Radio hour in L.A.

Things went so well the last time I was on KNX radio (1070-AM in Los Angeles) that we're going to do it again this week: I'll be on Money 101 from 10-11 a.m. (Pacific Standard Time) on Friday, 26 January 2007, with some consumer protection and smart buying advice on airline tickets and airline "service" standards. Be ready to call in with your travel questions!

New USA passport rules frustrate last-minute travellers

Effective today, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) requires passports for all air travel between the USA, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

Today the New York Times reports on the problems the new rules has caused for would-be last-minute travellers from the USA, especially business travellers, who find out they need to travel too late to obtain a passport by mail, and thus have to apply in person at a U.S. State Department Passport Office or through a commercial passport and visa expediting service. The numbers of last-minute applicants have exceeded the capacity of the Passport Service, frustrating travellers and causing some of them to lose potential business.

[Canadians travel to the USA more than U.S. citizens travel to Canada. The backlogs and delays have been even more severe at passport issuance offices in Canada, although that wasn't mentioned in the New York Times story.]

This is exactly what I predicted in comments filed with the DHS and the State Department by the Identity Project when these new WHTI rules were proposed last year.

In its assessment of the cost burden of the proposed rules, the DHS and the State Department considered only regular passport applications (supposedly six to eight weeks processing time, although I recently heard from someone who received their passport more than five months after they applied) and expedited two-week service by mail. They made no mention of what happens when a psasport is needed in less than two weeks.

In our comments, the Identity Project pointed out this omission, and gave a detailed breakdown of the escalating costs of obtaining a passport more quickly, as well as of the consequential costs of trips that would be impossible becuase a passport couldn't be obtained quickly enough.

The DHS dismissed our comments out of hand, in a response to comments published in the Federal Register in November along with the final rule that goes into effect today:

Comment

One commenter argued that the cost to obtain a passport is significantly underestimated because the time estimated to obtain a passport is too low.

Response

We appreciate this comment and the detail that accompanied the estimate provided in the comment. However, the commenter presented an estimate that was overly pessimistic and represented an absolute ‘‘worst-case’’ scenario that would rarely, if ever, be realized.

The final WHTI cost assessment continued to ignore any of the implications of passports applied for in person or needed in less than two weeks.

As today's story in the Times shows, the "worst-case scenario" we predicted has already been realized, even before the new rules have taken effect.

Avalon Publishing to be acquired by Perseus Books

Avalon Publishing Group -- which includes the publisher of my Practical Nomad books, Avalon Travel Publishing -- has announced that they are to be acquired by Perseus Books Group .

This should have no affect on readers or buyers of my books, and hopefully will have little effect on me (and maybe even positive effect). But in case anyone is curious, here's the story:

My books are published by Avalon Travel Publishing (a division of the Avalon Publishing Group), and distributed to bookstores and other outlets by Publishers Group West (a division of Advanced Marketing Services).

On 29 December 2006, Advanced Marketing Services filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors -- mainly book publishers -- while it attempts to reorganize.

My publisher, Avalon Publishing Group, is reportedly owed US$2.3 million . Other publishers large and small are also owed money for books already sold, but for which the publishers haven't yet been paid. Publishers, including mine, are likely to have to write off most of those receivables.

Rather than maintain its own warehouse, Avalon also contracts with AMS to store Avalon's inventory of books. Avalon owns the books, but they are in AMS's warehouses. Custody of that inventory, along with that of other publishers, has become one of the first contested issues in the bankruptcy court proceedings.

All of this severely strains publishers, especially small publishers who can't afford to lose millions of dollars in receivables or inventory, or have their books be unavailable until they print new copies and arrange new distribution channels.

I'm not privy to any of the details, but I presume that it's at least in part in response to this crisis that Avalon has cut a deal with a company with, I hope, deeper pockets to weather the storm, and the ability to provide its own distribution services for Avalon books.

For now, AMS is continuing to operate in bankruptcy, and I've been told my books are still being shipped to bookstores. I've been assured that my books will continue to be published on schedule, and that I'll still be paid my royalties for sales of my books (which are a minority of my total writing and consulting income anyway).

If you or your bookstore are having any trouble ordering or receiving my books, please contact Avalon Travel Publishing or let me know directly.

Unlike some writers, I've had an excellent relationship with my publisher. I've had a different editor for each edition of each of my books, but that's actually been a benefit: each has brought a different perspective and improved my books in different ways. Despite a series of mergers, acquisitions, spinoffs, and name changes, I'm still dealing with the same person as publisher of Avalon Travel -- Bill Newlin -- who first invited me to write for what was then the Moon guidebook series, and came up with the title, "The Practical Nomad".

Now back to my room to finish work on the 4th edition of "The Practical Nomad: How to Travel Around the World". Don't expect to see much if anything more from me until next month.

RFID passports in the wild in the USA

I've just received my first report of a regular (non-diplomatic) USA passport with an RFID chip in it (with data fields already allocated on the chip for logs of the passport holder's movements):

I applied for my passport in September 2006 and received it December 07, 2006. It has the mark of the beast on the front (the RFID Chip in Your Passport mark).

I applied for it [by mail] and received it in the mail at Anchorage, Alaska. The postmark on the Priority Mail envelope says it was mailed at Aurora Colorado.

I have not yet heard of any RFID passports being issued on the spot at the regional passport offices. If you want a new or renwal USA passport without an RFID chip, I continue to recommend that you apply in person on an expedited basis -- preferably requesting your passport the same day or the next day -- at one of these offices.

[Update, 3 February 2007: I heard today from someone in Texas who applied for their passport in December, and got back an RFID passport today with a postmark and return address from the Passport Agency office in Houston.]