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State department issues travel alert due to 'increased terrorist threats' -- Just as thousands of Southland residents hit the roads and airways for the Thanksgiving holiday, the U.S. State Department issued a worldwide travel alert Monday "due to increased terrorist threats." The alert will remain in effect until Feb. 24. Increased security at Los Angeles International Airport was visible at the start of the Thanksgiving week, and officials predicted a record 2.1 million passengers will pass through the airport during the 11-day holiday period. However, there was no indication from officials that LAX may be uniquely targeted. City News Service
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The Airport Survival Guide -- Pack a portable charger and your patience. Thanksgiving is high season for travel across the country. For fliers, the holidays often present lengthy airport security lines, fast-food temptations and mass scrambles for open electrical outlets. This survival guide details how to successfully meet those challenges at domestic terminals at seven airports, including LAX, across the country, especially when challenged by a cancellation, delay or layover Elaine Glusac/New York Times
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How crazy will travel be on the day before Thanksgiving? Not as crazy as you've been led to believe --- Today and tomorrow you are likely to read online or in a newspaper - and are even more likely to hear some TV or radio news person say - that the day before Thanksgiving is the busiest air travel day of the year. It long has been a staple of reporting in what usually is a very slow news week. But don't you believe it. Not a word of it. Not only is it not true. It likely never has been true. Dan Reed/Forbes
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Airport workers hope to get Thanksgiving travelers' attention -- On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, one of the busiest travel days of the year, workers at 15 major U.S. airports are planning a day of fasting, vigils and rallies, aiming to galvanize the traveling public's support for their fight for better wages. The 24-hour fast, along with vigils and rallies, are being organized at San Francisco, Portland, Ore., Chicago O'Hare, Cleveland, Columbus, Minneapolis, Denver, Boston, New York's Kennedy and LaGuardia, Newark, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale and Reagan National airports. Luz Laso/Washington Post
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| LAX workers going on 3-day fast in protest -- Cabin cleaners, attendants and other workers at Los Angeles International Airport began a three-day-long fast Monday to protest what they claim is the practice of employers to withhold breaks or "steal" wages from their workers. In an action timed to coincide with the Thanksgiving travel season, nearly a dozen employees for two airport contractors, Aviation Safeguards and Scientific Concepts, say they plan to subsist only on liquids inside the Tom Bradley International Terminal for three days and sleep at a nearby church. City News Service |
Secret database doesn't impress judge -- Information about a secret law enforcement database does nothing to support the constitutional claims of a man charged with violating the Iran trade embargo, a federal judge ruled. Shantia Hassanshahi filed a motion for reconsideration after his motion to suppress evidence found on his laptop was denied last year. Border agents seized Hassanshahi's laptop, cellphone and other electronic devices at Los Angeles International Airport on his return to the United States in early 2012. He was charged with exporting goods worth $6 million. Matt Reynolds/Courthouse News Service
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John Wayne Airport launches disadvantaged business enterprise disparity study -- John Wayne Airport is conducting a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Disparity Study as required by Federal DBE contracting regulations to ensure that JWA remains eligible for Department of Transportation/Federal Aviation Administration financial assistance on eligible projects. The Airport has contracted with MGT of America to conduct the study. JWA News Release
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John Wayne Airport reopened after suspicious device was empty thermos -- Authorities reopened John Wayne Airport in Orange County Monday after reports of a suspicious device wound up being an empty Thermos. The "suspicious device" was reported at 10:15 p.m. Sunday near the baggage claim area of the airport's lower level, airport officials said. Roadways leading to the airport were closed, including the southbound 55 Freeway off-ramp, as a bomb squad examined the scene, the California Highway Patrol said. Heather Navarro & Jessica Perez/NBC4 ABC7
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Organic gardens, bee aviaries and goat grazing - the latest in sustainability efforts at airports -- Here's three things you don't often hear discussed in association with airports - organic gardens, goats and bee hives. Yet, with increasing frequency, all are becoming part of the landscape or routine operation of airports, and in some cases, airlines. Just look out the window the next time you're sitting in the departures level of Terminal 5 at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. There you'll find what may be the latest and most vivid example sprouting from 2,300 black, plastic milk crates. Mia Taylor/TheStreet
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U.N. panel to review airport security after Egypt plane crash -- The United Nations' aviation agency said on Monday its panel of security experts will review ways to better protect airports from terrorism following concerns of lax security raised after a Russian plane was destroyed on Oct. 31. The International Civil Aviation Organization-led panel, which is to meet in March 2016, will emphasize airport security following the crash of a Metrojet airline in Egypt, ICAO Council President Olumuyiwa Bernard Aliu told reporters Monday. Allison Lampert/Reuters
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Campaign won't say if Cruz still wants to ax the TSA -- Earlier this month, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz unveiled a list of agencies that he plans to eliminate if he's elected president. His "Five for Freedom" plan targets the IRS and the Departments of Education, Commerce, Energy, and Housing and Urban Development. Noticeably absent from the list was the Transportation Security Administration, an agency Cruz had told Texas voters he wanted to abolish back during his successful campaign for Senate three years earlier. At the time, the TSA was under fire for intrusive airport screening procedures. Aman Batheja/Texas Tribune
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Revealed: BA pilot 'left with severe eye damage after 'military strength' laser attack near Heathrow' -- A British Airways co-pilot was left with severe eye damage after a "military strength" laser was shone into his cockpit, a union boss has claimed. He was the victim of the most serious injury ever inflicted on a pilot from a laser attack in the UK, according to the British Airline Pilots Association. The attack is said to have taken place as the plane flew in to land at Heathrow Airport this spring. Jim McAuslan, general secretary of the Balpa union, said: "His retina was burnt on one of his eyes. Robin De Peyer/Evening Standard
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How airlines are using social media for seat selection -- One of the greatest air travel anxieties is which random stranger will be seated next to you-especially when stress levels are already high for Thanksgiving travel. Will your next door neighbor be a loud snorer? Will they try to make conversation when you'd rather just take a nap? Or are you the type that doesn't mind striking up a dialogue at 30,000 feet? If so, the new trend of "social seating" might be for you. Airlines are increasingly allowing passengers who opt-in to share their social media profiles and use others' to pick their seatmates. Time
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German airline Lufthansa facing another strike in ongoing labor dispute with cabin crew -- Germany's largest airline, Lufthansa, is facing another strike this week in an ongoing labor dispute with flight attendants. The cabin crew union UFO said Monday that it would walk out Thursday, Friday and also Monday as it presses its demands, the dpa news agency reported. The contract dispute comes as Lufthansa is trying to cut costs amid rising competition from Gulf state airlines. Among other demands, the union wants to secure transition payments for its 19,000 members if they retire early. AP
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United Airlines reaches agreement with pilots, but flight attendants still a big sticking point -- United Airlines looks to be making progress on on the labor front with pilots, even if sources say much difficult work remains to be done on the flight attendant end of the Chicago-based airline's labor relations. Late Friday, United Airlines said it had reached an agreement in principle with the Air Line Pilots Association for a contract extension covering the airline's 12,000-plus unionized pilots. The agreement comes more than a year ahead of the amendable date of the current contract. Lewis Lazare/Chicago Business Journal
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Delta to keep 14 of oldest narrow-body jets on failed pilot vote -- Delta Air Lines Inc. will hang onto 14 of its aging, workhorse Boeing Co. 757 jets that were to be retired in two years, partly because pilots rejected a proposed contract that would have added new aircraft. The 757-200s are crucial to Delta's single-aisle fleet because they can fly between the U.S. and Europe. Once set to be parked by late 2017, the 14 planes now will stay in operation after Delta dropped a tentative purchase of 40 smaller narrow-bodies, spokesman Michael Thomas said. Michael Sasso/Bloomberg Business
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Boeing's 747-8 reaches 100 deliveries as sales wind down -- The Boeing 747-8 has followed an unusual development path. The aircraft's cargo version came ahead of the passenger version, the first delivery in 2011 was to Luxembourg's CargoLux, and even today cargo accounts for the majority of the limited sales the aircraft has seen. "Normally, you build a lot of passenger planes and then you can also support a freighter program with one or two sales a month," said Bob Dahl, managing director of Seattle air freight consulting firm Air Cargo Management Group. Ted Reed/TheStreet
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These 7 simple airplane fixes could cut carbon emissions in half at little to no cost -- This week, millions of Americans will travel by airplane to spend Thanksgiving with their loved ones, and those flights come with a major consequence: air pollution. Global passenger air travel accounts for 2.5 percent of fuel combustion-related carbon dioxide emissions. If that percentage seems like a drop in the bucket, it's not. It's equal to the emissions created by Germany each year. Nsikan Akpan/PBS
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FAA task force aims to register drone hobbyists -- Remote-controlled aircraft larger than 9 ounces - the kind owned by hundreds of thousands of hobbyists - would have to be registered with the Federal Aviation Administration under recommendations described Monday by the leaders of a drone task force. If the FAA adopts the recommendations, drone owners would have to register their names and physical addresses, but would not have to pay a fee. Each aircraft would be marked with a unique number, though not necessarily the serial number, to identify the owner. Bart Jansen/USA Today
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Dining with John Travolta on a Pan Am 747 -- A couple years ago, you may remember that I put together an evening of dinner and drinks on Anthony Toth's Pan Am 747 mockup. It was a test run to see if Anthony could do something like this regularly, and it proved successful. Now, Anthony has moved his 747 to Air Hollywood's property and the Pan Am Experience was born. Anthony invited my wife and I to come take part in September, and it was a great night. Apparently it's doing well, and the Hollywood crowd has even taken notice. On the night I was there, Hollywood's king airline dork himself, John Travolta, was dining with his family. Brett Snyder/The Cranky Flier
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Space tourism is closer to taking off, but how should it be regulated? -- In 2004, young space companies lobbied for an extended "learning period" that would allow them to develop their rockets and space vehicles without all of the burdensome federal regulations that would hamper innovation and prevent the industry from taking off. They got their wish for a regulatory break, but the advances were slower to come by. Now, more than a decade later, the industry says that this time it is really on the verge of that long-awaited breakthrough. Christian Davenport/Los Angeles Times
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All you have to do is put $170 million on your AmEx card to fly free forever -- Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian, who doesn't exactly struggle to afford a plane ticket, can now likely fly free, in first class, with his whole family, anywhere in the world, for the rest of his life. All because he bought a painting. Liu was the winning bidder for Amedeo Modigliani's "Reclining Nude" at a Christie's auction earlier this month- offering $170.4 million- and when the sale closes he'll be putting it on his American Express card. Liu, a high-profile collector of Chinese antiquities and art, has used his AmEx in the past when he's won art auctions. Ken Sweet/AP
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Study: One-third of nation's 30 worst traffic bottlenecks are in Los Angeles area -- A study released Monday confirms what every Southern Californian behind the wheel already knows: Freeway traffic jams in the Los Angeles region are some of the worst in the United States. The dubious distinction comes from a paper prepared for the American Highway Users Alliance, a nonprofit group that lobbies for interstate highway investment. Researchers found that 10 of the nation's 30 worst freeway bottlenecks are in Los Angeles County, and the U.S.' second-worst jam is in neighboring Seal Beach. Laura J. Nelson/Los Angeles Times
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