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United blames travel-snarling system outage on router problem -- An issue with a router caused the grounding of United Airlines flights nationwide early Wednesday morning, the airline said, creating delays and long lines at airport terminals. The router problem "degraded network connectivity for various applications," said Jennifer Dohm, United spokeswoman. The airline requested a ground stop for U.S. departures at 5:26 a.m. PDT; the order was lifted at 6:47 a.m. Samantha Masunaga, Christine Mai-Duc & Taylor Goldenstein/Los Angeles Times Related: Outages at NYSE, United Airlines, WSJ.com expose digital vulnerabilities
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Questions linger over NYSE, United, WSJ 'glitches' -- U.S. security officials said today they have no evidence that the computer problems that struck the New York Stock Exchange, United Airlines and the Wall Street Journal's website Wednesday were anything but glitches -- but that hasn't totally eased the minds of some cyber security experts or America's top law enforcement official. "That caught my attention. We're not big believers in coincidence either. We want to dig into that part," FBI Director James Comey said at a Senate hearing Wednesday in response to a question about the near-simultaneous computer issues. "We do not see any indication of a cyber breach or cyber attack... But again, in my business, you don't love coincidences." Brian Ross, Randy Kreider and Lee Ferran/ABC News Also: Local expert: United, NYSE, Wall Street Journal outages raise red flag
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New flights from L.A. to Gunnison-Crested Butte -- Alaska Airlines will debut a direct, nonstop flight into the Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport (GUC) from Los Angeles International Airport for the 2015-16 ski season. The new service marks Alaska Airlines' first entry into the GUC market. The twice-weekly seasonal flights will operate Wednesdays and Saturdays from Dec. 16 through March 26, 2016. "Nationally, Los Angeles is the number one domestic market for destination skiers and snowboarders," said Scott Clarkson, vice president of sales and marketing for Crested Butte Mountain Resort. Felicity Long/Travel Weekly
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I-Team exposes secondhand smoke dangers to LAX travelers -- A toxic cloud of secondhand smoke is greeting travelers at Los Angeles International Airport -- one of the world's busiest -- because tough anti-smoking laws are being ignored by airport police and law enforcement agencies, an NBC4 I-Team investigation has found. "It hits you right when you first walk in, and you're waiting for your bags," complained Carol Baker after arriving at LAX on a flight from Dallas with her family. "We have our grandchildren with us, and it's not a good situation." Joel Grover & Matthew Glasser/NBC4
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United flight with Dalai Lama on board makes emergency landing at LAX -- A United Airlines flight Wednesday morning from Los Angeles to Newark made an unexpected landing at Los Angeles International International Airport after pilots discovered a cracked windshield, an airport source told me. Normally, I don't write about emergency landings because they happen all the time. But my source told me that the Dalai Lama was on the flight. Presumably, he was well taken care of. Do we think he flies in first class? BrianSumers.com
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AIRPORT CASE: Ontario can see job evaluations of former airports chief -- Ontario attorneys will get to see annual job evaluations of former Los Angeles World Airports Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsey, the judge in Ontario's breach-of-contract lawsuit against Los Angeles ruled Wednesday. But Riverside County Superior Court Judge Gloria Connor Trask also upheld Los Angeles' claim of attorney-client protection for other documents sought by Ontario as the Aug. 17 trial date approaches. Richard K. DeAtley/Riverside Press-Enterprise Liset Marquez/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
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City, airport officials to resume talks on replacement terminal -- It's been five months since airport officials released a proposal for an agreement with the city of Burbank that would allow the issue of a 14-gate replacement terminal at Bob Hope Airport to go before local voters. Airport officials in February thought they were on the 1-yard line in negotiations with the city, but the release of the proposal to the public stalled negotiations. Chad Garland/Burbank Leader
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Los Angeles Burbank Airport? Officials consider rebranding airfield -- Over the public-address system, a recorded message welcomed travelers to "Burbank Bob Hope Airport - your gateway to Hollywood." However, during a meeting on the second floor of the terminal building Tuesday morning, airport staff and representatives from an outside consulting firm were recommending the operations committee of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority consider a new identity for the airport - Los Angeles Burbank Airport. Chad Garland/Burbank Leader
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Change to Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority board's decision-making structure considered -- Local council members on Tuesday said they were fine with revising part of the decision-making structure of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority board if a proposed 14-gate replacement terminal is granted approval to be built at Bob Hope Airport. The nine-member body, made up of three commissioners from each city, would require a supermajority instead of a simple majority when it comes to votes on certain issues, such as the future of the new terminal or a curfew on the times when commercial flights can take off and land. Arin Mikailian/Glendale News-Press
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JetBlue request for Long Beach Airport federal customs facility will get study -- The possibility of JetBlue operating international flights out of the Long Beach Airport will get a closer look. Late Tuesday, the Long Beach City Council voted 6-3 to move ahead with a feasibility study for a federal customs facility to allow international travel at the municipally-owned airport. The action came following about three hours of at times heated debate. JetBlue sent a letter in February to city officials stating that it would not increase its total number of flights allowed under the city's noise ordinance. Eric Bradley/Long Beach Press-Telegram
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Australia's Qantas to restart SF direct flights after regulatory backing -- Qantas Airways Ltd on Thursday said it will resume flights between Sydney and San Francisco after Australian authorities gave interim approval for an expanded codeshare arrangement with American Airlines Group Inc. Australia's national carrier said it would fly direct between the two cities from Dec. 18 because American Airlines temporarily obtained permission to take over one of its daily services between either Sydney or Melbourne and Los Angeles. Reuters
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Authorities investigating extortion claims at Honolulu International Airport -- For nearly two years, the FBI has been conducting an undercover sting at Honolulu Airport, looking into allegations of payoffs demanded by private security guards. "I made payments, I took recordings, took videos and I made a lot of payments," said "Lou," a cab driver and an FBI informant. "It started with small money like $20, $40, then became a hundred, then two hundred, then it came into thousands." Rick Daysog/Hawaii News Now
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GOP Rep demands explanation of Dulles Airport luggage problems -- Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) is demanding answers about a report that found Dulles International Airport is leading the nation is luggage loss claim payouts. Comstock, whose district includes Dulles, said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson that she is concerned the airport is far ahead of nearby Ronald Reagan National and Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International airports in the number of payouts to passengers who file luggage claims. Keith Laing/The Hill
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Did Kim Jong-un have the architect behind North Korea's new airport executed because he did not like the design? Claims emerge days after leader visits new terminal -- It has been claimed the chief architect of Pyongyang Airport was executed by North Korea's totalitarian leader Kim Jong-un because he disliked his designs. Ma Won-chun, who was North Korea's director of the Designing Department of the National Defence Commission, vanished last year and was allegedly executed in November. Daily Mail
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Southwest Airlines plane engine catches fire during takeoff in Chicago -- A Boston-bound flight aborted takeoff Wednesday night in Chicago when one of the engines burst into flames as the plane attempted to leave the runway. No one was hurt when the fire broke out on the ascending Southwest jet around 10:45 p.m. at Midway International Airport. The plane landed safely back on the tarmac, and all 143 passengers evacuated the craft. First responders put out the fire, and Southwest officials said the plane will be examined to determine what caused the fire. Meg Wagner/New York Daily News
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Southwest Airlines sets record for June loads -- Southwest Airlines filled 86.2 percent of its seats with passengers in June, beating the previous June record of 86.1 percent set a year earlier, Southwest said Wednesday. The carrier reported a 6.9 percent jump in traffic on a 6.7 percent increase in capacity. Southwest said it expects its unit revenue - revenue per available seat mile - to decline 4 to 5 percent in second quarter 2015 compared to the same quarter last year. It marked the fifth straight year that Southwest had set a new June record on load factors. Terry Maxon/Dallas Morning News
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Flight attendant union reveals details of proposed Southwest Airlines contract -- Southwest Airlines flight attendants would get 3 percent annual raises in 2015, 2017 and 2019, and 3 percent bonuses in 2016 and 2018 in a tentative agreement that they'll vote on this month, the Transport Workers Union said Wednesday. TWU released details of the proposal accepted last week by its Local 556 leadership and Southwest management. The union and company announced the deal Thursday, but with no details. Terry Maxon/Dallas Morning News
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Airlines' 40% failure rate: Your flight's on-time arrival owes more to luck than managerial skill -- Remember when, way back in elementary school, you and the other kids would always rush to be first in whatever line was being formed so you - or one of them - could be the first to get on the teeter-totter or the monkey bars, the first to the lunch room, or the first to get to the auditorium for some silly program? Dan Reed/Forbes
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AA prepares for final merger step -- American Airlines is starting the countdown clock to the final major step of its merger with US Airways, and it already has integrated the "vast majority" of corporate contracts between the two carriers, according to AA vice president of global sales Derek DeCross. Two keys of the merger wrapped earlier this year: a single operating certificate from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and integration of frequent-flyer programs. Still, the biggest step, moving US Airways flights from its Shares reservations platform onto AA's Sabre platform, lies ahead. Michael B. Baker/Business Travel News
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American Airlines officials: We need a level playing field -- Just when U.S. airlines are beginning to operate like real businesses - investing in products and services, offering competitive wages, with a viable, long-term business plan - foreign governments are propping up the competition with subsidies, undermining our hard-won progress and threatening service to smaller communities and thousands of jobs right here in North Texas. Doug Parker, Laura Glading & Keith Wilson/Dallas Morning News
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Virgin America's new Wi-Fi will be fast enough for Netflix -- Although time machines haven't been invented yet, the quickest way to travel back to the era of dial-up internet, tentative connections and pages that load almost as quickly as sloths crawl is to use the Wi-Fi on most flights. But those complaints could soon go the way of free AOL CDs as more carriers have committed to improving their inflight Wi-Fi speeds. Delta has already started to upgrade to 2Ku satellite service and Virgin America has just announced a partnership with ViaSat to bring even faster Wi-Fi to its ten newest A320 aircraft. Jelisa Castrodale/Road Warrior Voices/USA Today
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Air France's new-look cabins now serving Los Angeles, Washington, DC -- Air France has expanded its new business, premium economy, and economy class cabins on select long-haul flights this summer, and will now offer the new service on flights departing from Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Air France will serve Los Angeles International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport with the new cabins up to seven times a week this summer and into the fall. Those flights will fly to and return from Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport. Patrick Clarke/Travel Pulse
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Incident: United B764 enroute on Jun 24th 2015, captain disposes of ammunition into toilet -- A United Boeing 767-400, registration N69059 performing flight UA-104 (dep Jun 23rd) from Houston to Munich, was enroute when the captain disposed of ammunition (10 bullets) in his possession into the toilet. Later he informed authorities about the ammunition, the flight was continued to Munich where the aircraft landed safely. The aircraft was guided to a remote parking position, where passengers disembarked. Simon Hradecky/Aviation Herald
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Boeing 767's biggest fan FedEx may order up to 50 more, report says -- FedEx, which may have saved the Boeing 767 from the scrap heap with an order in 2011, seems to like the airplane so much that it wants to buy more. A report Wednesday in Leeham News and Comment said "FedEx is likely to order as many as 50 more 767-300Fs and perhaps up to 10 777Fs, a plane it has previously deferred." The 767-300F is "the old lady in the Boeing lineup that is chugging along with just 35 in backlog," all for FedEx, Leeham News said. The FedEx board is scheduled to meet this month in Seattle, the publication said. Ted Reed/TheStreet
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After a 12-year decline, crime in L.A. surges in first half of 2015 -- Crime surged across Los Angeles in the first six months of this year despite a campaign by the Los Angeles Police Department to place more officers on the streets and target certain types of offenses. Los Angeles recorded a 12.7% increase in overall crime, ending more than a decade of declines and raising concerns about what more officials can do to reverse the trend. Mayor Eric Garcetti and Police Chief Charlie Beck attributed the increases to several possible factors, including gang violence, rising homelessness and a November ballot measure that downgraded many theft and drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. Ben Poston & Kate Mather/Los Angeles Times
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L.A., pushing big water rate hikes, seeks 18% more from typical users -- Los Angeles residents would see water and power rate increases of 2.4% to 5.4% every year for five years in order to replace aging infrastructure, meet conservation mandates and upgrade customer service under a plan announced Wednesday by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The rate increase plan, which must be approved by the Los Angeles City Council, would hit heavy water users harder than residents who use less water, part of a larger water conservation strategy amid California's drought. Matt Stevens & Monte Morin/Los Angeles Times
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Ridley-Thomas says he has 'no intention' of challenging Garcetti in 2017 -- Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said this week that he has no intention of challenging Mayor Eric Garcetti as he seeks reelection in 2017. Asked about his mayoral ambitions on the KCRW radio show "Which Way L.A.?," Ridley-Thomas said he will seek to retain his seat in 2016, when he will have the opportunity to run for a third four-year term. "I'm running for the Board of Supervisors and I have no intention of challenging any incumbent that I'm aware of," he told Warren Olney, the program's host. David Zahniser/Los Angeles Times
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