TRAVEL LOG

Ted adds Chicago service

Ted, the low-cost carrier that United Airlines launched last month from a hub in Denver, is to begin flying May 24 from Chicago, its parent’s home market. Tickets were to have gone on sale Saturday.

Ted, which bills itself as “warm, friendly and casual,” already flies to about a dozen cities, including Ontario, Calif.

The new Chicago service from O’Hare airport will include several daily round-trips each to Las Vegas and Phoenix, plus Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa in Florida. Ted filled about 82% of its seats in its first month.

In other airline news, the industry continues to expand self-service check-in. Among recent changes:

* JetBlue passengers can check in for flights online and print their own boarding passes. Beginning with New York’s JFK, the low-cost carrier has also begun installing more than 150 self-service kiosks at airports.

* American installed a self-service check-in kiosk for domestic passengers at the Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport, its first kiosk at a hotel. Checked baggage still needs to be processed at the airport.

* Delta, Continental and Northwest are allowing one another’s customers to use their self-service kiosks to check in for code-share flights.

* American on June 10 is to begin flying nonstop from Los Angeles to San Salvador. Frequency will vary from once a day to five times a week, depending on the season. On April 4, its American Eagle service will begin offering one daily nonstop flight between Santa Barbara and Dallas-Fort Worth on 70-passenger regional jets.

* Southwest has begun a daily round-trip between LAX and St. Louis.

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Sharks and tribal culture

Adding a twist to the usual fish story, the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Central California will sample world cultures as part of its “Sharks: Myth and Mystery” show, opening Friday. It is expected to run for three years.

There will be hundreds of fish, including two dozen species of sharks and rays, swimming through tanks up to 20,000 gallons, said spokesman Ken Peterson. A touch pool with sharks and rays is also planned.

But it’s the tribal masks, myths, paintings and rituals associated with sharks that give the sprawling exhibit its unique spin. Several galleries focus on traditional societies of Africa, Australia, the Amazon, the Pacific Islands, Pacific Northwest and Central America.

Admission is $19.95 for adults (up $2 from last year), $15.95 for students and $8.95 for children 3 to 12. Open daily. (831) 648-4888, www.montereybayaquarium.org.

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Elvis, king

of Scots?

London

Elvis PRESLEY fans may have a new shrine to their hero: a remote Scottish hamlet named last week as the ancestral home of the king of rock ‘n’ roll.

After six years’ research, writer Allan Morrison claims the singer was the direct descendant of blacksmith Andrew Presley, who lived 300 years ago in the Aberdeenshire village of Lonmay, known for its wonderful bird life and spectacular sunsets.

“You have Graceland in Memphis,” Morrison said. “Now hopefully you will have Presleyland in Lonmay.”

Elvis’ lineage has long been a source of dispute, from the Presili hills in Wales to an Irish saint from Munster called St. Elvis.

Reuters

-- Compiled by

Jane Engle