Could it have been prevented?

It's been a bad week for tourists, at least according to media reports. Consider:

• A woman died on an American Airlines flight -- prompting an investigation and widespread debate as to who was to blame (the flight attendants?)
• An American tourist dies abseiling (rappelling) in Sydney's Blue Mountains -- cause of death still pending.
  
• An 82 year old British tourist drowns while snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef.
• An Austrian tourist is killed while swimming with sharks in Florida.

If you dig into the past few months' news, its easy to find stories of tourists becoming victims. Travel is such a huge industry that when anything happens to a tourist it gets splashed all over the news. Statistically speaking, most travellers do not experience serious problems like injury or death. However, what makes these cases interesting is the speculation surrounding them: Who is to blame? Could these incidents have been prevented?

While swimming in chum-filled waters with sharks was probably not the safest activity to engage in, what about the normal act of flying? Is the flight attendant to blame for a lack of care? Should the victim have taken more precautions for her health? Should the 82 year old snorkeler have stopped the first time he felt short of breath? Did the abseiler take necessary safety precautions? It will take a lot of time and a lot more questions to reveal the truth (if it's possible).

If my experience in travel safety has taught me anything it's that people have a different tolerance for risk. Your best bet is to learn about the risks, no matter how big or small, and take steps to mitigate them. But avoid risks altogether? I don't think we can, or should.

In the meantime, I won't attempt to provide a definitive answer for the question I posed in the title of this blog. That's for investigators to decide, not the media.

Can you trust your travel company?

How reliable is your travel company? And how can you tell?

I've been revisiting the issue of travel scams again after being contacted by a traveller who has concerns about a trip she booked with a company over the phone. Everything seemed legit when when the trip was booked, but later research online revealed problems with the company. The issue becomes who can you trust for advice, and what can you do if you are a victim?

Previous articles I have researched and written mainly focussed on travel scams you might encounter while you are traveling (such as counterfeit police and con artist scams) or general tips for avoiding travel scams. With vacation and time share scams on the rise, I'm now taking a different tactic and looking at ways to identify and avoid scams before a trip is booked. Yes, the topic has been covered before, but the statistics I've seen suggest that people still aren't getting the message.

One really valuable resource I have come across for Canadian and U.S. companies is the Better Business Bureau (commonly known as the BBB). The BBB website offers visitors the ability to look up a company and read an online report about its record. Does the company comply to BBB standards (i.e. have accreditation)? Does the company have a satisfactory standing with the BBB? How many customers have complained? What were their complaints regarding? Were the complaints resolved?

Visitors can look up the travel service providers, hotels, etc. and learn information that might be crucial to choosing reliable services. Also, if you are the victim of a scam (or think you might be), contact the BBB. You can file a complaint with them and they will assist in resolving the problem.

I'm hoping that further research will uncover comparable services in other countries (suggestions are welcome!). I think the BBB website is a useful tool for doing a little research before you book.

The Weekly Roundup: An impossible task

For the past two weeks I have attempted a weekly round up of news/events/current issues --- and failed miserably. It's not for a lack of trying as there is certainly no shortage of things going on in the world. Too much, in fact, to choose only ten or twelve items to focus on in a blog entry. How do you selection items? How can you prioritize them? It's tricky.

For instance, this past week there were at least three political stories that made the news: the elections in Pakistan, Kosovo declaring independence, and the ongoing crisis in Kenya. So do I overlook Iraq? Sri Lanka? Chad? East Timor? Zimbabwe? (and the list could go on...) Oh, and Castro resigned, which really isn't going to affect your travel plans but made a big media splash.

On the health front, a couple more people died of avian influenza in China and Indonesia. How does that compare to the yellow fever outbreak in South America? Or the reemergence of tuberculosis? Or the ongoing risk of dengue fever or contracting a form of hepatitis? When you've seen the rates of HIV, AIDS, and cancer... it's hard to maintain perspective.

And let's talk about the weather... Tropical cyclones Ivan and Nicholas hit this past week, but in any given week there is at least one tropical cyclone striking somewhere in the world. Severe cold weather and harsh conditions are making life difficult in parts of China and the Middle East, though they get less media coverage than severe winter storms in the U.S.

And airplanes... I have seen the whole gamut this week from airline mergers to plane crashes, emergency landings and incidents of discrimination (actual or perceived). Not to mention potential transportation strikes...

Bottom line: Every story is important to someone. If you want to see what has happens in the news this week, check out this page at AllSafeTravels.

In the meantime, I'm switching tactics and will instead provide a weekly report of interesting stories I read during the past week. Watch for my first post coming this week.

U.S. announces new security measures for trains

"The next attacks will be on trains."

One month after the 9/11 attacks, I was travelling by train to Toronto and sitting next to someone who worked in the security industry. It was a weekend when there was a warning for more attacks to hit, and Toronto's CN Tower was on the list. The person I was sitting next to was telling me his theories about how what the next target would be... Trains.

Why trains? A lack of security. I considered by own experience... No one screened my luggage and no one even checked my ticket until an hour after the trip was underway. Worse yet... Union Station is right in the middle of downtown Toronto, right next to a popular landmark specifically named in a threat. Now I can laugh about feeling frightened, but it wasn't funny to me at the time.

In the coming months I had expected changes to train security. However, over the last several years, all I saw were notices to the effect of the company having the right to inspect luggage and a warning that unattended luggage would be confiscated. Otherwise, it has been business-as-usual.

Until now-- Amtrak is implementing new security measures, including bomb-sniffing dogs and random luggage checks. According to an article on CNN, there have been very few (if any) changes to train security since 9/11 despite the fact that experts have been warning about vulnerabilities. There have been several articles on the topic in the media this week, and everyone is quick to point out that these measures are not in response to a specific threat.

I wonder how effective these measures will be, or if other rail companies (such as Canada's VIA Rail) will follow suit. The Transportation Security Administration is applauding the new procedures, but I'm reserving judgment until I hear what the critics will say.

Kosovo gets its own advice

The UK gets my vote for "most proactive government" when it comes to responding to Kosovo's new independence in their travel advice. While all of the major governments have been updating their travel advice, the UK was the first to issue separate travel advice for Kosovo.

Other governments may follow suit in the coming weeks -- depending on their position and whether or not they recognize Kosovo's independence. For now, information about Kosovo can be found in their Serbia travel advice.

What's the advice currently saying? Serbia views the declaration as illegal, which means protests and other related civil unrest have occurred and will continue to occur. It's a touchy subject that travellers should avoid in conversation, and entry and exit issues are bound to occur. As a general rule, travellers should avoid large crowds and protests. The U.S. government issued a Travel Alert for Serbia after its embassy was attacked by rioters.

No doubt Kosovo will be under close watch by nations around the world in coming weeks.