A Briggs Passport & Visa Expeditors

This is an exerpt from the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) Newsletter regarding Skybus Airlines:

Skybus Airlines Ceases Operations, JetBlue and US Airways Offer Standby FaresColumbus, Ohio-based Skybus Airlines has ceased operations effective April 5, 2008. Ticket holders who paid by credit card should contact their credit card company. Future bankruptcy updates will be provided at www.skybus.com. JetBlue will offer affected Skybus customers a special $50 one-way standby fare. This fare will be honored for any JetBlue destination within 100 miles of the original Skybus destination. Skybus customers must call JetBlue Reservations at 800-JETBLUE (800-538-2583) to list as standby customers and must show proof of Skybus purchase at the airport upon check in. All travel must be completed by April 13, 2008. Details can be found on JetBlue’s Web site. US Airways will also offer a $50 standby fare for travelers who were scheduled to fly on Skybus to/from Columbus, Ohio and Greensboro, NC. The $50 fee applies per non-stop leg and does not include applicable taxes and fees. See USAirways.com for more information.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a Passport.

Labels: skybus-airlines air-travel skybus-travelers skybus-options-for-travelers skybus-ticket-holders

Effective April 3, 2008, ATA Airlines has ceased operating and has cancelled all current and future flights. On April 2, 2008, ATA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis. Customers who purchased Southwest Airlines tickets for flights operated by ATA should contact Southwest Airlines directly at (800) 308-5037 for rebooking information. According to Southwest, customers holding Southwest tickets for ATA code share flights will be rebooked “on a new itinerary closest to their previous travel plans, or offered a full refund for any unused portion of a ticket.” Southwest’s immediate focus will be on customers “who are scheduled to travel within the next 14 days.”Customers who purchased ATA tickets and made payment by credit card should contact their credit card company to dispute the charge. The Fair Credit Billing Act allows consumers to dispute charges for services that are not received. Details of fair credit billing can be found online. Customers who purchased ATA tickets by cash, or whose credit card charge fall outside the Fair Credit Billing Act, will need to submit a claim in ATA’s bankruptcy proceedings. Information about submitting a claim will be available here.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a Passport.

Labels: ATA-Airlines-Bankruptcy ATA-Travelers-Support ATA-Customer-Guidelines What-should-ATA-Customers-Do

[post goes here]

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a Passport.

Effective April 3, 2008, ATA Airlines has ceased operating and has cancelled all current and future flights. On April 2, 2008, ATA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis. Customers who purchased Southwest Airlines tickets for flights operated by ATA should contact Southwest Airlines directly at (800) 308-5037 for rebooking information. According to Southwest, customers holding Southwest tickets for ATA code share flights will be rebooked “on a new itinerary closest to their previous travel plans, or offered a full refund for any unused portion of a ticket.” Southwest’s immediate focus will be on customers “who are scheduled to travel within the next 14 days.”Customers who purchased ATA tickets and made payment by credit card should contact their credit card company to dispute the charge. The Fair Credit Billing Act allows consumers to dispute charges for services that are not received. Details of fair credit billing can be found online. Customers who purchased ATA tickets by cash, or whose credit card charge fall outside the Fair Credit Billing Act, will need to submit a claim in ATA’s bankruptcy proceedings. Information about submitting a claim will be available here.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a Passport.

Labels: ATA-Airlines-Bankruptcy ATA-Travelers-Support ATA-Customer-Guidelines What-should-ATA-Customers-Do

Here is a story from CNN about Passport Books being manufactured abroad and the possible security risk that might result. We are not worried about this issue and do not believe we have anything to worry about regarding passports getting into the wrong hands.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2008/03/27/verjee.passport.outsourcing.cnn
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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a Passport.

Labels: Passport-Books Secure-Passports Passport-Security

Article from the Washington Post regarding newly implemented ‘Fast-Pass’ Security Lanes:

To Speed Past Airport Security, Some Fliers Barely Lift a Finger

Fast-pass security lanes officially opened at Reagan National and Dulles airports Wednesday for travelers with special clearance.
Here’s how it works: Fliers undergo a Transportation Security Administration background check and have personal data, plus iris and fingerprint scans, put on a card. Although the fliers still have to remove their shoes and get carry-ons X-rayed, at certain airports the cards let them skip the lines that everyone else endures.
As of Wednesday, 3,500 Washington area travelers had signed up for a Clear card, which costs $128 a year.
Some of the region’s fliers got a sneak peek at the special security lane. Three hundred people used the checkpoint on its first day of testing about a week earlier.
“We’ve had more interest here than anywhere else,” said Steven Brill, the chief executive of New York-based Verified Identity Pass, which runs the Clear program.
James A. Gondles Jr., executive director of the American Correctional Association, flies regularly and registered for a Clear card last week at National. Does giving out all that data make him nervous?
“I’m one of the few American citizens who trusts his government,” Gondles said. [post goes here]

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a Passport.