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Beginning January 23, 2007, ALL persons, including U.S. citizens, traveling by air between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Central and South Americas, the Caribbean and Bermuda will be required to present a (1 from the list):

• valid passport
• Air NEXUS card
• U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Document
• an Alien Registration Card, Form I-551, if applicable

As early as January 1, 2008, ALL persons, including U.S. citizens, traveling between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda by land or sea (including ferries), may be required to present a valid passport or other document as determined by the Department of Homeland Security.

While recent legislative changes permit a later deadline, the Departments of State and Homeland Security are working to meet all requirements as soon as possible.

Ample advance notice will be provided to enable the public to obtain passports or passport cards for land/sea entries.

The passport requirement does NOT apply to U.S. citizens traveling to or returning directly from a U.S. territory. U.S. citizens returning directly from a U.S. territory are not considered to have left the United States and do not need to present a passport. U.S. territories include the following:

• Guam
• Puerto Rico
• the U.S. Virgin Islands
• American Samoa
• Swains Island,
• and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

The cost of a new passport for an adult is $97, and for children $82.

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson

reduced flight delays when it opened its fifth runway in May 2006. That’s significant, considering it’s the world’s largest airport with more than 85 million people flying in and out every year.

The new $1.1 billion, 9,000-foot runway has increased by about 30% the number of arrivals the airport can handle at any time, reducing passenger wait time as they taxi or circle in the air.

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson joins Chicago O’Hare, Denver and Dallas-Fort Worth as the only airports in the U.S. where three jetliners are able to land safely at the same moment.

In all, the average per-flight delay will be nearly halved to about eight minutes, the airport says. The runway will also cut through the nation’s air traffic congestion.

The IRS

The Internal Revenue Service issued a 2007 allowable vehicle reimbursement rate of 48.5 cents per mile, despite a moderation in gas prices compared with the volatile post-Hurricane Katrina prices last autumn.

The 2007 rate is an increase from the 2006 rate of 44.5 cents per mile. It also is back on the same level as the rate enacted in September 2005, a rare midyear adjustment to accommodate for the surging fuel costs following Katrina.

The higher rate this year stems from overall higher prices for vehicles and fuel for the year ending in October, according to the IRS. Not counting the drop in 2006, following the post-Katrina adjustment, IRS mileage rates have climbed continually during the past few years. The rate was 40.5 cents per mile in 2005 and was 37.5 cents in 2004.

Although it is not mandatory for companies to follow the IRS safe-harbor rate, most use it as guidance for reimbursement of employees using personal vehicles for business travel.

More than 80 percent of 171 respondents in Business Travel News’ third annual Expense Managers Survey said they used the 2006 rate of 44.5 cents for reimbursement.

U.S. Customs Expands Trusted Traveler Program
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is expanding NEXUS trusted traveler-crossing privileges to all land, marine and air points of entry where NEXUS locations are currently in place.

In addition, NEXUS will provide processing locations at additional airports in Canada throughout 2007.

NEXUS is a joint program with the Canada Border Services Agency that allows pre-screened and approved travelers faster processing at designated highway lanes in high-volume border crossing locations, at a NEXUS kiosk at Vancouver International Airport, and at certain marine reporting locations in the Great Lakes and Seattle regions.

NEXUS membership also fulfills the travel document requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which will require a passport or other secure travel document by all U.S. and Canadian citizens seeking entry or re- entry into the U.S. by air beginning January 23, 2007.

It is anticipated that NEXUS membership also will be acceptable when the requirement is extended to land and sea travel.

(Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection).

 

Travelers entering the U.S. by land from Mexico and Canada won’t need to show a passport (or “PASS” card) until June 2009.

House and Senate lawmakers agreed to push back the program by 17 months to allow time to design the PASS card and develop the technology and security standards associated with it. The PASS card will be a less expensive alternative to a passport.

Those crossing the borders into the U.S. now only need a photo ID, such as a driver’s license, and a birth certificate. This delay only applies to travelers entering the U.S. via land borders; people coming into the country by airplane or cruise ship will still have to show their passports to customs officials as of January 8, 2007.

Cruise passengers who are departing from and returning to the U.S. from a domestic port (MIA, LAX, NYC, etc) do not need a passport by January 2007.

The New Design

We have a new design and supplier for our Business Travel Updates and Vacation Updates. This should make it easy for any one in the company to add information either to a posting or create their own posting.

I’m sure there will be some changes to the layout so don’t be surprized if you see some slight and not so slight changes to the design and layout in the near future.

The New Web Sites

The 6 new regional web sites are set up for travelers with links to airport and traffic links for each area. These will be a great help to anyone traveling from (or to) this area.

The idea is that any business traveler can take advantage of these sites and in the future will look to us for their next business travel evaluation or rfp.

The sites are:

• Richmondtravelagency.biz
  There are links to 3 airports: Richmond international, Washington DC Airports, and Newport News. Traffics links include cams for Washington DC and a map of Richmond.
• Jacksonvilletravelagency.biz
  Links are for the Jacksonville International Airport and traffic in Jacksonville.
• Tampatravelagency.biz
  The Tampa web site has links to the Tampa Airport and traffic in Tampa.
• Savannahtravelagency.biz
  Travelers in Savannah Ga. have links for Airports in Savannah, Jacksonville and Atlanta. There are also links for Atlanta and Jacksonville traffic.
• Atlantatravelagency.biz
  There is a list of our 4 offices in Atlanta with links to the Atlanta Airport and Atlanta traffic.
• Greensborotravelagenvy.biz
  Greensboro web site has links to the Raleigh-Durham Airport and North Carolina traffic.

In the future there will be more information about each office and our specialists.

Summer News Letter, part 1

Beginning January 1, 2007 all travelers to and from North and South America,the Caribbean and Bermuda will be required to have a valid passport or other accepted document that establishes the bearer’s identity and nationality to enter or re-enter the United States. This includes U.S. Citizens.

This means you will no longer be able to use a birth certificate as proof of citizenship when traveling to Mexico, Bermuda, the Caribbean, Central America, etc. This applies to travel by air or cruise ship.

If you are flying or cruising for the holidays and will return to the U.S. after 12/31/06, you will need a passport.

For more information about applying for a passport, U.S. citizens may visit travel.state.gov or call the National Passport Information Center toll free at 1-877-4USA-PPT or TDD/TYY: 1-888-874-7793.
Foreign nationals should contact their respective governments to obtain passports. Beat the rush and apply now! Passports are valid for 10 years.

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