Things To Do In SW Florida

DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: Air Canada destroyed my Rimowa suitcase on a recent flight from Toronto to San Francisco. The airline instructed me to send the suitcase to a repair agent in Texas. The agent declared the suitcase unrepairable, despite the fact that they have no contract with Rimowa and no product expertise in this brand.

Air Canada then offered me a choice of inferior replacement bags, which I declined, and recently sent me a $230 check in proposed compensation. I paid roughly $1,000 for my Rimowa bag, and it was of a quality to last a lifetime. So, neither of these options is acceptable to me.

I have had multiple unsuccessful phone calls with Air Canada. I’ve escalated my complaint to the CEO by email using the contact information on your website. I have received no response. I would like Air Canada to either send the luggage to an authorized Rimowa repair shop and pay for the repairs or refund me for the luggage. Can you help?

— Donna Wells-Boyle, Portola Valley

ANSWER: Air Canada should have handled your luggage with care. And if your checked baggage was damaged while it was in the airline’s custody, it should have promptly paid for a repair or replacement. Under the Montreal Convention, which governs international flights, Air Canada’s maximum liability is $3,800, which is considerably more than you were claiming. read more

By DAVID KOENIG, AP Airlines Writer

DALLAS (AP) — Just as there are good odds the turkey will taste dry, airports and highways are expected to be jam-packed during Thanksgiving week, a holiday period likely to end in another record day for air travel in the United States.

The people responsible for keeping security lines, boarding areas and jetliners moving — from the U.S. transportation secretary and airline chiefs on down the line — swear they are prepared for the crowds.

Airline passengers might get lucky like they did last year, when relatively few flights were canceled during the holiday week. A repeat will require the weather’s cooperation. And even if skies are blue, a shortage of air traffic controllers could create delays.

U.S. flights appeared to running relatively normally on Monday, with fewer than 40 canceled but more than 1,600 delayed by midday on the East Coast, according to FlightAware.

Thanksgiving, by the numbers

Auto club and insurance company AAA predicts that nearly 80 million Americans will venture at least 50 miles from home between Tuesday and next Monday. Most of them will travel by car. read more

With plans for a new high-rise apartment tower and office building stalled, Creative Village master developer Craig Ustler is pushing ahead with plans for a smaller, mixed-use building — the only type of project he believes is currently doable downtown.

Ustler Development and co-developer Brooke Myers with Velocity Red are seeking to expedite the purchase of the 1.2-acre lot known as “Parcel H” in the master plan to build a 7-story mixed-use building with 122 units of market-rate housing just south of Luminary Green Park. High interest rates and escalating construction costs have made larger projects difficult to finance, he says.

“As you know, there are no large-scale projects under construction in Downtown Orlando,” Ustler told GrowthSpotter. “This is because they are not viable based on current market conditions.” Ustler hopes his Parcel H project, for which he recently submitted plans to the city, will be a catalyst for planned apartments and a larger office development. read more

When Spirit Airlines filed its Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in New York last week, one of its top executives offered the court a note of optimism.

The troubled South Florida-based airline, said Fred Cromer, an executive vice president and chief financial officer in a court declaration, was entering its financial overhaul process “with an eye towards continuing to deliver low-cost, high-quality service to its loyal customers, and to do so for years to come.”

The question is, does the pioneering discounter have enough time to transform its service profile from a maverick bare-bones carrier to a more upscale airline?

On approach to one of the busiest Thanksgiving travel seasons in memory, Spirit flew as usual last week after filing a “prearranged” Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition designed to quickly reduce a large chunk of debt in a restructuring deal with lenders that calls for the creditors to take $350 million in newly created equity in the airline. They’re also lending Spirit a fresh $300 million to finance operations during the Chapter 11 process. read more

By MAE ANDERSON, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Starting a small business is hard. Figuring out what to do with a small business when an owner is ready to retire can be even more difficult.

Small business owners say it is best to have a plan well in advance of making a big change like ceding a business to someone else.

Mike Roach started Paloma Clothing in Portland, Oregon, as a co-owner with his mother in 1975. In 1981, he became co-owner with his wife, Kim Osgood. But after nearly 50 years of owning the business, Roach, 74, knew he needed to start thinking about what came next.

His manager, Traci Burnes, helped steer the company through the pandemic, during a fraught time when they could have shuttered, by figuring out how to retain employees and stay afloat during the shutdown.

“At that point, we started thinking, this is really a lot more than the manager. She should be a co-owner, right?,” Roach said. “So then we sort of started trying to think about how we could engineer that and and really got serious about it about a year ago.” read more