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My family of four flew from Chicago to Salt Lake City on American Airlines during spring break. About a half-hour into our outbound flight, we were told that the landing gear did not come up and that we had to return to O’Hare International Airport.

Once we landed, we were not rebooked and no alternatives were available; no communications about other arrangements were known or announced. we were able to find an American Airlines agent at a different gate who tried in vain to find us a flight to Utah that same day.

She finally found a flight to Salt Lake City via Newark, N.J., on Delta Air Lines.

Our return flight to Chicago was canceled by American Airlines – another broken plane. we finally departed midday and arrived home hours later than we planned.

We complained to American Airlines, but it offered us a form apology and 3,000 miles each. I asked them for a refund; the airline refused.

Somehow, this is unjust and unfair. can you please help? we lost two full days of our vacation because of their broken planes.

– Renata Fidman, Chicago

Losing two vacation days is unacceptable, but not as disappointing as American’s canned apology and mileage offer.

After all, nothing says, “I don’t care” like a form letter, and nothing underscores it quite like frequent flier miles that assume you’ll take another American flight.

But do you have a case? Have a look at American’s contract of carriage, the legal agreement between you and the airline. Section 3 suggests it owes you nothing for the inconvenience.

“American is not responsible for or liable for failure to make connections, or to operate any flight according to schedule, or for a change to the schedule of any flight,” it says.

I disagree, despite the contract. Most reasonable passengers assume the planes will work, and are willing to forgive one mechanical delay. after all, it’s better to be safe than dead.

But being rerouted to Newark and then experiencing another mechanical failure on the return flight? Well, I think it’s not unreasonable to expect more than a form apology and a few miles.

Although there’s nothing you can do during a mechanical delay except ask to be rebooked on the next flight – which you did – you can be more proactive when you complain.

You sent an email to American, but you could have appealed it to someone higher up the corporate food chain when the airline kicked back a form letter. I list several helpful names and their contact information on my customer service wiki (www.onyoursi.de/wiki).

I contacted American on your behalf. A representative phoned you and offered a real apology and $800 in vouchers, which is somewhat better than the miles.

© Copyright the Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. You can read more tips on his blog, elliott.org or email him at chris@elliott.org.

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With Memorial Day behind us, summer is officially on and families are packing up their suitcases and hitting the road.  87% of Americans are planning some sort of travel this summer.  That’s a whole lot of hotel stays, huh?

Alexandra Jaritz knows all about travel and making the most of your time in a hotel.  She grew up the daughter of a hotel general manager and lived in hotels throughout her childhood.  She’s now the senior vice president of brand strategy and marketing and an officer of Choice Hotels International.

She recently offered up some tips on summer travel, including how to find great deals using social media and what the hot spots will be this year.  Have a listen.  Then comment below and let us know where you plan to visit this summer.   one lucky winner of a $75 gift card to a Choice Hotel will be drawn at random.  You have until midnight EST on June 14th to enter.  The winner will be drawn on June 15th. good luck and happy traveling!

(Reader note: I was compensated with a gift card to Choice Hotels to share the word about summer travel.  As always, my opinions remain my own.)

DALLAS, Jun 7, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) –In a move that will help business travelers save time while navigating through congested airport security checkpoints, Regus, the world’s largest provider of flexible workplaces, announced a new partnership agreement with CLEAR, a cutting-edge technology company offering dedicated security lanes to help passengers speed through airport security checkpoints.

“The majority of Regus customers are mobile workers and take advantage of our global network of professional workspaces,” said Michael Haas, Regus’ Director of Partnerships. “Through this partnership we can now help them have a better travel experience at some of the busiest airports in the country.”

Currently available in San Francisco, Orlando and Denver International Airports, and anticipating opening in Dallas-Fort Worth this summer, CLEAR seeks to expand its expedited traveler service to many more airports across the U.S.

as part of the agreement, Regus Businessworld Members will be awarded a 90-day free trial to CLEAR with unlimited access to CLEAR’s network of airports. CLEAR members will be entitled to a one-year Regus Businessworld Gold membership providing unlimited access to Regus’ global network of 1,200 business lounges.

“CLEAR and Regus both promote productivity and efficiency and we are excited to share services and amenities between our members,” said Effie Epstein, CLEAR’s Director of Business Development & Strategy. “The Regus business lounges offer a convenient and professional place to work while on the road; that is a value-added benefit to our members.”

CLEAR members will also receive discounts on future meeting room bookings and videoconferencing services at any Regus business center. they can also secure one-month free on any virtual office program and/or full-time office agreement.

Regus is the world’s largest provider of flexible workplaces, with products and services ranging from fully equipped offices to professional meeting rooms, business lounges and the world’s largest network of video communication studios. Regus enables people to work their way, whether it’s from home, on the road or from an office. Customers such as Google, GlaxoSmithKline, and Nokia join hundreds of thousands of growing small and medium businesses that benefit from outsourcing their office and workplace needs to Regus, allowing them to focus on their core activities.

Over a million customers a day benefit from Regus facilities spread across a global footprint of 1,200 locations in 550 cities and 95 countries, which allow individuals and companies to work wherever, however and whenever they want to. Regus was founded in Brussels, Belgium in 1989, is headquartered in Luxembourg and listed on the London Stock Exchange.

For more information, visit: www.regus.com .

CLEAR is the trusted repository for secure identification. Today, CLEAR’s biometric platform delivers certainty of speed and the highest level of service to members at the airport, while enhancing airport security. CLEAR’s dedicated lanes speed members through security in five minutes or less and our lanes have been used over half a million times. Enrollment is fast and easy and can be done at any of CLEAR’s enrollment centers ( http://clearme.com/enrollment-centers ). For more information on how CLEAR can transform your travel experience, go to www.CLEARme.com .

this news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com

SOURCE: CLEAR; Regus

CONTACT: For more information, contact: Grant Greenberg Regus PR and Communication Manager Grant.Greenberg@Regus.com Lisha DeFreitas CLEAR Member Services lisha@clearme.com

(C) Copyright 2010 GlobeNewswire, Inc. all rights reserved.

When the U.S. Space Shuttle Program ended last summer, many Americans bemoaned the fact we now stood to lose our nation’s position as an international leader in space exploration.

However, after a privately owned spacecraft, the company SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, visited the International Space Station last week, it now seems completely possible the future of space exploration can be through the private, rather than public, sector. Many students who perhaps once envisioned themselves working for NASA may ultimately find careers with private space companies like SpaceX or with Boeing’s space program. In the future, little-known space corporations might become mainstream companies.

It makes sense at this point, at least for financial reasons, to hand over many of the responsibilities previously held by organizations like NASA to groups like SpaceX. Many industries and parts of the private sector actually began as government projects or were heavily supplemented by the government. The Internet has its roots in a program developed in the 1950s by the U.S. government to give it an edge over the Soviet Union in computer science. some of the first train systems in the United States were built with logistical support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In the same way, the government’s initial support of space exploration has made it possible to reach the point today at which private companies can step forward to increase and guide future research and innovation.

At this point, the rate of progress on private space travel might proceed with breakneck speed, mirroring the technological developments we saw with cell phones or the Internet. Younger generations don’t have memories of the massive changes these developments brought to our culture during the late 1980s and early 1990s, but private space exploration might lead to a similar groundswell of innovation that truly changes the way we understand the world around us. In the same way companies like Facebook and Google would not have been conceivable prior to the creation of the Internet, it is difficult to foresee what service private sector space operations will provide for us. but, those changes will no doubt come, and they will be significant.

There are also probable downsides to commercializing the space industry. The current statistical track record of accidents is relatively low, and surely the threat of lawsuit or bankruptcy is incentive enough for companies to exercise caution. There will definitely be a “debugging” period in the beginning. I’m not sure I would want to risk taking part during that period.

The potential environmental impact of commercialized space travel is also something to consider. according to a USA Today article, NASA and the United States Air Force estimate several decades and $1 billion are needed to clean up the carcinogenic chemicals used in launching past spacecrafts, which have contaminated the water and land around the launch site. Modern flights have had less harmful chemicals involved, but greenhouse gases and other types of pollution are going to have to be addressed.

Many MU students might ultimately play large roles in the private space exploration industry. These new industries will be driven by engineers, scientists and business leaders who will help direct and lead new innovations we have not even began to dream of yet. The benefit for current students and incoming freshmen, who will be entering the marketplace at just the right time, is we can prepare for changes and make a real impact on the emerging private market for scientific goods and services. As public sector space flights give way to the private sector, the future of space is wide open and, as future young professionals, ours for the taking.

Last week was a big deal for fans of both space travel and capitalism, as the spacecraft Dragon visited the International Space Station and, like its fantastical namesake, delivered food and computers to astronauts.

The reason the SpaceX Dragon is big news is not because the unmanned spacecraft is huge or advanced or armed with photon torpedoes. It’s news because it’s a privately built and privately funded vehicle, ushering us into a shining new era in which space travel becomes banal and tedious.

If you read the account of the mission and substitute “Peterbilt” for “Dragon,” “loading dock” for “International Space Station” and “Bakersfield” for “orbit,” you’ll see that once you get over the whole “vacuum of space” thing, it’s the story of a slightly awkward delivery of dry goods to a government warehouse.

This, I should explain, is a good thing. Humanity never advances without reaching for the stars, pulling them from the spheres, looking at them and saying, “Man, these stars suck. Why don’t we get better stars? Pfft.”

So I will be extremely satisfied if, within my lifetime, I can see space travel become completely, irritatingly common. I look forward to hackneyed stand-up comedians making predictable jokes about G-forces and anti-space-sickness pills. I await the formation of a corrupt and inefficient Space Docker’s Union. I anticipate being annoyed by yet another maudlin country-western song about the lonely but honest life of a geosynchronous cargo handler.

But that’s not the only space news. Buoyed by the temporarily newfound interest in the transport of cargo from Earth to pretty close to Earth and back, news outlets are covering more, shall we say, “minor” aspects of the race to make space into the finally profitable frontier.

One bit of news is that the FAA has given Virgin Galactic permission to fly its latest craft, the prosaically yet annoyingly named SpaceShipTwo, into space.

This troubles me. Not the permission, the fact that the private space company had to get permission. You need the FAA’s say-so to leave the planet?

I never really thought about it before, mostly because I’ve never been in a position to achieve escape velocity. I’ve generally been happy with the whole gravity well thing, give or take some lower back pain. but now that I’m aware that I can’t just leave the planet at will, it’s all I want to do.

I feel trapped, kept on Earth by the oppressive forces of government bureaucracy. who are they to tell me whether I should be surrounded by breathable atmosphere? what are they going to do, post a guard at the Kármán line and demand to see my papers as I zoom by at a dozen or so kilometers per second?

So along with the inevitable youth vogue for “space hauler hats,” I hope that the future brings some degree of restlessness and rebellion when it comes to space travel, a deeply principled rejection of the tyranny of Earth-bound governmental control.

We were born here, but we don’t have to stay here. Don’t let the man literally keep you down. Occupy space.

Born helpless, naked and unable to provide for himself, Lore Sjöberg overcame these handicaps to spend several days in low-Earth Bakersfield.

I was scheduled to attend a veterinary dental seminar in Colorado a few months ago. Somehow, I accidentally booked a room at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Colorado Springs for an entire month – Feb. 16 through March 16 – and I didn’t realize the mistake until the day before my departure.

I called the hotel to let them know I had made the error. they said that a refund would be at the discretion of the manager and that they would leave her a note and we would discuss it when I arrived.

Unfortunately, that day at work I was severely bitten on my hand by a dog. I had to go to the ER after work and the doctor told me I had to cancel my trip for the next day, as I would most likely need surgery. I called the Holiday Inn that evening to tell them that I would not be able to make it and asked the office manager to return my call to discuss the error I had made.

she did call and left me a message saying that I would be charged for the entire 30 days – $2,305 – because I had made a noncancellable, nonrefundable reservation. I have always offered to pay for the three nights I intended to stay.

I have disputed the charge via my credit card and have also repeatedly contacted the guest relations department. I know that I made the mistake, even though I have no idea how I did it. I just feel that this is wrong. thanks for any help you can give me.

– Amy Rossi, Seattle

This is one of the strangest cases I’ve ever heard of. not just being bitten by a dog before a dental seminar, but also being charged two grand for a room you never used.

Let’s break this problem down into its components. Holiday Inn, like many hotels, now offers some nonrefundable rooms. Terms are clearly disclosed, whether you’re booking through an online agency or the Holiday Inn site. So before you made the reservation, you should have been informed that you’d be charged, whether you showed up or not.

Keying in the wrong dates is an easy mistake to make. I’ve done it a time or two. those helpful online calendars that allow you to click on your desired date can sometimes get slippery, depending on which browser you’re using. That’s why you have to double- and triple-check the dates – first when you make the reservation, then when you pay, and then when you receive the confirmation.

I think you may have skipped a step or two. That’s perfectly understandable, but Holiday Inn is right. Technically, it can charge you $2,305.

I guess the question is, should they charge you $2,305? had you made it to Colorado Springs, then your request for a refund might be difficult to grant. but since you couldn’t travel because of circumstances beyond your control, I think the hotel should have shown some leniency. after all, when a hotel can’t accommodate you for reasons beyond its control, like severe weather, we’re asked to be understanding. Shouldn’t it be, too? I contacted Holiday Inn on your behalf. It agreed to refund you for all but two of the nights.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. all rights reserved.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. you can read more tips on his blog, elliott.org or email him at chris@elliott.org.

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By MARK THIESSEN associated Press June 1, 2012 10:00AM

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Updated: June 1, 2012 12:28PM

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Anchorage residents are apparently not dressing to impress.

That’s the upshot of Travel and Leisure Magazine’s reader poll, which put the residents of Alaska’s largest city at the bottom when it comes to being on the top of style.

The magazine ran an online poll asking readers to rank 35 American cities on such things as best nightlife, best burgers, best New Year’s Eve celebrations, etc.

“I think it’s a little ridiculous, to be honest,” said Hillary Walker, the assistant manager at lulu e. bebe fashion boutique in Anchorage. “I think dressing well is about feeling comfortable, experimenting, expressing yourself through your clothing. I think people in Anchorage do a great job with that.”

Some others in Anchorage apparently feel differently. The unscientific poll was split between visitors to cities and residents. when you break down the worst dressed list even further, Anchorage residents rated themselves second-to-last, with Salt Lake City residents putting Utah’s largest metro at the bottom of the rag pile.

The low ranking for Anchorage doesn’t surprise state of Alaska labor economist Neal Fried, who went to work Thursday wearing his signature bow tie, this one featuring characters from “The Simpsons.”

He discounts the theory that Anchorage residents don’t shell out big bucks for fashion because of the higher prices for clothing, especially since he calls Anchorage a wealthy city — with a median income 41 percent above the national average.

Instead, he surmises it’s the lifestyle of Anchorage residents and the city’s weather.

Anchorage is an outdoors city, with downhill and cross country skiing, snowboarding, hiking, running and biking leading residents to resorts and trails all year long.

Often, you’ll see people out to dinner with friends and their dress may appear they’re better suited for a campfire.

“You can go hiking and then straight to dinner, and you might be at a five-star restaurant,” Walker said. “You have to have a versatile wardrobe.”

“It’s more important to get out and do things and meet with friends, then I think to focus on being fashion-appropriate and savvy for every event,” said Kris Natwick, membership director for the Anchorage Downtown Partnership.

And there’s a good reason you see women favoring a pair of bunny boots over heels in the winter, which can stretch from October to may.

“You’re not going to wear high heels out when it’s been snowing six, eight, 10, 12 inches,” Natwick said. “You’re going to dress appropriately for the weather.”

Anchorage had a record snow this past winter, with more than 11 feet. That surpassed a nearly 60-year-old record.

“It’s really hard to be real stylish in February,” Fried said. “But you know, it’s easy to be stylish in LA in February.”

Mayor Dan Sullivan takes the poor ranking in stride. He calls Anchorage a casual city because of not only the climate, but also because of the rugged, gritty work that people do in that weather.

“We feel very comfortable dressing down, and at the same time, being comfortable in the climate,” said Sullivan, who wore a sport coat, dress shirt and Jerry Garcia tie to work Thursday. He joked he tries to dress “semi-mayoral on a daily basis.”

But that doesn’t mean you won’t see Alaskans dressed to the nines at social events.

Sullivan notes that Anchorage was named no. 1 for jobs by Forbes this year, and the best winter city in America by livability.com. “We’ll take the accolades along with the humorous other rankings.”

For the record, the Travel and Leisure poll put New York City at the top for fashion.

“When you go to New York … you’re just happy to be in New York and you want to dress to impress,” said Anchorage DJ Scott Root, who was manning his friend’s hot dog stand in downtown Anchorage on Thursday. “There’s a lot more fancier stuff there.”

But in Anchorage, “it’s all outdoors,” Root said.

“I think we’d be embarrassed if we were on the top of the list,” Fried said. “Actually, I think we’re proud where we are.”

Rich Beattie, executive director of travelandleisure.com, says he doesn’t believe the low style ranking is necessarily a bad thing for Anchorage.

He said he’s been to Anchorage and throughout Alaska, and the areas have so much going for them. In fact, poll voters placed Anchorage at no. 4 for the city with the best peace and quiet. it also ranked high for best summer and offbeat travel and pretty good for Fourth of July travel.

“I think they are reasons that people travel to certain cities, and it’s not necessarily to dress up and be stylish and hang out with stylish people,” Beattie said.

Travel always disrupts a form of identity. Animals always prosper in a given habitat even when they must rove within it, but humans contrive annoyance at stability within a habitat and long to drift here and there, in search of adventure, discovery, or idle curiosity.

The appeal of travel is ubiquitous. Homer’s The Odyssey is a perennial favorite of writers ancient and modern. The classic embodies adventure within an acknowledged requirement or inevitability of returning home to stability, identity, domestication. The adventures are tantalizing because we know that the hero, after pleasure, will return to a warm fire or dry shelter, there to savor memories. this is the masculine dream that mingles rakishness with the hearth, reconciles the raging and final denouement of both hormones and instincts.

An Asian tale postulates a question put to a Tibetan yogi: “how do you get enlightenment?” “Leave your country,” the yogi replies. Bodhidharma left India for China, and Japanese sages left Japan for China (but returned). how many emigrants have imagined a promised land, from the Hebrews of Egypt to those journeying from Europe to America, or some version in history even since? but is the yogi’s reply true?

A few sociologists postulate that the genetic makeup of emigrants and adventurers leans toward the same material rapacity, the getting-rich, the finding of gold, the embodied crusader, explorer, mercenary, or risk-taking financier. All live with the goal of movement, change, and progress, a value that came to embody virtually every scientific and social paradigm throughout the last five centuries. Even the average person is eager to see new things while savagely defending their narrow world view.

Perhaps the hunter-gatherer instinct survives in this ironic way. Primitivism extols the virtues of the untrammeled and uncivilized, making the point that, after all, look at to what brink of collapse and extinction technological civilization has brought us. but is this remark not the primitivist’s very weakness? — to have projected the wandering, adventurer’s restlessness onto what evolved from their eventual weariness as civilization. The hunter-gatherer bequeathed aimless extermination (several species were probably hunted to extinction by them), ever in search of new prey, to modern civilization.

The historical agriculturalist or peasant does not trust travel, or even the inhabitants beyond the mountain within their purview. their distrust is not founded on animosity but is more akin to the animal’s instinct to maintain its habitat, knowing subconsciously that change can be irrevocable, that the place where one is presently situated can be the universe. Not that the typical peasant will articulate this, any more than the animal will. Nor will the adventurer reduce his restlessness to mere genetics, though he has clearly lost touch with the present and with nature itself.

Travel by bus or train (not on a fast and mindless jet akin to the fictional time machine) in a distant or foreign land. A sense of wonder may well up, translated now into a sense of amusement, alienation, bewilderment, or fear, according to vicissitudes of life that now prompt the travel. Comfortable people project a sense of extension, like the happy child who accompanies the parent without fear as long as the parent is within sight. perhaps the pilgrim will be focused on a specific goal, regardless of circumstances. but the less comfortable may sense the inherent restlessness that strange sites project, a sudden rootlessness, a not-belonging. this feeling is deeper than the heroic adventurism of Odysseus.

The experience is not merely of being out of habitat or without a home. The experience can encapsulate a rootlessness embedded within life itself, within the universe, where everything ought to be home, everywhere ought to be habitat, at least to humans no longer “mere” animals, no longer dependent on the mechanics of life but on the mind’s ability to abstract ways of living. but except for the adventurer and the comfortable — and for the modern mind — this sleight of hand about being a citizen of the universe cannot hold up. We have failed to transcend our animal nature, failed to get to that point of consciousness that does not need anything, less a home. but in the name of ideology we insist, and in the name of progress destroy our very habitat.

The restless try to cheat the ill feeling, and many succeed, often at the expense of others who suffer at the hands of the hunting-preying instinct of the mobile. but the restlessness, which is rooted in religion but contradicts nature (which, however, we will never appropriate) is not a failure of evolution. it is only a continuity of animal being, added to which is the wound of consciousness. Our destiny is to always feel this restlessness, to always long for a habitat that is familiar, congenial, recognizable.

the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board will consider boosting its travel budget after Chairman Ericka Ellis-Stewart found herself short of the $4,800 she needed to pay for the recent London trip sponsored by the Charlotte Chamber.

Ellis-Stewart said Wednesday she had submitted an invoice to interim Superintendent Hugh Hattabaugh and was on the plane that was supposed to take a group of executives, civic leaders and elected officials to London on May 19. But the trip was canceled after mechanical problems kept the flight from taking off, and the chamber has said taxpayers won’t be charged.

Stewart, who took office in December, already had spent all but $284 of her travel budget for the year that ends June 30, according to travel records provided by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

She said Wednesday that two board members had agreed to let her use some of their unspent travel money. Richard McElrath told the Observer he was willing to let Ellis-Stewart use all of the $3,110 he had left. Amelia Stinson-Wesley, who was appointed to the board in January, said she’d agreed to give the chair $800 from the $1,350 she hasn’t spent.

The board budgets $29,950 a year for school board travel, with $5,150 for the chair and $3,100 for each of the other eight members.

This year’s election and change of chairmanship required some juggling. Ellis-Stewart’s budget was $2,575 for half a year as board chair, plus $517 from money that wasn’t spent by three members who left office in December. the CMS report shows Ellis-Stewart spent just over $2,800 on two trips to Raleigh and the National School Boards Association conference in Boston.

State law requires board members to get 12 hours of continuing education credit, which often involves trips to out-of-town meetings or classes.

“over the last several months, I have heard from a few board members that we do need additional dollars,” Ellis-Stewart said Wednesday. “by the time you do the costs and the travel, it pretty much exhausts your travel budget. I believe we will talk about that at a future retreat.”

The trip to London was not directly related to education, but Ellis-Stewart said it was a good chance to network with business leaders who could help CMS in public-private partnerships. the chamber’s annual trips are designed to let Charlotte’s decision-makers check out economic development, quality of life and public policy in other cities.

Her colleagues voiced mixed opinions about her decision to exceed her travel budget and the need to boost that budget. in 2010-11, with CMS in the depths of recession, the board spent less than $17,500. Then-chair Eric Davis had the highest spending: $3,847 for five trips, including the chamber’s 2011 visit to Seattle.

Davis and other members say Ellis-Stewart isn’t the first board member to borrow unspent travel money from colleagues. Kaye McGarry, who held an at-large seat until December, has done so, they say.

But Davis said it is clear that members must have the money lined up before they commit to a trip. the totals reported by board members would have given Ellis-Stewart almost $4,200, $600 short of the bill for London. Ellis-Stewart said two members had given her “maybes” on helping with the tab.

Davis said he wouldn’t support an increased travel budget “given the financial situation the school district is in.” the school board is seeking a $27.5 million increase from county commissioners to provide 3 percent staff raises after three years of frozen wages.

Board member Rhonda Lennon, who has spent none of her travel budget this year, said Ellis-Stewart asked her for unspent travel money on the day her flight was scheduled to depart, and she declined. Lennon said she didn’t consider networking a good enough reason to spend the money.

“you can buy a whole lot of lunches for $4,800,” she said.

McElrath, who already had transferred about $500 from his travel budget to Vice Chairman Mary McCray, said he doesn’t mind letting others use his money because “I have no plan on using it.” He said he wishes there were more flexibility on spending.

Member Joyce Waddell, who joined Ellis-Stewart and McCray at the national conference in Boston, agreed with the chair that travel money can run out quickly after a session like that. “I think it needs to be increased,” she said.

Tim Morgan said he was one of the “maybes” on transferring money to Ellis-Stewart.

Morgan agrees the board should discuss travel spending, but noted that he hasn’t used his full allotment in three years on the board. “I personally don’t need more travel money.”

In a world where a few taps on your smartphone can book a flight to Florida or a hotel in France, travel agent Elaine Osgood is used to hearing predictions of her industry’s imminent demise.

but this is a woman with a large white globe next to her desk and a pair of red boxing gloves hanging from her office doorknob.

Her Milford-based travel management firm has not only weathered the rise of the Internet, its gross revenues grew $60 million in the past two years.

She has owned the agency for the past 26 years, first as a Uniglobe franchise and since 1997 as Atlas Travel International.

This is hardly the first time that Osgood has beaten the odds, boosted the bottom line and brought in acknowledgements such as being ranked no. 18 on this year’s national list of flourishing businesses owned by women.

The Women Presidents’ Organization, a nonprofit organization with 97 chapters internationally, and American Express Open, the small business division of American Express, also named her business to their Top 50 lists in 2010 and 2011.

when she was a franchise owner, “we grew to be the largest Uniglobe in the United States.’’

what she’s most proud of, however, is her company’s “stellar reputation. I safeguard that,’’ she said.

Another source of pride is not having a single layoff in her 26 years as an employer.

“not even after 9/11,’’ when the world of leisure travel came to a grinding halt.

After the attacks, “we went on a four-day work week, so everyone had to take a pay cut, but in six months, we were back to full time. … I am truly blessed with the people who are working here,’’ including the 14 hired in the last two years to bring the number of employees to 150.

So what accounts for the Westborough resident’s surprising success?

“There’s no secret sauce,’’ she said. In a nutshell, the secret boils down to hard work and lots of it. And “figuring out what people need.’’

not that she started out her adult life as a budding entrepreneur.

She started out as a teacher.

Growing up in Worcester, “my dad was a schoolteacher,’’ and it seemed like a rewarding career. but she “got bumped out’’ two years later, when a dip in the school-aged population led to layoffs and she had no seniority.

So she went to work for the state’s Department of Social Services and went back to school to get her master’s degree in psychology from Anna Maria College in Paxton.

In a world where a few taps on your smartphone can book a flight to Florida or a hotel in France, travel agent Elaine Osgood is used to hearing predictions of her industry’s imminent demise.

but this is a woman with a large white globe next to her desk and a pair of red boxing gloves hanging from her office doorknob.

Her Milford-based travel management firm has not only weathered the rise of the Internet, its gross revenues grew $60 million in the past two years.

She has owned the agency for the past 26 years, first as a Uniglobe franchise and since 1997 as Atlas Travel International.

This is hardly the first time that Osgood has beaten the odds, boosted the bottom line and brought in acknowledgements such as being ranked no. 18 on this year’s national list of flourishing businesses owned by women.

The Women Presidents’ Organization, a nonprofit organization with 97 chapters internationally, and American Express Open, the small business division of American Express, also named her business to their Top 50 lists in 2010 and 2011.

when she was a franchise owner, “we grew to be the largest Uniglobe in the United States.’’

what she’s most proud of, however, is her company’s “stellar reputation. I safeguard that,’’ she said.

Another source of pride is not having a single layoff in her 26 years as an employer.

“not even after 9/11,’’ when the world of leisure travel came to a grinding halt.

After the attacks, “we went on a four-day work week, so everyone had to take a pay cut, but in six months, we were back to full time. … I am truly blessed with the people who are working here,’’ including the 14 hired in the last two years to bring the number of employees to 150.

So what accounts for the Westborough resident’s surprising success?

“There’s no secret sauce,’’ she said. In a nutshell, the secret boils down to hard work and lots of it. And “figuring out what people need.’’

not that she started out her adult life as a budding entrepreneur.

She started out as a teacher.

Growing up in Worcester, “my dad was a schoolteacher,’’ and it seemed like a rewarding career. but she “got bumped out’’ two years later, when a dip in the school-aged population led to layoffs and she had no seniority.

So she went to work for the state’s Department of Social Services and went back to school to get her master’s degree in psychology from Anna Maria College in Paxton.

“After eight years’’ of investigating child abuse cases, “it was time for me to look for something else to do.’’

She thought about “hanging up my shingle’’ as a psychologist, but decided to look at business opportunities instead. She passed on Jiffy Lube and video rental franchises before the Uniglobe opportunity caught her eye.

“Travel. that was sexy,’’ she thought, even though the extent of her travel experience had been going to Florida as a college student.

The stumbling block was the required $100,000 investment.

“We mortgaged our home, got a small business loan, borrowed from friends and family.’’

And while she knew they could rely on her husband’s income, even if the business went belly up, “failure is not an option, I kept telling myself.

“I hired one person, who was a travel agent,’’ since Osgood had no experience in the field, and then “I spent eight hours a day, calling, calling, calling’’ to drum up corporate accounts. “We focused on corporate travel. that was our base.’’

In those pre-Internet days, nights and weekends were spent driving around the region’s industrial parks looking for the names of new companies to call.

getting the Milford office was a godsend back in the days when paper airline tickets had to be delivered to customers and easy highway access to so many communities was key, she said.

through the years, the company has grown and branched out beyond basic leisure and corporate travel.

There are two full-service centers, one in Milford, one in Lexington; the Savvy Traveler shop in Lexington that sells luggage, accessories and women’s apparel designed to be suitcase-friendly; agents in 26 states servicing accounts; and Atlas Meetings and Incentives. Atlas focuses on making arrangements for all elements of corporate meetings, from travel to finding a speaker or securing audiovisual equipment.

Atlas is also a representative of the international BCD Travel firm. The affiliation allows Atlas to offer global service to foreign travelers with agents “in their own language,’’ in their own countries, she said.

“It’s global, so there’s a lot to pay attention to,’’ and Atlas’ staffers are “feet on the street’’ checking out accommodations all over the world, said Osgood.

but nowadays, “we’re (also) a very virtual company. Our corporate customers, for the most part, don’t need to sit down with us face-to-face.

“We’re a very profitable company, but you still have to be very careful, watch how you spend your money. You always have to be watching the bottom line.’’

“The perception is that all travel agencies aren’t going to be here much longer.’’

but she’s also sure of two things.

“If you take a risk and stay focused, it’s amazing what you can do.’’

If you stay focused, you can keep growing by leaps and bounds, “one customer at a time.’’

(Julia Spitz can be reached at 508-626-3968 or jspitz@wickedlocal.com. You can also read the Spitz Bits blog at www.metrowestdailynews.com/blogs/spitzbits and follow tweets at twitter.com/SpitzJ.)