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Travel to Canada and Mexico for US citizens
Travel has become so common from the US to both Canada and Mexico, that sometimes travelers forget that these are separate countries with their own entry requirements.
Please remember when you are traveling to Canada and/or Mexico the following documents are required to enter:
1. Valid passport
or
2. Original raised seal birth certificate or notarized copy of birth certificate along with a government issued photo ID, i.e. Driver's
License.
If you have questions, please contact Traveltime.
Last
updated: October
22,
2004
American Aims to Save Millions in Fuel Costs
American Airlines, the largest U.S. carrier, wants to save more than $11 million a year by fixing the biggest
fuel guzzlers in its 726-plane fleet as part of a larger plan to save $118 million on fuel each year... click here for more on this
story
Other Travel Related News Items
Continental News
USAirways News
Delta News
Air Canada Trims Fare Rules
American Adds $15-25 Surcharge on International Flights
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American Aims to Save Millions in Fuel Costs 
American Airlines, the largest U.S. carrier, wants to save more than $11 million a year by fixing the biggest
fuel guzzlers in its 726-plane fleet as part of a larger plan to save $118 million on fuel each year.
The $11.2 million company officials hope to save with mechanical adjustments or by smoothing out small dings that affect a plane's aerodynamics might seem a pittance to an airline that has lost more that $6.7 billion since 2001, but they have to start somewhere.
Continental News
Continental Airlines on Tuesday posted a third-quarter loss, reversing a year-earlier profit, as it was hurt by record-high fuel prices and a one-time charge for retiring some aircraft.
The company also warned it would have a large loss for the year and for 2005 unless the current environment of high fuel and low yields improves.
Continental said it had a loss of USD$16 million, or 24 cents per share, compared with a profit of USD$133 million or $1.83 a share in the third quarter of 2003.
Continental did not break down how much the record high costs of jet fuel added to its expenses in the quarter, but the carrier has said it expects fuel to add several hundred million dollars to its costs this year.
Its cost per available seat mile - a measure used by the industry for costs -- increased 4.9 percent from the same year-earlier quarter, mostly due to fuel, to hit 9.45 cents, it said.
Revenue for the quarter was USD$2.4 billion, 8.7 percent higher than the same period in 2003, due to increased revenue from international flights and more regional flying, it said.
The airline ended the third quarter with USD$1.54 billion in unrestricted cash and short-term investments.
Continental said it cut about 675 positions during the quarter, the majority of which involved management, clerical and reservation agent jobs.
USAirways News
Bankrupt US Airways detailed plans on Monday for becoming a low-cost carrier, saying it will overhaul its flight schedule and sharply boost aircraft turnaround times beginning in February.
With steep court-imposed labor cost cuts assured and a fixed amount of cash from loans accessible until mid-January, US Airways will try to weather the slowest period of the year before proceeding with an unprecedented transformation ahead of spring travel.
The changes take effect on February 6, 2005, and also affect service offered by US Airways' regional partners.
US Airways plans to boost capacity and add 230 daily flights without new aircraft. It also wants to reduce aircraft turnaround times by 15 percent to more efficiently use its fleet of 281 mainline planes and 169 regional jets.
The company will, in some cases, fly bigger planes in place of regional jets and regional jets in place of smaller turboprops, which are being phased out.
On Friday, a bankruptcy judge in Virginia approved the company's plan for sweeping wage and other cuts on all union workers to help the carrier save more than USD$30 million per month. The austerity measures also permit the company to make flight attendants and pilots work more hours.
The airline's overarching survival strategy centers around expanded point-to-point flying - like low-cost rivals - more business destinations, expanded service to Latin America and the Caribbean, and heavier use of hubs in Philadelphia and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Flights at US Airways' Pittsburgh hub will drop by roughly a third, as previously announced.
Departures from Philadelphia will increase to 495 each business day, or 7 percent more than the November 2004 schedule. Charlotte, US Airways' largest hub, will grow to 564 daily weekday departures from 495 currently.
Nonstop service from Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport will include six new business destinations, including Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago O'Hare.
Delta News
Delta Air Lines forecast a much wider third-quarter loss than Wall Street had estimated because of weak domestic fares and a spike in fuel costs, driven by record-high oil prices.
Delta, which again warned that it may have to seek bankruptcy protection unless it can restructure its debt load, said it expects a loss of USD$625 million to USD$675 million, or $4.99 to $5.39 per share, compared with a loss of USD$164 million, or $1.36 per share, a year earlier.
The loss estimate includes charges of about USD$40 million for selling eight planes and USD$14 million for its pilot pension plan.
Delta's unrestricted cash balance dropped to USD$1.45 billion on September 30, 2004 from USD$2 billion on June 30.
The carrier said it was on track to achieve by the end of 2004 about USD$2.3 billion of its targeted USD$5 billion in annual cost cuts through initiatives it has previously implemented. But it said it would need full participation of its lenders, lessors, vendors and employees.
Even so, Delta said, it will have substantial liquidity needs even if it does achieve all the USD$5 billion in cost cuts. The airline would still need to raise about USD$800 million of new financing in 2005 and defer about USD$325 million of debt maturing that year.
"There is substantial uncertainty as to whether we will be able to obtain the necessary financing or deferrals on acceptable terms or at all," the airline said in a statement.
"If we are unable to obtain the necessary financing or deferrals to meet our liquidity needs, we would need to seek to restructure under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code," it said.
Delta is trying to obtain about USD$1 billion in cost savings up to 2006 from its pilots union. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday the two sides are close to an agreement, citing unnamed sources.
Delta and representatives from the Air Line Pilots Association intend to work through the weekend on the most critical issues, including guarantees on pensions and a reduced pay scale for pilots.
The carrier's pilots are among the highest in the industry, and the airline's only major unionized work group. Some analysts say a giveback deal with pilots could spur cost-savings deals with creditors and lessors.
But a Smith Barney analyst said that even if Delta gets the cost savings it seeks from pilots, it might not be enough to stave off bankruptcy.
Skyrocketing fuel prices would also compound the airline's cash crunch, the airline said. If oil prices stay at current levels of about USD$50 a barrel, Delta's liquidity needs would increase by an additional USD$600 million in 2005 and an additional USD$900 million in 2006, it said.
Air Canada Trims Fare Rules
Air Canada is eliminating all of its Saturday-stay, minimum-stay, and round-trip requirements on North American flights, taking another step to better compete with its low-cost rivals.
The airline said it is eliminating its Econo-class fares, calling the outgoing fare rules — in the words of executive vice president Montie Brewer — "the last vestiges of old-style airline prices." Air Canada will now have five fare types: Tango, Fun, Latitude, Freedom, and Executive Class.
American Adds $15-25 Surcharge on International Flights
Citing high fuel costs, American Airlines said it will add a $15-25 surcharge to the price of each international one-way ticket, effective immediately.
A $15 surcharge will be applied to tickets to the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela; a $25 surcharge will be added to tickets on transatlantic and transpacific flights and flights to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
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