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Volume 6, Issue 30, July 30, 2008 |
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The pilot phase of the Registered Traveler program is complete, the Transportation Security Agency said last week. The original test program was limited to 20 airports; now it may expand to any domestic airport or airline that wishes to participate.
The TSA is backing off its hands-on involvement in the RT program in other ways. During the pilot, the TSA performed the security threat assessment for each applicant, and charged $28 to do so. Now, it says, it has determined that “the current security threat assessment largely duplicates the watch list matching that is conducted on all travelers every time they fly. The other parts of the security threat assessment are not core elements in determining threats to aviation security and will no longer be required.” It is the airlines who are required to check passengers against the watch lists, so the TSA is removing itself from the process and will no longer levy the additional charge.
And if you thought the TSA verified the identity of RT members, no, that’s the responsibility of the vendors who conduct the programs and issue the cards, so that won’t change.
In releasing the program from pilot status and removing itself from day-to-day involvement, the TSA also established a 12-month period of interoperability, which means that holders of any vendor-issued RT card can use any vendor’s RT lane for one year. After that time, however, the lanes can be restricted to holders of the operator’s pass.
While that sounds like a potential hassle, the idea behind it is to avoid a proliferation of companies that concentrate on pass issuance (and fee collection) only, while other RT companies — notably Clear — have heavily invested in the equipment and operation of the actual lanes. It’s meant to encourage cooperation among those entities. For the traveler, it means that a wise choice of RT vendor can save you from having to go through the whole process again a year from now. 
Open Skies, British Airways’ premium transatlantic airline, plans to expand its PREM+SM cabin from 28 to 40 seats on flights from Paris (ORY) and Amsterdam (AMS) to New York (JFK).
Set to debut on its Paris-New York route on Oct. 1, Open Skies’ expanded PREM+SM cabin will be part of a 64-passenger, two-cabin configuration aboard retrofitted Boeing 757s. The reconfigured aircraft will accommodate 40 PREM+SM passengers and 24 BIZ SM passengers. To make way for the expanded PREM+SM cabin, the airline will remove 30 economy-class seats.
Open Skies’ PREM+SM cabin features leather seats with a 140-degree recline and 52 inch seat pitch. The carrier’s BIZ SM cabin offers 73 inches of legroom and seats that recline to a full 180 degrees.
Opening in September: Marriott Executive Apartments Manama, the company’s first entry into Bahrain. The twin towers overlooking the skyline and the Arabian Gulf house 188 short-term apartments ranging in size from one to three bedrooms, plus a residents’ lounge for socializing, a health club, a swimming pool, a steamroom, a sauna and Skywalk Café.
Alitalia is offering a European Airpass in the form of prepaid coupons good for one to five flights throughout the airline’s European route system. Single coupons start at $226; a five-coupon book starts at $758. The coupons are available for travel to the airline’s 24 Italian destinations and 40 European destinations and are for sale until Oct. 31, with no set expiration date.
A new service launched last week in Delta’s 34 domestic Crown Rooms: Club members can now print documents from their mobile phones and PDAs to club fax machines. Crown Room Club members can sign up for Fax2Mail Mobile for $14.95 and print up to 25 pages a month, with a special Web site, and instructions posted in every Crown Room.
A recent survey shows that the digital age is making business travel noticeably more stressful for travelers over 50. The iBAHN study showed that employers increasingly expect their travelers to stay connected and work via laptop or PDA while on the road, with 75 percent of those surveyed saying they felt under pressure to work normally even when traveling. Professionals in the 50-59 and 60+ age groups found it the most stressful, while those in the 18-29 age group were least bothered.
Sonsie
327 Newbury St.
Boston, MA 02115
tel 617 351 2500
www.sonsieboston.com
Boston’s Newbury Street is lined with al fresco cafes that draw city dwellers, office workers, tourists, suburban shoppers and college students. The venues that serve up quick-and-easy sandwich wraps to delectable entrees worthy of a two-hour lunch are filled to the brim from the moment the first street-side table appears in the spring until the last autumn hot toddy is served on the sidewalk.
My favorite is Sonsie. Located at the top of Newbury Street just short of Mass. Ave, Sonsie boasts a large dining room and a friendly bar. The attraction, though, is its street-front, bistro-style seating area. Each year, as soon as weather permits, Sonsie opens its front wall and expands its bistro onto the sidewalk. Café tables, four or five rows deep, extend from the sidewalk into the front of the restaurant. On the best days (especially for Sunday brunch), snagging even a last-row seat is cause for celebration.
During a recent visit, my dining companion and I — set on a sidewalk seat — were a wee bit disappointed when foul weather spoiled our plans. Still, we settled in at our indoor bistro table where, from the comfort of our perch, we witnessed a summertime thunder-and-lightning extravaganza surpassed only by our entrees. I enjoyed Sonsie’s garden chopped salad with sheep’s-milk camembert and wood-smoked bacon while my partner savored a grilled sirloin burger and hand-cut fries.
Shopping was next on our agenda, so we passed on dessert. If we had indulged? Lemon-and-lime curd blueberry torte with lemon peel for me and a Tennessee Waltz ice-cream sandwich for my friend.
Score: ••••• Lisa Matte
Until Aug. 5, you can take advantage of American Airlines’ sale fares from many U.S. cities to Shanghai (PVG), all under $1,000 roundtrip. The sale is good for travel departing between Aug. 26 and Nov. 30 and returning by Dec. 30; fares start at $796 roundtrip.
To celebrate its new routes to Milan (MXP) from Chicago (ORD) and Boston (BOS), Air One is running a sweepstakes to award 202 free trips. You have until Aug. 15 to enter and can enter online once a day. Prizes are in the form of an $800 voucher used toward a round-trip ticket.
Avianca is offering sale fares between Miami (MIA) and Lima (LIM) of $266 roundtrip in economy, which represents about a 40 percent discount off normal fares. Travel at that fare is good between Sept. 3 and Nov. 24.
United Airlines has a new fare sale for travel to Europe this fall, if you buy tickets by Aug. 5. The sale applies to travel between Aug. 18 and Dec. 31, but lowest fares are offered Oct. 27-Dec. 11 and Dec. 25-31. Monday-Thursday fares are lowest. Examples: New York (JFK)- Munich (MUC) $464; San Francisco (SFO)- Frankfurt (FRA) $618. Taxes and fees are extra.
Two deluxe New York City hotels are offering some attractive packages for late-summer travel. The Westin New York at Times Square Pay Two Stay Three promotion is good for check-in on Thursday, Friday or Saturday; book a two-night stay and receive a third consecutive night free, plus an upgrade to an Executive Club room – about a 50 percent savings off the normal cost of three nights in a Club room.
The Mandarin Oriental New York has two deals on offer. The Suite Delight package costs $1,295 for an executive suite through Sept. 7, a 46 percent discount off the usual rate. The Fantastic Waterfalls package starts at $2,200 including a Hudson River-view room.
