WAV Travel News - Monday Edition
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American Express President Ed Gilligan dies
American Express President Ed Gilligan, 55, died Friday after he “became seriously ill on a flight home to New York,” according to a company memo written by CEO Kenneth Chenault.
“This is deeply painful and frankly unimaginable for all of us who had the great fortune to work with Ed and benefit from his insights, leadership and enthusiasm,” Chenault wrote. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Lisa, and their four children: Katie, Meaghan, Kevin and Shane. He was a proud husband and father, and his love for his family was evident in all that he did."
Gilligan started as an intern at American Express 35 years ago, Chenault said, and worked in many sectors of American Express’ business over the years. In 1995 he was named business unit president of commercial card and business travel for the U.S. He was appointed group president in 2002 and relocated to London, overseeing the international consumer card business and the company’s global portfolio of payment and travel services for corporate clients.
He was named vice chairman in 2007 and president in 2013.
“Ed was a living embodiment of our values, embracing both our heritage of service, trust and integrity, as well as our entrepreneurial spirit that has helped continually transform this company through the years,” Chenault said.
River cruise reseller’s closing leaves stakeholders scrambling
Ever since Tom Harper River Journeys abruptly shut its doors in early May, affected travelers, travel agents and the river cruise lines for which the Newton, Mass.-based river cruise reseller sold inventory have been scrambling to pick up the pieces.
Mary Ann Strasheim, owner of Omaha, Neb.-based Custom Cruises & Travel, had two clients scheduled for a sailing in May that had been booked through Tom Harper on the Zambezi Queen, a luxury river cruise vessel on Botswana’s Chobe River.
Strasheim got an email alert from ASTA on May 15 warning that Tom Harper had closed. She said she immediately checked with the airline her clients were booked on.
“All their stuff had been canceled,” Strasheim said.
As she worked to get her clients rebooked, the company that operates the Zambezi Queen asked Strasheim if she could help find and rebook other Tom Harper passengers.
Together with Murray Gardiner, co-owner of Cape Town, South Africa-based ground operator Giltedge Travel, which works with the Zambezi Queen, she has been trying to track down affected passengers and to help salvage their Africa river cruise trips based solely on passenger lists provided by the Zambezi Queen, plus some basic passenger information.
Gardiner said that he and Strasheim have managed to salvage eight Tom Harper clients’ trips on the May departure of the Zambezi Queen. But, he said, there are 11 Tom Harper-booked cabins on the Zambezi Queen that have been canceled for a July departure, 14 cabins in September and another 14 in October, and they are still working to track down those passengers or to resell those cabins to minimize the losses.
“We are confident we will be able to resell 90% of them, so the financial loss should not be too bad,” said Gardiner, who encouraged affected agents and travelers to contact the Zambezi Queen directly.
Last month, Fred Tillary, a traveler based in Baton Rouge, La., found out one day before his Tom Harper trip to Scotland was supposed to depart that the sailing had been canceled.
“We were scheduled to leave on Friday, May 8, and Thursday afternoon as I was driving home from work, I got a call from my travel agent that she had gotten an email from Tom Harper indicating the trip had been canceled,” Tillary said.
Indeed, Tom Harper sent a letter to passengers who had booked a May sailing on the 54-passenger Lord of the Glens vessel in Scotland informing them that their trip had been canceled.
“We failed not only you, but also missed an important deadline in our contractual obligation with the owner of the ship in Scotland,” Tom Harper CEO Bret Gordon wrote in a letter dated May 8 that was obtained by Travel Weekly.
The letter offered travelers on the canceled Scotland trip two options: a full refund of the money paid to Tom Harper and a cruise-tour certificate worth $1,000 per person toward any future Tom Harper river cruise; or if travelers transferred the money paid to the same Lochs & Rivers of Scotland journey in 2016, or any other available Tom Harper river cruise, they would receive a cruise-tour certificate worth $4,000 per person toward any additional Tom Harper River Journey.
“Since we will need to reclaim funds from suppliers as we await your response, we expect the refund process to be complete within 30 days,” the letter stated.
Tillary said he was tempted by the $4,000 offer, which together with the $4,000 due to his wife would have meant $8,000 for a future trip for the couple. But he said he wanted to speak with someone at the Tom Harper office to find out what happened with the Scotland trip before rebooking anything.
He called the Tom Harper offices on May 8 and did speak with somebody there, but he said, “They were not forthcoming at all. I called back Monday or Tuesday the following week and nobody answered the phone.”
Tillary last week was preparing to send paperwork to his travel insurance provider to try to recuperate any of the money he lost as a result of the Tom Harper closing. He said it was likely he would be able to collect, based on the policy he purchased through his travel agent.
But not everyone will be so fortunate. According to Strasheim, affected customers who paid for their Tom Harper trip with credit cards have managed to recuperate some of their losses through their credit card companies, but among those who paid with check or cash, “It’s gone.”
According to ASTA, there are a number of steps agents can take to help minimize their own and their clients’ risk in these types of situations. They include using a major credit card for the purchase, which offers some protection, and buying travel insurance that includes “supplier default” protection.
A tale of decline
Founded in 2013 by Gordon, a former Vantage Deluxe World Travel executive, Tom Harper was established as a company that sold river cruise inventory on ships throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, including on vessels owned by Haimark Travel, CroisiEurope and the Zambezi Queen.
All three cruise lines have said that whatever was booked with them through Tom Harper for 2015 has been canceled. In the meantime, Tom Harper has gone silent. Repeated calls to the company’s main line have yielded the same response, that the offices are closed.
Calls to Gordon requesting more details about the company’s current situation have not been returned, and an email to Joe Luchison, Tom Harper’s vice president of marketing, bounced back. A call to Luchison also has not been returned, and there has been no response from Tom Harper’s customer service phone line or email.
While the company’s website was still up and running last week, along with its Twitter and Instagram feeds, Tom Harper’s Facebook and YouTube pages have been taken down.
There is still no bankruptcy filing for Tom Harper Cruises LLC, the name under which Tom Harper River Journeys operated, but the Better Business Bureau has issued an alert stating that Tom Harper is no longer in business, and the company has been placed on travel insurance company Travel Guard’s financial default alert list.
In addition to running Tom Harper, Gordon last year was tapped to head up Amras Cruises, the recently established U.S. distribution arm for Munich-based Amras Cruises Worldwide. As of last month, Gordon is no longer involved with Amras, according to Rudi Joham, president at Amras Cruises Worldwide.
Amras is in the process of setting up its own company-run office in Chicago, which will take over sales, marketing and operations for Amras Cruises in the U.S. It is business as usual, Joham said, adding that Gordon’s departure and the restructuring of the sales office will not impact any current or future bookings.
Macau's gambling revenue skids 37 percent in May in 12th month of declines
HONG KONG, June 1 (Reuters) - Gambling revenue in the Chinese territory of Macau plummeted 37 percent in May, marking one year of consecutive monthly declines as wealthy gamblers continued to steer clear of the country's only legal casino hub.
In a trend that's forcing casino operators to diversify into entertainment and retail business, revenue in the world's biggest gambling centre has been falling since President Xi Jinping began a crackdown on corruption targeting illicit outflows of money from China.
Data released by the Macau government on Monday showed gambling revenue fell to 20.3 billion patacas ($2.5 billion) from 32.4 billion patacas a year earlier.
Steep as it was, the drop was in line with analysts' forecasts for a decline of around 38 percent. May's tumble was also less than those recorded in the three previous months, helped by the fact that May included a national holiday, stoking leisure spending, as well as the opening of two new Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd resort projects.
The former Portuguese colony, which relies on the gambling industry for over 80 percent of revenue, reported a 25 percent economic contraction in the first quarter, the most since quarterly numbers became available in 2002.
Keen to reduce that reliance, Macau authorities have been forcing casino operators to diversify into other non-gaming businesses, linking gaming table allocations to the amount of non-gaming amenities companies offer.
Galaxy, whose new facilities include a Broadway-themed hotel, a street food market and a river adventure ride, in May was awarded 150 gaming tables - well below the 400 to 500 tables casino operators have requested for new resorts.
The push for diversification is also in line with a wider plan for Macau as China's prime leisure and tourism hub, together with neighbouring island Hengqin, already home to a mega amusement park.
Investors remain optimistic on the territory's long-term prospects citing future infrastructure development that will slash travel time to the enclave in coming years, and the still limited number of China's 1.4 billion population to have visited.
9-year-old girl, 2 others hurt as car crashes into Los Angeles airport
Three people were hurt, including a 9-year-old girl, when a car crashed into Los Angeles International Airport late Sunday afternoon, the L.A. Fire Department said.
The vehicle went into an external utility room in Terminal 7's upper level, the fire department said on Twitter. It's the departures area for United Airlines and United Express and the crash occurred about 4:50 p.m., the Los Angeles Times reported.
The girl was a pedestrian and was in "serious" condition at a regional trauma center, the fire department said.
"It's safe to say she's fighting for her life," fire department spokesman Brian Humphrey said.
The driver, a 67-year-old man, and a passenger had non-life-threatening injuries.
According to the Times, Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Roy Ceja said that the driver likely mistook the gas pedal for the break, causing the crash.
Virgin Atlantic flight attendants nabbed allegedly wearing $159,000 worth of smuggled gold
Officials at India’s Indira Gandhi airport intercepted two Virgin Atlantic flight attendants sporting an overabundance of bling this month. The flight attendants were arrested on May 8th with 4.2 kg of gold worth £104,000 ($159,000) that they were allegedly attempting to smuggle into India after disembarking from a London to Delhi flight they had just worked. India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence said the male and female duo were wearing some of the gold jewelry during the flight, as well as stuffing gold ingots into their carry-ons.
The Times of India reports that gold smuggling into India is at its highest levels ever as officials seized 3,500 kg of gold during a one-year period spanning 2014-2015. That’s a whopping increase of 1000% over the 350 kg seized in the previous year. Resource Investor says the jump in smuggling is partially attributed to the increase in duty tax on gold from 4% to 10% over the past couple of years.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesman told the Daily Mail:
“We are aware of a situation involving our cabin crew in Delhi. We are fully co-operating with the authorities. However, as this is an ongoing investigation we are unable to comment further at this time.”
These two can now proudly join the ranks of fellow shamed sky stewards, namely, the crew member who was caught stuffing gold bars into his pants, and the flight attendant who had sewn passports into his underwear.
(WAV: Okay, so I am not a pot head. Can anyone tell me what “420-friendly” and “CBD” mean?)
Dude, where’s my room key? Colorado opens its first cannabis-friendly hotel
Road Warrior Voices has already reported that demand for hotels in pot-friendly locations is skyrocketing.
There’s a cannabis-friendly hotel booking website and one hotel is training its staff on how to deal with potheads. And now – to take things in an even crazier direction – Colorado is getting its first weed-friendly hotel. On the one hand, you think “Wait, what?” On the other, you think “What took them so long?”
The NATIV Hotel in downtown Denver is Colorado’s first openly marijuana friendly accommodation. So what can one expected at a weed-friendly hotel? Well-stocked vending machines aimed at curbing the munchies? Bongs, rolling papers and Visine in the mini-bar? Complimentary turn-down service with a bag of Fritos? Not likely. With rooms that start at $300 a night, this is a hotel aimed squarely at the upmarket pot crowd, the kind that only binge eats artisanal tortilla chips. Half of the hotel’s 16 rooms have pot-friendly balconies, but smoking inside is a strict no-no. So basically, just because it’s 420-friendly, you shouldn’t expect a 420 free-for-all. Owner Mike Alexander told KDVR-TV:
“We have something for everyone here at NATIV. We have doorbells on rooms, living plant walls on our outdoor patios where guests can consume marijuana on their stays, the Stereo Lounge in the basement, and original artwork throughout the hotel. We even have a coffee bar specializing in CBD infused lattes.”
Co-owner Richmond Meyer told The Cannabist:
“We’re not going to be hanging green crosses everywhere. We know that there’s this big cannabis tourism movement, and we want to be able to embrace it.”
Meyer says he’s had issues with hotels and pot in the past, but guests at NATIV won’t need to worry.
“I’ve been kicked out of a hotel in Denver for smoking cannabis — it was a mid-tier, smaller hotel, and it was a few years back, but that’s the kind of stuff that won’t happen in our hotel.”
Now, about those Fritos…
Report: Muslim Chaplain Faced Discrimination on United Flight
On a United Airlines flight Friday, Tahera Ahmad asked for an unopened can of Diet Coke from a flight attendant, but claims to have received a dose of discrimination instead, CNN reported.
Ahmad, 31, a Muslim chaplain and director of interfaith engagement at Northwestern University, was flying from Chicago to Washington for a conference encouraging dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian youth. She was wearing the traditional headscarf, or hijab.
For sanitary reasons, she requested an unopened can of soda. The flight attendant said she could not give her one, but then gave an unopened can of beer to another passenger. Ahmad questioned the flight attendant after seeing this.
"We are unauthorized to give unopened cans to people because they may use it as a weapon on the plane," she said the flight attendant told her.
When Ahmad asserted that she was being subject to discrimination, the attendant abruptly opened the beer can.
"It's so you don't use it as a weapon," was the reply, Ahmad said.
In shock, Ahmad queried other flyers if they had seen what happened.
A man across the aisle yelled, "You Muslim, you need to shut the f--- up," she said.
"What?" she asked.
The man leaned over, looked her in the eyes and said: "Yes, you know you would use it as a weapon. So shut the f--- up," according to Ahmad.
"I felt the hate in his voice and his raging eyes," she wrote on Facebook while still in the air. "I can't help but cry ... because I thought people would defend me and say something. Some people just shook their heads in dismay."
In light of her Facebook post, social media support poured in, and the #unitedfortahera hashtag popped up. Some supporters said they intend to boycott United.
Suhaib Webb, a well-known Muslim American imam, tweeted, "I'm asking all of you to let @united know that you are disgusted with this bigotry." He also tweeted a photo of a can of Diet Coke over #unitedfortahera.
United spokesman Charles Hobart said in a statement, the airline "strongly supports diversity and inclusion ... We and our partners do not discriminate against our employees or customers," he said. "We are reaching out directly to Ms. Ahmad to get a better understanding of what occurred during the flight."
"We are also discussing the matter that Ms. Ahmad describes with Shuttle America, our regional partner that operated the flight. We look forward to speaking with Ms. Ahmad and hope to have the opportunity to welcome her back."
Ahmad, a United frequent flyer, told CNN, this isn’t merely about a bad flight experience. "I'm not doing this to go after United Airlines, she said. “This is about bigotry and racism and our country is going through a very difficult time right now. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and so many others worked so hard ..." Ahmad said, beginning to weep.
"They strove so hard so that Americans would not mistreat each other on the basis of the color of their skin or religious or ethnic background but I guess we're still on that journey."
The flight attendant as well as the pilot later apologized, she said.
"She said she's working on her rude behavior and that the man (sitting across the aisle) should not have said anything," Ahmad said.
Ahmad was recognized by the White House "as a leading Muslim female in the United States" during Women's History Month, according to Northwestern University. Before that, she had attended a Ramadan dinner hosted by President Barack Obama.
The incident aboard the United flight wasn’t her first encounter with discrimination. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, she’s had her hijab pulled off, and been spat upon.
"This time I was being treated as a threat to everyone around me 30,000 feet above the ground and being told that I could use a can of Diet Coke as a weapon," she told CNN. "And no one said anything."
Gemstone Unveils $150 Million Beachwalk Resort in Florida
Gemstone Hotels & Resorts unveiled the Beachwalk Resort, a $150 million hotel and condominium complex set on Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway in Hallandale, has opened its doors.
The 33-story property, which features 300 units, includes a portfolio of 216 two-bedroom, two-bath accommodations 154 of which can be divided into individual guests rooms and one-bedroom suites for hotel guests.
It is the first of three Broward County development projects that Gemstone will operate for The Related Group, a condominium developer.
In the estimation of Jeff McIntyre, principal of Gemstone, two of the resort’s most significant selling points are its location and spacious accommodations. “Beachwalk allows our guests to get close to everything South Florida has to offer, with complimentary beach and local area transportation,” he said, adding that the resort hopes to attract families and couples from Florida, the Northeast, Canada and Latin America.
“The suite accommodations allow modern families and couples to enjoy fully equipped kitchens and spacious living rooms and balconies.”
He also believes the property’s European design will be particularly appealing to the upscale guests the resort hopes to attract. The resort’s interiors were the brainchild of Pininfarina, which is well known for its design projects for Ferrari Alfa Romeo and BMW.
The property is appointed throughout with artwork from the private collection of Jorge Perez, CEO of The Related Group and a patron of the Perez Art Museum Miami.
It houses two restaurants, an infinity-edged pool and fitness center. A three-story beach club with pool, outdoor bar and restaurant, can be accessed by electric trolley. Guests can also take advantage of a free shuttle service to visit local attractions, including the Hollywood Broadwalk, Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino and Aventura Mall.
Spin Coaster 'Cobra's Curse' to Debut at Busch Gardens Tampa in 2016
A one-of-a-kind family thrill ride is coming to Busch Gardens Tampa in 2016.
On Thursday, the theme park's parent company, SeaWorld Entertainment, announced plans for the world's first spin coaster, the "Cobra's Curse."
Combining a free-spinning element comparable to the Tilt-A-Whirl, with the traditional lifts and drops of a roller coaster, the unique ride will have guests feeling a variety of different sensations.
"This isn't your ordinary spin coaster," said SeaWorld Entertainment senior director of development and design Brian Morrow in a statement. "Busch Gardens is putting a twist on this attraction and taking riders on an unforgettable and exciting journey."
Located in the park's Egypt section, Cobra's Curse will feature an archeological excavation theme. One of the highlights of the ride will be the 80-foot-tall cobra figure on display for park guests and riders as they pass by.
According to Yvette Hammett of the Tampa Tribune, the ride will reach speeds of up to 40 mph and cover 2,100 feet of track. What's more, guests only have to be 42 inches tall to ride, making it ideal for families.
Without giving too much away, Busch Gardens Tampa posted a preview of the ride on YouTube.
WAV – See the video here
According to Hammett, construction on Cobra's Curse began back in January. However, an official opening date has not yet been announced.
Upon completion, Cobra's Curse will overtake Falcon's Fury as the park's newest attraction.
Thursday's announcement comes in the wake of SeaWorld Entertainment revealing plans for another new roller coaster at nearby SeaWorld Orlando. The "Mako" is also expected to be completed next year.
Bill would require airports to designate space for breastfeeding
For parents, traveling can be tough. Carrying bags, tickets, and trying to keep your children occupied, the whole trip can be stressful. But there’s an added stress for mothers of infants: Am I going to be able to feed my child?
“Is my baby going to eat today? Are we going to have enough time? Are we going to have quiet and enough privacy to get a comfortable nursing session in?” These are all questions Katie Wallace asks herself as she makes her way through Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. with her young daughter. Finding a quiet and comfortable place to feed her child is “absolutely something on my mind.”
New proposed legislation could ease stress for mothers of young children. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, introduced a bill in the House that would require medium and large U.S. airports to designate spaces in each terminal where mothers can breastfeed. The designated space could not be located in restrooms.
“It’s not uncommon for moms to be directed to a bathroom. We would never ask our fellow travelers to eat their meals in bathrooms stalls, yet we ask new mothers to feed their children while sitting on a toilet seat,” said Duckworth in a statement.
According to a 2014 study, just over a third of 100 major U.S. airports have designated areas for breastfeeding moms, and most of those designated spaces were actually bathrooms.
“I don’t think it’s ever comfortable to breastfeed your baby in a bathroom,” said Wallace with luggage in one hand and her infant Ellie strapped to her.
Duckworth shares these feelings with Wallace. After Duckworth gave birth to her daughter last year, she says she was shocked at how difficult it was to travel with a baby.
“Finding a clean and private space to breastfeed or pump breast milk in an airport can be burdensome and stressful, if not impossible,” said Duckworth.
Duckworth’s bill would require the rooms be shielded from public view, and have a door that can be locked. The lactation rooms would also have to be accessible for people with disabilities.
Breastfeeding advocacy groups support this legislation.
Jet2 bans passenger for life after he caused holiday flight to divert
Jet2.com today slapped a lifetime ban on a male passenger after his behaviour on a flight from Leeds Bradford to Alicante caused the pilot to divert the flight to Toulouse.
The passenger, Grant Marshall, was handed over to the police at the French airport before the flight continued to Alicante.
Marshall now faces prosecution and he could be liable for the cost of the diversion, which will run into several thousand pounds, said the airline.
Jet2 said Marshall, who was one of a group of 14, had been asked several times to stop drinking 'illicit' alcohol, using intimidating language and using threatening behaviour.
"Due to his unacceptable behaviour onboard, the pilot diverted the flight to Toulouse where the disruptive passenger was handed over to the police authorities and the remaining travellers continued onto Alicante," it said.
Jet2.com managing director Phil Ward added: "Jet2.com is a holiday airline. We will not allow our customers' holidays to be upset by an individuals' obnoxious behaviour. Passenger welfare is and always will be our number one priority which is why we have brought in these measures to take action against anyone who causes offence and disruption to our passengers and crew. We will not hesitate to prosecute individuals where necessary."
Pregnant singer removed from flight because of fussy toddler
United Airlines caused a media storm after it removed a heavily pregnant singer from a flight, allegedly because her toddler was crying.
Some passengers took to social media to call for a boycott after news of the US carrier's actions were reported in the US media, but others praised United for removing the child, saying other airlines should follow its example.
Sarah Blackwood, the lead singer of Walk off the Earth, and her son were escorted off the flight from San Fransisco to Vancouver after the little boy started crying loudly as the aircraft taxiied to the runway.
When Blackwood, who is seven months pregnant, was unable to calm him, cabin crew ordered the aircraft back to the stand.
Passengers had to endure a 75 minute wait while the mother and son were removed from the aircraft and their bags offloaded, although by the time the pair actually left the aircraft the boy had fallen asleep.
Support flooded in for the singer after she wrote on Twitter, where she had more than 28,000 followers: "Just got kicked off a @ united flight because my son was crying really loud. Stayed calm but overall # Discrimination # motherhaters @ united "
However, an airline spokesman claimed the child had to be removed as he was not seated and during the taxi he was repeatedly in the aisle of the aircraft, which is against federal regulations.
The airline added: "While our crews work to make travelling safe and comfortable for all travellers, particularly families, the crew made the appropriate decision to return to the gate in the interest of safety."
Some passengers praised the airline. One wrote on the news site TMZ: KUDOS to United! If more airlines did this the rest of us would actually enjoy flying. If you can't control your brats don't take them out in public. Nothing is more annoying than a screaming child in a confined space."
Another said: "Keep your baby at home next time. No one likes to see a baby on their flight. Children shouldn't even be allowed to fly until they reach the age of 5."
And one wrote: "She should have paid for a seat for him and strapped him into his car seat. That way he wouldn't be a safety risk.. She just didn't want to pay for the extra ticket. Why would someone 7 months pregnant want to hold a toddler on her lap the entire flight?"
Blackwood claimed that her son had never been in the aisle, telling US news channel CBS that it would have been impossible as she had a window seat. A video released by the singer showed her sitting by the window, arguing with cabin crew who were asking her to secure the child using her own seatbelt, rather than a an extension, which she said she thought was wrong as she had previously been told to hold him on her lap.
Covert testing finds widespread flaws in TSA screening
Undercover officers from Homeland Security have found major security flaws in TSA screening after reportedly getting through checkpoints with mock explosives or weapons 95% of the time in recent tests.
A DHS inspector general's office report said DHS Red Teams posing as passengers, managed to get through screening with potentially dangerous weapons in 67 out of 70 attempts.
Red Team tests take place at airport nationwide on a regular basis to "push the boundaries of our people, processes, and technology," the department says.
"Upon learning the initial findings of the Office of Inspector General's report, Secretary Johnson immediately directed TSA to implement a series of actions, several of which are now in place, to address the issues raised in the report," the DHS told ABC News.
Red Team agents have been successful in bypassing security checkpoints on a number of occasions and were once described as 'super terrorists' by ex-TSA administrator John Pistole, due to their ability to exploit TSA screening weaknesses.
"We know that the adversary innovates and we have to push ourselves to capacity in order to remain one step ahead. Testers often make these covert tests as difficult as possible," the TSA said on its website in 2013.
FAA hits Allegiant with fine for drug testing violations
Federal regulators have rapped Allegiant Airlines for allegedly breaking drug and alcohol testing rules and propose to fine the carrier $266,375.
The FAA said 25 employees working in safety sensitive roles were omitted from its random drug and alcohol testing programs.
It also said another employee's follow-up test was not monitored properly after a previous failed drugs test, violating Department of Transportation regulations.
In response to the allegations, Eric Gust, Allegiant's VP safety and security, said: "The safety of our passengers and crew is always our number one priority at Allegiant. We are currently reviewing all of the records and events associated with the FAA allegation, however, our initial assessment is that the safety of our operation was not compromised."
FAA spokesman Ian McGregor said safety sensitive roles include flight crew members, attendants and instructors, dispatchers and aircraft maintenance workers, ground security coordinators, aviation screeners; and air traffic controllers.
Visit Orlando launching global social media campaign
Following a banner year with a record 62 million annual tourists in 2014, Orlando tourism leaders are rolling out a new campaign aimed at capturing personal stories of Orlando vacations.
During a media event at the US Travel Association's IPW convention, chief executive director of Visit Orlando George Aguel announced 'Orlando -- the Never Ending Story,' which will collect personal reflections of Orlando from visiting tourists through social media submissions.
"We want to capture that and start to share those stories because we know that it can really start to tell the real, true value of Orlando," said Aguel.
"It really gives us the chance to activate the social media side of it because what better place these days, and sharing your special stories than on social media," he said.
The website, OrlandoStories.com, will be used to display the personal stories, and the campaign will begin advertising from August, Visit Orlando said.
The campaign will begin in Brazil, Colombia and the US and will then be rolled out to the UK and Canada, said Aguel.
(WAV: Yes, indeed, this is a travel news story.)
Pressure mounts to drill for oil near Florida shores
WASHINGTON — Florida leaders are struggling to fend off mounting pressure to drill for oil off the east and west coasts, just five years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster.
Republican senators from Louisiana and other oil-rich states are pushing legislation in Congress that would allow rigs as close as 50 miles from Florida's Gulf Coast, encroaching on the current 125-mile buffer zone.
Florida members of Congress and environmental groups, meanwhile, are rallying against the Obama administration's plan to blast underwater sound waves along the Atlantic Coast to scope out oil deposits.
"Florida is under siege," warned Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
State environmental officials have asked federal officials to hold off on seismic testing. Nelson and U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, are promoting legislation to halt it.
The long-simmering confrontation over offshore drilling has resumed now that Republicans control both chambers in Congress and drilling proponents dominate key committees. As oil prices creep up again, the energy industry and its allies in Congress are renewing a long-sought quest to explore waters closer to Florida.
Drilling proponents say more offshore production would create jobs and tap energy sources without seriously damaging marine life. They estimate that expanded production in the Gulf alone could generate 200,000 jobs while contributing millions of dollars of oil revenue to Florida and other states.
"What is there to oppose?" said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.
The confrontation potentially reopens a deal struck in Congress in 2006 that established a 125-mile buffer along Florida's Gulf Coast while opening tracts farther west to drilling.
Four years later, the Deepwater Horizon platform exploded, spewing more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf for 87 days before it was capped. Murphy's environmental-services business in Fort Lauderdale helped clean up the mess.
Now a congressman running for the Senate, Murphy filed a bill this month to forestall seismic testing along Florida's Atlantic Coast. Co-sponsors include Republican Rep. Bill Posey, of Rockledge, and Democratic Reps. Alcee Hastings, of West Delray; Lois Frankel, of West Palm Beach; Debbie Wasserman Schultz, of Weston; and Frederica Wilson, of Miami Gardens.
The bill was endorsed by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Oceana and the National Parks Conservation Association.
Nelson filed the same bill in the Senate and another one to extend the moratorium on drilling near Florida's Gulf Coast for another five years, from 2022 until 2027.
""What is there to oppose?" said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La." Yes, what is there to oppose? It's not like there have been any major oil disasters around the country lately. Just look at the track record. These are only the large spills, over 1000 tons of oil spilled:...
Relatively shallow tracks near Florida's west coast are especially attractive to offshore drillers because they contain known deposits of oil and natural gas and are conveniently near an existing network of pipelines and platforms in the Central Gulf.
East Coast waters are less well known, prompting the Obama administration's decision to send sound waves into the ocean depths to help spot rock formations and other signs that point to deposits of black gold.
"We should always keep all of our options open. You're not going to know if there's anything out there unless you do some seismic testing," said Barney Bishop, former CEO of Associated Industries of Florida and former executive director of the Florida Democratic Party.
"They do seismic testing all around the world all the time," said Bishop, now a lobbyist. "I don't believe there's been any significant damage to the environment. I guess fish have personalities and brains and all that kind of stuff. But it's hard for me to imagine that seismic testing would do anything that significantly has a bearing on the fish population in the Atlantic Ocean."
Opponents say oil production, especially if it leads to a major spill, would jeopardize Florida tourism, fishing and recreation, while damaging a fragile environment.
Seventy-five of the world's top marine scientists — including Edmund Gerstein and Denise Herzing of Florida Atlantic University — warned President Barack Obama in March that airgun blasts would pose "a significant threat to marine life."
The scientists said airgun firings every 10 to 12 seconds for weeks or months at a time — tantamount to underwater chemical explosions — would displace fish populations, kill larvae and disrupt foraging and reproduction.
To opponents, testing is the first step leading to oil rigs, spills and environmental damage. To Bishop and many others, testing would at least reveal whether there's enough oil near Florida's shores "to find out whether it's even worth having an argument."
(WAV: What could possibly go wrong with this?)
Texas Poised to Allow Open Carry of Handguns
PARTY-LINE VOTE HEADS FOR GOVERNOR, WHO SAYS HE'LL SIGN IT
(NEWSER) – Texas lawmakers on Friday approved carrying handguns openly on the streets of the nation's second most-populous state, sending the bill to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who immediately promised to sign it and reverse a ban dating to the post-Civil War era. Gun owners would still have to get a license to carry a handgun in a visible holster. The state known for its wild west, cowboy history and some the nation's most relaxed gun laws, has allowed concealed handguns for 20 years. Concealed handgun license holders are even allowed to skip the metal detectors at the state Capitol, as state troopers providing security assume they're armed.
But Texas was one of only six states with an outright ban on so-called open carry, and advocates have fought to be allowed to keep their guns in plain sight. Cast as an important expansion of the Second Amendment, it became a major issue for the state's strong Republican majority. "We think of Texas being gun happy, but we didn't afford our citizens the same rights most other states do," says a GOP state rep who co-authored the bill. The House voted along party lines, 102-43, drawing gleeful whistles from some lawmakers. Soon after, the Senate passed it 20-11, also along party lines. But Democrats like Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston say they fear violence on the streets: "I hope we don't have a host of Texans running around with a Rambo mentality," Ellis says.
Report: Russia Doctored Photos to Implicate Ukraine in Shooting Down of Airliner
Photo evidence presented by Russia to prove Ukraine is responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 has been examined by an independent analysis group, and been declared doctored. This revelation increases skepticism at Russia’s assertion that neither separatists they armed, or their own armed forces are responsible for the tragedy, Patrick Reevell of ABC News reported.
All 298 passengers on board were killed when the jet was shot out of the sky near Donetsk, Ukraine, near the border with Russia last July. According to Reevell, experts are in agreement that a Buk anti-aircraft missile hit the plane, a common type used by both Russian and Ukrainian militaries.
In the aftermath of the crash, the Russian defense ministry issued satellite images they said showed Buk missile launchers operated by the Ukrainian army near Donetsk in the days around the downing, implying the Ukrainian army were the ones responsible.
Bellingcat, an independent analysis group, examined the open-source images, and after 30 pages of explanation, they stated “unequivocally" the images had been digitally altered as to appear to have been taken around mid-July, but were actually taken in the first half of June.
Photoshop was also used, according to Bellingcat. Cloud cover had been added in some cases to hide anachronistic picture elements.
"These claims, representing the majority of information publicly presented by the Russian government since the downing of Flight MH17, are a clear attempt by the Russian government to deceive the public, global community, and the families of the Flight MH17 victims," Bellingcat said in a statement released with the report.
The downing of MH17 caused worldwide outrage, and harsher sanctions by western countries on Russia for arming pro-Russian separatists.
Reevell said no definitive conclusions have been reached about what caused the Flight MH17 tragedy, but an official inquiry by the Dutch government (most of the victims were from Holland) will be publishing its findings this summer.
Paris Banning And Removing 'Love Locks'
A Parisian tradition for tourists is no more. Since 2008, visitors have been latching locks emblazoned with affectionate messages onto Pont des Arts — some even tossing the keys into the Seine River below to make their sentiments even more official. The city of Paris will begin removing the padlocks from the bridge that was built under Napoleon in the 1800s starting Monday, CNN reported.
Accepted at first, the Love Lock situation quickly ballooned out of control, with the pedestrian walkway straining under the weight of some 700,000 locks, estimated by CNN to be equal to 20 elephants.
Sections of fencing on the promenade began crumbling, and with Pont des Arts flush with locks, the tradition spread to other bridges in the area.
The Paris City Council said on its website, according to CNN, the two major concerns created by these situations were, "degradation of property heritage and a risk to the safety of visitors, Parisians and tourists."
Graffiti, pickpockets and sellers of cheap padlocks began showing up, leading to locals avoiding the bridge, which offers a pleasant vista of the City of Lights.
CNN said the city tried to halt love locks in August 2014 encouraging visitors to take selfies on the bridge instead. Unattractive wooden panels were placed over the locks around Valentine's Day, when there was sure to be a surge of Love Lock activity.
Signs near the bridge said it would be closed for a week during the lock removal process. After that there will be what is being called a temporary "artistic intervention" until autumn, when permanent, protective glass panels will be installed.
A citizens group called "No Love Locks," has been asserting the same sentiments as the city regarding the bridge’s historic status, and safety threat. They had called for Paris to ban Love Locks as spring tourist season approached. No Love Locks lambasts brands on social media for featuring the bridge in ads.
Bill Vervaeke, CDME
West Palm Beach, FL 33411
(561) 795-5912 (Office & Facsimile)
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Airbnb's impact critiqued at N.Y. hotel conferences
NEW YORK — With one off-script question on a panel at the Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association’s (BLLA) Hotel Investment Conference here last week, panelist and PKF Hospitality Research President Mark Woodworth shifted the discourse from the usual chatter about the positive state of the hotel industry to one that spanned politics, hospitality innovation and the law.
The question was about Airbnb, and while Woodworth apologized for, as he put it, “hijacking” the discussion, everyone seemed to understand that the peer-to-peer accommodations-listing service was the proverbial elephant in the room. That was true not just at the BLLA event but also at the 37th Annual NYU Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, also held in New York last week.
While conference panelists celebrated 57 consecutive months of year-over-year hotel-revenue increases, many bemoaned Airbnb’s impact on hotel-room demand and what they asserted were illegal advantages (via lower costs) that Airbnb unit owners had over hotel owners. Some panelists said many Airbnb hosts were operating illegally because of laws prohibiting short-term rentals in many cities. They also decried what they said was an uneven playing field because most Airbnb unit owners don’t comply with the insurance, fire-safety and disability-access mandates that apply to hotels.
“We’re not going to stop them, but they have to be regulated,” said Interstate Hotels CEO and American Hotel & Lodging Association Chair Jim Abrahamson on an NYU conference panel. “Half the inventory of Airbnb is illegal in New York.”
Airbnb has even snatched the proverbial black hat from OTAs, long a sore spot to hoteliers because of their relatively high distribution costs (though Abrahamson still got a shot in by equating Expedia’s pending acquisition of Orbitz to Star Trek’s “Klingons and Romulans teaming up”).
Airbnb says it brings extra funds to cities via guests who wouldn’t otherwise travel. The closely held company in May said that the 760,000 people who stayed in Airbnb’s New York properties last year generated $1.15 billion in economic activity in New York.
The company has gained some political goodwill in cities such as Chicago and Washington by collecting occupancy taxes on their behalf and has worked with cities like San Francisco and Portland, Ore., at “legalizing” rental-by-owner units.
But the situation has been more contentious in New York City, whose laws require 30-day rental minimums and where hotel room rates remain the country’s highest.
“[Airbnb’s] touchy-feely, ‘share a room’ thing, that’s all bull,” said BLLA panelist Jan Freitag, senior vice president at STR. “The reality is that these are full units.
The Airbnb issue was one of the few negatives in a U.S. hotel industry that continues to benefit from higher domestic and inbound demand, and minimal increases in room supply in most cities.
U.S. hotels boosted first-quarter revenue per available room (RevPAR) 8% from a year earlier, mostly on more profitable room-rate increases, according to STR.
And much of that increase has been spurred by growth in a group-bookings sector that had lagged transient demand. “In case you missed it, group travel is back,” Hyatt Hotels CEO Mark Hoplamazian said on an NYU panel.
Meanwhile, U.S. room supply continues to grow at less than 2% a year as banks remain somewhat cautious about preventing a repeat of the lending spree that led to the prerecession hotel-building boom.
Against that backdrop, NYU panelist Mark Brugger, CEO of DiamondRock Hospitality Co., suggested that the current upcycle could span a decade, including another five years of room-revenue increases.
“We’re in a Goldilocks economy,” Starwood Capital Group CEO Barry Sternlicht said on a separate NYU panel. “Not too hot, not too soft.”
Granted, the concerns over Airbnb reflected a perfect storm of sorts, because the conference took place in a city where the battle between hotel advocates and Airbnb has been most contentious and where fears of potential overbuilding are the greatest.
Through April, New York was the only city out of the largest 25 U.S. hotel markets that experienced an average room-rate decline. Additionally, the city has about 13,000 rooms under construction, which accounts for about 12% of the current supply, STR President Amanda Hite said.
Jason Pomeranc, whose New York-based family founded and has since sold the Thompson Hotels lifestyle chainlet, said on a BLLA panel, “There are a lot of new hotels coming on line with high expectations. It’s a real issue with New York.”
Geography and legality notwithstanding, some panelists and even some attendees highlighted the company’s technological innovations. One BLLA conference audience member classified the guest-booking process on Airbnb as “a joy” while characterizing the typical hotel-room booking experience as “horrible."
And Freitag relayed a story about how a hotelier asked him for mapping information about nearby Airbnb units so that he could pitch the unit owners on providing cleaning and food-delivery service.
“What they’re doing at Airbnb, we should’ve been there three years ago,” declared Commune Hotels & Resorts CEO Niki Leondakis. “They are here to stay.”
Update: Blanca a Tropical Storm as it Begins to Lash Baja California Resort Areas
Hurricane Blanca has lost enough strength to be downgraded to a tropical storm as it draws close to the Baja California Peninsula, according to the Associated Press.
Homes and storefronts have been boarded up as heavy rain and high winds are expected to strike a wide swath of the peninsula, including the heavily touristed resorts of Los Cabos.
The AP reports that Blanca will pass west of Baja’s southern tip, and move near or alongside the southwestern coastline as Sunday turns to Monday.
According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, Blanca's maximum sustained winds are around 70 mph. The storm's center is about 130 miles south-southwest of Cabo San Lucas and moving north-northwest at about 9 mph.
Mexico's National Water Commission put out a warning of strong winds, lightning, up to 20-foot surf and "extraordinary rainfall," with potential localized accumulations of 10 inches or more in Baja California Sur the home state of Los Cabos.
Memories of Hurricane Odile’s damage to area are driving locals to quickly batten down the hatches. That full brunt of that storm hit Los Cabos as a Category 3 last September, devastating homes, stores, and luxury hotels. According to the AP, some hotels still haven’t finished repairs and reopened post-Odile.
James Kicklighter, a Los Angeles film writer and director on vacation in Cabo San Lucas, told the AP that wind was rattling windows and doors at his hotel, and said that his lodging closed the beach and pools, took down light fixtures and artworks, and suspended alcohol and restaurant service.
Kicklighter said he was advised by hotel staff to close his room curtains and move the dresser against the glass doors to the patio to brace them against the weather.
"I'm not feeling very nervous at this point with the constant downgrades, but I have a healthy respect for hurricanes growing up with family in Florida," he said to the AP via email. "People here are excited to ride it out, taking a lot of selfies."
Los Cabos Civil Protection director Wenceslao Pettit said no evacuations were underway, but nine emergency shelters are at the ready, and the port is closed to small watercraft.
A tropical storm warning was in effect from Loreto to Punta Abreojos, including Cabo San Lucas, and all hurricane watches for the peninsula have been discontinued.
Report: Spain Air Traffic Controller Strike Imminent, Major Travel Disruptions Expected
On the cusp of summer vacation season, Spain’s air traffic controllers are making good on their promise to hold a partial strike, which is expected to cause major travel issues, according to the Associated Press.
The USCA controllers' trade union called for the strike last month in response to penalties imposed on workers who engaged in a 24-hour wildcat strike in 2010.
According to the AP, the stoppage will occur from 10 a.m.-to-noon and 6-8 p.m. on June 8, 10, 12 and 14.
The AP said at least 5,300 flights stand to be affected in that timespan, which could cause airport madness, akin to what happened during the 2010 wildcat strike, which stranded 600,000 passengers right before a national holiday.
Meanwhile, the Spanish government has a 70 percent flight service guarantee in place.
The Daily Mail foresees travel headaches for Britons traveling to popular Spanish vacation spots.
The series of walkouts could affect nearly 450,000 passengers just at Palma de Mallorca Airport, located on the Mediterranean island of Majorca. The first strike day alone will see 600 planes and 100,000 passengers using the airport.
According to the Daily Mail, tourist chiefs on the popular Canary Islands vacation isle of Fuerteventura have reserved 1,300 beds divided among 14 hotels for tourists whose flights could be canceled, so they don’t have to sleep at the airport overnight.
Ryanair, which operates several flights into and out of Spain, announced on Twitter that it expects a “minimal impact” on its operations.
The 2010 wildcat strike had the Spanish military take over air traffic control operations after the staff called in sick “en masse” while in a dispute with the airport authority Aena over hours and conditions, said the Daily Mail.
USCA spokesman Susana Romero said to the Daily Mail, “Industrial disputes never occur at the right time and are always going to affect a section of the population … It's the last option left open to us. We can't have workers paying when those responsible are hiding in their offices.”
Spain's Ministry of Public Works and Transport is concerned about the negative impact the work stoppage will have on the country’s tourist industry. He told the Daily Mail, “Tourists on package holidays can't change the time or day of their flight as the services they have purchased mostly include hotel stays with fixed and non-changeable dates.
“Therefore the damage suffered by travelers, airlines, hotels and tourist operators will be difficult to repair.”
Premium Gasoline Rally Threatens to Burn Luxury Drivers at Pumps
Refinery outages and rising demand have spurred a rally in wholesale premium gasoline prices from New York to the Gulf Coast that’s threatening to sting luxury car drivers at the pumps.
Spot 93-octane gasoline in the Gulf Coast jumped 2.38 cents a gallon on Thursday to 31 cents above futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest level since November, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The premium fuel reached a five-month high in New York Harbor this week and surged to 46 cents a gallon over futures in the Midwest.
Premium gasoline is getting more expensive as demand hovers at the highest seasonal level in almost a decade and refiners perform unplanned repairs on units key to blending the fuel. The rally threatens to boost pump prices even higher amid the peak summer driving season.
“I’d imagine this rally is due simply to demand increasing for premium and a number of catalytic crackers shut down that help produce the blendstock,” Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil & Associates LLC in Houston, said by phone Thursday. “There simply aren’t enough replacement barrels available promptly.”
The fluid catalytic cracker at PBF Energy Inc.’s refinery in Toledo, Ohio, shut late last month for about two to three weeks of unplanned repairs, a company statement shows. Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Joliet plant in Illinois was restarting its own cracking unit on May 29 after a breakdown earlier that month, according to energy data provider Genscape Inc.
Increasing Demand
Conventional premium gasoline sales rose to 20 million gallons a day in March, the most for that month since 2005, Energy Information Administration data show. Reformulated premium gasoline demand is also at a nine-year seasonal high.
“It’s very clear that the trend from the engine manufacturers is they’re producing cars which are more developed and therefore needing premium fuel,” Istvan Kapitany, Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s executive vice president for global retail, said in an interview in New York on Tuesday. “That’s the reality we’re in.”
Premium gasoline at U.S. pumps has already risen almost 35 cents a gallon in the last two months, averaging $3.152 nationally yesterday, data compiled by the Heathrow, Florida- based motoring club AAA show. The difference between regular and premium gasoline is the biggest for this time of year since 2008.
Station owners are enjoying high margins on premium gasoline, giving them less incentive to raise prices, AAA spokesman Michael Green said.
“But buyers of premium gasoline should watch out,” he said. “If wholesale prices remain high for long enough, it may become more expensive for them.”
Plane skids off runway in Buffalo; no injuries reported
Plane skids off runway at Buffalo Niagara International Airport; no injuries reported
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Officials say a United Airlines plane carrying more than 70 people skidded off a runway at Buffalo Niagara International Airport while landing in strong winds.
It happened just after 11:30 p.m. Sunday as United Express Flight 3796 was landing in Buffalo from Washington Dulles International Airport. Officials say the plane landed on a slick runway and skidded about 300 feet into a grass "safety area."
No injuries were reported.
Officials say the main runway remained open and the incident is not expected to impact travelers Monday.
Authorities are investigating the incident.
Supermodel Kate Moss flies easyJet, escorted off for 'disruptive behavior'
European discount giant easyJet is known for its bargain fares and no-frills service. But that apparently doesn't keep the airline from luring the occasional supermodel onto its flights.
That's come into the light after British supermodel Kate Moss was reportedly escorted off an easyJet flight in London for "disruptive behavior" Sunday afternoon, according to media accounts from the United Kingdom.
The BBC says the 41-year-old Moss had just arrived to London's Luton airport on an easyJet flight from Bodrum, Turkey, when authorities were summoned to the airport to help with a problem flier.
Both police and easyJet officials acknowledged the incident, though neither confirmed Moss' involvement.
"We were called to assist staff in escorting a passenger from a flight arriving into Luton airport," a police spokesman says to the London Evening Standard. "The passenger had been reported as being disruptive on the flight. Officers attended and escorted the passenger from the plane. No formal complaints were made against her and she was not arrested."
An easyJet spokeswoman told AFP that police met the flight when it arrived "due to the behavior of a passenger on board." easyJet "does not tolerate disruptive behavior and will always report any incidents to the authorities," the spokeswoman added to the BBC.
Of note to aviation followers, a British wire story picked up by The Sydney Morning Herald notes "the incident drew attention as much for Moss' choice of cut-price airline as for her behavior."
Indeed, Moss – long one of the world's best-known supermodels – has fostered a high-end image while becoming an icon of the catwalk during her career.
EasyJet, on the other hand, is one of Europe's biggest no-fills discounters. The airline does not offer first-class service and charges extra for most things beyond a basic seat.
Broken toilets: Hawaii-bound Boeing 767 diverts to LAX
A Honolulu-bound flight on American Airlines diverted to Los Angeles Sunday morning after three of the six toilets on the 8-½ hour flight stopped working.
American Airlines Flight 005 had taken off from Dallas/Fort Worth, but the Boeing 767-300ER diverted to L.A. because of the lavatory problems, airline spokesman Alexis Aran Coello confirmed to The Associated Press.
The flight landed at LAX at around noon local time. Maintenance crews fixed the problem and the plane continued on to Honolulu about 2-½ hours later.
The Los Angeles Times says the plane came into LAX a bit heavy, landing "with about five hours of fuel remaining." Emergency crews were on hand for the flight's arrival, which occurred without incident, adds the Orange County Register.
The flight was carrying 212 passengers and 10 crew.
TSA DC Operations Center Receives Another Hoax Bomb Threat
Less than a week after the TSA Operations Center in Washington, D.C. received a phoned-in threat that a bomb was on board a US Airways flight landing in Philadelphia from San Diego, and a few weeks after a chemical weapons threat was made related to multiple aircraft, yet another unfounded threat was called into the TSA’s DC Operations Center on Saturday night, The Sacramento Bee reported.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Sgt. Lisa Bowman provided The Bee with details of the threat. The TSA was told that one passenger each in 10 planes was carrying homemade explosives. It was determined that one of the planes supposedly carrying an explosives-laden passenger was a Minneapolis-to-Sacramento Delta flight with 131 passengers and five crew aboard.
According to The Bee, the TSA, Delta Airlines, and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department considered the threat credible, and bomb threat protocol began.
The plane was moved to a remote runway location upon landing and passengers were deplaned. In went the Sheriff Airport Explosive Detection K-9 teams, searching baggage, passengers, and plane.
Passenger IDs were verified, and they were then bused to Terminal A to collect their luggage.
No explosives were found.
The International Business Times reported the same outcome for a Turkish Airlines flight Saturday. Due to leave for JFK in New York, the Boeing 777 was grounded in Istanbul after a bomb threat was found in a lavatory.
The 283 passengers were evacuated and thorough search was conducted. No bomb.
Two Southwest Flights Clip Wings on Ground, No One Injured
Bob Hope Airport in Burbank Calif. is currently the scene of an investigation after a minor accident Saturday morning where two Southwest Airlines 737s clipped wings, ABC 7 Los Angeles reported.
Around 7:25 a.m. local time, Flight 4721, bound for Sacramento with 101 passengers aboard was moving back from the gate and onto the tarmac when contact was made with another plane, Flight 2183, headed to Phoenix with 114 passengers.
According to ABC 7, no passengers were injured, but passengers were deplaned, loaded onto buses, and then rebooked onto other flights.
"Our employees are working as quickly as possible to re-accommodate all customers," a Southwest spokeswoman said in a statement, NBC Los Angeles said.
The two planes were grounded for repairs and inspection. Airport operations were not otherwise affected by the incident.
"Safety is our number one focus and we will conduct an internal review to identify the details surrounding today's event," a Southwest Airlines spokesman said in a statement.
In addition to Southwest and FAA, Burbank Bob Hope Airport spokeswoman Lucy Burghdorf stated to NBC Los Angeles that the NTSB is investigating as well.
Coast Guard Medevacs Man From Carnival Cruise Ship
MIAMI (CBSMiami) — A 71-year-old man was medevaced from a cruise ship Saturday by the Coast Guard, approximately 22 miles east of Palm Beach.
The crew of the Carnival cruise ship Sensation, requested the medevac around 7pm and reported the man was suffering from symptoms of a stroke.
A Coast Guard flight surgeon was briefed on the situation and recommended the man be medevaced immediately.
A crew aboard an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Miami was launched to hoist the passenger. Once hoisted, the 71-year-old man was taken to Broward General Hospital.
Bee causes flight diversion
A plane had to be diverted after a bee became stuck in one of the aircraft's instruments.
Ten minutes into the flight, the crew was reporting unreliable airspeeds.
The appropriately named 'Flybe' flight was carrying passengers from Southampton to Dublin airport when it had to turn back.
Engineers on the ground found that a bee had got stuck in the pitot tube - an instrument on the outside of the plane.
The plane was delayed for about two hours before leaving again.
Flybe said the aircraft returned to Southampton due to a suspected technical issue.
It said: "Upon examination maintenance found a bee lodged into an item of instrumentation on the outside of the aircraft."
Pulling Fare Data From Travel Sites, Some Airlines Seek to Book More Flights
When Josh Marion had to book a last-minute business trip to New York, he knew the plane ticket wouldn’t be cheap.
A loyal Delta flier, he went to TripAdvisor, which lists flights from many airlines, to compare Delta’s price against those of its rivals. He hit a wall. “The fare wasn’t even there,” he said.
Indeed, Delta pulled that information from TripAdvisor last year. It did the same for a number of European online travel agencies this year, saying that they did not have permission to use its data.
This is just what Delta would like to see more of, experts say. Airlines are increasingly pushing and prodding travelers to book flights through their own websites, where they can sell more services like in-flight entertainment and add-ons like hotel reservations. They also bypass paying a commission to websites that book plane tickets.
For consumers, this means that the hunt for the lowest fare has become more difficult as the number of places where they can comparison-shop has dropped. In many cases, they just give up.
Already, travelers typically use three or four sites when shopping for a flight, according to Phocuswright, a travel market research firm. “The number goes up for your more price-sensitive travelers,” said Douglas Quinby, vice president for research.
“Consumers are going to go to the price-comparison sites and thinking they’re comparing prices, but they’re not,” said Fiona Scott Morton, an economics professor at Yale, who conducted a study for the Travel Technology Association, a trade group representing air travel sites, asserting that the airlines hurt competition when they cut independent distributors out of the loop.
Experts say airlines’ evolving distribution strategy is another outgrowth of a consolidated airline industry, where customers now face additional charges for just about everything except using the bathroom.
Last week, Lufthansa took an even more extreme step when it announced that starting in September it would charge passengers roughly $18 for the option of booking plane tickets through third-party sites. To avoid the fee, passengers must book the ticket through Lufthansa-owned channels.
The company said Lufthansa was just ensuring that customers pay for only the services they want. “More customized services will better reflect customers’ preferences,” said Juergen Siebenrock, a Lufthansa vice president.
As recently as a few years ago, that would have been hard to imagine. Only one prominent carrier, Southwest Airlines, has booked tickets predominantly through its own site. But that could change if other carriers see an appeal to Lufthansa’s strategy.
“Having a greater degree of freedom in their sales activities, to the benefit of their customers, is probably something every airline advocates,” Mr. Siebenrock said.
Analysts say this push is fraying a certain sort of compact that arose with the Internet age: Fare information was widely disseminated, available for comparison, but travelers would make the arrangements themselves.
“They’re just making a very calculated decision,” Mr. Quinby said of the airlines. “I think the reason why they haven’t yet pulled out of the major O.T.A.s” — online travel agencies — “is because of the market power.” Expedia’s purchase of Travelocity and Orbitz this year, he added, was “a hedge against the growing power of airlines.”
The airlines say that they still offer travelers plenty of ways to shop, and that their fare and schedule information is still available on the big online agency and comparison sites like Expedia and Kayak.
Delta, for one, is unapologetic.
“Delta reserves the right to determine who it does business with and where and how its content is displayed,” a company spokesman said in an email, adding that the carrier continued to work with a limited number of online partners.
Both sides in this tug of war have a case to make.
“The airlines absolutely want fliers as much as possible to come to their own website,” Mr. Quinby said
There are two financial advantages: Airlines want to be able to offer their own fare packages, bundles and add-ons like extra legroom and in-flight entertainment.
“The more that the airlines can get the fliers to book on their own sites, the more opportunity the airlines have to engage with those travelers,” Mr. Quinby said.
In the industry, that is called the upsell. “Where a significant portion of Delta’s profits come from is ancillaries after you buy the basic transportation,” said Max Rayner, a partner at Hudson Crossing, a travel industry consulting company. “That’s one big reason for Delta to be hellbent on denying access.” Last quarter, for example, Delta’s extra revenue from everything from baggage fees to merchandising rose 27 percent — an extra $50 million.
Airlines also want to avoid paying fees of around $5 to $12 a ticket when fliers make third-party bookings. Lufthansa said that its new fee was being levied only on booking channels where the carrier’s own costs have gone up.
The third-party players, for their part, want to present a transparent website that lets travelers make an apples-to-apples comparison on flights. At some websites, airlines are a loss leader. The sites make money by earning commissions from hotel bookings, but the flights help lure the customer in the first place.
“The travel search funnel often begins with a travelers saying, ‘Can I get there?’ ” Mr. Rayner said.
If it’s too difficult for travelers to figure that out, they will relent and go directly to their preferred airline’s website, said Bryan Saltzburg, general manager of TripAdvisor Flights.
“Imagine a world where you have to download six or seven apps just to book a flight,” he said. “It’s already hard enough.”
Some experts say a bigger problem in the airline industry is the dwindling competition that consolidation has wrought.
“There’s clearly a competition problem in the airline industry,” said Severin Borenstein, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley’s business school. “The fundamental problem is that airlines don’t have enough competition among airlines and enough flights and enough incentive to expand their capacity.”
For Mr. Marion, the hassle of searching for the lowest fare ultimately proved too much. “I ended up booking it through Delta’s website,” he said. “I did pretty much exactly what Delta wanted me to do.”
Sen. Nelson asks for probe into visa program used by Disney
Sen. Bill Nelson is calling for an investigation of a visa program that has been used at Walt Disney World to replace some of its technology employees with foreign workers.
Nelson, D-Florida, this week asked the Department of Homeland Security to investigate after a New York Times article about the H-1B visa program. It highlighted Walt Disney World, saying that laid-off technology workers there had to train their replacements, who were hired by an outsourcing company based in India.
Nelson wrote that he is concerned about whether the program, which is also used by other companies, is going beyond its original intent of filling jobs when there is a shortage of U.S. workers.
"I plan on delving further into this issue in the Senate and request that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security also investigate potential misuses of the H-1B visa program," he wrote. "I want to know if there are abuses going on in the system."
Nelson's staff said he also plans to discuss an investigation next week with Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who have been critics of the visa program.
The Orlando Sentinel reported on Disney layoffs in October and in January, noting that some jobs were being outsourced.
The company said Friday that it added 70 positions with its restructuring and that 120 of the 250 people laid off were hired back into other jobs with the company.
"Disney has created almost 30,000 new jobs in the U.S. over the past decade," the company said in a prepared statement, and "External support firms are required to comply with all applicable employment laws."
One of the laid-off workers told the Orlando Sentinel on Friday that a Disney executive informed him and other employees they would have to train their replacements in order to receive severance benefits. The laid-off worker said several of the new employees told him they had just arrived in the United States.
The worker, who requested anonymity because he is trying to find another job and is considering legal action, described the experience as humiliating.
"We just dreaded going into work — we're training our replacements. We know they're going to take over our jobs," he said. "I never imagined you could fly people in to physically take over your job, sit at your desk and take your keyboard, mouse and computer over, and that was condoned by our government."
The worker said he is happy about Nelson's call for an investigation.
Congress created the H-1B visa program in 1990 to allow a limited number of high-tech workers to enter the United States to fill jobs with a shortage of American workers. The program is capped at 85,000 six-year visas per year, although exemptions are allowed for people working in universities.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, has co-sponsored legislation that would raise the caps. His office could not be reached for comment Friday.
Those arguing for the visa increases say they help companies fill legitimate needs in their tech workforces.
But "the bulk of the use has become a way to replace Americans with cheaper guest workers," said Ron Hira, a professor at Howard University who specializes in immigration and outsourcing.
Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger is co-chairman of the Partnership for a New American Economy, a group focused on comprehensive immigration reform. Its priorities include increasing the number of H-1B visas.
In the Central Florida area, Siemens was involved in a similar issue in 2002 that led to House and Senate committee scrutiny. Workers in Siemens' Lake Mary office had to train their replacements brought in by India-based Tata Consultancy Services, on a different type of visa.
As it turns 25, Universal exploding with growth
Universal Studios' Orlando debut was not exactly a show stopper. Attendance fell short of projections even as the theme park gave out free tickets for months to make up for chronically malfunctioning rides.
A quarter-century later, Universal's story has taken a much different turn.
Universal celebrated its 25th anniversary Sunday as a theme-park powerhouse poised for growth as explosive as any blockbuster action movie. Investment from owner Comcast Corp. — along with Harry Potter magic, Minion mayhem and Transformers power — has generated double-digit attendance growth at its two theme parks, Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure.
"It's just been an amazing journey to be part of," said Mark Woodbury, a 27-year Universal veteran who is now president of creative design and development throughout Universal Parks and Resorts.
The Volcano Bay water park follows in 2017. And last month, a deal was announced that allows Universal to build attractions based on Nintendo games. Executives say they want to build one major attraction annually at Universal parks.
Universal is still solidly in second place behind Walt Disney World, which continues to attract more than 70 percent of market share among Orlando's big three theme-park destinations.
But some industry watchers say Universal of late has done better than Disney in opening groundbreaking new rides. Disney has focused more on initiatives such as MagicBand technology, said David Koenig, author of "Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World."
"That created this opening for Universal to fill that void — to open something of Disney quality that was new and exciting and different," Koenig said.
But Disney is expanding its entertainment district and recently expanded the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland. A Frozen ride will open at Epcot next year. An Avatar-themed land will follow in 2017. A makeover of Disney's Hollywood Studios is also expected.
"I think Universal has pushed them to be better," said Scott Smith, assistant hospitality professor at the University of South Carolina.
Universal Studios opened in 1990, and it was nine years before it was joined by a second theme park, Islands of Adventure, the CityWalk shopping and dining complex, and its first hotel.
Experts say a big turning point for Universal came with ownership by Comcast. The cable giant first bought NBC Universal in 2009, then purchased private-equity firm Blackstone's stake in the Universal parks in 2011, giving them a single owner for the first time in history. The company has invested heavily in its theme parks.
Universal has far less land for expansion than Disney World, but "we don't see that as being a big constraint," Woodbury said.
The announcement of Volcano Bay has fueled speculation that Wet 'n Wild — an older, Universal-owned water park about a mile away — could close, freeing up that land.
"If you can get a 600-room hotel on that site, I think you're going to see a hotel," said Duncan Dickson, associate professor at the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management.
The resort's fifth hotel, Sapphire Falls, will open next year, bringing the number of Universal hotel rooms to 5,200. Universal would like to almost triple that.
A master plan that Universal submitted to the city of Orlando several years ago also raises a possibility of time-share development.
And, "I wouldn't be too surprised in the future if you had your Universal Magical Express," said Smith, referring to the Disney service that shuttles visitors from the airport to its resort. Universal had no comment on the possibility of timeshare or shuttle service, or on Wet 'n Wild's future.
In the past five years, Universal's workforce has grown from 13,000 to more than 21,000.
The resort's growth also has meant more steady work for businesses such as ITEC Entertainment, which designs and builds theme-park attractions including Universal's Hogwarts Express rain. The Orlando-based company's technology group has about 20 employees now — double the number a few years ago.
"It's easier for us to go ahead and grow like that [because] we have a better idea Universal is continuing their growth," president Bill Coan said.
One of Universal's coups was snagging the rights to Harry Potter.
Attendance soared by double digits in 2010 as tourists from around the globe came to drink Butterbeer and buy wizard's wands in a new Harry Potter-themed land modeled on the village of Hogsmeade in Islands of Adventure. A second land based on the boy wizard opened last year at Universal Studios Florida.
Rides based on the "Transformers" and Minions from "Despicable Me" have also opened in the past few years.
Many of Universal's rides are known for thrills and unique twists.
During the past six years, Universal also opened Rip Ride Rockit, which plays customized soundtracks as riders ascend 167 feet while facing the sky; one Harry Potter ride in which visitors are swung wildly through a room of screens and animatronics; and another Potter ride that is a 3-D attraction combining elements of a traditional roller coaster with spinning and tilting.
With all that technology can come technical difficulties. Universal's initial opening was marred by the fact that Jaws, Kongfrontation and Earthquake were not working. Nothing to that magnitude has happened since. But the latest Harry Potter ride has a reputation for frequent breakdowns. Rip Ride Rockit closed for several weeks amid warnings of a potential safety flaw in 2010.
Woodbury acknowledged some of the rides have had "breaking-in phases" but said that's to be expected with "extraordinarily complex pieces of engineering and creative delivery."
Coan, the ITEC president, said Universal is "doing much more kind of bleeding-edge attractions than they used to do," he said. They've made a decision to do these things the biggest and the best in the world."
(WAV: Voodoo is alive and well in Malaysia… Just ask their Deputy Chief Minister. You just can’t make this stuff up.)
Naked Tourists Blamed for Mountain Quake
KINABALU DEATH TOLL RISES TO 16
(NEWSER) – The death toll from an earthquake that trapped scores of climbers on Malaysia's highest peak rose to 16 today as rescuers searched for two Singaporean climbers still missing. A magnitude-5.9 earthquake on Friday sent rocks and boulders raining down the trekking routes on 13,435-foot Mount Kinabalu in eastern Sabah state on the island of Borneo.Nine of the bodies found Saturday were flown out by helicopter, while two were carried down, police said. Five more bodies have now been recovered. Most of the other climbers made it down the mountain in the darkness early Saturday, some with broken limbs.
Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan blames the tragedy on a group of 10 foreigners who "showed disrespect to the sacred mountain" by posing naked at the peak last week. He says a special ritual will be conducted later to "appease the mountain spirit."
The foreigners, including two Canadians, two Dutch citizens, and a German national, broke away from their group and stripped naked before taking photos at the mountain peak on May 30, officials say. Five of the tourists are believed to still be in Malaysia and will be barred from leaving on the offense of gross indecency, according to police.
Ultra-low-cost carriers set their sights on expansion
Ultra-low-cost carriers with thin-cushion seats and a long menu of passenger fees reap hefty profits, and that is why fliers can expect a major expansion in such low-fare carriers in the next few years.
Denver-based Frontier Airlines, the latest carrier to convert to an ultra-low-cost format, announced last week that it had ordered 12 new Airbus aircraft, including 10 jets that can hold as many as 230 passengers each.
Frontier already has back orders for an additional 89 planes with Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer. The current fleet has 55 planes.
“This announcement paves the way for us to grow, modernize and renew our fleet while helping us build a strong foundation for the future,” said Barry Biffle, president of Frontier Airlines.
Spirit Airlines, based in Miramar, Fla., has plans to expand its fleet from 80 planes this year to 144 by the end of 2021.
The expansion efforts are fueled by a drive for big profits. Ultra-low-cost airlines enjoy among the biggest profit margins in the industry.
Spirit posted net profit of $225 million in 2014, up 27% from the previous year. Frontier, a privately owned company, had net income of $129 million last year, compared with $11 million in the previous year, according to federal data.
But not everyone likes super-cheap airlines.
Frontier and Spirit have the country’s highest passenger complaint rates, with 15.84 complaints per 100,000 passengers for Frontier and 10.27 complaints per 100,000 passengers for Spirit, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Bill Vervaeke, CDME
West Palm Beach, FL 33411
(561) 795-5912 (Office & Facsimile)
(561) 318-9089 (Cellular)
Bomb Threat Has Alitalia Flight Surrounded by Police Upon Landing at JFK
Alitalia Flight AZ604 arrived at JFK International Airport in New York City from Milan to a Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) welcoming committee after a bomb threat was received, WABC-TV New York reported.
PAPD officers surrounded the jet on the tarmac after landing. In the cabin, passenger Maxim Sorin told WABC-TV that the captain announced the police were going to board and do a safety check. Sorin then said he was put aboard a Port Authority bus for an hour and a half. While there, he saw the luggage removed from the plane, then put back on. During this time, individuals in hazmat suits were seen boarding the aircraft.
In a statement, Alitalia stated, "On Sunday June 14, Alitalia has been informed by the TSA of a bomb threat on its flight AZ604 Milan Malpensa-New York JFK. Emergency procedures have been put in place.
The flight safely landed in JFK at 4:08 p.m. local time. All passengers disembarked without any problem."
Just before 6 p.m. the plane began boarding passengers for a trip to Rome as Flight 603.
Since the bomb threat was called on an international flight, the Port Authority said Customs and Borders protection is in charge of the investigation. No details were provided as to the details of the threat, but since the airport returned to business as usual relatively quickly, it appears to have been a hoax.
State Dept. Computer Glitch Halts Issuing of Overseas Passport and Visas
A computer database glitch has led the State Department to halt issuance of U.S. passports and visas at overseas diplomatic missions, according to a statement.
The agency places the blame on a hardware failure in the Consular Consolidated Database, resulting in overseas embassies and consulates unable to print visas, passports, and other travel documents. The statement said that those who filled out online applications for passports on or after May 26 and visas on or after June 9 could experience processing delays.
According to the statement, domestic passport and emergency passports for urgent travel are still being issued without problems.
The State Department has emphasized that cutting corners to speed up the process is not an option. "We cannot bypass the legal requirements necessary to screen visa applicants before we issue visas for travel," the statement said. "As a result, there is a backlog of visas waiting to be processed. We are working as quickly as possible to resolve the issue and to clear the backlog."
Unavoidable background checks play a big part in the delay. "Security measures prevent consular officers from printing a passport, report of birth abroad or visa until the case completes the required national security checks," the statement said.
More information about the failure has not been revealed yet, though the department did say it was not the result of a cyber attack. Also, the department said this glitch is unrelated to the one that shut down the database last July.
In the statement, the State Department said it is working "urgently to identify the problem and correct it," and added, "We expect the systems to be fully operational again soon." But a specific time was not provided.
Meanwhile, check the State Department’s website for updates.
THE LATEST: Qatar Airways orders 14 Boeing 777 jets worth $4.8 billion at Paris Air Show
LE BOURGET, France (AP) -- 13:15 a.m. (1115 GMT; 7:15 a.m. EDT)
Boeing says Qatar Airways is buying 14 new 777 passenger and freighter jets worth up to $4.8 billion, as industry professionals gather at the Paris Air Show.
The U.S. plane maker announced Monday that Qatar Airways ordered 10 of the 777-8X jets — a more fuel-efficient model of the 777 — and four 777 freighter jets.
Customers routinely work out discounts off list prices.
Qatar has been a major customer of rivals Boeing and Airbus in recent years.
Boeing and Airbus are announcing a flurry of plane orders on Monday, the first day of the air show.
Airbus: Larger Aircraft the answer to increasingly costly fuel.
Airbus says increasing the frequency of flights on major routes is "getting a little on the silly side" — and both travelers and airlines would be better off if larger aircraft were used instead of smaller planes flying more often.
John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer for customers, made his case for the move to bigger planes as he presented the European plane maker's forecast for the next two decades at the Paris Air Show Monday. Airbus' A380s are the largest passenger jets flying today.
Airbus projects that 32,600 new planes worth a total of $4.9 trillion will be needed by 2034. Leahy projected the very large aircraft segment would grow to about 1,500 planes over that span, though smaller single-aisle planes are expected to be the biggest sellers at this year's air show.
He argued that airlines could save fuel costs by flying passengers on fewer, larger flights.
Airbus: 2,600 new planes worth nearly US$5 trillion in the next 20 years
From the world’s first commercial flight in 1914, to today’s 32 million flights annually, aviation has become part and parcel of our everyday lives. With some three billion air passengers, and 50 million tons of freight carried every year by planes, it is estimated that aviation contributes US$2.4 trillion annually to global GDP.
In the next 20 years (2015-2034), according to Airbus’ Global Market Forecast, global passenger traffic will grow at an average 4.6% a year, driving a need for some 32,600 new aircraft above 100 seats (31,800 passenger & 800 freighters greater than 10 tonnes) worth US$4.9 trillion. By 2034, passenger and freighter fleets will more than double from today’s 19,000 aircraft to 38,500. Some 13,100 passenger and freighter aircraft will be replaced with more fuel efficient types.
Emerging economies which collectively account for six billion people, are the real engines of worldwide traffic growth. They will grow at 5.8% per year compared to more advanced economies, like those in Western Europe or North America, that are forecast to grow collectively at 3.8%. Emerging economies also account for 31% of worldwide private consumption which will rise to 43% by 2034. Economic growth rates in emerging economies such as China, India, Middle East, Africa and Latin America will exceed the world average. A knock on effect is that middle classes will double to almost 5 billion people.
The tendency to travel by air is increasing. In today’s emerging economies, 25% of the population take one trip per year, and this will increase sharply to 74% by 2034. In advanced economies, such as North America, the tendency to travel will exceed two trips per year.
“Asia-Pacific will lead in world traffic by 2034 and China will be the world’s biggest aviation market within 10 years, and clearly Asia and emerging markets are the catalyst for strong air traffic growth,” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers. “Today, we are ramping up production of the A350 XWB and we are studying further production rate increases beyond rate 50 for single aisle aircraft to meet the increasing demand for air transportation.”
Long-haul traffic will increasingly be to, from or between aviation mega-cities*, rising from 90% (0.9 million passengers a day) today to 95% (2.3 million passengers a day) by 2034. Aviation mega-cities are centres of urbanisation and wealth creation and will increase from 47 to 91 cities by 2034 with 35% of World GDP centred there. These mega cities are already served well by air transportation and the existing route network will accommodate 70% of all traffic growth between now and 2034.
In the widebody market, Airbus forecasts a trend towards higher capacity aircraft on long-haul and an increasingly wide range of regional and domestic sectors. As a result, Airbus forecasts a requirement for some 9,600 widebody passenger and freighter aircraft over the next 20 years, valued at some US$2.7 trillion. This represents 30% of all new aircraft deliveries and 55% by value. Airbus will be especially well placed to win a leading share of the widebody market, with the A330, A350 and A380 representing the most modern and comprehensive product line available today from 200 to over 500 seats.
In the single aisle market, where the A320 Family and the latest generation A320neo Family are firmly established as the global market leaders, the latest Airbus forecast sees a requirement for nearly 23,000 new aircraft worth US$2.2 trillion over the next 20 years, an increase of nearly 1,000 aircraft compared to the previous forecast, representing 70% of all new units and 45% of the value of all deliveries.
Globally traffic growth has led to average aircraft size ‘growing’ by 46% since the 1980s with airlines selecting larger aircraft or up-sizing existing backlogs. Larger aircraft like the A380 combined with higher load factors make the most efficient use of limited slots at airports and contribute to rising passenger numbers without additional flights as confirmed by London’s Heathrow Airport. A focus on sustainable growth has enabled fuel burn and noise reductions of at least 70 per cent in the last 40 years and this trend continues with innovations like the A320neo, the A330neo, the A380 and the A350 XWB.
Sen. Schumer slams new carry-on limits
Senator Charles Schumer wants airlines to ignore an IATA proposal to shrink the size of carry-on luggage allowed inside the cabin.
The Democrat senator hopes to see the proposal scrapped, calling it yet another example of nickel and diming, aimed at squeezing as much money as possible out of customers.
He also said millions of passengers would likely have to buy new carry-on luggage bags to conform to the new standard.
"We want to blow the whistle on this before it happens," Schumer said.
"Enough already. They charge a fee for peanuts, for leg room, for just about anything. Luggage companies have made carry-on bags and now, all of a sudden, millions of them won't fit," the senator added.
Global airline trade group IATA wants to implement a 'one size fits all' policy which would mean shrinking carry-on bag allowance for most US passengers based on current limits.
IATA has called for a standard 21.5 inches by 13.5 inches with a depth of 7.5 inches for carry-on bags.
IATA says it will help speed up boarding times as passengers on full aircraft routinely flight for the last few inches of space in overhead bins.
Suspicion among the reactions to airline carry-on bag guidelines
A proposal by an airline trade group to make a small carry-on bag the standard for all airlines was met with mixed reactions by passengers, lawmakers and luggage manufacturers. But perhaps the most common reaction was suspicion.
The proposal to create a standard for carry-on bags that is 21.5 by 13.5 by 7.5 inches was announced at a meeting in Miami last week by the International Air Transport Assn. By comparison, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Airlines limit carry-on bags to no bigger than 22 by 14 by 9 inches.
Tom Windmuller, IATA’s vice president for airport, passenger, cargo and security, said there is nothing nefarious about the proposal. Instead, he said it was designed to ensure that there is enough room in the overhead bins of most planes to fit the carry-on bags of all passengers.
But a few travelers say they suspect the proposal is an attempt by airlines to fit more bags into each plane and generate revenue by charging for the bags.
“This move is to obviously serve the airlines and not the customer,” said Rick Mervis, an office manager for a computer systems firm in Chatsworth. “When is the last time the airlines did something to serve their customers’ best interests?”
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the ranking member of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation and Community Development, was also wary of the trade group’s motives.
“If our luggage has to go on a diet, let’s make sure the result isn’t another airline industry profit binge,” he said in a statement. “This must not turn into another industry ploy related to baggage fees since dubious tactics, like hidden fees, are already used to trick consumers.”
Cheryl Gonzales, a semi-retired real estate agent from New Mexico, said she thinks passengers create the problem of crowded overhead bins by bringing too many unnecessary belongings on flights.
“I see 100-pound young women laden down like pack mules,” she said. “Just what are they carrying in those bags?”
Although the proposed standards are only recommendations, new standards adopted by airlines could force travelers across the country to buy new luggage — a potential windfall for luggage manufacturers. The travel goods industry, including luggage manufacturers, generates $30 billion per year in sales.
Portmantos, a luxury online luggage retailer, endorses IATA’s call for standardized carry-on bags and pointed out that its online store already sells several bags that fit the recommended size requirements, ranging in price from $525 to $1,145.
The Travel Goods Assn., which represents makers of luggage and other travel goods, hasn’t taken a position on the recommendations but said: “If official regulations change, now or in the future, our members will react accordingly and provide consumers with appropriate products and accessories.”
Disney's powerful marketing force: social media moms
LOS ANGELES, June 15 (Reuters) - Wendy Wright is a home-schooling mother of two, a prolific blogger and a self-described "Disney Nut." Her cats are named Mickey and Minnie, and her blog is filled with advice for visiting Disneyland, tips for holding Disney-themed parties and reviews of Disney movies.
Wright's enthusiasm for all things Disney eventually drew the attention of the Walt Disney Co, which invited her to join a carefully vetted group of roughly 1,300 Disney Social Media Moms. The group of mothers - and a few fathers - are part of a Disney effort to incorporate the enthusiasm and influence of parents into its marketing efforts.
Wright isn't sure why she was picked, but guesses her online postings about Disney helped. "There's been a lot on social media about our trips to Disney," said Wright, who writes about technology, entertainment and other subjects from her home in Phoenix. "It's very obvious we are a Disney family."
Disney moms are not paid, but they receive perks from the company for their efforts, including - for some - deeply discounted, four-day family trips to Walt Disney World for the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, an event that is part vacation and part educational conference.
Disney does not tell the mothers what to write or tweet about, and it doesn't require them to post. Still, this year's social media moms event in May generated 28,500 tweets, 4,900 Instagram photos and 88 blog posts full of ride reviews and videos of kids meeting Disney characters. And the moms' postings are overwhelmingly positive.
The theory is that mothers with a large online presence have the ability to influence travel and entertainment planning of other mothers. "For a big chunk of our guests, it's the moms who are making decisions," said Tom Staggs, Disney's chief operating officer.
The mothers say they like having a connection to Disney - as well as the possibility of scoring a spot at the Social Media Moms Celebration, which was first held in 2010. Each year, the company's theme parks division e-mails invitations to 175 to 200 people.
This year, the moms made #DisneySMMC a trending Twitter topic on the day the invitations went out. "A very magical invite with pixie dust arrived!" Wright tweeted on March 21.
In the run-up to the celebration, the invitees posted on Pinterest the "Frozen"-inspired outfits and Mickey Mouse-adorned handbags they planned to bring to the Mother's Day weekend event.
Exactly how Disney chooses its social media moms is a mystery, stoking online speculation about the secret formula. One blog post that offered advice on how to get picked was shared 1,600 times.
Common tips include interacting with Disney's Twitter accounts and expressing interest in attending one of the smaller social media events Disney hosts in various cities.
Disney executives will only say they look for moms who fit its family-friendly brand, use multiple social media platforms and are active in their communities offline.
The moms include bloggers and book authors as well as radio, TV and YouTube personalities. They tend to cover topics such as family life, parenting, cooking, travel and crafting in addition to their postings about Disney, and only a minority are superfans who write primarily about the company's products and theme parks, social media moms said. This year's celebration attendees had a combined Twitter following of 5 million people, or about 27,000 each on average.
To get on Disney's radar, Rachel Pitzel, a mother of two who lives in Playa Vista, California, filled out an online application for, and was accepted to, a social media event the company held in Scottsdale, Arizona last June.
This year, she was thrilled to receive an invitation to the celebration in Orlando, Florida. "You feel like a kid again," said Pitzel, CEO of Club MomMe, a social and educational group for parents.
But the invitation doesn't come free. Attendees get deep discounts, but they nevertheless pay for their packages, which include three nights at Disney's Yacht Club Resort, theme park tickets, fast passes to skip lines and a beach-themed party. Families also pay for their own transportation.
At the day-long conference, the moms attend motivational sessions and receive social media tips and Disney updates. This year, they learned how to use Pinterest data, heard from 11-year-old lemonade stand entrepreneur Vivienne Harr and listened to a Pixar producer talk about the Disney-owned animation studio.
Disney reminds attendees of government requirements that they disclose the benefits they received when writing about the event. The company declined to disclose how much it spends on the program.
Disney was the first major company to tap the influence of moms across a wide spectrum of social media, but the approach is now being used to promote a range of products, including Hewlett-Packard printers and Cottonelle toilet paper.
HP hired 14 mom bloggers to post print-at-home craft and project ideas on a website called MyPrintly. Kimberly-Clark's Cottonelle brand paid a group of mom influencers to serve as roving reporters and share experiences at a New Kids on the Block concert it sponsored.
Overall, moms spend $3.2 trillion annually in the U.S. economy, said Maria Bailey, a consultant who advised Disney on its social media effort and runs BSM Media, a marketing firm that connects brands with moms.
"I have clients who call and say I want to do what Disney is doing," Bailey said. "Companies want to capture the mom market."
How theme parks like Disney World left the middle class behind
When Walt Disney World opened in an Orlando swamp in 1971, with its penny arcade and marching-band parade down Main Street U.S.A., admission for an adult cost $3.50, about as much then as three gallons of milk.
Disney has raised the gate price for the Magic Kingdom 41 times since, nearly doubling it over the past decade. This year, a ticket inside the “most magical place on Earth” rocketed past $100 for the first time in history.
Ballooning costs have not slowed the mouse-eared masses flooding into the world’s busiest theme park. Disney’s main attraction hosted a record 19 million visitors last year, a number nearly as large as the population of New York State.
But rising prices have changed the character of Big Mouse’s family-friendly empire in unavoidably glitzy ways. A visitor to Disney’s central Florida fantasy-land can now dine on a $115 steak, enjoy a $53-per-plate dessert party and sleep in a bungalow overlooking the Seven Seas Lagoon starting at $2,100 a night.
For America’s middle-income vacationers, the Mickey Mouse club, long promoted as “made for you and me,” seems increasingly made for someone else. But far from easing back, the theme-park giant’s prices are expected to climb even more through a surge-pricing system that could value a summer’s day of rides and lines at $125.
“If Walt [Disney] were alive today, he would probably be uncomfortable with the prices they’re charging right now,” said Scott Smith, an assistant professor of hospitality at the University of South Carolina whose first job was as a cast member in Disney’s Haunted Mansion. “They’ve priced middle-class families out.”
As one of the biggest man-made attractions on the planet, Disney World has led the way for the theme-park industry to boost its prices, often on a yearly basis. Universal, Six Flags and other parks in Orlando, Southern California and elsewhere have followed in Mickey’s big footprints, worried they will otherwise look like bargain-barrel runners-up.
Disney and theme-park leaders have defended their rising prices as a logical response to record-setting attendance, with Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler saying the company is “committed to ensuring all our guests have a magical experience.”
Two teenagers injured in separate shark attacks off N.C. coast
Two teenagers were injured in separate shark attacks on the same stretch of North Carolina beach Sunday, according to local officials.
A teenage girl lost part of her left arm and might lose part of her left leg, said Betty Wallace, the mayor of Oak Island, N.C., WECT-TV reported. Just hours after the first attack, a teenage boy also lost an arm after he was bitten by a shark, Wallace said.
Both victims were airlifted after the separate attacks, WECT-TVreported.
The girl was reportedly visiting relatives from out of town, according to the Associated Press.
Further details on the victims were not immediately available. The attacks happened off the coast of Oak Island, about 30 minutes south of Wilmington, N.C.
The county sheriff's office is patrolling the coast in a helicopter, and swimmers were urged to exit the water after the attacks, Wallace said.
Watch: Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner in aerial acrobatic display
How do you build anticipation for the Paris Air Show?
If you're U.S. jetmaker Boeing, you release a video that shows off one of your 787-9 Dreamliners in an impressive flight display. A remarkably steep climb immediately after takeoff is perhaps the video's top highlight.
Boeing says the video offers "the public a first look at the demonstration Boeing is scheduled to fly" next week at the Paris Air Show. The event, which alternates years with the Farnborough Airshow near London, is one of the biggest annual events in the aviation industry.
In preparation for the Paris 2015 Air Show, Boeing releases footage showing off the awesome manuverability of it's 787-9, including a near-vertical takeoff.
America Now Has a Marijuana Resort
CANNACAMP INCLUDES EVERYTHING EXCEPT THE WEED
(NEWSER) – While $420 seems like a more appropriate price, starting at $395 per person per night, marijuana smokers can treat themselves to a cannabis-filled Colorado vacation. Dubbed "CannaCamp," the 170-acre resort in Durango does not hand out pot nor sell it on site, but Time reports that its concierge will direct vacationers to area dispensaries; travelers can also bring their own. From there, guests can "experience the outdoors and cannabis in a safe, comfortable, and social environment," per the resort's site. That marijuana-filled environment doesn't include the cabins, though, which are smoke-free for safety reasons (porch smoking is allowed, notes the AP).
But pot permeates the rest of CannaCamp: There's a THC Fusion Cooking class, 4:20 Community Hour ("our version of Happy Hour"), cannabis yoga, cannabis-infused massages, cannabis pairing dinners ... and so on. And then there are the outdoors. As Mashable explains, most state and national parks prohibit toking, which makes CannaCamp's pot-friendly trails unusual. "We're bringing an element of luxury to that adventurous, exploratory vibe of childhood summer camp," is how Joel Schneider, CEO of the group behind the resort, frames it. CannaCamp opens July 1; reservations are being accepted now.
Southwest higher airfares being matched
U.S. carriers are matching the slight domestic fare increase Southwest Airlines implemented this week, according to industry analysts.
Following an earlier increase by JetBlue, Southwest increased about 90,000 published one-way fares by $5, JPMorgan analysts said in a research note.
FareCompare CEO Rick Seaney noted that most major North American carriers are matching those increases, though carriers this year have eschewed the frequent, broad hikes they enacted last year. “Carriers are less apt to toss spaghetti on the wall every two weeks with distance-based price hikes that were usually rolled back within a few days,” Seaney wrote. “What we have instead is hiking activity that is more measured and infrequent, typically targeting a segment like close-in travel or certain geographical areas instead of fares across the board.”
Carnival Corporation to build four next-generation cruise ships
Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's largest travel and leisure company, today announced it has signed a multi-billion dollar contract to build four next-generation cruise ships with the largest guest capacity in the world. The contract with Meyer Werft is part of larger previously announced strategic memo of understanding with leading shipbuilders Meyer Werft and Fincantieri S.p.A for nine new ship orders between 2019 and 2022.
The four new ships will also feature a revolutionary "green cruising" design. The ships will be the first in the cruise industry to be powered at sea by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) -- the world's cleanest burning fossil fuel, representing a major environmental breakthrough.
The company said two of the ships will be manufactured for AIDA Cruises at Meyer Werft's shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. Additional information about the ships, including which new ships will be added to each brand, will be made available at a later date.
Based on Carnival Corporation's innovative new ship design, each of the four next-generation ships will have a total capacity of 6,600 guests, feature more than 5,000 lower berths, exceed 180,000 gross tons and incorporate an extensive number of guest-friendly features. A major part of the innovative design involves making much more efficient use of the ship's spaces, creating an enhanced onboard experience for guests.
Pioneering a new era in the use of sustainable fuels, the four new ships will be the first in the cruise industry to use LNG in dual-powered hybrid engines to power the ship both in port and on the open sea. LNG will be stored onboard and used to generate 100 percent power at sea – producing another industry-first innovation for Carnival Corporation and its brands. Using LNG to power the ships in port and at sea will eliminate emissions of soot particles and sulfur oxides.
In addition to the two ships being built in Germany, Meyer Werft – which had the capacity to accommodate these four ship-building orders in its production schedule -- will also build the two additional ships detailed in today's announcement at its shipyard in Turku, Finland. Each new ship will be specifically designed and developed for the brand and the guests it will serve, underscoring the company's goal to consistently exceed guest expectations and provide first-time and repeat guests with the vacation experience of a lifetime on each and every cruise.
Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald said the contract is consistent with the company's measured capacity growth strategy to replace ships with less efficient capacity with newer, larger and more fuel efficient vessels over time.
"We are looking forward to executing on the next step in our fleet enhancement plan," said Donald. "At a cost per berth in line with our existing order book, these new ships will enhance the return profile of our fleet. These are exceptionally efficient ships with incredible cabins and public spaces featuring a design inspired by Micky Arison and Michael Thamm and developed by our new build teams." Arison is chairman of the board of directors for Carnival Corporation & plc and Thamm is CEO of the Costa Group, which includes AIDA Cruises and Costa Cruises.
Added Donald: "It will be exciting to see our shipbuilding team bring these new ships to life. Every step of the way, our focus is on designing state-of-the-art ships that provide a vacation experience our guests will love, and we are putting all of our creative energy and resources into making sure we achieve that goal."
"These ships will expand our leadership position for the Costa Group, the market leader in all the major European markets," said Thamm. "These will be spectacular ships designed specifically for our guests who sail on our Costa Group brands."
Bernard Meyer, CEO of Meyer Werft, said: "In past years, we have built seven highly successful ships for AIDA Cruises. We are honored that Carnival Corporation has entrusted us with the implementation of this ambitious shipbuilding program, and we look forward to building these four magnificent ships."
The new ship order will allow the Costa Group to continue to build on its leadership position in the European cruise market – a market in which five out of 10 cruise guests in 2014 sailed onboard a Costa Group ship. The Costa Group – along with Princess Cruise Lines, also part of the Carnival Corporation family -- also occupies the leading position in the rapidly growing cruise market in China.
As part of each shipbuilding company's long-term strategic partnership with Carnival Corporation, additional new ship orders are being explored over the coming decade.
'Naked tourism' becoming mainstream trend
PETALING JAYA, Malaysia - Selfies used to be a trend but the latest strange craze adopted by travelers is to pose for photos buck naked.
They call it "naked tourism".
Travelers have done it at a number of historical monuments and sacred sites throughout the world.Authorities in these countries have warned tourists against posing nude but to no avail.
They have caught those in the act, fined them and chucked them out of their countries.
But going by the photos posted on social media, this trend seems to be catching on.
Hostelworld, a popular website among backpackers and travellers for booking accommodations all over the world, made quite a splash on June 1 with its latest video advertisement featuring naked travelers.
The "Meet the World" video features seven tourists stripping and jumping into a sinkhole in Yucatan, Mexico.
Hong Kong Tourism Board is given away millions to visitors
Every visitor who arrives in Hong Kong through Hong Kong International Airport this summer is guaranteed a happy surprise, as the 78-day Hong Kong Summer Fun campaign, organized by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, kicked off today (15 June). A highlight of the campaign is the Instant Mega Draw, which will run every day at the airport during the campaign period, with more than 2.4 million prizes, worth over HK$400 million. The campaign is sponsored by the local retail, dining, hotel and attractions sectors.
On the first day of the Instant Mega Draw, the HKTB already gave away a number of attractive prizes, including luxurious cruise holiday package and HK$1,000 spending credit.
Mr Gregory So, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, was joined by Sir Wayne Leung, HKTB Board Member, to present prizes to visitors at the Instant Mega Draw booths today. They also recommended to visitors their favourite hotspots in town for shopping, dining and entertainment, echoing the theme of the campaign, “SHOP EAT PLAY”, and encouraging visitors to enjoy different facets of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Summer Fun runs from today until 31 August. In addition to the Instant Mega Draw, the HKTB is organizing another lucky draw at the airport – Return to Hong Kong like a Millionaire. A total of 10 winners will be drawn, and they can each take one family member or friend to travel to Hong Kong on a four-day, three-night luxury trip.
To further enrich the visitor experience, the HKTB has partnered with local merchants to provide e-coupons that can be downloaded from its DiscoverHongKong.com website, the “My Hong Kong Guide” mobile application and a number of other platforms.
Bill Vervaeke, CDME
West Palm Beach, FL 33411
(561) 795-5912 (Office & Facsimile)
(561) 318-9089 (Cellular)
Work to start soon on PB County convention center garage
A nice design and a promise to limit cars. That was the compromise that broke a logjam between Palm Beach County and the city of West Palm Beach that has held up construction of a parking garage for the Palm Beach County Convention Center.
At a meeting in early April, county commissioners learned the city had balked on final approval. Now, with the problems smoothed out, the city has signed off on the permit, and the first work, to tear up the existing surface parking area and its curbs and landscaping, could start in as early as a week, according to Eric McClellan, the county’s director of strategic planning.
Most of the impasse had been about residents of the nearby CityPlace South condo tower wanting some green space on the garage’s top level. City spokesman Elliot Cohen had said in April that residents feared looking down “on a sea of concrete.”
The garage is to be built southeast of the convention center and southwest of CityPlace South. The convention center and the condo both are on Okeechobee Boulevard.
McClellan said Wednesday that the county has agreed to assure that the top level of the garage would be opened for parking only when volume requires. The county also agreed to paint the surface of the top level with a design consistent with the finish of the rest of the garage, he said.
McClellan said the city had worried the convention center’s managers would have employees park at the top level to make room on lower levels for patrons, but the county, which operates the convention center, isn’t going to do that.
In exchange, the county won’t have to eliminate parking spaces to install landscaping or planters, which the county had wanted to avoid, McClellan said.
Even with the costs of the changes, the garage still is in budget, and the delay hasn’t added to contractor costs, McClellan said.
“We appreciate Palm Beach County working with us to resolve these outstanding issues,” Rick Greene, the city’s director of development services, said Friday. “We look forward to the construction of the garage and the many benefits it will bring to the area.”
Woman's In-Flight Mental Breakdown Causes Emergency Landing for Russian Jet
An airliner embarking on the 3,200-mile journey to Moscow from the Siberian city of Irkutsk on Friday was forced to conduct an emergency landing at Balandino airport in Chelyabinsk's after only traveling about 1,150 miles because a passenger became disruptive after appearing to have completely lost touch with reality, The Moscow Times reported via Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
The woman, born in 1988, and a dual Russian/Israeli citizen, “is suspected of temporary psychosis,” Elena Epimakhova, a representative of the Urals region headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, told RIA Novosti.
As the flight progressed, “she got up, started pacing around the passenger compartment, singing songs, and pouring water on the passengers. She didn't seem to comprehend what was going on; the flight attendants kept trying to sit her back down, give her warnings, but in general she wasn't taking in the information," Epimakhova said to RIA Novosti.
After landing at Chelyabinsk, police escorted the woman from the jet and to a medical center.
Epimakhova said officials first thought she was under the influence of alcohol, but her blood-alcohol level came back normal. The individual was then checked into a local psychiatric hospital.
World's Biggest Cruise Ship Floats for First Time
What likely will be the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean International’s Harmony of the Seas, floated for the first time and moved to an outfitting dock for the final stage of construction.
The line’s third Oasis-class ship, the 227,000-ton Harmony of the Seas will surpass the size of its sister ships, the 225,282-ton Oasis and Allure of the Seas. The final size measurement is usually taken when the ship is complete, so the numbers could still shift after the ship is delivered in May 2016. Harmony of the Seas will carry 5,479 guests at double occupancy.
Now that its exterior is complete, the ship left its dry dock on June 18 at STX France shipyard in Saint-Nazaire and moved to the outfitting dock. “Floating out and transfer of Harmony of the Seas ran perfectly,” the shipyard proclaimed on its website. “Under perfect weather conditions, the maneuver was directed by four pilots on board and eight tugs.”
Harmony of the Seas will include many of the features introduced on its sister ships as well as the newer Quantum-class ships, including the Bionic Bar with robotic bartenders and Virtual Staterooms with video ocean views.
The Harmony also will have the seven neighborhoods on the Oasis-class ships, including the Central Park with thousands of live trees and the Boardwalk with its carousel.
What’s noteworthy is Harmony of the Seas is that it will be the first Royal Caribbean ship with waterslides. Three waterslides in the ship’s Pool and Sports Zone will zip passengers through a series of twists and turns over Central Park and three decks down.
The big ship will spend its inaugural season in the Mediterranean, operating seven-night Western Mediterranean round-trips from Barcelona in summer 2016. But, it also will let passengers embark at Civitavecchia, Italy, for seven-night round-trips from the port for Rome.
Passengers Evacuate Damaged Saint Laurent in Baskets
UPDATE June 21: The Saint Laurent was refloated and exited the Eisenhower Lock chamber in Massena, N.Y., on Saturday afternoon, opening up the Saint Lawrence Seaway to marine traffic again. During the 42 hours it was stuck, about 15 vessels were delayed, the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. reported. No pollution was detected. The U.S. Coast Guard had said the vessel could sail under its own power and was scheduled to sail to Quebec City, Canada, on Sunday.
Passengers and their baggage were being evacuated in baskets attached to cranes Friday afternoon from the damaged Saint Laurent cruise ship, which struck a wall in a lock on the Saint Lawrence Seaway in New York.
The passengers will be bused to Montreal, according to an update from the U.S. Coast Guard District 9 unit in Cleveland. Personnel from the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. were in the baskets to help passengers through the slow and harrowing process. The Coast Guard said the evacuation might take up to six hours.
U. S. Customs and Border Protection officers were on the vessel to clear passengers before they disembarked.
Some confusion remained on how many people were injured in the accident, which occurred at about 9:15 p.m. June 18. The Coast Guard said 30 people were removed from the ship due to injuries, and 28 returned the next morning. However, the ship’s management company, FleetPro, said 19 guests and three crew members suffered minor injuries.
The Coast Guard said an initial damage assessment “indicated that 10 feet of the bow was pushed inward during the impact, causing water intrusion in the bow area.” However, the lock doors were closed and drained until the ship stopped taking on water, a measure that was working. There were no signs of pollution.
The lock closure meant traffic was suspended until the Saint Laurent is moved. At least nine vessels were delayed.
The ship will remain in the lock with both doors closed until it is safely refloated and can be moved to different location.
The Eisenhower Lock in Massena, N.Y., is one of two U.S. locks on the 10-mile-long Wiley-Dondero Canal, which provides access to Lake St. Lawrence and is operated by the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corp., which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Uber: No Firearms Allowed for Passengers or Drivers
Uber’s new mandate is now in effect — any participating vehicles must be firearm-free, CNET reported.
The San Francisco-based ride-sharing company’s new legal policy reads:
“We seek to ensure that everyone using the Uber digital platform — both driver-partners and riders — feels safe and comfortable using the service. During a ride arranged through the Uber platform, Uber and its affiliates therefore prohibit possessing firearms of any kind in a vehicle. Any rider or driver found to have violated this prohibition may lose access to the Uber platform.”
CNET notes that this new policy was first reported by the New Republic in the wake of the racially-motivated church shooting in Charleston, S.C., this past Wednesday, but Uber told the Wall Street Journal that they actually changed the policy on June 10. The company told CNET it made the change "after assessing existing policies and carefully reviewing recent feedback from both riders and driver-partners."
In March, Uber said they would make rider safety more of a priority after numerous assault, kidnapping, and rape accusations were made by passengers against drivers.
But a month later, according to CNET, Uber’s firearm policy was thrust into the spotlight after a driver in Chicago shot and wounded a man with a shotgun after witnessing this individual firing a weapon into a crowd of people. He had just dropped his passengers off minutes before.
In light of that incident, an Uber spokesperson said to NBC Chicago "the company requires all its drivers to abide by local, state and federal laws pertaining to transporting firearms in vehicles." This rule is, of course, null and void with the enactment of the new policy.
Meanwhile, major competitor Lyft already has a no-weapons policy in place, CNET revealed.
Polish airline cancels flights after hacker attack
Polish airline LOT cancels 10 flights after hackers attack its computers at Warsaw airport
WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Poland's LOT airline has been forced to cancel around 10 foreign and domestic flights after hackers attacked its computers.
Airline spokesman Adrian Kubicki said the hacker attack temporarily paralyzed LOT's computers at Warsaw's Frederic Chopin airport on Sunday, disrupting the processing of passengers for the flights.
He said some 1,400 passengers, scheduled to fly to Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen and domestic destinations, were affected by the cancellations.
The problem was eventually solved and flights scheduled to depart later Sunday could leave as planned.
A commission will investigate the source of the attack, Kubicki said.
Should Atlantic City try to block casinos elsewhere in NJ?
Should Atlantic City fight to block casinos elsewhere in NJ, or seek the best deal from them?
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- With proposals to expand casino gambling to other parts of New Jersey gaining momentum, Atlantic City is faced with an existential choice: fight to the end to try to keep it from happening, or accept it as inevitable and extract the most concessions it can from new, in-state competitors.
It's a question the city and its political and business supporters need to answer soon. Two bills that would ask voters whether to amend the state constitution and expand gambling beyond Atlantic City have been proposed, and lawmakers are touting casino projects in the Bergen County Meadowlands, Jersey City, Newark and central New Jersey.
While crucial details remain to be worked out — including whether the vote will even happen this November — backers of casinos in the northern part of the state, just outside New York City, promise to dedicate a significant share of the new tax revenue they generate to helping Atlantic City recover.
Atlantic City's mayor, Don Guardian, maintained a conciliatory stance as casino companies in his city shut down four of its 12 casinos last year. But he draws the line at allowing casinos anywhere else. He and others note that a northern New Jersey casino would do well — for a while. With New York state mulling the idea of a casino in Manhattan, a northern New Jersey one could soon find itself in the same situation Atlantic City casinos now face.
"Any casino outside Atlantic City would certainly be detrimental to the amount of visitors and revenue we receive in Atlantic City," Guardian said. "A casino in north Jersey is going to cannibalize two or more casinos in Atlantic City, and then will lose out to casinos in New York and Manhattan. We need to do everything in our power to keep gaming only in Atlantic City."
Al Wallinger, who has worked at the Trump Taj Mahal since the day it opened in 1990, worries he could lose his job if casinos open elsewhere, even though the proposed casino at the Meadowlands Racetrack would give first priority to laid-off Atlantic City casino workers.
"If that happens, some of the operators will want to go to north Jersey and sell their property here, or just decide they've had enough of Atlantic City and shut down," he said. "Now you're talking about a lot more people out of work."
Atlantic City-area Assemblymen including Democrat Vince Mazzeo and Republican Chris Brown agree a fight is needed. And Tony Rodio, president of the Tropicana Casino and Resort, has been one of the most vocal opponents of casinos elsewhere in New Jersey.
"There are a number of companies that have invested hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars into Atlantic City under the premise that that's the only place that would allow gambling," he said. "It would be unfair to allow new companies who haven't invested a dime or employed one person in New Jersey over the last 37 years to reap the benefits of a casino just outside of New York City."
Sen. Jim Whelan, the former Democratic mayor of Atlantic City, thinks casino expansion is inevitable.
"If this is going to happen, and I think it eventually will, then let's protect our interests," he said. "We want significant dollars coming back to Atlantic City, and (expansion) has to be limited. Having three new casinos in the north and one in Middlesex will cannibalize the whole state. This has done nothing but gain momentum. I'd love for this all to go away and be able to tell the existing casinos we have nothing to worry about from New York and other states, but that's not the case. I'm not going to lie to you."
Steve Norton, a casino analyst who was vice president of New Jersey's first casino, Resorts, when it opened in 1978, says Atlantic City needs to look down at its hand — and realize it's holding a pair of twos.
"We should gladly accept a meaningful portion of north Jersey win taxes, for giving up our state monopoly, a monopoly with little continuing benefit," he said. "There will be further harm to Atlantic City, but if AC gets a meaningful portion of the new casino tax revenue, they should be better off."
He said the real impact of a north Jersey casino would be on casinos in suburban New York and the Sands in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Jeff Gural, president of Meadowlands Racing and Entertainment, is offering to pay the 55 percent slots tax that Pennsylvania casinos pay — far more than the 8 percent Atlantic City casinos pay. He estimates $200 million a year could flow from the project he and Hard Rock would build at the track to Atlantic City.
Travelers say no to wearable technology
There’s no doubt that wearable tech like the Apple Watch and Google Glass has the potential to change travel in a big way, with abilities like keyless and cashless hotel experiences to the potential to sync with Bluetooth for a more hands-off experience. Wearables are also improving business travel, helping those on the road for work stay organized and fit on the road, not to mention the potential for one-click upgrades and instant bookings right from your wrist.
Despite the hype, however, Airfarewatchdog recently polled more than 2,400 travelers and found that 69% have no plans to purchase or use wearables. Only 9% of those polled showed genuine interest in wearables as “the next big thing for travel.”
Airfarewatchdog founder George Hobica thinks it may simply be an instance of the general consumer being “gadgeted out with another thing to lose, another thing to worry about, to go obsolete and to keep charged.”
If you ask Paul Wilke, CEO of Upright Position Communications, it’s likely also because watches are generational, and the advent of the Apple Watch came too late to migrate traditional watch users to connected watches. Moreover, he doesn’t believe the technology is quite there yet, saying:
“While the Apple Watch is impressive, it’s a first version of a product, which means there are lags between apps and functional concerns that need to be addressed in version 2.0. Also, the competition is behind as well. Prior to owning an Apple Watch, I owned a Pebble, which, while impressive and useful, wasn’t quite there as a product.”
It may take time for adoption of the technology to take place, with factors like potential social stigma (Google Glass isn’t exactly stylish), initial pricing, and usefulness of first generation apps in the initial stages influencing how quickly travelers embrace wearables.
So, how can the creators of these technologies improve or better market themselves? Steffan Berelowitz, Vice President Digital Platforms at Travel Tripper, believes there is likely to be a “virtuous circle” of increasing users leading to increased adoption, as more people see wearable computing in their daily routines. Essentially, users will be like walking advertisements.
It’s something we’ve seen in the hotel industry — social sharers and influencers often get free Wi-Fi and sometimes even free and discounted stays. Are free Apple Watches for Instagram rockstars on the horizon?
United Passengers Sleep on Terminal Floor After Diversion
A week after United Airlines passengers were forced to bed down in unheated military barracks due to a diversion, another group of diverted United flyers had to spend the night in uncomfortable conditions, NBC News reported.
Flight UA971 took off from Rome, bound for Chicago on Saturday, but made an unscheduled stop in Belfast, Northern Ireland around 7 p.m. local time, where a disruptive passenger was removed from the Boeing 777 and arrested.
A spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said the accused male passenger was in custody at an Antrim police station in but did not provide any other details.
Flyer Rick Sliter, 42, from San Diego told NBC News that other passengers said the man had apparently been "extremely verbally abusive" to a woman even before they boarded in Rome.
"While he was on the flight he had constantly gone to the bathroom to change his shirt four or five times and was staring at people in a creepy way. My understanding is that an air marshal notified the flight attendants who spoke with the captain who chose to land," Sliter said to NBC News.
But this was just the first act in Flight UA971’s ordeal. Right after they refueled to continue the journey sans the disruptive individual, the flight crew maxed out their FAA work hours.
“We were taxying out to leave, refueled, we were on the main runway — then the captain announced it was two minutes over the time they could do time in cockpit due to federal work regulations. People thought he was joking,” Sliter said.
And with the lack of local hotel rooms, all 269 passengers spent the night on the terminal floor. "The captain indicated that they had tried extremely hard and called multiple places but that there were not many hotel rooms available," according to Sliter.
Traveling with his 70-year-old mom and two children aged 8 and 10, Sliter said to NBC News that he didn’t understand why airline staff didn’t move quicker to get the stranded passengers on their way.
"I fully understand the compliance with FAA regulations but there was zero sense of urgency. Our bags are still on the plane. I can't imagine why they didn't a different crew in here as quickly as possible."
A United Airlines spokesman told NBC News: "United Flight 971, from Rome to Chicago, diverted to Belfast because of a disruptive passenger. Law enforcement met the aircraft and the passenger was removed.
"The crew then reached its maximum duty time, leading to the cancellation of the flight. We understand the inconvenience this causes our passengers and will accommodate them on a flight from Belfast to Chicago today at 4 p.m. local time."
US storms spark flight cancellations and delays
US storms led to thousands of flight disruptions as services were cancelled and delayed yesterday.
There were 4,015 delays within, into, or out of the United States yesterday affecting the Midwest and Northeast, according to flight statistic website, Flight Aware.
Airports hit included Chicago O'Hare, Philadelphia International, Dallas Fort Worth, San Francisco and New York airports JFK and La Guardia.
ExpressJet reported 49 cancelled flights and 328 delays which Southwest cancelled 44 and reported 691 delayed.
Dutch airline KLM updated its website to warn passengers.
It said: "Because of the stormy weather in the Midwest and Northeast of the United States of America, some of our flight schedules may temporarily be disrupted.
Low-cost carrier Dynamic to start Lauderdale-Venezuela service
Despite currency woes in Venezuela, a new low-cost airline plans to launch daily flights between Fort Lauderdale and the Venezuelan capital of Caracas starting July 17.
Dynamic International Airways, a former charter operator, is offering promotional fares on the new route from $599 roundtrip. Service on the route will include two bags free in economy class, plus a hot meal and beverage aboard a large, wide-body 767-300ER that can seat 242 passengers, executives said.
Fort Lauderdale has not offered direct service to Venezuela for a decade, so travel leaders are excited.
"We look forward to the new nonstop flight… which will provide Broward County's large Venezuelan resident population of the opportunity visit friends and family," said Nicki E. Grossman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The launch by a small new airline from Greensboro, N.C. comes after years of large veteran carriers including American, Delta and Lufthansa offering fewer flights to Venezuela.
That's because international airlines still are owed about $3.7 billion by the Venezuelan government, because they can't convert the money they get in local bolivar currency into dollars at the rate they were promised. Exchanging bolivares to dollars on the open market would mean huge losses — up to 90 percent in some cases.
Dynamic is not worried by those legacy problems and will accept payment in bolivares, executives said Friday.
The startup sees opportunity on the route because of cutbacks by other carriers and because of the large Venezuelan community in South Florida, including concentrations in Weston and Pembroke Pines.
Dynamic plans to add twice-a-week service from Fort Lauderdale to Venezuela's western city of Marcaibo later this year, said Pablo I. Antezana, regional commercial director for Latin America.
But aviation analysts see risks.
"It doesn't make sense to me," said Mike Boyd, president of Boyd Group International of Colorado. "With the economic problems in Venezuela, I don't know why they'd want to put premium service into Venezuela. That's a lot of machinery for that route."
Boyd said the problem with U.S.-Venezuelan service is not demand but payment. Some airlines now sell tickets for Venezuela service only in dollars to avoid the exchange rate problems.
Dynamic appears to be the first airline flying between Fort Lauderdale and Caracas since American Airlines operated the route from December 2003 to January 2005, according to Broward County aviation authorties. American, Santa Barbara and others fly between Miami and Venezuela.
The number of Venezuelans in the area has swelled since then. U.S. Census numbers show more than 85,000 people of Venezuelan descent now live in South Florida, triple the number in 1999 when the socialist government first led by Hugo Chavez took power.
Begun in 2008 as a charter operator, Dynamic switched focus after its 2013 purchase by new owners. It recently began its first scheduled service between New York's Kennedy Airport and Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, the English-making nation next to Venezuela.
Disney building Wilderness Lodge cabins, plans show
lt Disney World plans to build 26 cabins along the shores of Bay Lake at its Wilderness Lodge hotel.
Disney has filed plans with the South Florida Water Management District.
Disney won’t give details about them, but some industry-watchers expect them to be timeshare units similar to the bungalows that opened recently Disney's Polynesian Village Resort. Those command nightly rental rates of more than $2,000.
Plans filed with the South Florida Water Management District also call for a guest boardwalk, a new “bar grill” and a new pool at the Wilderness Lodge.
The hotel already has timeshare villas.
Eco-tourism main objective for Morocco
RABAT, Morocco - Focus on eco-tourism is the main objective for Morocco outlined in the Vision 2020 strategic document.
Morocco is part of the “Thousand Gardens of Africa,” a project launched by Slow Food to create a totally ecological and eco-sustainable agricultural model through a direct involvement of local communities. Amongst the new eco-sustainable resorts is Taghazout Bay, a new high level destination in the Atlantic Ocean, with a total surface of 615 hectares, 7 four-and-five-star hotels, one holiday village, villas and apartments, one surf village, one golf court, malls and one argan cooperative. Other projects deal with the urban development of both Essaouira and Mogador, to create new jobs for their inhabitants.
Vision 2020 is the programmatic document providing many investments in the tourist sector. Its goal is to enhance and preserve the historical heritage and the environment, in order to position Morocco among the top 20 tourist destinations of the world.
Investments in tourism in 2014 reached 1.6 billion Euros, amongst which 221 million went for rural and natural tourism, which will bring about 25,000 new jobs. “Tourism in Morocco is 7.5% of our GDP,” says Jazia Santissi, Director of the National Tourist Board, “with an annual sale of 5.3 billion Euros, more than half a million jobs, 10.3 million foreign arrivals and a total 20 million presences.
With 250,000 arrivals (+7% compared to 2013) and +10% presences, Italy is ranked fifth in this strategic market, after France, Spain, Belgium and Germany. The goal for 2015 is to reach 12 million international arrivals. The Board is working on a series of developments, including an app and some special projects such as "Marrakchef Express" and "Donnavventura".
Strong earthquake rocks Fiji
In Fiji, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake rocked the South Pacific country today at 9:28 am local time or 21:28 UTC time.
The quake was located 42 km or 26 miles from Ndoi Island or 336 km from Nuku'alofa, Tonga.
Ndoi Island is an island in Fiji, Melanesia, situated between Ndoi and Ndavura Island, and is also nearby to Ono-i-Lau Islands. Landmarks in the Ndoi Island area include the Yao Lagoon and Ono-I-Lau Airport.
The island is not a big tourism destination.
The island is small, has an airport and no extensive damage is expected.
According to USGS no tsunami threat is expected.
Chile Tourism expects $50 million windfall from football event
SANTIAGO, Chile - More than $50 million is expected to be spent by the nearly 70,000 foreigners who flock Chile for the football competition Copa America, as stated by Luis Felipe Céspedes, Minister of the Economy, Development and Tourism. The Copa América is one of the most prestigious and most widely viewed sporting events in the world.
The estimate was announced by Chile’s Economy Minister who was joined by Tourism Undersecretary, Javiera Montes and SERNATUR director, Omar Hernández after introducing the Ten Commandments of the Good Tourist, which seeks to promote responsible tourism among both foreigners and nationals enjoying the football matches taking place in eight cities between 11 June and 4 July 2015.
On this occasion, Minister Luis Felipe Céspedes, declared: "This Copa America is a tremendous opportunity that will bring us a 30% increase in foreign tourist arrivals compared with June 2014. These visitors will spend money and benefit the local economies in all the host cities. And that is why we expect an increase in visitor spending of $50 million, or even higher."
Céspedes said then that in order to promote Chile as a destination during this America's Cup "prior tourism promotion work was done in the host cities so that there would be information for foreign tourists. Accordingly, more than 31 media houses were invited to visit the destinations in our country."
The Secretary of Tourism, Javiera Montes, also pointed out that "we have prepared to receive our visitors in the best way possible, so that they will have a safe stay and we will enjoy this party. And so the government set up the bienvenidaamerica.gob.cl website where one can find information on the host cities, the documents needed for entry into the country, the location and schedules of border crossings, recommendations to avoid accidents, how to react in an emergency, what precautions to take for health issues, transportation and how to enjoy local tourism while visiting Chile."
For his part, the Director of SERNATUR, Omar Hernandez, advised: "For all those who will use the opportunity to tour and learn about the host cities for the duration of the championship, the main recommendation is to be a responsible and informed tourist in order to make the most of their visit and avoid problems."
And he added: "We invite you to visit the Tourism Information Offices that we have in different areas to get information about the attractions and sites that the host cities have to offer, and to interact with our people, while respecting, of course, the local customs and taking care of the natural and cultural heritage."
Iceland debuts world's largest man-made ice cave
(CNN)Several years ago, a team of Icelandic entrepreneurs dreamed of tourists not just exploring the surface of Iceland's glaciers, but actually getting inside of one.
Four years and $2.5 million later, Iceland's first man-made ice cave has opened to visitors.
Located in the western part of Langjokull (Long Glacier), and 1,260 meters above sea level, the ice cave stretches deep underground giving visitors the chance to see ice that's been forming over centuries.
Stepping inside the cave is daunting at first.
Visitors strap crampons onto their shoes to navigate the slippery and slushy floor.
Eyes need to adjust from the shocking bright white surface of the glacier to the dim LED-lit interior.
Jagged cuts in the ice turn smooth and the colors of the ice change as visitors get deeper, changing from a cloudy white to shocking deep blues.
Information about the island's receding glaciers line several sections of the cave, along with benches to sit and enjoy the tunnel.
Visitors are treated to views of gaping crevices as they run their fingers along the walls of the tunnel.
A special area in the cave, which developers named the "chapel," with blocks of LED-lit blocks of ice supporting wooden beams, will serve as venue for parties, weddings and concerts, says Sigurdur Skarphedinsson, managing director of Into the Glacier.
"Some might call it the ultimate wedding venue."
The ice cave, which consists of tunnels and caves that stretch 500 meters into solid glacial ice, is an awe-inspiring feat, and one that must be maintained.
"There are many challenges when it comes to building and taking care of an ice cave high up on an ice cap," says Skarphedinsson.
"The weather is probably the biggest factor. We are dealing with extreme weather up there.
"A typical day during the winter involves clearing the entrance every day. There isn't any sign of an entrance after a snow storm."
It's easy to forget that there's ice in Iceland during the summer.
Each June, the tiny North Atlantic island with a population of 325,000 people transforms from a snowy white and rusty brown landscape to lush greens and vibrant yellows as grass, moss and plants awaken after a long and dark winter.
In fact, 11% of the country is covered in ice from several glaciers.
Langjokull, the second largest glacier on the island, was chosen due to its proximity to Reykjavik.
It's 130 kilometers to Husafell, the town where the tour begins, from Reykjavik.
"It's really accessible and there are not too many crevices in the area we chose," says Skarphedinsson.
Indeed, crevices are a concern as fresh fallen snow can lightly cover huge gaps in the ice, which could damage vehicles.
Because of the danger, the trip to the cave is an experience in itself.
Guests board a 20-ton customized monster truck designed to traverse the soft, sloping snow and rocky ice of the glacier.
One of the guides, Arngrimur Hermannsson, explains that a unique vehicle is needed to roam the challenging landscape.
"We have a tire pressure system where tires can deflate while we drive," says Hermannsson. "We need to do that to be able to go over soft snow."
He's proud of his truck, named the Ice Explorer, which seats ups to 45 passengers.
The truck was acquired from NATO, where it was originally used as a cruise missile launcher.
"I had to sign a contract saying that I would be the last owner of the vehicle," says Hermannsson. "NATO doesn't want it in just anyone's hands."
On clear days, the climb on the barren, icy desert to the ice cave is magnificent.
During the five-kilometer climb from the base camp, Hermannsson explains the impact of climate change on Iceland's glaciers along with the geology of the region.
The project managers ensure that the environmental impact of the ice cave is minimal.
"We've only removed 5,500 cubic meters of ice from a 900-square-kilometer glacier," says Skarphedinsson. "It's a bit like taking a drop of water from a bathtub."
It's estimated that the ice cave could last 10-15 years without maintenance.
"We assume that in 10 years, some parts of the ice cave will need to be rebuilt," adds Skarphedinsson. "There's more pressure on the ice in the lower part of the ice cave and the glacier itself is moving slowly."
Thailand 'red-flagged' for aviation safety concerns
(CNN)The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has "red flagged" Thailand over significant safety concerns within the country's aviation sector.
The ICAO, a United Nations agency, issued Thailand a warning in March after an audit raised questions about its ability to oversee airlines under its jurisdiction, giving the country 90 days to address its concerns.
On Thursday it amended its online Safety Audit Information, issuing Thailand a red flag for failing to adequately deal with the situation within that time frame.
In addition to Thailand, only 12 other nations are red flagged by the ICAO --- Angola, Botswana, Djibouti, Eritrea, Georgia, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malawi, Nepal, Sierra Leone and Uruguay.
In response to the red flag, flag carrier Thai Airways issued a statement saying that it operates with the highest safety standards.
"A significant safety concern does not necessarily indicate a particular safety deficiency in the air navigation service providers, airlines (air operators), aircraft or aerodrome; but, rather, indicates that the State is not providing sufficient safety oversight to ensure the effective implementation of applicable ICAO Standards," said Charamporn Jotikasthira, president of the airline.
The Thailand Transport Ministry did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.
Alan Polivnick, a partner at global law firm Watson Farley & Williams, which specializes in aviation matters, says the biggest issue is how other countries will respond to the red flag.
"If you look at all the other countries that have red flags, Thailand is the only one other than Nepal in this region, and there will be concerns raised about this," he says.
Staff shortages raise alarm
In March, the ICAO's warning led several countries in the region to issue a ban on new flights from Thailand and increase scrutiny of its planes.
"We've already had Korea, China and Japan place restrictions on new Thai flights. Singapore, Australia and the EU ordered enhanced inspections," says Polivnick.
"Whether this will prompt them to call for further inspections or create further restrictions on Thai airlines remains to be seen, but there's nothing to stop them from doing that. It's within each country's power to do that."
Polivnick says it's the regulator -- not individual airlines -- that the ICAO is looking at.
During its audit earlier this year, the ICAO raised issues relating to the Department of Civil Aviation's (DCA) ability to supervise airline operators and operations due to a shortage of staff.
"If you look at the growth in airlines and airline operators in Thailand over the last 10-15 years, the number of people in the DCA supervising and dealing with applications hasn't changed much," says Polivnick.
ICAO spokesman Philbin Anthony told CNN that Thailand appeared to be taking the issue seriously.
He said the country's deputy prime minister, Prawit Wongsuwan, had traveled to the Montreal-headquartered ICAO to "stress his country's commitment at the highest level, to continue to address this matter."
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Brendan Vacations' Ireland gay-marriage tour a first
Brendan Vacations has become the first major U.S. tour operator to create an Ireland product specifically for the LGBT market: trips for couples who want to take advantage of the Emerald Isle’s recent vote to legalize same-sex marriage.
“It’s a new step for us,” said Paul Wiseman, president of Trafalgar and Brendan Vacations. “It’s a substantial change in the way that we are going to create and market [to the LGBT community]. We’ve done all kinds of different custom departures over the years. But this isn’t a one-off. This is now a much broader program that all agents would be able to get access to.”
Brendan is likely the first of many suppliers that will develop an Ireland wedding product for the LGBT market.
Barely a month after the May 22 plebiscite in which the people of Ireland voted to legalize same-sex marriage, Brendan has created a 10-day Romantic Ireland itinerary, priced from $5,750 per person.
Brendan worked with LGBT-friendly hotels and suppliers to create a chauffeur-driven FIT package for agents to sell to same-sex couples.
Among those partnering with Brendan on the new product is Dan Mullane, owner of the Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge.
“We are so proud the Irish people voted yes for marriage equality, making us the first country in the world to do so,” Mullane said. “Nobody blinks an eyelid here. Everyone is equal at the Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge, where they’ll be greeted by the warm, friendly welcome that Ireland is known for.”
The Romantic Ireland package begins with two nights in Dublin at the Merrion Hotel and continues on to one night at the Cliff House Hotel in County Waterford, two nights at the Malton Hotel in Killarney, a night at the Mustard Seed and two nights at Ashford Castle before returning to the Merrion for a final overnight in Dublin. Guests will travel between destinations in a luxury, private, chauffeur-driven vehicle with free WiFi.
Sightseeing will include Dublin, Glendalough, Blarney Castle, the Ring of Kerry, Torc Waterfall, the Cliffs of Moher and Strokestown Park House. Participants also will be offered a chance to cycle along the Wild Atlantic Way, drink Irish coffee at the Foynes Flying Boat Museum and eat St. Tola goat cheese on a working farm.
“The bottom line,” Wiseman said, is that “Ireland is a big bucket-list destination for people, it’s a big volume destination and [the LGBT market] is a big market.”
He added that when Catherine Reilly, managing director for Brendan Vacations in Dublin, called Wiseman to ask if he thought that the general trade community would benefit from a product specifically designed for the LGBT market, his immediate response was “absolutely.”
“I know a number of agents from all of the consortia that would immediately be pleased to take this product on and promote it,” Wiseman said.
The itinerary, which is customizable and is expected to be the first of several Ireland itineraries that Brendan will develop for the LGBT market, will be available for booking on June 30 for immediate departures upon request.
Legislation to amend Ireland’s constitution is still being developed in the aftermath of the vote, but Tourism Ireland has stated that it expects the new law guaranteeing the right to same-sex marriage to be ready by the end of July and possibly implemented by fall.
Until then, there is no way of knowing specifics of the legislation, including how and whether same-sex marriages performed in Ireland will be recognized overseas.
Nevertheless, Tourism Ireland already launched a campaign to promote same-sex weddings and honeymoons in Ireland, and suppliers like Brendan aren’t waiting either
At World Travel Market in November, Out Now, an LGBT marketing solutions provider, valued the global LGBT tourism market at more than $202 billion annually.
It is not known what portion of that total might derive from same-sex weddings and honeymoons.
Charles de Gaulle Airport Terminal Evacuated After 'Disembarkment Issue'
The processing of thousands of flyers at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris came to a screeching halt Saturday. Initially reported as a bomb threat on Airlive.net, that was retracted and the reason was called a “disembarkment issue.”
Tweets from travelers caught in the middle of the morass tell a story of confusion, lack of communication, and crushing masses of people.
Businessman Brian Shin reported that airport personnel, “made us all evacuate Terminal 2E K gates. Routed us through border control and security to L gates. Now making us go back to K.”
Shin conveyed that there was a lack of communication from the airport to the passengers, he tweet, “Thousands of people barely find out where to go — either word of mouth or follow the herds. Mayhem.”
Charlotte, North Carolina reporter Dave Wagner, who was also caught up in the mess, tweeted a quote from an unnamed traveler, who said, “No one has a clue what is happening.”
As time passed, all the moving around was starting to wear on the weary travelers. Shin tweeted, “I estimate that we have walked with bags almost 2 miles and been standing for over 2 hrs, elderly people/young ones are suffering.”
After normal operations began again, Shin described harrowing conditions among the masses of people trying to reprocess through customs and catch their flights, tweeting, “Being the cattle in a cattle-drive is not as fun as you might think. Human crush at border control for re-entry.”
Airlive.net said in an tweet update Saturday that “the The disembarkment issue is causing delays,” and Flightaware.com is showing 90 delayed flights for Sunday at Charles de Gaulle, so check with your carrier for the latest information if you are flying out of this airport.
Flexjet Takes Aim at Buffett's Netjets for International Fliers
Flexjet, the private aircraft flight-share company sold by Bombardier Inc. in 2013, is seeking to break the lock Warren Buffett’s Netjets has on international private flights.
Having just gotten its first Gulfstream G450s, and with G650s — the longest-flying business jet — to be delivered next year, Flexjet is doubling the number of planes by 2016 that have range to fly to Europe to more than 40, said Chairman Kenneth Ricci.
“This is all part of a plan of ours to really move Flexjet out of the domestic markets and into the international market,” Ricci said. “Right now, Netjets kind of has that space all to themselves.”
The opportunity for fractional operators overseas is large, Ricci said. There are about 110 fractionally-owned aircraft abroad competing for at least 800,000 flight hours a year. That compares with about 700 aircraft chasing 1.2 million flight hours in the U.S., he said.
“The U.S. has somewhat flattened out but the worldwide market is still just beginning,” Ricci said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Netjets, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is the largest fractional operator with about 700 aircraft in its fleet followed by Flexjet with 150. With fractional jets, customers buy a share in the plane that the companies control, maintain and provide pilots and other services for. That differs from jet charters in which individuals own aircraft and allow management companies to book flights on them.
Seeking Acquisitions
Flexjet may seek to acquire a European company to gain an operator’s license and the knowledge of flying throughout so many countries, Ricci said.
“We don’t have to make a big acquisition,” said Ricci, who is also a principal with Flexjet owner Directional Aviation, which also controls several aviation businesses from jet charters to aircraft engine management. “We just need to get our toe in the water.”
Directional had been in negotiations to buy a smaller fractional jet company in the U.S. two years ago, to increase its fleet, but that fell through, just after it bought Flexjet, he said. The negotiations stretched beyond the first-of-year peak season and Directional decided it was better to buy new jets instead, Ricci said.
That strategy makes more sense now as used jet prices recover and as plane manufacturers offer extended warranties, which can save as much as $800,000 per jet each year, Ricci said.
“With the cost of money and the manufacturers’ support of the new aircraft, they have swung the pendulum and the value to us seems to be more on the new aircraft,” he said. “Today the compelling buy is in the new market.”
Disney Weighs $1 Billion Anaheim Expansion in City
Tax Deal
Walt Disney Co. would invest at least $1 billion in its Disneyland resort in Anaheim, California, under a plan providing the company continued protection from a potential ticket tax.
The city council will consider the proposal at a July 7 meeting, according to a statement posted Thursday on Anaheim’s website. Disney would begin construction in 2017 on new attractions, a parking garage and road improvements that will improve local traffic flow, and have until the end of 2024 to complete them.
Disney hasn’t said what it would build at the resort, which includes Disneyland and California Adventure. Fans and investors may get a glimpse of the company’s plans at its annual D23 fan- club expo in August, where park projects are often showcased. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger has said Disney plans new attractions in Anaheim and that the company will outline plans for a greater “Star Wars” presence at its parks this year.
The current tax deal, which dates back to 1996 and ends in 2016, would be replaced with a new one that runs 30 years. Disney would be reimbursed if an entertainment tax, which would likely be based on ticket sales, was created. There isn’t one now and none is planned, according to the city’s statement.
“We are asking city leaders to continue with a policy set two decades ago that has driven unprecedented job creation, growth and prosperity and enabled the city to invest in vital services that benefit every Anaheim resident,” Michael Colglazier, president of the Disneyland Resort, said in a statement.
Disney would get tax relief for another 15 years if it invested an additional $500 million, according to a summary released by the city.
Disney has been investing more than $2 billion a year in its global theme-park business. Attractions such the 2012 Cars Land addition at California Adventure led to a 23 percent increase in attendance that year.
The theme parks provide more than half of Anaheim’s general fund revenue — $148 million annually in hotel, sales, property and business license taxes, according to the city’s statement.
“This proposed entertainment tax policy is a pragmatic way to facilitate investment and future revenue for city services,” interim City Manager Paul Emery said in the statement.
The Latest: Greece makes public transport free in Athens
The Latest: Greece makes public transport free in Athens while banks are closed
The Greek government is making public transport in Athens free while the banks are closed.
Transport Minister Christos Spirtzis says fares in greater Athens for the capital's metro, tram, bus and trolley-bus services will be scrapped effective Monday.
Fares normally cost 1.20 euros ($1.34) for a 70 minute ride on a city transport service. Spirtzis says the decision would cost the government about 4 million euros per week.
Spirtzis says the decision was only effective in greater Athens, where about 40 percent of the country's population lives.
Services in Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, are partially privatized, not allowing the government to waive fares.
Thailand launches Muslim-friendly tourist app
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand on Monday launched a smartphone app to attract Muslim visitors, something that could help further boost an industry which has been steadily recovering since a 2014 coup.
Thailand is predominantly Buddhist but parts of the south are majority Muslim. Known for its laissez-faire attitude toward travelers, powder-white beaches and as an aviation hub, Thailand draws millions of tourists each year.
Now its tourism body hopes the new app will help further boost Thailand's tourism sector, which makes up about 10 percent of its economy.
The industry took a beating last year as some foreign governments issued warnings against non-essential travel to Thailand due to political unrest and a May 22 coup, but it has been steadily recovering.
Efforts to welcome Muslim travelers to Thailand come amid rising anti-Muslim sentiment in some Western countries and recent Islamist militant attacks.
The new app will be available on Google Inc's Android and Apple Inc's iOS systems, the Tourism Authority of Thailand said in a statement.
With search and navigation features, it will help visitors find hotels and shopping centers with prayer rooms and halal, or permissible under Islamic law, restaurants, said Juthaporn Rerngronasa, acting governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
Among non-Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries, Thailand was ranked the second most popular place for Muslim travelers to visit in the world after Singapore by the Global Muslim Travel Index in 2015.
"We believe this is because we have the required range of products and services for Muslim travelers," said Juthaporn.
The app is available in English and Thai but will be expanded to include Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia.
Thailand expects a record 29.5 million tourists this year, up 19 percent from 2014, its tourism council said last week.
Bahamian Taxi Drivers Demonstrate to Get Government's Attention
Nassau Bahamas’ Prince George Wharf became the scene of a taxicab driver protest Friday, meant to bring attention to the many challenges they face on the job that prevent earning a fair wage, Tribune 242 reported.
Philip Watkins, President of the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union (BTU) told the Tribune, "We want to send a strong message to the government that we have been pushed enough, and enough is enough.” Frederick Wallace, member of the Prince George Dock Taxi Drivers Committee, and his compatriots, is asking the government to "try to work with us, (meet us) half-way." So what did the Bahamian government do that has these scores of protestors taking a stand?
A major issue for the cab drivers is the impression that the Bahamian government is ignoring them, their contribution to the economy, and other issues that have persisted for a long time.
According to, Watkins, it’s even impossible to get senior members of the BTU and government officials in the same room to hash all of it out. He told the Tribune, "We need the government to meet with us and map the way forward as to how we can get rid of these ills that do exist and how we can make more sense of what we do on a daily basis down here,” he said.
Wallace made his own personal estimate about how much local cab drivers contribute to the economy, telling the Tribune, "When you do the math, as far as income in this country is concern, on this dock we have approximately 200 taxi drivers and on an average we make around $500 a week; when you multiply that by the year, we bring in over $5 million into this county." Wallace also pointed out that a large percentage of the wages stay in the local community.
Watkins detailed how price increases are causing difficulty in making ends meet: "As of the first of July, all of our insurances — house, vehicles — goes up by 7.5 per cent. Fuel has gone up. We haven't had an increase since 2008. (Drivers) are struggling even with these issues being normal, they are struggling because of the downturn in this economy; so now they are struggling even more,” he said.
Watkins also said the static cab fare has drivers languishing, and told The Tribune “I don't know how much longer they can run on the same fares that (are) stipulated and still stay in business."
Explosion at Taiwan Water Park Injures Almost 500
A Saturday night ‘Color Play Asia’ party at New Taipei, Taiwan’s Formosa Fun Coast water park abruptly ended in catastrophe when the event’s trademark showers of colored powder ignited into a fireball, injuring 498, CNN reported, via Taiwanese media.
Video footage shows a ball of flame filling the event stage, and then screaming individuals running through the flames.
According to CNN, mayor Eric Chu called it the "worst incident of mass injury (ever) in New Taipei," Taiwan's most populated city.
"The fire came too fast and nobody was able to run," said witness Huang Guan Zhang, 19. "Everybody was burned. ... Nobody could save others and people suffered severe burns."
Inflated inner tubes were used as impromptu stretchers to ferry the injured to safety.
According to China's Taipei-based Central News Agency and New Taipei public health officials, via CNN, there are no reported fatalities, but 202 of the 498 victims are in critical condition, with 182 placed in intensive care units. Sixty have already been discharged after treatment.
The wounded are spread across 43 hospitals, and Taiwan's Ministry of Health and Welfare is looking for help to replenish their dwindling stock of medical supplies and skin grafts.
Regarding nationalities of the victims, 485 of them are Taiwanese, and the 13 foreigners are from Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.
The New Taipei government said the nationalities of three of the victims have not been confirmed, but earlier reports said a "European or American" man was among the wounded.
Taiwan's Premier Mao Chi-Kuo visited some of the victims in the hospital, and afterwards, according to CNA, he declared a ban on color powder events until the substance can be proven safe.
President Ma Ying-Jeou also met with the injured, and promised the Taiwanese government would help the victims and promised a complete investigation.
"We are very regretful (for) this accident that caused injuries to many victims," Formosa Fun Coast said in a statement.
The "Color Play Asia" party organizer and the individual in charge of lighting and hardware are the two main suspects in the criminal investigation, according to CNN. They were brought in for questioning, released on bail, and then barred from leaving the country.
Lu Chung-chi, the party organizer apologized and said he would take full responsibility, CNA reported. "We need to apologize to the families. I am very sorry that something like this happened," Lu told CNA. "We shoulder ultimate responsibility."
2 More Shark Attacks in 2 Days at North Carolina Beaches
What is it about North Carolina beachgoers that make them so appetizing to sharks?
This weekend saw the fifth and sixth instances this month where such a toothy predator sent a Tarheel State swimmer to the hospital.
Around noon on Friday, a 47-year-old man was swimming in Avon, N.C. when he was bitten in the right leg and lower back, the National Park Service (NPS) said in a statement, according to ABC News.
Witness Johnny Supan told ABC News, “This guy was in waist-deep water about 10 feet away from where my friend and I were walking on the beach when we heard him screaming 'Shark! Shark!'"
“Right away there was a guy that had a water bottle cleaning his wounds and his wife was trying to put pressure on them,” he added.
Paramedics treated the man at the scene before he was airlifted to Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia, the NPS said.
The man’s son, who was in the water with him, was not hurt in the attack, Supan said.
Supan described the victim to ABC news as, “dizzy and in shock when he came out of the water.”
On Saturday, a 17-year-old boy was bitten on N.C.’s Outer Banks. Drawing from the NPS’s Facebook page, The Associated Press reported his injuries to be to the right calf, buttocks, and both hands. No one else was hurt. He was treated at the scene, then airlifted to a Norfolk hospital.
ABC News recapped the list of this month’s N.C. shark attack victims: A 13-year-old girl was bitten in the foot at Ocean Isle on June 11. Hunter Treschl, 16, lost an arm in an attack on June 14 at Oak Island, and Kiersten Yow, 12, was bitten in the arm and leg less than 90 minutes before Treschl was attack. Finally, just this Wednesday, an 8-year-old boy was bitten at Surf City.
You Will Soon Be Able to Drive Super Cars Super Fast Just Off The Las Vegas Strip
There is an abundance of things to do in Las Vegas besides hitting casinos, clubs and restaurants on the strip. If you want to fire automatic rifles, you can do it. Skydiving more your thing? They have that, too.
What about driving a Lamborghini 140 mph?
Well, approval has just been given for groundbreaking of SPEEDVEGAS, a 100-acre site where you can drive the fastest cars in the world around a professional racetrack just 10 minutes from the Las Vegas Strip.
Scheduled to open in January 2016, SPPEDVEGAS will allow you to drive exotic and muscle supercars on a racetrack that includes a 2,000-foot straight away, over 60 feet of elevation change, 12 banked corners and all of the amenities to go along with it.
The SPEEDVEGAS motorsports complex, designed by World Class Driving, has over 20,000 square feet of meeting space, outdoor terraces, and entertainment facilities. They are going to be located just south of the strip on Las Vegas Boulevard and will even be lit for night time racing as well.
Rumors have it that you will be able to drive exotic cars from Ferrari, Lamborghini along with high-performance vehicles from Audi, Ford and Chevrolet.
Bahamas Government in Negotiations to Spark Stalled Baha Mar Project
Photo: The Bahamas government is reportedly negotiating to end a key dispute tied to the stalled project.
A Bahamas government official said this week the country is working on an agreement to pay $21 million reportedly owed to the resort’s developers for road construction associated with the project. The proposed payment is viewed by Bahamas officials as a precursor to the resolution of issues that have stalled the $3.5 billion mega-resort’s opening.
The Bahamas Tribune reports a “well-placed government source” said the money will be paid “if Baha Mar can reach an agreement with China Export-Import Bank,” which is financing the resort’s construction. Baha Mar officials contacted by TravelPulse declined to comment on the Tribune report.
This week Philip “Brave” Davis, the Bahamas’ works minister and deputy prime minister said negotiations involving funds the government owes Baha Mar for the reconfiguration of West Bay Street are being handled by Perry Christie, the country’s prime minister.
“The office of the prime minister is dealing with that,” he told reporters this week. “A possible deal is in the works.”
Last week Christie told the Tribune he had received “encouraging” news about a possible impending resolution to the Baha Mar deadlock, reportedly in reference to the proposed payment. The funds would also be earmarked to pay “thousands of Bahamians currently on the resort’s payroll,” according to the Tribune source.
In addition to the developers’ dispute with the Bahamas government is a continuing row between the Baha Mar’s developers and the resort’s main contractor, China Construction America (CCA). Construction of the Cable Beach resort has since halted as two opening deadlines have been missed since. A new opening date has not been announced.
Behind the disputes stand hundreds of disgruntled travelers who held now-invalid bookings for Baha Mar vacations in 2015. Dozens have posted angry comments on the company’s Facebook page, complaining of cancelled bookings and thousands of dollars in lost vacation funds amidst scant information from the company. Indeed the Baha Mar officials have not posted comments or images to their Facebook page since April 22.
Meanwhile tour operators are largely hedging their bets as they await a firm opening date for the much-delayed project.
“As a firm opening date has yet to be announced, we are currently offering packages that include stays at all four Baha Mar properties for travel beginning January 4, 2016” said Tina Iglio, senior vice president, marketing and product development at MLT Vacations. “However, that date may shift forward pending the results of our product team’s site inspections.”
Pleasant Holidays, another tour operator, is currently accepting Baha Mar bookings and is targeting a Nov. 1 opening date. Conversely GOGO Vacations’ Jim Tedesco, said his company will wait for the mega-resort to open before booking guests.
Oslo, Norway Goes 3-D To Welcome You To Town
Lately, Iceland has been doing a lot of public relations to help drive tourism their way including a human search engine campaign and a new whale-friendly app. Not to be left out in the cold of the Scandinavian winter, Norway wants you to feel welcome to visit them, too.
Innovation Norway and Avinor have developed an art installation with a 3-D animation movie at the Oslo Gardermoen Airport. The installation launched on June 18 and will give travelers an “audiovisual and emotional impression of what Norway has to offer within culture, nature and trade.”
“We create valuable connections. We connect Norway together with the rest of the world, this is something we wanted this project to reflect,” says Avinor’s Dag Falk-Petersen.
Innovation Norway has developed both a modern and different welcome to Norway and they expect the installation will be seen by an estimated million people per month.
“We hope visitors will be impressed by and like the new presentation of Norway. We hope this will create curiosity about what we have to offer and at the same time give a modern and different impression of our country,” says Anita Krohn Traaseth, the CEO of Innovation Norway.
This installation is part of the country’s new project, "Gateway to Norway," and will be launched at all of the bigger airports in Norway by the fall. The movie will change throughout the year to reflect the seasonal changes and different regions of the country.
WAV: See the movie here. http://www.visitnorway.com/us/about-norway/travel-facts/when-you-arrive/land-in-norway---and-keep-flying/
ChinaTour.com Makes Visa-Free Travel in China a Breeze
For U.S. travelers, China is one country where visitors still need to acquire a visa to visit, but the country has recently enacted a few ways that Americans can go visa-free and ChinaTour.com is making the process even simpler by providing tours that facilitate this type of travel. If you are looking to go to mainland China visa free, you will only have about 72 hours and you are confined to certain cities: Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. Currently, visitors from 45 countries can partake of this 72-hour, visa-free entry to China with confirmed onward air tickets.
See the Sights
ChinaTour.com offers the 72 Hours Visa Free Highlights Tour in each of the three cities where this type of entry is permitted, making them ideal options for short getaways or stopovers for travelers. All tour participants are met at the airport and escorted to their hotel. The tours include a city tours, accommodations and optional dinner as well as airport transfers.
In Beijing, the tour includes sights such as the Great Wall, a visit to a jade factory, a hutong tour, an optional Peking duck dinner and kung fu show, a visit to Tiananmen Square and a stroll through the Forbidden City.
The visa-free Chengdu tour visits Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, a stroll along Jinli Old Street for local snacks and cultural experiences and an optional Sichuan Opera performance in the evening.
Shanghai tours visit the famous Bund, Shanghai’s old town, Nanjing Road, Xintiandi, a silk carpet factory, the Shanghai Museum and optional evening choices that include an acrobatic show or a Huangpu River night cruise.
Rules of the Road
The 72-hour visa rule came into effect in China in 2013. Applications for visa-free travel can be filled out and are granted on the day of travel at the airports of each of the three cities — Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai. The 72-hour timeframe begins when travelers receive their permits. Visitors will need to register their permits at a police station or registration of the visa can be handled at hotel check-in when traveling with ChinaTour.com.
The visa only applies on air tickets that are “stopovers” and not tickets that are flying roundtrip, for example, flying Hong Kong to Beijing and back to Hong Kong. They are also only valid for air travel. In addition, travel is restricted to the boundaries of the city in which the visa is granted and cannot be used to travel to other cities within China. Considering all of the rules, ChinaTour.com’s visa-free tours are a great option, making visa-free travel in China a breeze.
Company Offers Unlimited Flights For a Monthly Fee
The bottom line comes down to this – would you use it enough to offset the cost?
A new company called OneGo has introduced an interesting concept to air travel in which a customer, in their words, would enjoy unlimited direct flying on major airline carriers such as American, Delta, United and Virgin America, for just one monthly cost.
The deal is aimed primarily – some would say exclusively – at business travelers and frequent fliers who could afford to pay the $1,500 monthly cost and make it work.
That $1,500 fee includes Gogo Wi-Fi, TSA PreCheck and one free checked bag on every flight. For another $1,000 a month, a traveler can sign up for last-minute bookings, and for another $750 a month can make unlimited changes to reservations.
There is also a $750 sign-up fee.
Good idea? On paper, it sure sounds like it. But is it a sustainable business model?
Depends.
Right now, the route network is small and based in only five west coast states. The company says on its website that "routes in additional regions throughout the U.S. will be available soon," but doesn’t say if customers will be able to choose flights that cover multiple regions, say New York to Seattle.
You also may run into a logistical problem in that flights must be booked at least seven days ahead of time, but you cannot book and hold reservations for more than four flights in a 30-day period.
With flights, on average, running between $300 and $400 per roundtrip ticket, a passenger would have to make four to five flights a month to make it work.
Passenger hit by lightning at airport
An American Airlines passenger is recovering after being struck by a bolt of lightning after exiting a plane.
The incident took place on the tarmac of Columbia Metropolitan Airport.
The CRJ-900 regional jet which was flying from Hartford, C.T. to Charlotte had been diverted to Columbia due to bad weather.
A spokesman for the carrier said the female passenger had just deplaned when she was hit by the lightning strike.
Columbia airport spokeswoman Kaela Harmon called it a freak accident.
"It is truly the most random thing I have ever heard,'' Harmon said.
The woman was taken to a local hospital where she was reportedly in a stable condition
Spending at Disney increases as prices rise, economy recovers
The Walt Disney Co.'s theme-park visitors are spending a lot more money, on everything from $105 Magic Kingdom tickets to $110 special-edition Tommy Bahama shirts.
Per-visitor spending at Disney's domestic parks has increased 7 percent to 8 percent annually for the past four years. That figure outpaces attendance growth and is higher than in previous years back to 2003, when Disney began providing those details in regulatory filings.
Analysts say a combination of factors is at work, including a recovering economy, price hikes, higher-quality offerings, and the MyMagic+ technology project.
Disney did not make executives available for an interview.
In an e-mailed statement, spokeswoman Kim Prunty noted Disney has experienced record attendance — "the result of delivering a magical experience that only Disney can provide. As guest demand continues to grow for our parks, we will work to ensure that all our guests have experiences that consistently exceed their expectations."
Walt Disney World prices drew attention this year as one-day Magic Kingdom tickets broke the $100 barrier. Other increases included a 9 percent jump in basic annual passes for Florida residents.
Disney raises prices regularly. Still, "I actually think they're being a little bit more bullish than they have in the past," said Scott Sanders, a former Disney vice president of pricing.
The possibility looms of even higher prices during peak seasons to spread out demand. Disney recently sent out a survey suggesting a hypothetical tiered pricing structure including $125 Magic Kingdom tickets during Christmas and July. The survey asked guests about how tiered pricing would have affected their visit choices.
Water parks on Disney's property have already begun charging higher summer prices. Tickets cost $58, as opposed to $53 the rest of the year.
Disney says it is far from turning into an elitist playground. Its affordable options include budget-oriented hotels, monthly payment plans for passes, Florida-resident discounts, and lower prices on renewed passes.
A recent report from the Themed Entertainment Association and consulting group AECOM noted the stagnation of middle-class incomes. That, the report said, "raises questions about the sustainability of recent ticket price increases" throughout the industry.
So far, though, experts say big theme parks haven't hit the price ceiling.
"They know they can take pricing and they have been taking it pretty aggressively," Sanders said. "Until they see a negative impact, they're going to continue to do it."
Universal Orlando recently raised one-day ticket prices to $102. Owner Comcast Corp. says in SEC filings that both attendance and guest spending have grown but does not give details.
SeaWorld, on the other hand, saw declines in both attendance and per-person spending last year as it struggled with controversy and competition. In May, it raised its one-day ticket price to $97 but dropped the cost of an advance-purchase weekday ticket.
Disney discounted during the economic downturn, with offers including free birthday admission. Those have gone away. Visitors can — and want to — spend more now, Pacific Asset Management analyst Bob Boyd said.
"Disney has also done a better job in recent years with the quality of their merchandise and their food offerings such as the Be Our Guest restaurant," Boyd said in an email. "Many consumers are quite willing to pay more for that kind of high quality experience."
New opportunities for conspicuous consumption abound. Disney has rolled out dessert parties costing up to $100, time-share Polynesian Village bungalows renting for more than $2,000 a night, and Disney-style Tommy Bahama shirts with triple-digit prices.
Experts say Disney is also providing more opportunities to spend. Increased FastPass usage through MyMagic gets people through lines quicker so they can spend more time in shops and restaurants. MagicBands can also function as credit cards.
Meanwhile Disney's per-guest domestic hotel spending rose to $280 last fiscal year, compared with $267 in 2013.
The company recently told analysts that occupancy at its domestic hotels, at 89 percent, was close to peaking.
"How do you then build your operating profit, which Wall Street expects?" said Dave Shute, who tracks hotel costs for his Disney-oriented yourfirstvisit.net website. "If you can't put more hotel rooms in, you raise prices."
There have been some discounts available. Nicole Paris, a Maryland middle-school teacher, recently took advantage of one for her family's visit at the Wilderness Lodge.
Still, "it seems like there's a lot more … opportunities for those with more money to get something better than everybody else," said Paris, 44.
"It seems against the Disney spirit," said her mother Hermi Schijf of the Netherlands.
Kevin Gates of Warsaw, Ind. saved for a year for his Disney trip, which he said cost $35,000 for a family of 13 to visit for a week.
It's more expensive than other vacations, said Gates, 46, but "it's a life experience. It's a one-time experience."
Allegiant Air defends safety record amid emergency landings, cancellations
At the height of its travel season, Allegiant Air finds itself with a challenging public relations problem.
Recent headlines described two emergency landings at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport in June; a series of flight cancellations there and at other airports that left hundreds of passengers temporarily stranded; and a labor dispute with a pilots union alleging Allegiant puts profits above safety.
Facing one of its most difficult years since the budget airline's 1997 founding, Allegiant officials last week moved to counter the perception that its fleet of 70 planes — one of the oldest among U.S. carriers — is plagued by maintenance issues. A spokeswoman said in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times that the airline has one of the industry's best safety records and that recent headlines amount to little more than bad luck.
"So while we can appreciate that there have been some incidents that have been quite public" at St. Pete-Clearwater, "we stand by the fact that our flights are safe and that the safety of our passengers and crews are our No. 1 priority," said Allegiant spokeswoman Jessica Wheeler.
The airline said more than a dozen flight cancellations at St. Pete-Clearwater since the emergency landings have nothing to do with serious maintenance or safety issues, noting the airline is at the height of its busy travel season.
Wheeler said the airline has a small fleet, and when planes are taken out of service after emergency landings, cancellations result.
"Ultimately, we're not going to fly an airplane that's not ready to fly," she said.
Allegiant has never experienced an airline fatality. And airline safety in the United States has never been better, according to aviation experts.
John Cox, a St. Petersburg resident who is a former U.S. Airways pilot and a former safety official at the Air Line Pilots Association, said U.S. airlines carried 3.5 billion passengers in 2014 on 40 million flights, with just 12 accidents resulting in fatalities, only two of which were on jets.
"We're flying almost half the planet's population every year, and we have two jets that had fatal accidents in 40 million flights," Cox said. "It's the safest transportation system ever designed by mankind. You are far more likely to be killed by a cow. You are far more likely to be killed by a dog. You are far more likely to be killed by lightning."
Cox noted airlines can fly older planes safely with additional maintenance, and U.S. air carriers face the world's strongest maintenance regimen via the Federal Aviation Administration. "Older, in and of itself, doesn't mean they're less safe," he said.
Allegiant has followed a formula that has made it one of the most profitable U.S. airlines, with a profit margin in 2014 of 14 percent, according to the New York Times. That was exceeded only by Spirit Airlines' 18 percent margin. By contrast, the industry's average was under 4 percent.
The Las Vegas-headquartered airlines saves cash by buying older jets and flying between cities that are overlooked by the larger airlines, such as Newburgh, N.Y., or Allentown, Pa.
Allegiant is engaged in a labor fight this year with its pilots, who voted to unionize two years ago. They contend that the airline has reduced their benefits, but a federal appeals court earlier this year blocked the pilots' efforts to strike.
The FAA put the airline under additional "surveillance" during these labor problems, and Allegiant officials said extra scrutiny did not uncover any problems with the way the airline maintained its aircraft.
This could not be confirmed with the FAA, though the agency said as of last week, Allegiant was in compliance with regulatory requirements.
A report in April released by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters' Aviation Mechanics Coalition — the Teamsters also represent pilots — detailed 65 incidents from September to March in which mechanical problems caused Allegiant aircraft to divert, return to the gate or abort takeoffs. Nine of those incidents involved aircraft at St. Pete-Clearwater.
Allegiant officials said the report was simply a union tactic to force the airline to make labor concessions, saying in a statement that it was "an effort to manipulate the public by raising concerns about the safety of our operations."
Russ Leighton, a Teamsters aviation safety coordinator who is a pilot but does not fly for Allegiant, said he believes Allegiant has experienced an abnormally high number of maintenance issues in the past year. He said Allegiant pilots believe the airline is not providing them with complete information about maintenance problems.
"What is going on at Allegiant sticks out like a sore thumb," Leighton said.
But Wheeler said the union is posturing.
"Neither ourselves nor the FAA have found any trends that show us there is any cause for concern," she said. "No doubt if the FAA had any concerns, they would take action."
Rabbi Levi Hodakov of St. Petersburg said he does not think he will fly Allegiant again soon after his flight out of St. Pete-Clearwater to Newburgh was diverted last weekend due to bad weather.
News reports, he said, make him nervous.
"Maybe things are getting blown out of proportion and the pilots are trying to give the airline a bad name," Hodakov said. "It would not shock me. … But I don't intend on flying them again soon, even at the expense of paying a few extra bucks" to fly on another airline. "Right or wrong, I am only being human."
Music acts are coming to Marriott hotels to attract millennials
Hotel lobbies are fast converting from a place to pick up and drop off a room key to a public living room, where guests hang out to enjoy snacks, drinks and listen to music.
Several small hotel brands, including Aloft, have turned their lobbies into small concert venues for local and lesser-known musical acts.
Marriott International, one of the world’s biggest hotel companies, is taking this idea a step further by partnering with Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, to arrange performances in hotel lobbies by established and emerging musicians.
The partnership will kick off in London where English singer and songwriter Jessie J performs June 30 at the St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel.
The move is intended to target millennials who number more than 75 million in the U.S. and are expected to spend $226 million on travel this year, according to a Harris Poll survey.
Does that mean that your local hotel lobby might feature a set by Universal Music Group’s biggest clients, including Madonna, Sting, Mary J. Blige, Nicki Minaj and Jennifer Lopez?
Jennifer Utz, vice president of Buzz Marketing and Partnership, said the artists will be matched with the hotel venue so that more popular acts will play at large hotel conference centers while up-and-coming bands might play in an intimate lobby setting.
“It will run the gamut of artist,” she said. “We are working to match them with our various properties.”