Card travel fees clarified?
Credit-card travel fees clarified? — Use your credit card while traveling abroad and you’ll be hit with a “foreign currency conversion fee.” In the past, that roughly 3 percent charge wasn’t always spelled out in monthly bills and likely slipped past the notice of many cardholders. Beginning in April, the fee will be made clearer by banks in response to Visa and MasterCard changing how the conversion system works.
Travel scam snags cops — Police officers are among at least 86 people who say they paid in advance for flights to Las Vegas and other destinations, but instead ended up grounded. Sgt. Jim Mizeres, head of the Massillon Police Detective Bureau, has begun an investigation into what happened to the money people gave to Roger Budd.
Hotel settles 9/11 suit — The owner of the 55-story Millenium Hilton hotel in lower Manhattan has reached a $25-million settlement with its insurance carrier to end a dispute over property damage and loss of business resulting from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The settlement will cover both property damage and business interruption, a spokeswoman for the hotel said.
More US Airways jobs heading south — Nearly 200 US Airways reservation agent jobs now — and perhaps hundreds more later — will be outsourced to a Spanish company in Latin America, from the 785 positions being eliminated at the Green Tree call center, a union official said Wednesday. Grupo Atento, under a contract with US Airways, already fields calls in El Salvador from passengers whose bags are lost.
Hawaiian Airlines investor arrested for bribery — A St. Louis man was arrested on Wednesday on charges he submitted false financial information to get approval of a bankruptcy reorganization plan for Hawaiian Airlines, Inc., a unit of Hawaiian Holdings Inc. Paul Boghosian, 50, was charged with conspiracy to commit bankruptcy fraud and commercial bribery. Each count carries a maximum five year prison term. The complaint is filed in Manhattan federal court.
Chinese birds can’t get over language barrier — US-made audio players installed at Beijing’s international airport to scare birds off the runway have failed because of the “language barrier”, state media said. The machines play sounds of predatory birds such as hawks to shoo away birds which pose a danger to aircraft.
Contributing: John Frenaye