TRAVEL LOG

Visa expands benefit

Visa USA last month began providing rental car insurance for all its cardholders, not just premium gold, platinum and signature customers. The company said the change meant 75 million more people would get the benefit.

To get the coverage, which is a collision damage waiver but not liability insurance, you must use your Visa card to rent the car. For details, call (800) 847-2911 or visit www.visa.com. In another insurance change affecting travelers, CSA Travel Protection, a trip insurer based in San Diego, will refund premiums for certain customers if they cancel their trip for any reason, not just covered problems such as illness. The refund offer affects only the premium. To get the benefit, you must buy CSA Web Direct insurance online at www.insuremytrip.com and pay an extra 10% on the premium.

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Concorde jet

heads to

Scotland

London

The last British Airways Concorde to be dispatched to its final home began its journey last week from Heathrow Airport here to the Museum of Flight in East Fortune, near Edinburgh, Scotland.

The supersonic jet, launched in 1975 and retired in 2000, was being transported by trailer and a barge on the River Thames, minus its wings, tail and distinctive nose cone. It will be reassembled over about four months and then displayed.

British Airways last year decided to end commercial Concorde service.

Its six other Concordes are in the Museum of Flight in Seattle; the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum in New York; Grantley Adams Airport in

Barbados; and, in

Britain, at Heathrow Airport, Manchester Airport and Filton in central England,

where the aircraft were made.

Associated Press

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Spain tightens

security

Spain continued to step up transportation security last week after authorities found a bomb on tracks used by a high-speed train between Madrid and Seville. The discovery followed bombings March 11 of commuter trains in Madrid that killed scores.

A subway station on a line leading to Madrid’s airport stopped luggage check-in services as a precaution. Police also increased patrols of the city’s subway and bus stations.

In an updated announcement last week, the State Department advised U.S. citizens in Spain to “remain alert” and “exercise special caution” in using public transportation. For updates, visit www.travel.state.gov.

Times staff and wires

-- Compiled by

Jane Engle