Travel Update-Weekly Edition

Expedited passport service still slow - Overwhelmed by the public's demand for passports, the State Department, Thursday, announced that travelers paying an extra $60 for speedy processing of their passport applications should check the Internet to see how long they will have to wait. The agency, in a Federal Register notice, said it had changed the definition of "expedited passport processing" from three business days to a more accordion-like standard of "a number of business days."  Rather than process a passport within three days of receipt of an application, the State Department's Web site, http://travel.state.gov, said it would take 10 days for internal processing. That would put door-to-door expedited service at about three weeks, not much different than the two to three weeks applicants have been forced to wait for much of the summer after paying the expedited fee. With passports still in high demand, the wait for routine processing is 10 to 12 weeks, according to yesterday's Web notice.

Open Skies Agreement signed - The negotiations are over. The treaty has been signed. The skies across the Atlantic are now open for free movement of flights between European and U.S. cities. Now the battle commences between airlines as they prepare for their new-found commercial freedom when the Open Skies agreement comes into action in March 2008.  The choice of transatlantic routes is set to increases with the advent of the Open Skies agreement.   The main beneficiaries of increased competition between airlines are likely to be business travelers. And while they may not see a dramatic reduction in ticket prices, they can look forward to a greater choice of flights from a greater number of airlines as well as an increase in business-only services.  Airlines with the strongest brands and best quality products are likely to lure passengers away from European rivals by launching flights from other major European cities.  Open Skies will put an end to the exclusive arrangement granted to British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines and American Airlines to fly transatlantic out of Heathrow.  As a result, airlines including BMI, Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines are all lined up to launch direct transatlantic flights from Heathrow next year. But with the airport currently operating at almost-maximum capacity, it is likely that new flights will be limited.  Airlines operating from other airports, in particular the new business-only players such as Eos, Silverjet and Maxjet, will, however, see an opportunity to expand their own services across the Atlantic.  To read the full article on this subject, click on http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/08/21/BT.openskies/index.html

Unions announce 3 day tube strike - Millions of tube passengers face the possibility of travel chaos after transport unions today announced London underground maintainence workers will hold a pair of three-day strikes next month.  The industrial action will begin at 6pm on September 3rd, a week on Monday, when staff belonging to the RMT transport union stage a 72-hour strike, called after talks with the administrators of tube maintenance company Metronet failed to yield guarantees over jobs and conditions. The union is planning to follow this with another 72-hour stoppage starting at 6pm on September 10th. The RMT said the srikes will disrupt the entire network.  Fellow union Unite is expected to join the FMT for both walkouts, while a third union, the TSSA, is expected to stage a two-day strike on September 4th and 5th. Members of the RMT, TSSA and Unite voted 1,369 to 70 for action over working conditions, threats to jobs and pensions for Metronet employees. The company went into administration last month, four years into a public-private partnership programme.