Travel updates: Airport security, airfare sales

Speak out on airport security

Got an opinion on the Transportation Security Administration's new airport screening procedures? The U.S. Travel Association wants to hear it. After getting nearly 1,000 unsolicited comments from travelers recently, the association created a new website, www.yourtravelvoice.org, to solicit even more. Comments also are posted at www.facebook.com/yourtravelvoice

The association will consider the comments when it announces the final recommendations of its "Blue Ribbon Panel for Frictionless Aviation Security" on Feb. 1.

Watch for airfare sales

Keep an eye out for airfare sales for travel after the holidays when airlines lower their prices during a traditionally slow travel period.

Southwest Airlines recently announced a winter sale with some seats costing $59 for shorter, one-way trips between Jan. 4 and March 9; longer flights are $99 each way.

Seats are limited; the sale runs through Dec. 13.

New Pearl Harbor visitor center

A new visitor center is officially opening at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, commemorating the more than 2,000 Americans who died in the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on U.S. Navy battleships by Japan. The $58 million museum and visitor center, opening Tuesday, replaces an outdated and too-small shoreside facility near the USS Arizona Memorial. Seattle's Portico Group was among the designers of the new complex. Pearl Harbor information: www.nps.gov/valr

Greece upgrading tourist facilities

Financially-struggling Greece plans to spend more than $26.7 million over the next three years on improving visitor services at historic sites and museums to boost tourism.

Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos said most Greek monuments and museums lack basic services such as restrooms, parking lots and vending machines.

Tourism accounts for about 15 percent of Greece's economy.

Guns allowed on some Amtrak trains

Passengers will soon be allowed to carry guns aboard some Amtrak trains. Beginning Dec. 15, guns can be carried aboard trains that have checked baggage service. Gun owners must inform Amtrak officials 24 hours ahead of departure, and unloaded firearms must be packed in hard-sided containers for storage in train lockers.

Gun rights advocates pushed for an order by Congress to reverse a near decadelong gun ban on the government-owned rail corporation.

Tight reins on business travel

Business travelers are hitting the road again but not without strict spending limits, according to a survey of 1,001 business travelers by consulting firm Deloitte.

Blame the recession. And don't forget the folks at insurance giant American International Group, who drew nationwide scorn in 2008 for hosting a retreat at the luxurious St. Regis Monarch Beach in California, after taking an $85 billion government bailout.

To cut costs, 33 percent of business travelers take shorter trips, 32 percent spend less on food and 21 percent spend less on hotel rooms, the survey found.

— Seattle Times staff and news services