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[ COURT CHALLENGES LIKELY ]
Upside the head tax:
Alaska vote a blow
to the cruise lines
By Johanna Jainchill
Alaska voters on Aug. 22 narrowly
approved a ballot measure that lev-
ies a $50 head tax on cruise passen-
gers sailing to Alaska and subjects
cruise lines to a host of new disclo-
sures and environmental rules.

The Alaska State Division of Elections reported that voters had approved the initiative, known as Ballot Measure 2, by a margin of 52.1% to 47.9%.

The outcome left cruise line executives baffled at how their $1.2 million mail, TV and phone campaign had been defeated by a $7,600 grassroots crusade.

John Hansen, president of the North West CruiseShip Association, said in a phone interview from Anchorage that locals with whom he had spoken expressed surprise, disappointment and concern over the outcome.

“We haven’t determined what the next step will be,” Hansen said. “It’s a complicated measure. We’ll have a look at what it all might mean and what our options are.”

TW PHO TO B Y DAVID COGS WELL

The initiative’s wording stipulates that the new rules will take effect within 90 days of the vote’s certification, which would fall after the current cruise season ends. Parts of the initiative are likely to be challenged in court, he said.

The vote generated some confusion among travel agents, who questioned when the new law would take effect and wondered if the new regulations would affect cruises already booked for future dates.

Anatomy of a restoration:
Beau Rivage
Resort & Casino
Biloxi, Miss.
$109 million

All 1,740 rooms
were remodeled,
including
95 luxury suites.

Olives restaurant
will open in De-
cember. Owned
by Todd English,
it will be Biloxi’s
first celebrity-chef
restaurant.

Completely redesigned 85,000-square-foot casino with 93 table games, 2,100 slot machines and a 16-table, two-tier poker room.

The Tom Fazio-designed Fallen Oak golf course is set to reopen on Nov. 6.

B iloxibouncesback
When Hurricane Katrina cut a swath of destruction through Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, Biloxi lost the casinos that
were its economic bedrock. Today, the city looks to a future brighter than its past. BY MICHAEL MILLIGAN PAGE 18
[ DIRECT WITHDRAWALS FROM BANK ACCOUNTS ]
Continental/ARC collection tactics anger agents
By Andrew Compart

In one of the new developments, Continental announced Aug. 22 that it will process its fees using a new transaction-processing

Continued on Page 62

A $1.2 million TV, mail and
phone campaign was
outflanked by a $7,600
grassroots crusade.

Many in the travel industry said it was still too early to know when and how the provisions would be implemented, or whether the bill would survive lawsuits.

“We will look very closely and see which parts are challengeable,” said Dave Worrell, communications director for the Alaska Travel

Continued on Page 63

Agents already were unhappy about the possibility they would have to pay $3.50 per segment for GDS bookings, depending on which GDS product they used. Now, there are complaints about the way some of those fees are going to be processed.

One agent angrily decried Continental’s plan to use ARC as a collection agent as a way to “financially molest me.”

The dispute is just one of the latest developments in the implementation of the new service fees and GDS incentive pay reductions. Those developments also included US Airways jumping on the GDS fee-for-content bandwagon, Worldspan altering the terms of its incentive pay reduction for agents, and a federal judge rejecting Amadeus’ request for a preliminary injunction to stop

American from imposing its fees on Amadeus agencies in the U.S.

Amadeus responded immediately by telling agencies it will temporarily reimburse them for all segment fees incurred for booking American for Amadeus while the GDS continues its legal battle and its efforts to reach a content deal with American.

Amadeus called the reimbursement an “interim relief measure” and did not say how long it would last.

Amadeus also is seeking an injunction to prevent Northwest from imposing its fee. A ruling on that request is expected in federal bankruptcy court this week.

The Amadeus ruling and reaction was just another example of the ever-shifting landscape in the run-up to the Sept. 1 implementation of many of the new airline fees and GDS products.