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Frontier Airlines to let small pets travel for $75

DENVER – Frontier Airlines says it will let customers carry small pets on board, but it will cost more than some of the fares that Frontier charges its two-legged passengers.

The airline said Wednesday it would let passengers bring along their small dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters or small birds for $75 each way.

That matches the price charged by another low-fare carrier, Southwest Airlines, which began allowing customers to bring small pets on board last year.

According to its Web site, Frontier charges less for some tickets for people, including travel between Denver and Albuquerque, N.M., or between Milwaukee and Indianapolis or Kansas City.

The pets must fit in a carrier that goes under an airplane seat and must have proper health documentation. Spokeswoman Lindsey Purves said customers should have their vet complete a health form for the animal within 10 days of the trip.

The airline lets bigger pets fly as checked baggage for a $150 fee.

Purves said the airline removed pets other than service animals from cabins in June 2008, requiring that they fly as cargo.

Frontier is a unit of Republic Airways Holdings Inc. Republic’s shares rose 4 cents to $6.19 in afternoon trading.

Lewis and Clark towers to open in southern Ill.

HARTFORD, Ill. – The harrowing trek of explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark across uncharted America two centuries ago took perseverance -- as did construction of an observation tower that overlooks the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and will bear their names.

Scheduled to open Friday, a decade after the landmark was conceived, the 180-foot-tall building with twin towers will give visitors a panoramic gander at the spot where the rivers meet and, to the south, a view of the St. Louis skyline and its glistening Gateway Arch.

The observation tower complements the nearby Lewis and Clark State Historic Site commemorating Camp Dubois, where explorers who accompanied Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were trained and equipped before sojourning west at President Thomas Jefferson’s behest.

Construction of the tower proved almost as difficult as the exploration it commemorates: Work stuttered as organizers struggled to cobble together the $5 million needed from local and state sources. Frequently stormy, wet weather didn’t help with the largely outdoor project.

“It was a long time coming,” said Bob Schwandner, the project’s superintendent for general contractor Jun Construction. “The interest is pretty high, and I think it’ll be received well. It’ll be something I hope a lot of people enjoy.”

Crews hustled Wednesday to complete the finishing touches, including installing the second half of entry-level murals that resemble a giant jigsaw puzzle with more than 2,200 tile pieces. The interior of the visitors’ center remained unfinished, as did landscaping that will include a fountain that shoots water from the middle of a huge, concrete compass.

Restrooms were ready to go, as was an elevator in one tower that will take visitors to the highest of three railed viewing decks. The other tower has stairs.

The observation tower sits on a 4.5-acre stretch bisected by a bike trail and skirted by heavily traveled Illinois Route 3.

Hartford officials broke ground on the project in late 2002 and expected it to be completed by Dec. 12, 2003 -- the bicentennial of the explorers’ arrival at Camp Dubois. They later traveled along the Missouri River, across the Rocky Mountains and to the Pacific Ocean.

The towers’ planners then set their sights on christening it by late 2006, when a group of re-enactors retracing the original expedition’s two-year path were to complete their trip and return to southern Illinois. That opening didn’t happen, either.

WHAT: Lewis and Clark Confluence Tower has three observation decks of varying heights and accessible by either stairs or an elevator. The tallest 150 feet off the ground to give visitors a panoramic view of the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.

WHERE: Near Hartford in southwestern Illinois, just northeast of St. Louis, along Illinois Route 3.

WHEN: A decade since its inception, the tower opens to the public Friday.

HOURS: The tower will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 4:30 p.m. Sundays.

COST: $4 for adults, $2 for children.

Pilots threaten strike against Spirit Airlines

MIRAMAR, Fla. – Pilots for Spirit Airlines say they may go on strike June 12 if they don’t get a new contract with the discount carrier.

The declaration Wednesday came after the pilots’ union turned down binding arbitration to settle the dispute.

Union head Sean Creed said company management “has done everything imaginable to avoid giving our pilots a new contract that is in line with our peers at other low-cost carriers.”

The company said it is still working to negotiate a contract. But it also warned that it could start notifying employees of possible job reductions.

The National Mediation Board released Spirit and the Air Line Pilots Association from negotiations, which begins a 30-day “cooling-off” period, after which the union can strike or the company can lock out workers.

The Florida-based airline said it planned to continue operating normally.

Spirit said in a statement that it wants a contract “that effectively ensures the long-term stability and growth of the company, as well as providing for rewarding and stable careers for our pilots and co-workers who do a great job for the company.”

The two sides have been in negotiations for more than three years. The union has said little or no progress was made and that the company was profitable but demanded that workers take big cuts in benefits.

Spirit dubs itself an ultra low-cost carrier. It operates about 150 daily flights in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The company attracted notice recently when it announced that beginning Aug. 1 it would charge passengers up to $45 for carry-on bags. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called the fees outrageous.

SE beaches look to woo tourists in oil spill limbo

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Daydreams of beach sunsets have been replaced by anxious Internet checks for many vacationers headed to the Gulf Coast, while hotel clerks there are busy answering calls about a massive oil spill and whether -- just maybe -- there’s a shot at a refund. The answer is typically no.

Meanwhile, the phones are also steadily ringing for tourism officials hundreds of miles away at Atlantic Coast beaches like Hilton Head Island, S.C., as they delicately try to lure vacationers away without appearing to profit from the disaster.

The angst is caused by the millions of gallons of oil that have spewed from a well at the ocean floor since an offshore drilling rig exploded in the Gulf on April 20, killing 11 people. Balls of tar began washing up on the white sand beaches of Alabama’s Dauphin Island over the weekend, while amounts ranging from globules to an oily sheen were coming ashore to the west.

Tourism officials from Louisiana to Florida -- and their customers -- are anxiously watching to see where else the slick could come ashore. Vacationers who have already booked are tracking the spill online, and many have been told they’ll face a steep penalty for backing out.

Karen Muehlfelt tried to cancel her upcoming trip to Destin, Fla., but couldn’t stomach the $1,000 penalty. Her beachfront hotel assured her there were plenty of onshore activities, such as good golf courses and restaurants.

“What’s the best decision to make?” wondered Muehlfelt, a 55-year-old receptionist from Chicago. “It’s hard-earned money. Looking forward to this vacation is what has gotten us through the first part of this year.”

Businesses along the Gulf have the delicate task of keeping customers happy but sticking to policies that penalize for cancellations.

“I think reality has actually hit some of the people -- whoa, they aren’t containing it quickly as we thought they might,” said Mallorie Thomas, a travel agent busy answering phones at Total Travel in Birmingham, Ala.

Traditional travel insurance won’t help, because the spill is considered an act of man, not an act of God. Most travel insurance only pays off if travelers can’t reach a destination or accommodations are closed, said Dan McGinnity, a spokesman for insurance company Travel Guard North America. That likely won’t be the case even if oil begins rolling on shore.

New bookings have slowed to a trickle as people wait to see where the oil goes. Normally, hotels might be willing to waive some cancellation fees if they were likely to be able to rent the room to someone else. But the uncertainty of the situation means rooms may remain empty, even with the peak of the vacation season on the horizon.

An increase in cancellations in Panama City Beach, Fla., led six resort and hotel groups to offer a $200 credit toward another visit if the government shuts down the beach or is cleaning oil from the sand and water when vacationers are there.

It’s not just hotels trying to keep customers from bailing. When Destin, Fla., photographer Donna Morgan’s phone rings these days, she knows it’s not going to be a new client.

“We’ve had two cancellations so far. I’ve put a whole bunch more of them off. It’s been exhausting,” said Morgan, who takes wedding photos and family beach portraits. “I sympathize with our customers, but we also have a business to run.”

Elsewhere along the Southeast’s Atlantic Coast, tourism officials are diplomatically trying to snare vacationers who don’t want to risk having trips ruined by the massive spill.

From Miami to Tybee Island, Ga., and up to Myrtle Beach, S.C., phones at hotels and chambers of commerce have been ringing and website traffic is up.

In Hilton Head Island, S.C., officials stress to callers that the destination is closer to Atlanta than Gulf Coast beaches and maybe only an hour farther for people from places such as Nashville, Tenn., said Charlie Clark, spokesman for the island’s Chamber of Commerce.

But the push has to be done carefully.

“We feel for our tourism partners along the Gulf Coast,” Clark said. “No destination wants to see this happen.”

So far, bookings haven’t spiked because a lot of callers are just checking their options, said Lindsay Fruchtl, spokeswoman for the Tybee Island Tourism Council.

“They were not sure if their deposits would be refunded. I think they were mainly checking availability in case they change their plans,” Fruchtl said.

Beaches are big business for Southeastern states. Alabama has just two coastal counties, but visitors spend more than $3 billion a year -- better than a third of all tourism money in the state. Tourists spend $60 billion a year in Florida, accounting for nearly a quarter of all the state’s sales tax revenue. And in South Carolina, tourism is the state’s biggest industry, with vacationers spending more than $10 billion a year, the majority of it along the coast.

The oil slick has been similar to a hurricane threat -- but the specter of most hurricanes torment coastal residents for a week, maybe two if they form far out to sea. The agony over where the oil will go seems to have no end in sight, said Morgan, who survived and rebuilt after Hurricane Ivan devastated the region in 2004.

“With Ivan, we knew we were going to get help,” Morgan said. “With this, we don’t know if we’re going to get help or how we’ll get help.”

Muehlfelt said she will continue watching the news about the oil spill and weigh her options right up until she hits the road for her 1,000-mile trip with her husband, 17-year-old daughter and 21-year-old son.

Several days ago, though, her plans suffered another blow when storms flooded Nashville, a key point on their trip. “I wonder,” she said, “if God isn’t telling us not to go at this point.”

EU proposes new rules on avoiding volcanic ash

BRUSSELS – The European air safety proposed new procedures Wednesday that would drastically shrink the no-fly zone around volcanic ash particles -- a move that should decrease future airspace closures and travel delays.

Daniel Hoeltgen, spokesman for the European aviation safety agency, said the new solution adopts the U.S. practice of imposing a 120-mile (190-kilometer) no-fly buffer zone for all aircraft in the vicinity of any visible ash plume. This no-fly zone is hundreds of miles (kilometers) smaller than the one used now in Europe.

Last month, a large part of European airspace was closed for five days when ash from the Icelandic volcano drifted over northern and western parts of the continent. It forced the cancellation of 100,000 flights, stranded millions of passengers and caused losses of over $2 billion to the airlines.

Many airlines criticized the European airspace closures as an unnecessary overreaction.

Flying directly through the plume of a volcanic eruption can damage jet engines, block a plane’s sensor instruments and cause other damage. But there is scant evidence so far that the abrasive volcanic ash particles can cause damage it they are dispersed by the wind.

Nevertheless, the U.S. and European systems for flying near ash differ fundamentally.

European aviation authorities have three zones -- a vast no-fly belt stretching along the entire area where winds have spread the ash, a large additional buffer area where flying is also forbidden, and a clear-air part where aircraft can fly normally.

This method caused the blanket closure of almost all of European airspace when prevailing winds carried the ash from Iceland eastward over the continent in April.

In contrast, in the United States, flying is forbidden only the area where the volcanic plume is densest and in a 120-mile buffer zone.

“I can confirm that the agency has been discussing a new solution to the renewed threat of airspace closures due to the volcanic ash cloud,” Hoeltgen said.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the European Commission, airlines and national aviation authorities have been involved in the talks, he said. The change still has to be approved by the EU 27 national aviation regulators and the European Commission.

The Association of European Airlines -- which earlier denounced Europe’s previous three-zone method as being based on faulty methodology -- immediately welcomed the proposal.

“We’ve been constantly reiterating that these three zones were devised on pretty much nothing aside from wind models calculating the dispersion of the ashes,” said Fabio Gamba, the group deputy secretary-general.

“What EASA is trying to do is lead with a more US-type approach, for which we are grateful,” he said.

A new eruption from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokul volcano disrupted air traffic between North America and Europe again over the weekend. Ash also floated over the Iberian Peninsula and other parts of southern Europe, eventually touching the North African coast in Morocco before starting to disperse.

Eurocontrol, the continent’s air safety management agency, said small areas of high ash concentration at lower altitudes were still causing difficulties on Wednesday for trans-Atlantic flights. They were also affecting the mid-Atlantic islands of Madeira and the Azores.

Meanwhile, Morocco’s Transport Ministry said that ten of its airports -- including Casablanca -- reopened Wednesday and air traffic had normalized after a daylong shutdown prompted by the drifting ash.

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Associated Press writer Hassan Alaoui in Rabat, Morocco, contributed to this report.