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The FAA has offered an unprecedented $100,000 bonus to air-traffic controllers throughout the country to lure them to the New York area's five understaffed radar centers - and has even begun trolling local high schools to recruit for the jobs. The FAA began its recruitment efforts in high schools and through online ads on MySpace and Craigslist because of a severe staffing shortage and lack of experience among workers at its air-control towers.   (edit) By 2011, 59 percent of all controllers will have less than five years on the job.  

A globe-hopping executive was grounded by JetBlue after she threw a hissy fit at Kennedy Airport and triggered a bomb scare aboard a flight, the Daily News has learned. Rosalinda Baez was arrested by the FBI for falsely claiming there was a bomb in her suitcase at JFK, according to a complaint filed last week in Brooklyn Federal Court. Baez, who earns $190,000-a-year and has homes in Manhattan and Texas, was returning from a business trip in Costa Rica last Tuesday when she was blocked by a gate attendant from boarding JetBlue Flight 1061 to Austin, Tex., because the jetway...

I JUST FLEW IN FROM BUFFALO (and boy, did it ever suck!)(not Buffalo; the flight) Why is commercial air travel in this country such a miserable experience anymore? Seems that every aspect of it has lost any enjoyment. It's gotten to the point that I avoid traveling altogether. While booking flights online has never been easier, flights cost more, take longer, include more tightly-scheduled stops and come with significantly diminished levels of customer service. No detail with which to nickle-and-dime the passenger appears to be too small, too petty. Even the boarding process has lost the semblance of order it...

"There comes a point in time where all the discussion and analysis has to stop. We are now six years away from 9/11. Simply kicking this problem further down the road is a time-tested Washington way of smothering a proposal with process," said Chertoff. "The time has come to bite the bullet." Or, as Jack Bauer might say (while in the midst of breaking half a dozen laws in the name of stopping an impending attack), "We're running out of time!" Chertoff summarized the major features of the final rules as follows: People must provide documentation that proves who they...

Health Authorities Check 44 Passengers On Flight From India To Chicago CHICAGO (STNG) ― Forty-four American Airlines passengers in 17 states -- including Illinois -- are being tracked down for testing after U.S. health authorities learned a woman on a flight from India to Chicago was suffering from a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, officials said Friday. The 30-year-old Sunnyvale, Calif., woman was diagnosed with the deadly disease in India in August, authorities said. She was a passenger on Flight 293 from Delhi to O'Hare Airport to San Francisco on Dec. 13. "She certainly knew she had TB," said Dr. Marty...

Just in time for the busiest travel week of the year, we have this news from the General Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm: It's relatively easy to get bomb-making materials through security checkpoints and onto airplanes. A group of undercover GAO workers apparently did so recently, managing to get past baggage screeners at 19 airports, despite new rules intended to prevent precisely this kind of thing. Is this just holiday hype, or are we really vulnerable to another September 11, 2001-style plot? According to the report, investigators found two types of devices terrorists could use to cause an explosion in...

If you think radical Muslims, bureaucrats and cops have made travel miserable for everyone in America, you might have to stay away from Britain. Gordon Brown, the new prime minister in London, revealed his new scheme yesterday for saying hello and goodbye to tourists and other travelers, and it's a scheme that could please only a busybody bureaucrat. The jihadists are working now on cracking the code. "Travelers," reported London's Daily Mail, "face price hikes and confusion after the government unveiled plans to take up to 53 pieces of information from anyone entering or leaving Britain." The relevancy of all...

As my taxi pulled up at Changi airport, I knew this was going to be a special day - the day of the first A380 commercial flight was finally here. The airport had long been adorned with banners and posters declaring Singapore "A380 ready" and anticipating the flight.

“Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds...” -High Flight When John Gillespie Magee wrote the above famed lines describing the thrill and freedom of flying in September, 1941, it was still possible to enjoy the experience of powered flight. After all, Pilot Officer Magee had only the Nazi air force trying to ruin the experience for him; he had never encountered the soul-killing experience of traveling on a modern commercial airline. Snip...

It is, say critics, a graphic example of how Britain's busiest airport is bursting at the seams. This incredible picture shows how a British Airways jumbo jet lost part of its wing colliding with another plane as both waited to take off at Heathrow. Panic broke out on board both planes after a Sri Lankan A340 Airbus sliced through the BA plane's wingtip 'like butter'. More than 600 passengers and crew were left stranded after the incident at 10.20pm on Monday night as both flights had to be abandoned. A Danish journalist, Annasofie Flamand, was on board Sri Lankan flight...

What airline do you most often frequent? Why? Do you look for the cheapest fares? Is it the in-flight service which attracts you? What is it about the airline that has you choose it over the others? I do a fair amount of travel, from ATL (Atlanta-Hartsfield) to SE Asia. I have flown on Garuda, Singapore Air, Delta (although not in several years), Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air and Northwest. I have become quite dissatisfied by the service, or lack thereof, with Northwest, which is what I have been using for the long Pacific flights from Minneapolis or Detroit to...

NEW YORK -- The Gwinnett County mother kicked off an airplane with her 19-month old son tried to tell her side of the story Friday morning, but her son's crying drowned out part of the interview. Garren Penland, 19-months old, got so unruly during his mom's chat with 'Good Morning America' anchor Diane Sawyer, co-anchor Chris Cuomo had to take the toddler off the set. While Kate Penland explained her child was well-behaved on the Continental Express flight, little Garren kicked, wiggled and squirmed out of his mother's arms. At one point he climbed up on a coffee table and...

A child's tantrum on board a Delta commuter flight forced a pilot to make an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport. Chopper 10 was over the scene. The forced landing was caused by a fight over apple juice. A 4-year-old wanted apple juice and when the stewardess didn't get it quick enough, the child threw a tantrum, NBC 10 reported. The Delta commuter flight landed around 5 p.m. Tuesday. The flight originated in New York and was headed to North Carolina before the incident. Passengers were spending the night in Philadelphia, NBC 10 reported. Authorities said there would be no...

Continental Airlines is apologizing to its customers for sewage spilling down the aisle from a lavatory during trans-Atlantic Flight 71 from Amsterdam bound for Newark, N.J. on June 13. Continental spokesman Dave Messing explained that the plan was to “introduce passengers to the odors of New Jersey prior to their deplaning in Newark.” “We wanted to help passengers feel like they were in Jersey while en route,” said a chagrined Messing. “We thought it would help acclimate them to the state before they arrived. I guess we kind of overdid it.” "It was a horrible experience," said passenger Maya Colon....

Monica Emmerson and her 19-month old son missed their flight to Nevada when they were hassled by Transportation Security Administration officials at Reagan National Airport on June 11th. The incident was initiated because there was water in her son's “sippy” cup. The sippy cup, the only vessel the woman’s son would drink from, was seized by TSA because it may have contained more than three ounces of liquid. A TSA security guard instructed Emmerson to drink the liquid in order to “prove she wasn’t trying to pull something.” Nervous and agitated, she spilled the water. The spill sent the TSA...

This is a nice collection of articles containing tips for air travel.

The perfect storm BY DAVE BARRY (This classic Dave Barry column was originally published July 9, 2000.) If you're one of the millions of people planning to travel by air this summer, here's some important information from the Association of Commercial Airlines: (Silence.) UH-oh! Apparently the airlines are unable to give us any information at this time! Probably they are experiencing thunderstorms. No institution experiences as many thunderstorms as an airline. Huge, violent clouds surround airline employees at all times. They cannot hold company picnics, because the death toll from lightning strikes would be in the hundreds. If we want...

My uncle was to travel on a mission trip to Honduras yesterday. When the arrived in Miami, they were told the flight was cancelled, and to go home, no other info. Not the flight is cancelled, the next one will be in the next few hours or days, just go home Does anyone know of anything going on in that part of the world, or any travel alerts?

Baggage handler locked in hold on US-bound flight Ronan McGreevy A baggage handler at Dublin airport was locked into the cargo hold of a transatlantic aircraft as it taxied down the runway. The 55-year-old man, who had worked with Aer Lingus for 16 years and had been promoted to shift leader, got stuck in the hold when he went to retrieve a bag that should have been on a flight to Los Angeles rather than New York. A report into the incident, in late 2005, said it was "fortunate" that the man had a mobile phone, which he used to...

This report was posted in mid-February, and has received no media coverage whatsoever. Jacobsen confirmed that the incident did occur, with an American Airlines spokesperson. This is not meant to scare, but it probably will. Consider yourself informed and warned that the threat is real. This crew reported that they were not prepared that something of this nature could be happening to them. Flt 62, Paris to MIA [Miami], a few weeks ago. 2 maybe 4 mid-eastern types causing minor disturbance from the get-go. Nothing that the FAs [flight attendants] couldn’t deal with, but, in hindsight, they seemed to be...

Freepers: My wife and I were having a lively debate over the latest JetBlue debacle, where a plane sat for many hours on the tarmac. What is the procedure for getting a plane off the tarmac and back into a gate? Who has control? Is it the airline, or the tower, or some combo of each? If the airline wanted it back in, why would the tower not permit it? If the tower wanted it back in, could the airline override it? My hunch is that any kind of "passengers' bill of rights" or any legislation will NOT solve these...

GENEVA (Reuters) -- The number of air travelers is expected to double by 2025, rising to more than 9 billion a year, a body representing the world's airports said Tuesday. The Airports Council International (ACI) predicted air freight would triple over the same period. In its Global Traffic Forecast 2006-2025, ACI said passengers passing through the 1,650 domestic and international airports its 567 members operate would grow an average 4 percent annually over the period. There are currently about 4.2 billion air travelers a year. Environmentalists say aviation is a growing source of carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming....

YouTube posting: Actual backscatter video footage from TSA. Images are exactly what Transportation Security Officers see. Interesting technology. Hasn't Europe been using this technology for years now?

Kingfisher Plans First U.S. Service To SFO, New York By Steven Lott/Aviation Daily 11/22/2006 09:25:15 AM Kingfisher Airlines by year end expects to apply to the U.S. Transportation Dept. for permission to launch service to San Francisco and New York, starting in early 2008, The DAILY has learned. The Indian carrier launched in May 2005 and has been quickly ramping up domestic flights but Chairman and CEO Vijay Mallya is still eager to start long-haul service to the U.S. The carrier previously hoped to start the service in 2007, but because of aircraft delivery schedules and the timing of government...

Omar Shahin is one of the imams removed from a flight in Minneapolis. He was involved with Kind Hearts, which has been closed down for its connections to Hamas. He also acknowledged a connection to Osama bin Laden in the 1990s in a September 28, 2001 story in the Arizona Republic (thanks to Austin): "Arizona Was Home to bin Laden 'Sleeper Cell,'" by Dennis Wagner and Tom Zoellner. From that story: Arizona appears to have been the home of a "sleeper cell" of Osama bin Laden's worldwide terrorist organization, with a select group of operatives living quietly in bland apartment...

The Transportation Security Administration is partially lifting its ban on liquids brought on board aircraft. The AP reports: "We now know enough to say that a total ban is no longer needed from a security point of view," said Kip Hawley, head of the Transportation Security Administration, at a news conference at Reagan National Airport. He said that most liquids and gels that air travelers purchase in secure areas of airports will now be allowed on planes. He called the new procedures a "common sense" approach that would maintain a high level of security at airports but ease conditions for...

A team of researchers are developing an anti-hijack technology that will enable planes to steer themselves away from tall buildings and even land by remote control if terrorists threaten or kill the pilot. Microphones will eavesdrop on passengers’ conversations while computerized CCTV will detect suspicious movements so that hijackers can be caught before they go into action. The September 11, 2001, attacks in the US triggered the development of this technology by a consortium including BAE Systems, Airbus and the European commission. It is estimated to cost £22 million (Rs 1.9 billion) to develop. The anti-hijack system’s first “components” are...

Should Insanity be a defense to disrupting a flight? Yes No

August 10th, 2006 (Westport, CT)--In response to numerous questions from the diabetes community, dLife today issued tips on traveling by air with insulin and other diabetes medication. On Thursday, August 10th, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security raised the national security level to High (Orange) for all U.S. commercial flights. In addition, new travel restrictions have been put in place – including a ban of all liquids, gels, lotions, and creams of any kind in carry-on luggage. According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), all necessary medications, including insulin, are exempt from this ban. Prescription medications should be labeled as...

A fifth of flights from Heathrow are due to be cancelled today as airlines struggle to cope with long queues and tightened security. Four days after the ban on hand luggage was announced, passengers spent another frustrating day at Britain's busiest airports. With the Bank Holiday weekend a fortnight away, there is still no clue as to when the new rules will be relaxed. Under the regulations introduced on Thursday, passengers are banned from taking hand luggage through airport security. They are permitted a small number of essentials, such as baby food, sanitary products and glasses, carried in a plastic...

A pizza shop owner and a biochemist. An airport worker and the son of a political official. Husbands and fathers. Students as young as 17. Meet the faces of terror. Meet the madmen next door. Outside the view of friends, family and neighbors, a group of suburban men were allegedly plotting a terror campaign to rival - and even exceed - the bloodshed of 9/11. But in a series of raids that began before dawn yesterday, British police arrested 24 people - most of them sons of Britain, most of them never suspected of any wrongdoing by their neighbors. Several...

Homes and businesses across England are being searched and 21 people questioned after police say a plot to blow up planes from the UK to US was disrupted. They say they are convinced they have the key players in custody, but a wider investigation is only just beginning.

PRAGUE, August 10, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The British authorities are in no doubt -- after an operation lasting several months, the security services have foiled an imminent terrorist attack. British Home Secretary John Reid said the security services had raised the threat level from "severe" to "critical," the highest possible level, which, according to the website of MI5, the British Security Service, means an attack is expected soon. "The police, with the full knowledge of ministers, have carried out a major counterterrorism operation to disrupt what we believe to be a major threat to the United Kingdom and international partners,"...

The theme for this weekend is Air Shows and comparing them in the US and Britain. I have picked Biggin Hill Air Show which is an ex RAF Station which is now in private ownership but continues to have an annual Air Show. I last visited the airshow in 2000 but a friend of mine attended this year. The following are extracts from this year's program.

John Leahy, the American-born chief salesman for Airbus, is rarely heard to utter a discouraging word. But when Leahy was asked, over coffee in his office this week, to discuss the turmoil enveloping Airbus, his response was blunt: "The facts speak for themselves. This is a major screwup. It's an embarrassment, the worst I can remember in 22 years" with the company. Indeed, Boeing's European archrival faces an unprecedented crisis. Shares in its parent, European Aerospace Defence & Space, tumbled 26% on June 13, when the company disclosed production delays on Airbus' A380 megajet that will slash $2.5 billion in...

The girlfriend of an Australian passenger stranded in Kazakhstan after an emergency landing has told how her boyfriend helped the pilot communicate with ground control. Jacquie, who asked for her full name to be withheld, spent "the most unrestful 24 hours in my life" at the weekend after discovering that her boyfriend Michael's flight from Sydney to London failed to arrive at its destination. Michael was on board British Airways flight BA10, which took off from Sydney airport on Friday afternoon. After a stop-over in Bangkok, the flight crew noticed a fire warning light in the cockpit. The jet, carrying...

By CHICAGO (Reuters) - Struggling U.S. airlines, looking for new ways to generate revenue, are getting bolder about charging for pretty much anything that makes air travel a little more comfortable -- including aisle seats. First came charging passengers for in-flight meals. Then, reservations done by phone cost extra. And now, one major airline, Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWACQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research), is trying to charge passengers for the right to sit in aisle seats and emergency-exit rows. The day is coming when carriers will require special fees even to check a bag, experts say. Analysts told Reuters that travelers should...

FirearmsContinental accepts one item of shooting equipment per customer in lieu of one piece of free baggage. Customer must demonstrate to a Continental Representative in an isolated area that the firearm is unloaded. Continental employees will not physically handle firearms during inspections. After an inspection has been completed, customer must sign a Firearm Declaration Tag. One item of shooting equipment is defined as one hard-sided shooting equipment case containing up to five firearms, with or without scopes, 11 lbs (five Kgs.) of ammunition and articles used in the firearm sport. Firearms will be accepted only from a customer who is...

FBI agents and Homeland Security officials spent the weekend investigating the report of a possible missile fired at an American Airlines plane taking off from Los Angeles International Airport. Sources tell ABC News the pilot of American Airlines Flight 621, en route to Chicago, radioed air traffic controllers after takeoff from LAX. He told them a missile had been fired at the aircraft and missed. The plane was over water when the pilot said he saw a smoke trail pass by the cockpit. FBI agents believe it was a flare or a bottle rocket, but say they may never know...

LAGOS, Nigeria - A Nigerian passenger aircraft carrying 114 people went missing late on Saturday shortly after take-off from Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos, local media reported. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-200 operated by Bellview Airlines, lost contact with the control tower five minutes after taking off at 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, said Jide Ibinola, a spokesman for the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria. It was headed for the capital, Abuja. Ibinola said those aboard included 108 passenger and six crew. Their nationalities were not immediately known.

An investigation has begun into how a German passenger plane came within 600ft of a UK holiday airliner after diverting off its authorised path. It is thought that the Condor captain had gone off his designated route to take a photo of a Condor colleague piloting his last operational flight. But the Condor captain, with 234 passengers on board, had mistaken the Thomas Cook plane, carrying 187 passengers, for his friend's aircraft which was, in fact, 100 miles ahead. The Condor captain and another pilot on the German plane have now been suspended while the investigation continues into the incident...

The Gulfstreams and Learjets carrying the top brass of the media world into the mountain resort of Sun Valley for an annual business retreat won't be getting the white-glove treatment. Like ordinary small planes heading in and out of the small airport on some of its busiest days, corporate jets will have to wait in line to use the one runway surrounded by 8,000-foot-high mountains. The Federal Aviation Administration has decided to scrap restrictions that would have thinned out the number of planes traveling through Friedman Memorial Airport on Tuesday, the retreat's opening day, and July 10, the day after...

Is there anyone reading this column who would agree with Mark O. Hatfield Jr., spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, that in the past year "the average peak wait time at [airport] checkpoints has dropped a minute ... to about 12 minutes"? This is what he was cited as having said, in a New York Times report of a confidential document from the Department of Homeland Security. The last time I was at Dulles Airport, the line for security began at the entrance to the terminal and wound itself in several rope-line convolutions, like a clogged intestine, for about 40...

Claudia Grzanna pulled a cigarette lighter from her purse and fired up a Marlboro Light before her flight this week at Richmond International Airport. "I'm going to leave it here," she said, nodding at the disposable lighter on her restaurant table. But she was fuming at the prospect of having to meet the latest federal airport-security regulation -- a ban on cigarette lighters that began last Thursday. Grzanna, a widely traveled businesswoman with homes in England and Richmond, called the ban "totally outrageous because the shoe bomber wanted to use matches," not a lighter. She was referring to Richard Reid,...

Report: Private Screeners Outdo Public By LESLIE MILLER ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - A congressional investigation found airport screeners employed by private companies do a better job detecting dangerous objects than government screeners, according to a House member who has seen the classified report. The Government Accountability Office found statistically significant evidence that passenger screeners, who work at five airports under a pilot program, perform better than their federal counterparts at some 450 airports, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. and chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, said on Tuesday. "You get a statistically significant improvement if you go to federal supervision...

DENVER (AP) - A United Airlines passenger is facing charges today for his alleged fight with a traveling companion and subsequent shoving of a pregnant flight attendant. The disturbance forced the pilot to land at Denver International Airport late last night. Thirty-seven-year-old Montgomery Joe Carter of West Virginia is charged with assault and interfering with a flight crew. The federal felonies carry up to 20 years in prison and fines of $250,000. According to an arrest affidavit, Carter and a man described as his boyfriend, Chad Bender, were traveling from Washington to Las Vegas to celebrate their six month anniversary.

(AP) - AMSTERDAM, Netherlands-Two members of the Dutch parliament demanded Monday to know why an airliner with 278 passengers on board was forced by U.S. authorities to turn around near the Canadian border and fly back to The Netherlands. The airline, KLM, said its Amsterdam to Mexico City flight Friday was refused permission to fly over U.S. airspace at the last minute and told two passengers were a security risk. "Was there no other option than to make this plane turn around above Canada?" wrote lawmakers Peter van Heemst and Co Verdas in a long list of questions to...

It's just me, my son, and my Treo PDA at the Denver Intl airport this evening and I'm not sure when I'll get out of here. Supposedly a broken windshield has held up the plane making my April 1, 5:50p.m. Sun Country flight a 12:30a.m. April 2 flight. I got an 8 dollar meal voucher and we get a $100 credit towards a future flight. Does that sound like standard for such inconvenience?

Good news/bad news for air travelers. First, good. The world has grown smaller. Boeing just rolled out its new 777-200 Longer Range passenger jet. This twin-engine transport can carry 301 passengers 15,000 km, meaning non-stop, direct service between most cities on earth. Alas, as is the case with existing aircraft, passengers will still be denied adequate fresh air or moisture, a serious health risk on long flights. Pakistan International Airways is one of the first 777-LR launch customers. It will use the 777 on a direct Karachi-Houston route, the limit of the plane's range. The 777-LR, Boeing's 787, and Airbus...