory remains magical. I love visiting Switzerland, and I photos of this enchanting Alpine land always bring up powerful memories and a wish to return. I hope you enjoy the CNN Snapshot gallery as much as I did.

United to Drop Denver-London Non-Stop

Carrier to slash route after just seven months of operations

When United inaugurated its nonstop to London a few months ago, my husband and I jumped on the early fares and went to England and Scotland for eight days. That flight will go bye-bye on October 25, less than seven months after it started (March 30). I vowed to write some enthusiastic posts about something other than bad airline news on this blog, because I do love to travel, but find myself sucked in by one downbeat bit of news after another.

Offsetting higher jet fuel costs by eliminating some flights and charging for services that used to be free comprise United's strategy of "aggressive action to reduce our capacity, retire aircraft and eliminate the least-profitable markets from our fall schedule," the Rocky Mountain News quoted company spokesman Jeff Kovick as explaining -- again. It has become United's mantra.

Southwest Increases Denver Service

New year brings four new Southwest flights a day to DIA

I'm a big fan of Southwest Airlines, with its lack of pretension that it is anything other than a transportation provider, its efficient turn-arounds, its passenger-friendly policies in an industry that rarely is that and perhaps most of all, continuing to allow passengers to check to bags without paying an additional fee. Southwest just announced additional flights to and from Denver: two new daily nonstop roundtrips between Denver and Boston Logan; one new daily nonstop roundtrip between Denver and Spokane and one new daily nonstop roundtrip between Denver and Reno/Tahoe beginning January 10, 2010.

The Renaissance of an Oklahoma City Landmark

Oklahoma City's grand old hotel restored as a raving beauty. Is it still haunted?

When the Skirvin Hotel was opened in 1911 by oilman William B. Skirvin, it initially had 224 rooms in two 10-story towers and was one of the first buildings in Oklahoma City with air conditioning, then called “iced air.” I'm assuming that Oklahoma City summers were as brutal then as they are today, so iced air was welcome innovation. The luxurious hotel also had running ice water in each room, a ballroom that seated 500 and imported Austrian chandeliers that cost more than $100,000 each.

In 1930, just before the Depression really hit, the Skirvin gained a third wing and a couple of more stories for a total of 525 rooms, making it one of the city's biggest as well as one of its most opulent. The hotel was reportedly the site of one of the city's biggest scandals too. According Legends of America, it is haunted --or at least was until its renovation:

During Prohibition, "W.B. Skirvin was said to have had an affair with one of the hotel maids. According to legend, the maid soon conceived and in order to prevent a scandal, she was locked in a room on the top floor of the hotel. The desolate girl soon grew depressed and even after the birth of her child; she was still not let out of the room. Half out of her mind, she finally grabbed the infant child and threw herself, along with the baby, out of the window. The maid’s name remains unknown, but her ghost continues to haunt the Skirvin Hotel and she was nicknamed 'Effie' by former employees.

"Though the old hotel closed in 1988, former guests would often report not
being able to obtain a decent nights sleep due to the consistent sounds of a
child crying. Effie was apparently a woman of loose morals and many men who have
stayed in the hotel have often reported being propositioned by a female voice
while alone in their rooms. Others have seen the figure of a naked woman
with them while taking a shower. One man even claimed he was sexually assaulted
by an invisible entity during his stay.

"Other strange noises and occurrences were reported by staff and
guests including things seemingly being moved around by themselves, such as the
maid’s cart being pushed down the hall when no one was there."

There is even a Skirvin footnote to 20th century American political-social history. Skirvin’s daughter, Perle Mesta, later became ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, a traditional plum ambassadorship for those with more social standing than diplomatic credentials, and later nicknamed Washington’s "Hostess with the Mostess." She was so prominent that she was featured in a Time magazine cover story in 1949. Her life was the basis of the hit Broadway musical, "Call Me Madam."

The hotel was listed on National Register of Historic Places in 1979, closed in 1988 and stood empty for nearly 20 years. It's back now, and it is glorious. Reopened in 2007, for the State of Oklahoma's centennial year, the hotel gleams, thanks to a $56.4 million restoration that included the original exterior, historically appropriate windows, guest rooms reconfigured to today's standards, a truly beautiful lobby (center right), restaurants, state-of-the-art meeting rooms, a fitness center and all the other accoutrement's demanded of a luxury hotel in the 21st century. Wherever possible, historical elements such as moldings, tiles and ceiling treatments were incorporated into the design. Each bed includes a custom coverlet with the story of the Skirvin and its city on it.

Doug Dawgz blog, one of several that focus on Oklahoma City history, wrote an illuminating post back in 2006 about the Skirvin with more background and also some wonderful historic photos.

People who believe in ghosts spectulate that the hotel might still be haunted. In my experience here, Room 1109 (lower right after evening turndown service) isn't haunted -- or I don't believe it is. Still, there was a voice message from the front desk when I returned to my room once evening asking whether "everything in my room was all right." Everything seemed just fine, but who knows?

The Skirvin Hilton is at One Park Avenue, Oklahoma City, OK 73102; 405-272-3040.

Passengers Bill of Rights Stranded -- or Not?

Long-delayed passenger protection legislation seems stalled again -- but there is a deadline

A decade ago, in 1999, Northwest Airlines imprisoned a planeload of passengers on the tarmac for what The Indepdent Traveler described as "eight horrific hours without food, water, working toilets, honest or timely information, or the simple ability to walk off the plane despite being a couple hundred yards from the terminal gate at a major airport." And that was before 9/11, the TSA or other security excuses given these days when passengers are stuck in a parked airplane that isn't going anywhere for many hours.

"Airline passengers are more reliant on the good will of the airlines than most customers are on the good will of their service suppliers. So why shouldn't we have the same rights when flying that we do in other ordinary purchases of goods and services? Of course we should enjoy the same consumer rights when buying airline tickets as we do when buying anything else."

That is premise behind The Travel Insider's four-part series in early 2005 called "We Need an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights." The first post on The Coalition for Stranded Passengers' advocacy and informational blog dates back to December 2007. On January 4, 2008, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a story called "Airline Passengers Rights Movement Taking Off." Reporter George Raines wrote about milestones in the fight for passenger rights:

1) "It's possible that Congress, when it takes up a bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, perhaps in February, will include in it protections for passengers who are inconvenienced by being stranded on airplanes for three hours or more.

2) New York decided it couldn't wait for Congress to act. On New Year's Day, the first-in-the-nation airline passengers' bill of rights became law, requiring airlines to provide stranded passengers at New York airports with critical supplies to make delays more tolerable," with lawmakers in New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut then in various stages of preparing similar legislation.

3) Kate Hanni, founder of the aforementioned Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights to lobby for the federal legislation, took the matter of "tarmac confinement" in late 2007.

4) "Aviation Consumer Action Project, a nonprofit group monitoring safety and security issues, negotiated a settlement on behalf of 4,000 Northwest Airlines passengers who were confined in airplanes from four to 11 hours during a snowstorm at Detroit Metro Airport in January 1999. They shared in a settlement of $7.1 million."

All along, travel consumer advocate Christopher Elliott has been reporting on stranded passengers incidents (most recently about a Delta flight on July 26 that left passengers trapped in their plane for 392 minutes) and the snail's pace in which these issues are being addressed.

Ironic, isn't it, that legislation relating to the fasted form of travel is moving along so slowly? Actually, given the staunch opposition of the Air Transport Association, the trade organization of what's left of US commercial air carriers. Its major goal: "The association’s fundamental purpose is to foster a business and regulatory environment that ensures safe and secure air transportation and permits U.S. airlines to flourish, stimulating economic growth locally, nationally and internationally. By working with members in the technical, legal and political arenas, ATA leads industry efforts to fashion crucial policy and supports measures that enhance aviation safety, security and well-being" Nothing there about passenger service, is there?

Meanwhile, how has the bill fared in Congress? H.R. 1303: Airline Passenger Bill of Rights Act 2007 was introduced to committee in March 2007 but stalled there. And that seems to be the current status of H.R. 624: Airline Passenger Bill of Rights Act 2009, introduced in January of this year. However, there is a timeclock right now. As I understand it, Congress has until September 30 to extend the Federal Aviation Administration Act, and the Airline Passengers Bill of rights could be attached to it. Stay tuned.

P.S. The day after I wrote this, Chris Elliott posted "Why I Don't Support a Passengers' Bill of Rights." I'm not entirely sure that I agree with him, but he has followed the subject more closely than I, and I hold him in high regard. The truth is that neither of us has a crystal ball to know what the bill's final form might be, what last-minute compromises might be made and how whatever regulations are eventually passed will be enforced. Continue to stay tuned.

Airline Woes Could Cripple US Economy, Study Shows

Bad news and dire predictions continue for air travel

"Oil-fueled catastrophe in the airline industry would cripple US economy and eliminate US jobs, study reveals" is a ponderous title for an Internet post, but it is the gist of a feature on a travel site called eTurbo News. It cited a Business Travel Coalition study equally ominously and equally ponderously called "“Beyond the Airlines’ $2 Can of Coke: Catastrophic Impact on the US Economy from Oil-price Trauma in the Airline Industry" that predicted the domino effect of rapidly rising oil prices on jobs, the supply chain for the manufacturing that still exists in this country, lower tax revenues, American competitiveness, communities, and tourism. These, according to the article, "are just some of the predictable results from airline liquidations that could happen as early as the second half of 2008 as a direct result of unsustainable fuel prices."

As a global community and as a nation, we continue to use oil at an undiminished rate. Public transportation ridership is up in this country, but for many people, it is not an option because it simply does not exist. So people still drive around -- often one per vehicle -- in cars that are considered to get "good" gas mileage if they approach 30 MPG.

"The study expands on the analysis released on June 13, 2008 by AirlineForecasts, LLC and BTC and points to the real news about the airlines’ fuel problems: how multiple liquidations at legacy US airlines – now a serious possibility – would have a wide-ranging impact on many facets of the US economy," wrote eTurbo News.

But what we can do as individuals -- whether we drive less, carpool more, ride our bikes, cancel our vacations or simply fork over 15 bucks to check a bag or $2 for an inflight soda -- pales compared to the government's fuel consumption. Oil Change International, which is promoting the "separation of oil and state," reports that the Department of Defense (or shall we return to its old name, the Department of War?) is the country's single largest user of oil -- 1.6 million gallons a day. And every gallon that is pumped into a heavily armored HumVee (4 MPG), a mine-resistant tank (6 MPG), a helicopter (a 1,500-pound Bell Ranger reportedly burns 65 gallons in four hours; a big troop carrier way more than that) or a military jet is unavailable for civilian aviation, automobiles, buses, taxis or to heat homes in Maine and New Hampshire next winter.

The monetary cost is staggering -- $153 million for the 1.2 million barrels of fuel the armed forces use each month at $127.68 a barrel, which only seems trivial in comparison to the $10.3 billion a month America's Iraqi adventure is costing. The total so far is something on the order of half a trillion deflated US dollars, according to the Congressional Research Service. Politics, morality and even economics aside, the environmental cost is staggering. The US military burns more fuel and leaves a greater carbon footprint than the greening of the travel industry and the home-building industry combined.

Centennial for Canada's Splendid Empress Hotel

Victorian landmark in Victoria, BC, celebrates its 100th anniversary this year

Victoria on the south end of Vancouver Island is a totally captivating city. Whenever I've been there I've thought that I could easily live there -- or at least spend a few nights in one of the Fairmont Empress Hotel's 476 rooms. It is one of Victoria’s most distinctive and beautiful landmarks, and another time, perhaps I will. Meanwhile, I have strolled through the gardens, wandered through the lobby and had a drink in the Bengal Lounge, where the word "colonialism" is a quaint and picturesque theme rather than an administrative system that is way out of favor these days.

I was just leafing through a 10-year-old copy of Victorian Homes magazine, which featured Victoria and noted that the Empress Hotel was then 90 years old. It was built in 1908, when the British Empire was the world's most widespread and powerful. By then, Canada, was already evolving from colony to independent nationhood, but English influence was still potent in Victoria. The Parliament building overlooking the Inner Harbour would not look out of place along the Thames in London, and neither would the nearby Empress, a splendid and opulent example of late Victorian/Edwardian colonial architecture.

The grandiose Empress is now part of the Fairmont group. The public rooms, which are all I have seen, have been immaculately restored. Many of the original features are still in place, including beautiful leaded glass, 12-foot windows and some dozen ornate chandeliers hanging from the high carved-mahogany ceiling.

The Bengal Lounge carries out the theme of India in the days of the British Raj. The Empress Dining Room is an elegant restaurant serving contemporary British Columbia cuisine, including wines from a commendable list.

I have only sat down in the Empress for a drink, but many day visitors come for afternoon tea. In fact, I read somewhere that more than 100,000 guests do so each year, nibbling on small crust-off sandwiches of various sorts, freshly baked scones, house-made preserves, thick Jersey cream and a cornucopia of other pastries, and sipping on the Empress's custom-blended tea from Royal Doulton cups. There is a suitable dress code and such 21st-century tattiness as ripped jeans, short shorts or running clothes are not seen.

I don't know which day, week or month during 2008 has been designated for the official centennial celebration (and being so English in flavor, I am guessing there must be an official celebration!), but there is a Centennial Bed and Breakfast package that includes the hotel's famous afternoon tea, breakfast in the Empress Dining Room and a new commemorative edition of The Empress, a book tracking its glorious 100 years in words and pictures. Rates begin at CDN$199 per person, single or double occupancy, and is offered all year -- with the usual "based on availability" caveat that hotels are so fond of. If you just want to have tea, a special Centennial Tea will be presented every Friday afternoon through the end of September. The cost is CDN$100 for a memorable tradition.

The Fairmont Empress, 721 Government Street Victoria, BC V8W 1W5, Canada; 250-384-8111.