BUSINESS BRIEFS
Changes to visa waiver program draw criticism
Advertiser news services
WASHINGTON — Aviation and business leaders are assailing a Homeland Security plan to require millions of overseas visitors a year to register online at least three days before flying to the United States, saying it will keep travelers away and damage the U.S. image abroad.
A program taking effect Jan. 12 aims to tighten security by giving authorities more time to check for terrorism links and immigration issues among people from 27 friendly nations — including Spain, Britain and Italy — before they fly to the United States. The government now gets such records 30 minutes before flight doors close.
The new program will not affect U.S. citizens. It applies to about 14 million foreigners in the visa waiver program, which allows residents of certain countries to travel to the U.S. for 90 days or less without a visa.
Airlines and airports say the new requirement will cause many travelers to be barred from their U.S.-bound flights because they will show up at airports not knowing they should have registered with the Homeland Security Department.
FLIERS VACATING PRIME PLANE SEATS
Many travelers are fleeing airlines' premium-seat sections as corporations and entrepreneurs react to higher fares and a stumbling economy, one of the world's biggest travel agencies says in a report out today.
On international flights, the number of business-class tickets American Express sold dropped 2 percentage points — from 51 percent in 2007 to 49 percent this year — in the second quarter, says Herve Sedky, vice president of global advisory services at American Express Business Travel.
American Express' quarterly AmEx Business Travel Monitor shows that in the second quarter of this year, 3 percent of the tickets sold for travel within North America were first-class tickets — down from 4 percent in the second quarter last year.
Business travelers who paid the premium price for a first-class ticket on domestic flights in 2007 opted to save money — typically $400 to $800 — this year by traveling in coach.
The cost savings is much larger for travelers who buy coach fares, instead of first- or business-class fares, on international flights, Sedky says.
U.S. TO EXAMINE CHINESE EXPORTS
The U.S. will station inspectors in three Chinese cities to scrutinize exports to the world's largest economy, responding to concerns over the safety of China-produced food, toys and pharmaceutical ingredients.
Up to 15 inspectors will be assigned to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou from October, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt said in an interview. China agreed in December 2007 to let the Food and Drug Administration establish China offices, among the agreements reached in its Strategic Economic Dialogue with the United States.
THIEVES STEALING, SELLING STEEL KEGS
WASHINGTON — Thieves are stealing kegs, and they aren't doing it to get drunk. In fact, the emptier the better.
Across the country, crooks are snatching stainless steel kegs in alleyways behind bars and breweries or not returning them after keggers, to sell for scrap metal.
The trend comes as the stainless scrap price has more than doubled in the past five years, making an empty, 18-pound keg worth more than $13, according to price data for steel scrap sold in Chicago.
Prices in other parts of the country are even higher, with kegs selling for $30 and up, according to the Beer Institute, the industry trade group. Earlier this year, empty kegs were worth even more, but metals prices have fallen in recent months in a worldwide commodity price drop.
Approximately 300,000 kegs were stolen at a loss of $50 million in 2007, estimates the Washington-based Beer Institute. Approximately 10 percent of the 625 million gallons of beer annually sold in the United States is in kegs, which are owned by brewers.
