Hertz backs off new fee
Hertz backs off new fee — Hertz Corp. today cited backlash from corporate travel managers as it reversed a decision to levy a $2.50 charge on domestic reservations and put the fee on “indefinite hold.” According to a memo sent last week to corporate travel managers, the fee was to be enacted tomorrow. “Since we announced that we were going to implement the fee, we’ve had some questions from some key accounts and the fee has been put on indefinite hold,” Richard Broome, vice president of corporate affairs at Hertz, said. “We don’t have any current plans for an implementation date.”
TSA head says airline attack still likely — An attack on planes or using planes as weapons still presents the greatest risk, the chief of the Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday. TSA Administrator David Stone told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that “threat streams” indicate that the greatest risk is still that a plane may be targeted for attack or used to carry out an attack.
Lighters, matches banned on board aircraft — Airline passengers will no longer be allowed to bring lighters or matches on planes under a new U.S. security policy expected to go into effect within two months. The ban will require federal screeners to confiscate lighters and matches from passengers trying to take them through security.
Continental managers take pay cut — Continental Airlines Tuesday announced initiatives from its board and management aimed at assisting cost-cuts at the nation’s fifth-largest airline. Continental said its board has agreed to cut base retainer fee and meeting fees by 30%, beginning Feb. 28. It will also forgo its entire stock option grant for 2005.
Survivors file tsunami lawsuit — A group of Austrian and German victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami are to file a lawsuit demanding that Thailand, a French hotel chain and U.S. forecasters prove they reacted adequately to the disaster, their attorneys said yesterday. The suit, which names the French hotel chain Accor and the U.S.-run tsunami early warning system in the Pacific as well as Thai authorities, will be filed in a New York district court this week, the attorneys said in Vienna.
Fawlty Towers hotel sold to fans — The hotel which inspired the legendary TV series Fawlty Towers has been sold for around £1.5million. The new owners are a family from Bristol who say they are ‘big fans’ of the comedy, which ran for 12 episodes between 1975 and 1979.