Faster checks of fliers to start
Faster checks of fliers to start — Air travelers who pass extensive background checks will soon be able to avoid security hassles such as removing suit jackets and shoes at checkpoints, the nation’s aviation-security chief said Thursday. (USA Today)
What do you think: Is the TSA taking the right steps to make flights safer?
Many fares steady after airline closes — The closure of East Coast carrier Independence Air this month holds a lesson for air travelers who lose discount competition in their markets: It might not be as bad as expected. (USA Today)
Northwest says it is unprepared for strike — On the third day of Northwest Airlines’ bid to have its union contracts tossed out by a bankruptcy court, an airline executive testified that a strike by employees would cause it to liquidate and that it has not prepared for any work stoppage. (AP)
Bird flu isn’t slowing Lunar New Year travel — Despite fresh bird-flu outbreaks among poultry and new human deaths, tourists are traveling en masse across Asia during the region’s peak travel season ahead of the Lunar New Year, which is celebrated this year on Jan. 29. (The Seattle Times)
Utahans wary of renewed interest in uranium — The prospect of new mines and mills to produce and refine the uranium ore has stirred fears of more damage to the environment, health risks and disruption of the bustling tourist economy that took over after the mines closed in the 1980s. For the last 10 years the region has become a haven for off-road tourists. (USA Today)
Travel jobs don’t get much better than these — USA Today takes a glance at five professionals who are making the most of their opportunities in the travel industry. Included are a writer, a luxury hotel inspector, a river rafting guide, a gentleman host on a cruise ship and a private jet tour leader.(USA Today)
New Orleans area aims to restructure police forces — Officials are developing a plan that could dramatically reshape law enforcement in the New Orleans area by merging functions of the city’s police department with those of sheriff’s departments in four parishes hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. (USA Today)
There’s music in the air for Mozart’s 250th birthday — Mozart’s 250th birthday bash Jan. 27, along with a chorus of year-long events, is taking on operatic proportions. Practically every major 2006 event in his birthplace of Salzburg, Austria, will give the composer a starring role. (USA Today)
Judge OKs United reorganization plan — United Airlines’ reorganization plan won final approval by a judge Friday, clearing the way for the nation’s No. 2 carrier to come out of bankruptcy in less than two weeks. The ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff, after remaining objections to United’s reorganization plan were resolved this week, keeps United on a path to emerge from Chapter 11 on Feb. 1 after the largest and longest airline bankruptcy in history. (Chicago Sun-Times)
Hacker steals guests’ details at Atlantis — A hacker has stolen the identities of 50 000 customers of Sol Kerzner’s flagship Bahamas resort Atlantis, dealing a heavy blow to the reputation of the resort. Reuters reports that the identities of guests at Atlantis have been exposed to possible identity fraud after the theft of personal information from the hotel. Names, addresses, driver’s licence numbers and bank and credit card account details of guests, the majority from the US, are thought to have been stolen.(Independent Online)
Another ship hit by giant wave — Many passengers who disembarked from the Norwiegen Spirit this morning say they are grateful to be back on solid ground, after wild weather had its way with them at sea. Those aboard say the ship, returning from a southern Caribbean cruise, was bombarded by heavy winds and a series of high waves-some as high as fifty feet–during the leg from Tortola to New York. The fifth floor of the luxury liner was hit particulary hard.(WCBS TV)
Carrie Charney, Christopher Elliott, John Frenaye, Charles Leocha, Marge Purnell, Valerie Schneider, Mary Staley, Stephanus Surjaputra, Richard Wong.