It wasn't a pretty scene at an American Eagle gate at Miami Airport last week. Moments before boarding the one daily flight to George Town, Exuma, seven passengers -- including TC -- were randomly bumped. The agent claimed that each of them had booked the flight much later than the other passengers, so they had to go. TC's flight was booked in mid-January, so that excuse held no water. TC held her ground, tried to hold her temper and finally was allowed to board. The others weren't so lucky and had to overnight at a nearby hotel. The Exuma flight finally took off, with the bumped passengers' luggage, and with six empty seats. "What's up with that?" TC asked the flight attendant. "Weight," she said. "It's happened on this flight every day since we got the fine." American Eagle was slapped with a $2.5 million fine by the FAA on Feb. 1 for failing to properly calculate the weight of luggage on 154 flights between January and October 2008. Apparently, the carrier's solution in 2010 is to offload passengers rather than their bags. When the six passengers finally arrived the next afternoon, TC asked how they'd spent their time in Miami. "Blogging" was the universal answer.
More good news for Alaska. After a series of high-profile cruise ships pulled out of the region this year and next, Disney Cruise Line and Crystal Cruises said they were going to bring their ships to the Frontier State in 2011. Now, TC hears that yet another cruise line is heading north. Oceania Cruises is supposed to announce soon that the Regatta will sail to Alaska next year. The line's sister company, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, has given Oceania a good incentive to go north: The luxury line's 2010 program is already almost sold out.
Speaking of Regent ... the line quietly decided not to go through with the ship order it was planning to make in 2008, as the economy began to tank. By 2009, the idea of a new ship order for anyone seemed far-fetched at best. But there have been recent rumblings that the idea of new tonnage for Regent might be back on the table. TC hears that the subject came up at a recent board meeting and that parent company Prestige Cruise Holdings is beginning to talk about it again.
