Traveler’s Notes . . .

A group of American Indians has protested that a 16-ton meteorite at the Museum of Natural History’s new planetarium in New York City, which opened last weekend, is a holy tribal object and should be returned to Oregon. The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde submitted a claim for the meteorite to the museum last September, under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The federal law gives the museum until Tuesday to respond. The museum would not comment on the claim. . . . In another sign of the Internet explosion, airline consolidator Cheap Tickets Inc. reports that 38% of its bookings were made online last month. The volume of online bookings jumped nearly fivefold in 1999, it added. . . . Amsterdam’s most exclusive bordello, which offers caviar, champagne and sex at plush locations, is suing Schiphol Airport for the right to open a “relax service” for weary travelers, Dutch media report. The airport has refused to consider giving a permit to Yab Yum, which has asked to provide hors d’oeuvres and nonsexual massage at the airport. On Oct. 1, houses of prostitution become officially legal in the Netherlands.