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Trvl Industry of Am.    Anon Tips about Crimes          800-474-8477
US Dept of Trans.       Airline Performance Statistics  202-366-2220
US Dept of Transprttn   Travel Advisory Number          800-221-0673
US State Department     General Information             202-647-4000/5225
USAir                   Complaints and Compliments      703-892-7020 
USAir                   Frequent Flyer Miles (itl awrd) 800-442-2784 
USAir                   Frequent Flyer Miles (srvc ctr) 800-872-4738 
USAir                   Reservations                    412-922-7500
USAir                   Reservations (Dom)              800-428-4322
USAir                   Reservations (Itl)              800-622-1015 
USAir Flight Info       Flight Information              800-943-5436
UniTravel, St. Louis    Consolidator                    314-569-2503 fax
UniTravel, St. Louis    Consolidator                    800-325-2222
United                  Flight Information              800-824-6200
United                  Frequent Flyer Miles            800-421-4655
United                  Reservations                    312-825-2525
United                  Reservations (Dom)              800-241-6522 
United                  Reservations (Itl)              800-538-2929 
United Airlines         Complaints and Compliments      312-952-7843  
ValuJet  		Discount Airline		404-994-8258
ValuJet  		Discount Airline		800-825-8538 
Value Jet               Reservations                    800-825-8538
Varig                   Reservations                    800-468-2744
Viasa                   Reservations                    800-468-4272
Virgin Atlantic         Reservations                    800-862-8621
Visa Services           US State Department             202-663-1225
World Courier           Courier (NY)                    718-978-9400
YTA Freniva             Reservations                    800-382-4484
Yugoslav                Reservations                    800-752-6528

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Subject: [4-9]  IRS Rules Change

A recent IRS ruling allows companies to deduct the cost of lodging and
meals as a business expense when an employee stays over a Saturday
night in order to get a cheaper airfare, even if no business is
conducted on that day. The company does not have to report the 
room and meals expenses as income to the employee. 

As of January 1, 1994, the deduction for business meals and
entertainment goes down to 50% (from 80%). Business lodging continues
to be 100% deductible.

This is why many corporate travelers are now booking "Concierge Level"
rooms, which include complimentary breakfast and hors d'oevers. Since
these rooms are 100% deductible, the higher room rate is offset by the
savings vis a vis the IRS 50% meal and entertainment deduction.

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Subject: [4-10] Airline Antitrust Litigation

The AirScrip certificates should have been mailed between December 15
and 31, 1994. The deadline for claims was June 1, 1993 (postmark). If
you have not received your certificates, or have any other questions,
write to Airline Antitrust Administration, PO Box 66, National Park,
NJ 08063-0066. Please do not call the court. (If you didn't submit a
claim by the deadline, it's too late. Over 4.3 million people filed
claims successfully.)

Class A claimants (1 trip) will get a booklet with $73 in coupons --
one $25, four $10, and one $8.  Class B claimants (5+ trips) will get
a booklet with $79 in coupons -- two $25, two $10, and one $9.  Class
C claimants (itemized trips) will get booklets of $25 coupons. The
coupons have blackout dates around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.

At first glance the booklet will appear to have twice as many
certificates. Don't get confused -- the bottom certificate of each
pair is to be used to get a replacement AirScrip certificate if you
should get a refund of a ticket purchased using a certificate.

[In a separate 18-OCT-94 settlement with state and local governments,
the airlines have agreed to give government employees traveling on
official business a 10% discount. This discount will provide up to a
maximum of $40 million in discounts during the 18 month period after
the settlement takes effect. Affected airlines include Alaska Air,
American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, TWA, United, and USAir.  The
original antitrust settlement with consumers did not include state and
local governments.]

Vouchers are valid for three years and are effectively good for a 10%
discount on the price of round-trip tickets. You can redeem them
through your travel agent; you don't have to purchase the tickets
directly from the airline. Tickets purchased using the vouchers are
good for one year from the date of purchase. Vouchers may not be
combined with any other special offer.  Only you and your immediate
family may use the vouchers unless you designate a different recipient
when filing your claim. Vouchers may be used only for purchasing round
trip tickets for travel within the continental US (Hawaii and Alaska
are excluded, except for residents of those states). There are
blackout dates around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years during
which the vouchers may not be used. Tickets purchased using the
vouchers will receive frequent flyer miles.

[Note: The above is a very rough summary of the details of the voucher
program. The rest of this section is from the original FAQ entry, and
may not necessarily apply.]

If you flew on American, Continental, Delta, Midway, Northwest, Pan Am, TWA,
United, or USAir (US domestic flights only) between January 1, 1988, and
June 30, 1992 from one of the following airports
   Atlanta        Baltimore         Boston
   Charlotte      Chicago (O'Hare)  Chicago (Midway)
   Cincinnati     Cleveland         Dallas/FW
   Dayton         Denver            Detroit
   Houston (IAH)  Indianapolis      Kansas City
   Los Angeles    Memphis           Miami
   Mpls/St Pl     Nashville         Newark
   New York (JFK) New York (LGA)    Orlando FL
   Philadelphia   Pittsburgh        Raleigh/Durham
   St. Louis      Salt Lake City    San Francisco
   San Jose       Syracuse          Washington (National)
   Washington (Dulles)
you are probably eligible for part of the $364 million antitrust
settlement. This settlement is in response to a suit charging that
they conspired to fix prices through a computerized reservation
system. If you write to

   Airline Antitrust Litigation
   P.O. Box 209
   Philadelphia, PA 19107-9711

they will send you a claim form and instructions.  You can also call
them at 1-800-854-7264. (An alternate address is PO Box 267,
Pennsauken, NJ 08110.) 

If you've taken at least one eligible trip, you will get a $100
voucher good for travel on either Northwest Airlines only, or on 
the other airlines (the restrictions on the vouchers differ, see
below). You choose which kind of vouchers you prefer, subject to
availability. 

If you've taken at least 5 round trips or 10 one-way trips (or some
combination), you will receive $250 in vouchers.

If you've taken more flights, you can file additional documentation
with your claim, and receive vouchers for 10% of the actual amount
spent.

This is a gross oversimplification of the terms of the settlement. If
more than 2,689,840 claim forms are submitted, the base $100 amount
will be reduced. If the total payout exceeds $364 million, the program ends.

Certificates may be used only as partial payment toward a ticket; they
may not exceed the price of the ticket.

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Subject: [4-11] Miscellaneous Notes

   The largest travel agency in the US is American Express. They bought
Thomas Cook Travel in September 1994, making them larger than Carlson
Travel Network.

   Keep in mind that travel agents, ticket agents, and gate attendants
are people, and if you're nice to them, they may be able to bend the
rules.  Be honest and tell them what you're trying to do, and they
will often be nice to you in turn. The same thing goes with airport
staff and flight attendants -- ask for help, don't demand it.

For travel within the US, you might want to get the LDDS-Metromedia
calling card provided by the American Travel Network and Hospitality
Services Group. LDDS-Metromedia is the 4th largest long telephone
distance company in the US. The LDDS-Metromedia card charges a flat
rate of 17.5 cents per minute for interstate calls with no surcharge,
regardless of the time of day. Most other calling cards add a
surcharge to the first minute and charge higher rates at peak times
during the day. The Metromedia card is free, has no monthly minimums,
billing fees, or other hidden costs. In-state rates are higher, as are
international calls, but those rates are still competitive. You do not
need to change your home or business carrier to get the card. For more
information, call 1-800-477-9692, fax 1-716-886-6569, or send email
to hsg@ypn.com.

   Unpaid reservations are often cancelled by the airline 24 or 48
hours in advance of the flight, just after midnight. So if you want to
book a flight that is already full (e.g., changing your return flight
in the middle of the holiday season, getting a reservation for your
frequent flyer ticket), try calling the airline reservation number at
12:30 am. Note that the time zone matters here -- you have to call
after midnight in *their* time zone. This trick won't always work,
since the flight in question might have no cancellations.  If it
works, you'll have to pay for the ticket by credit card, or, if trying
to change your flight, have all the flight information in front of you
(including your ticket) and pay for the change by credit card. After
midnight is also the best time to get the seat assignments you prefer.

   When giving your name to your travel agent, be sure to spell it the
same way as on you passport.  Many airline reservation systems don't
allow name changes on a reservation, so if you don't get it right the
first time, the agent may be forced to cancel and reissue the
reservation. If space on that flight is tight, they may not be able to
reissue the reservation under a different name. (Airlines do this to
prevent agents from using dummy names to lock in reservations for
cheap fares and changing the names later when they have a real person
to sell the ticket to.) For US domestic flights this isn't as much of a
problem, but when traveling overseas, they like the name on the ticket
to match the name on the passport.

   Non-refundable, non-changeable, non-transferable tickets are
the default; you might have to pay more to have a transferable ticket.
But then you might be able to sell half your ticket, and thereby
recoup some of your costs. (This only works on US domestic flights, where
you don't need to show a passport.)

As a general rule, ALWAYS check your tickets upon receipt. If there's
an error and you don't point this out promptly, you may be stuck with
it. On the other hand, if the error isn't yours, and you paid for the
tickets by credit card, you can usually contest the charge through
your bank.

Record a list of your credit card numbers and the toll-free bank
telephone numbers, and keep it in a safe place at home.  This will
help you if your cards are lost or stolen during your trip.  You
should also carry a copy with you (to let you notify the banks as soon
as you find the cards are missing), but don't keep it in the same
wallet as your credit cards.

Confirm your flights one or two days before departure. It is also wise
to call the day of your flight to verify the departure time -- you
don't want to arrive at the airport only to discover that the
departure was moved up by an hour. Arrive at the airport at least an
hour before departure for domestic flights, two hours for
international and charter flights.

Keep receipts for any items you purchase while abroad. If you bring
foreign-made valuables with you on a trip abroad (e.g., jewelry,
photographic equipment, etc.), bring photocopies of the receipts or
other proof of ownership with you. You don't want to have to pay a
duty on stuff you brought with you.

If your flight is delayed, call your hotel to let them know you'll be
late so that they'll hold the room for you.

   Bargain seats are almost always limited, so start looking
early and be flexible with your times and dates.

   January, February, September and October are the slack travel
months; ticket prices will be cheapest around then.

   Because of the way airlines price tickets, it is sometimes cheaper
to buy a ticket from point A to point C making a mid-trip stop in
point B (i.e., two tickets A-to-B and B-to-C) than it is to buy a
ticket direct from point A to point B. Note, however, that if you do
this your luggage should be carryons, since the airline usually checks
the luggage direct to the ultimate destination. Also, some airlines
will cancel your entire ticket if you skip one leg of the trip. (For
instance, if you discard the B-to-C part of a round-trip ticket from A
to C through B, you may find the tickets for your return flight
cancelled by the airline.)

   Reconfirm your flights 2 days (48 hours) in advance for US domestic
trips, 3 days in advance for international travel. Flight schedules
are subject to change without notice, and you don't want to get caught
15 minutes for a flight that was moved up by half an hour. I've found
USAir to be very good about calling me to let me know about schedule
changes on tickets bought through their Ticket By Mail program.

   Some non-refundable tickets can be changed by paying a fee,
typically $35. But you cannot change the departure, only the return
flight. The change must also conform to the rules under which the
ticket was purchased, or you'll have to pay the difference in fares.
Changes are also limited to the same class of service as originally
purchased. 

Many gold cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover) automatically provide
some form of insurance. Check if your homeowner's or renter's
insurance covers your belongings even when they aren't at home. Make
sure you're covered in case of loss or theft while traveling.

When talking to customs and immigration officials, answer all
questions directly and do not volunteer information. Have all your
travel documents ready before they ask for them.  Keep receipts for
any purchases in an accessible location in case they ask for them. Be
sure to be clean and neat; an untidy appearance will arouse
suspicion.

If VAT (Value Added Tax) was added to your bill, ask the vendor for a
refund application. You may be able to avoid the VAT by having the
items shipped home. Address the package yourself, and ask for a
shipping receipt (bill of lading).

In addition to attaching a luggage tag to the outside of your luggage,
tape your name and address to the inside of the luggage. You may want
to tie a brightly colored piece of string or tape to the handle, to
make it easier to identify your bag. But remember, others may have the
same idea, so always check your tags to make sure you have the correct
bag. 

   Most airlines have a rule requiring you to show up AT THE GATE 15
or 20 minutes before flight time, or they will release your seat.
That's 20 minutes according to the watch of the gate agent -- give
yourself 10 minutes to spare. If you have your ticket and you're late
(e.g., 30 minutes or less to flight time, and there are long lines at
the main ticket counter), go directly to the gate. Baggage can always
be checked at the gate. But if your ticket needs changes or has to be
picked up, you can't go directly to the gate. If your flight is
leaving very soon and there's a long line, ask the people ahead of you
if you can cut in front of them (explaining why). Most people will let
you.

   Airports notorious for heavy traffic and air-traffic-control
snafus: Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta, Logan Airport in Boston, O'Hare
in Chicago, Stapleton in Denver, JFK in New York, and San Francisco
International.  All are also among the busiest airports in terms of
passenger traffic. Other busiest airports include Dallas Fort Worth,
London Heathrow, Los Angeles, Atlanta Hartsfield, Tokyo Haneda,
Frankfurt Main, Miami, Paris CDG, Newark, Hong Kong, and Detroit Metro. 

   Among the busiest routes in the US (and hence the most competitive)
are: New York to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Ft. Lauderdale, Los
Angeles, Miami, Orlando, San Francisco, San Juan, and Washington; Los
Angeles to Honolulu, Las Vegas, Oakland, Phoenix, and San Francisco;
Chicago to Detroit; Boston to Washington; and Dallas Fort Worth to
Houston. The busiest international routes out of the US are: New York
to London and Toronto, and Chicago to Toronto.

   If you don't like delays, fly earlier in the day. A flight that
leaves early in the morning (before 8 am) often uses an airplane that
was at the airport the previous night, and so is already prepped and
ready to go. A flight that leaves in the afternoon uses an airplane
that started its day in another city, and hence is more likely to
suffer from delays (especially if it was delayed on one of its
previous flight segments). 

Reward for Crime Tips: The Travel Industry Association of America and
Crime Stoppers International will pay cash rewards of up to $1,000 for
anonymous tips about crimes against travelers (including US and
foreign citizens on business and pleasure trips). To make a report,
call 1-800-474-8477.
     
If there's a promotion on airline A, you prefer to fly on airline B
(e.g., you're a frequent flyer on airline B), but airline B doesn't
have a similar promotion, you might be able to negotiate with airline B.
Try calling up airline B, state the terms of airline A's offer, and
say that if they match it, you'll buy the tickets right then and
there, otherwise you're going with airline A. This will sometimes work
quite well.

Car Rental Agencies, National Numbers:
   Avis            800-331-1212
   Budget          800-527-0700
   Dollar          800-421-6868
   Hertz           800-654-3131
   National        800-328-4567

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Subject: [4-12] World-Wide Web (WWW) Resources

The World Wide Web (WWW) is a hypermedia document that spans the
Internet.  It uses the http (HyperText Transfer Protocol) for the
light-weight exchange of files over the Internet.  NCSA Mosaic is a
World Wide Web browser developed at the National Center for
Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). 

Mosaic's popularity derives, in part, from its ability to communicate
using more traditional Internet protocols like FTP, Gopher, WAIS, and
NNTP, in addition to http. Mosaic can display text, hypertext links,
and inlined graphics directly. When Mosaic encounters a file type it
can't handle internally, such as Postscript documents, mpeg movies,
sound files, and JPEG images, it uses an external viewer (or player)
like Ghostscript to handle the file. Mosaic also includes facilities
for exploring the Internet. In other words, Mosaic is an multimedia
interface to the Internet.

The hypertext documents viewed with Mosaic are written in HTML
(HyperText Markup Language), which is a subset of SGML (Standard
Generalized Markup Language).  All that is needed is just a few more
improvements, such as the ability to format tables and mathematics,
and a WYSIWYG editor, for HTML to greatly facilitate electronic
journals and other publications.

NCSA Mosaic for the X Window System is available by anonymous ftp from  
   ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu:/Mosaic/
as source code and binaries for Sun, SGI, IBM RS/6000, DEC Alpha OSF/1, DEC
Ultrix, and HP-UX. Questions about NCSA Mosaic should be directed to 
mosaic-x@ncsa.uiuc.edu (X-Windows version), mosaic-mac@ncsa.uiuc.edu
(Macintosh), and mosaic-win@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Microsoft Windows).

If you do not have a WWW client like Mosaic, you can search the WWW by
telnet to info.cern.ch. There is also an email interface; to use it,
send mail to listproc@www-0.cern.ch, and use lines like
   www http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/Web/Groups/AI/html/faqs/top.html
to retrieve the text of a particular URL (in this case, the AI FAQs page).

Rather than list all the URLs below, we've set up an "Air Traveler's
Handbook" Web page at the URL 
   http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/mkant/Public/Travel/airfare.html
to contain annotated references to all these links. In the process,
we've substantially increased the number of links. Please send
suggestions for additional links to mkant@cs.cmu.edu.

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;;; *EOF*

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