e keep a short list of "Government
Programs That We Like" and, for as long as we can remember, that
list has included the Visa Waiver Program. This is the eminently
sensible arrangement whereby the U.S. and some two dozen other
countries agree not to impose visa requirements on each other's
citizens for visits of up to 90 days. The program clearly has
benefited tourists and business travelers and the companies, not to
mention national economies, that depend on them.
But even before the terrorist attacks of 2001, the Visa Waiver
Program existed under a cloud. For its first decade, it was deemed
a "pilot program," always on the verge of being terminated. It
became a permanent policy only three years ago, and went under the
microscope yet again after 9/11.
With the passage of the Patriot Act, the State Department was
empowered to deny the benefits of the program to travelers who did
not have machine-readable passports, effective Oct. 1.
On the face of it, that doesn't seem like an unreasonable
requirement for developed countries. But the Oct. 1 deadline was
insufficiently understood around the world. Travel industry people
rightly feared that thousands of visitors would arrive here and
find out, too late, that they needed a visa.
The deadline now has been postponed, wisely we think, for
another year.
In the interim, we hope the governments of participating
countries can bring their systems up to date, and we hope the U.S.
will do its part to help educate foreign travelers and travel firms
about U.S. entry requirements.
But most of all, we hope the State Department, finally, will get
over its lingering doubts about this former "pilot" program.
• • •
Appalling
e were appalled to read the
account of three airlines whose practices for accommodating
wheelchair users recently were found to be in violation of the Air
Carrier Access Act.
Ten years ago, the airlines were put on notice that new aircraft
had to be configured with closets or other storage areas in the
passenger cabin capable of accommodating a folding wheelchair.
It turns out that, in the intervening years, hundreds of
aircraft were ordered, configured and delivered to the airlines
without such space.
As part of their compliance agreements with the Transportation
Department, JetBlue and America West had to agree to the awkward
expedient of blocking off a row of seats when it becomes necessary
to stow a wheelchair in the cabin, and strapping down the
wheelchair in the unoccupied row. Southwest took a different route
and agreed, at considerable expense, to retrofit its entire fleet
to create spaces at the aft bulkhead for wheelchairs.
We would commend the DOT for righting these wrongs if we had a
good answer to this question: Where have you been for the last 10
years?