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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With George Hobica

Aired March 02, 2002 - 09:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Passengers in the Chicago area are finding delays as they head to the airport today. Dallas too is reporting delays, but the weather isn't the only thing that can cause these tie-ups. Tighter security can also put a snag in travel plans.

So what can you do to avoid the hassle? And where can you find the best online deals before you even get to the airport?

Well, joining us from New York is our travel expert, George Hobica is here to answer some of our questions. Hi, George.

GEORGE HOBICA, TRAVEL EXPERT: Good morning. I...

PHILLIPS: OK, we've received a lot of e-mails for you today.

HOBICA: Wow.

PHILLIPS: Yes, very popular subject. I guess with spring break, Easter break coming up, people are wanting to get away, right?

HOBICA: Definitely. I just went to Jamaica, and the plane was full, so people are definitely traveling.

PHILLIPS: Ooh! So that's a good place to go.

HOBICA: Yes, I loved it.

PHILLIPS: All right, very nice. OK, we'll talk more about that.

This one comes from Trish. She wants to know, "What should or shouldn't an airline traveler carry on board in a handbag? Are there items which are certainly going to set off bells and whistles?"

HOBICA: Well, definitely anything sharp isn't a good idea, and, you know, it's surprising the number of the things that have been banned, like nail polish, nail polish remover, aerosol hair spray. You know, there are quite a few things now. Butane lighters, like when I was coming back from Jamaica in the airport, there's a huge pile of butane lighters on the floor. They were just tossing them on the floor.

So, you know, it's -- the -- you know, it's really interesting the number of things that you can't, you can't bring. But definitely nothing sharp or, you know, nail clippers. I had my Mach III Gillette razor blades confiscated recently...

PHILLIPS: Wow.

HOBICA: ... because they went to -- because it has three blades, it's dangerous. Two blades are OK. So it's, you know, it's kind of crazy, it's a little bit hard. I think it's a good idea to bring a little bag to the check-in area that you can just load in anything that has been confiscated and just put them in that bag and ask them to check it. It could be some small collapsible zipper bag. That way, you know, they're not going to keep it.

PHILLIPS: That's a good idea, yes, because you don't want to lose those items...

HOBICA: Right.

PHILLIPS: ... that you treasure.

All right, Dennis wants to know, "Do you have any recommendations about traveling cross-country with a wheelchair?"

HOBICA: Well, you know, if you do have a wheelchair, the airline is required to stow it on board in the closet of the airplane. But it's a good idea to call the airline ahead and let them know that you're going to bring a wheelchair, because if, you know, too many people are bringing wheelchairs by coincidence, then they won't have enough room. So it's a good idea to, you know, warn the airline.

If you have a mechanical wheelchair, you know, electric one, they will stow it in cargo and ship it for you that way. So -- and they also make collapsibles, have lightweight wheelchairs, that -- they're kind of expensive, but they're kind of, you know, just lightweight versions, and you can buy those, you know, in certain catalogs. I think the Magellan's catalog sells it, for example.

PHILLIPS: Oh, that's a neat idea.

All right, an Iowa traveler asks, "We have tried to buy tickets online several times. Often the Web sites contain information about flights which may not always be true. Why aren't they updated frequently?"

HOBICA: Well, you know, the airlines provide the information to sites like Travelocity, Expedia. And it takes them a while to load the information. And, you know, it is updated frequently, but there might be, like, a four-hour lag. I know that sometimes on Travelocity you'll see a fare that will be lower or higher than Expedia, and you wonder, why don't all the, you know, air -- you know, all the sites have the same information, and they just don't.

It's just partly because it has to be loaded, you know, from the airlines. You can obviously, you know, go to the airline sites themselves, like AA.com or Delta.com, but you won't see all of the offerings. So that is a problem, definitely.

PHILLIPS: I'm kind of -- I'm getting these e-mails as we're talking, so I hope that we don't have a chance to put them up on the screen, so I'm just going to kind of read them cold here.

This one is from Frank in Louisiana. He says, "If one wanted to retire to a tropical island with a small population, a smaller government, and even smaller taxes, what would you suggest?"

HOBICA: Well, a lot of people go to Costa Rica. There's a huge American population there, and they have, you know, good hospitals, and, you know, a very large American community. So that's a very popular area.

There are some good books available, you know, in the library, you can find them on Amazon.com, for people who want to relocate to different countries. So, you know, you -- they might just do a search on Amazon or, you know, Barnesandnoble.com, and look for some of those books, or just go to a good travel bookstore, because the books do exist, you know, with tips on how to do that sort of thing.

But Costa Rica's, you know, a really good choice if you want to, you know, escape, you know, some high taxes and, you know...

PHILLIPS: Yes, Marie and I both are shaking our heads here, we've been there, and we know how wonderful it is. I took a trip with my parents. It was...

HOBICA: Oh, really?

PHILLIPS: ... you know -- yes, it was, it was, the cost was great, it was beautiful, met a lot of people from the U.S. there.

All right, this one comes from Brenda in Canada. "I'm a divorced 50-year-old female. Are there any package deals -- Vegas, resorts -- anything for single people to go without having to pay double occupancy?"

HOBICA: That's a question I get a lot. There are some tour operators that really do a good job of keeping single supplements down. One of them is Grand Circle Travel, and actually they specialize in people over 50. It's Grandcircletravel.com. Or that's the best place to reach them on line.

And they have a lot of trips that have absolutely no single supplement. And then they have others that they keep the cost down, you know, to the -- a minimum.

There's also a really great organization called Travel Companions Exchange, which matches single travelers with each other to avoid the single supplement. They have a great newsletter as well when you sign up for their service, which is about $45 a year. It's one of the best newsletters I've seen for travel information. The guy who writes it should be a travel writer. But I keep on telling him. It's online at Travelcompanionexchange.com.

PHILLIPS: Great advice. George Hobica, thank you so much. We got to have you come back and do this again, all right?

HOBICA: Great, thanks very much. PHILLIPS: All right, George, thank you.

HOBICA: Yes, bye-bye.

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