Orbitz cuts hotel fees, launches hotel price match program
Orbitz has reduced its fees for all hotel bookings through July 15. The move is similar to a recent round of airfare fee cuts from Orbitz, Expedia, and Travelocity, which were aimed at jump-starting sluggish air bookings. Orbitz also boasts that it will show you the full price of your booking up front, which it claims no other online travel agent (OTA) does. Orbitz also expanded its Price Assurance program to include hotels, meaning Orbitz customers can receive a cash refund if another Orbitz customer books the same stay at a lower price. That sounds great, and it is, but keep in mind that the lower price must be for the exact same check-in/check-out dates and room class, and an Orbitz customer must actually book that lower rate. If the rate is available but no one books your exact stay, no dice.

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Best Travel Gadgets for 2009
Slideshow: http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/best-travel-gadgets-of-2009

Southwest: Tips for traveling with children
YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG2Ak_e3XEs

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Sabre and Lufthansa extend content deal, shield from preferred fares program
The agreement extends the deal signed by the two parties last year which is due to expire at the end of June. The new deal, which will come into force on July 1, will continue to exempt the GDS’s agents in Germany, Austria and Switzerland from surcharges imposed under the airline’s controversial Preferred Fares Programme (PFP).

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Virgin Group: Space tourism is just starting up
Long-haul trips could be made in spaceships instead of planes in 20 years’ time if Virgin’s efforts to commercialize space travel succeed, the president of Virgin Galactic told Reuters in an interview. Will Whitehorn said Virgin’s plans to take tourists into space were just a first stage that could open up a range of possibilities for the company including space science, computer server farms in space and replacing long-haul flights. Virgin Galactic, part of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, has collected $40 million in deposits from would-be space tourists including physicist Stephen Hawking and ex-racing driver Niki Lauda, and hopes to start commercial trips within two years. Whitehorn said the bookings from 300 people willing to pay $200,000 each for a space flight had convinced Virgin the venture was viable. It is currently running test flights and hopes soon to win a license from the Federal Aviation Authority.

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Passenger of the week: British-based Russian artist drinks liquid soap, attempts to bite flight attendants mid-flight
A respected Russian artist was arrested after mixing wine and prescription drugs before allegedly drinking liquid soap and attacking flight attendants on a trans-Atlantic flight. British-based Galina Rusanova is accused of of punching and kicking flight attendants and - at one point - ’snapping like a dog’ while trying to bite a crew member’s leg. According to the FBI, Rusanova went to Los Angeles to visit a man she me on the internet and was returning to London on Wednesday when her flight was diverted to Bangor. The 54-year-old is known in Britain as a respected artist, actress and author who mixes with the rich and famous at London society and charity events.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1176780/British-based-Russian-artist-drank-liquid-soap-scuffled-staff-air-rage-attack.html

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