Most of our senior travelers can remember when staying overnight at the posh Palmer House in Chicago cost $25 a night. Now, there’s a kennel at O’Hare International Airport that charges $100 for wealthy pets to spend the night.

The service includes pet walks, grooming and bathing. We can only guess that wine and WiFi are extra. The airport facility, called PetSafe, is provided by United Airlines, and there are also similar lodgings for pampered pets at airports in Houston TX and Newark NJ.

Following some unfortunate accidents in recent months and resulting negative publicity, passenger ships and their crews will now adhere to a new, stricter set of rules. According to USA Today, the list, called the Passengers Bill of Rights, was recently created and adopted into practice by the Cruise Lines International Association.

The action isn’t quite as important as when George Washington presided over the adoption of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights in 1791. However, it is a significant attempt to make cruising safer and more enjoyable for cruising passengers.

Among the rules are standards requiring all on-board crew members to be thoroughly trained in emergency and evacuation procedures. Cruise lines’ intentions to adhere to this practice have always been in effect. However, the many recent incidents of fire and injuries indicate there were crew failures in both training and response when emergencies required swift actions.

Other items included in the Passengers Bill of Rights refer to cruise lines’ financial responsibilities, adequate maintenance, accident prevention and quality communications between passengers, on-board crews and cruise line administrations. 

For complete listing and information, go to http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2013/05/23/cruise-passenger-bill-of-rights/2353979

If the situation weren’t so deadly serious, we could have headlined this article with: Pistole Shoots Down Knives On Planes. Previously, Transportation Security Agency boss John Pistole had suggested that passengers who carried small knives should now be allowed to board aircraft with them.

Along with other potential weapons, they had been banned since the 2001 terrorist attacks. However, due to heavy objections from airline unions and government officials, Pistole has changed his mind about allowing small knives aboard.

To sum it up as one airline pilot expressed his anger: On that terrible September 11 day, terrorists needed only small knives to destroy two New York skyscrapers, crash into the Pentagon and murder more than 3,000 people!

The stark reality is that every time you book a hotel or flight these days, the price has soared since your last journey. Travel writer Joe Udo of US News lists a bunch of ways to fight back. We especially agree with two of his suggestions we’re giving our own take on the subject.  

1. If you don’t have to, don’t venture out during peak travel season. From June through Labor Day, prices for everything on your trip will be at their highest, especially gasoline, airline tickets, hotel rates and restaurant menus. When your kids were in school, you didn’t have much choice. You had to travel when all those greedy guys played gotcha.

If your kids are now on their own and you’re retired, get smart and do your wandering when everyone else is working or studying. Best times are mid-September through early November, and early January through mid-May.

When you feel the urge to travel and have selected a destination keep the dates flexible, and check regularly with your hometown or online travel agency for bargains. They typically happen during the slow season. For example, if you get real smart, you’ll book all your flights at night and Tuesdays or Wednesdays, when there’s the least traffic and lowest prices.

Additionally, hotel weekend prices are often twice what they charge Monday through Thursday nights. For example, Strip resorts in Las Vegas often charge $50 a night weekdays and $150 for Friday and Saturday nights.