Aloha Airlines declared bankruptcy for the second time in three years this week. The beleaguered carrier blamed competition from low-cost airline go!, which came onto the Hawaii scene in 2006. But the airline’s first bankruptcy occurred before go! became a serious threat, so it’s hard to peg the competition as the problem. It does seem quite clear, though, that there’s just not enough room in Hawaii for three airlines.

Aloha Airlines Files for Second Bankruptcy in Three Years

Instead of leaving Southwest Airlines to roast on the spit of public opinion all alone (you’ll remember that the airline grounded 38 planes last week after the FAA slapped it with penalties for flying unsafe aircraft), the FAA has announced that it has ordered a safety check of maintenance records at every U.S. airline. The preliminary checks are expected to take place over the next week, with completion on March 28. Full safety checks are planned to take place between now and the end of June.

In the vast majority of cases, a hotel closed for a $400 million multi-year renovation project isn’t likely to drop everything to entertain your request for a reservation two years hence. Unless, of course, you’re Steven Spielberg.

Vancouver’s historic landmark Hotel Georgia (which, in its day, housed everyone from heads of state to Sinatra to Elvis) was understandably bowled over to receive a call from Mr. Spielberg, requesting accommodations at the hotel for the 2010 Olympics. The hotel happily obliged and has since been referring to Spielberg as its Guest No. 1 (a far better title than Client No. 9). The hotel is scheduled to open in 2009.

Renovations to the hotel will morph the original hotel’s 313 guest rooms into 168 suites and private residences. Chef David Hawksworth will open a dining room at the property, which will also include a weight-training and fitness facility and an outdoor pool flanked by fireplaces.

Spielberg Booking a Good First Step in Heritage Hotel’s Return to Glamour

The Clear program, which launched yesterday at both Washington’s Reagan National and Dulles International airports, is already reporting record-breaking usage of its new lanes at gateways to the nation’s capitol. Interestingly, I noticed yesterday morning at peak travel time on the West Coast - around 6:30 a.m. - that no one was using the Clear registered traveler lane in the terminal I happened to be entering at San Francisco International Airport. Given all the hype around the program, I was surprised to see that not one person used the lanes during the time I progressed through the security process. Just an observation.

On April 1, the Affinia hotel group re-opens its hotel in the nation’s capitol after extensive renovations. Bearing what might just be one of the most timely hotel names ever, given the recent Spitzer scandal’s connection to the surrounding city, the 343-room Liaison Capitol Hill aims to please with a six-choice pillow menu (um, I’ll take the white fluffy one), in-room spa treatments, Aveda bath amenities and the Travel Smart program, which offers frequent travelers perks like in-room chargers for electronic devices and free toiletries in airline-approved sizes. Inside, over-sized portraits of world leaders balance out the otherwise swanky urban decor. The rendering above depicts the new lobby.

To celebrate its opening, the hotel is offering the Liaison Capitol Hill Grand Opening Special, with rates starting at $110/night for weekend stays through Aug. 31.

As of today, skiers in Taos, New Mexico will know the joy of sharing the mountain with one-planking snowboarders. After years of deprivation, skiers at this southwestern ski resort area will, like their two-plank brethren around the nation, spend their days dodging snowboarders huddling in groups in the middle of groomed runs, avoiding sad sack beginners as they bounce tail bone-over-wrist down the mountain and envying the cool snowboard graphics lacking on their own skinny rides.

After years of being a ski-only mountain, Taos has finally decided to allow snowboarders to share the slopes. It’s a smart move, regardless of what the opposition (and there is one, a vocal one) says, for a resort as isolated as this one. The few remaining ski-only resorts in the country (Alta, Mad River Glen, Deer Valley) are located near competing mountains that allow both sports. That gives families and groups with both skiers and snowboarders choices. But instead of the ban at Taos attracting more visitors with its exclusive policy, it had the effect of sending more and more people, skiers included, out of state for fun in the snow.

The resort is kicking off the new policy with a celebratory weekend of events sponsored by Red Bull.

Rarely does one (meaning this travel blogger) Google a vacation resort and get as many search results associated with a particular celebrity as vacation resort web sites. But that’s what happened when I searched for the Casa Magna resort in Tulum, Mexico. Up came oodles of references to Drew Barrymore, who is rumored to have visited the Amansala property recently during a scouting mission for wedding locations. The celebrity blogs are afire with news of the star’s probable wedding to boyfriend Justin Long, whose greatest filmic achievement to date involves an appearance in Dodgeball.

We’re not really sure if we care about Drew’s wedding. (She needs to make another good movie first. Music & Lyrics? What was that? Now, Never Been Kissed. That’s a movie.) But if you were to have your wedding there, we think you’d be pretty stoked. The self-described “eco chic resort” offers wedding packages for couples who dream of exchanging vows on white sand in front of the blue, blue ocean.

But the resort layout is what makes it ideal for destination weddings. Originally built by Colombian drug king pin Pablo Escobar, the property offers rooms in two beach front villas. Rooms can be booked individually, but wedding parties often choose to rent one or both villas ($15,500-$28,000/week) to house their guests. Villa rentals include meals prepared by private chefs.

When a handsome bull is in the room, it seems some folks just can’t keep their hands to themselves. Such was the case with Bodacious the Bull, a life-size bronze statue that once marked the entrance to celebrity chef Mario Batali’s new-ish steakhouse Carnevino, located in the Palazzo Las Vegas Resort Casino Hotel.

On multiple occasions, the restaurant witnessed female Vegas-goers groping, climbing and otherwise engaging in “inappropriate fondling” activities with the bull while their co-conspirators snapped pictures.

Whether it was his well-defined musculature or ample rear that attracted them, we shall never know. After a spate of incidents, one of which allegedly involving George Clooney’s girlfriend Sarah Larson, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports, management at the restaurant confirmed this week that the bull has been moved to one of the restaurant’s back rooms.

But Carnevino wasn’t trying to protect Bodacious and his prominent posterior from molestation at the hands of casino-crazed vacationers. Instead, the restaurant cited legal and safety concerns as the reason for the bull’s relocation.

Bodacious Moved for Decency’s Sake

And another one bites the dust:

Northwest Hikes Fares

Southwest Airlines has been fielding criticism from every angle over the past 10 days - thanks to the scandal over its safety practices - but now they’ve really done it. The low-cost carrier is the subject of a Dr. Phil show that aired on Friday. In episode Fly Girls, Dr. Phil talks to two female passengers who were reportedly kicked off a Southwest flight for disruptive behavior. But the passengers are now saying that their behavior, while perhaps not polite, hardly warranted their being banned from the airline for life. In fact, they think it might just be because they’re too pretty (queue up the Right Said Fred in the background, please).

We have to hand it to Southwest on this one. To be the subject of a Dr. Phil show - that’s like being a semi-crazed religious nut making a living by growing rare plants in his above-ground pool or the kind of guy that devotes his entire basement to Star Wars figurines. Not that we’ve ever seen the show or anything…