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The westbound lanes of the San Mateo-Hayward bridge were closed for several hours Saturday night due to a deadly fire involving a limosine. The California Highway Patrol said the fire was first reported around 10 p.m. in the third lane of westbound state Highway 92 at the bridge's decline. As many as ten people were inside the limo and as many as five of them died, according to multiple reports Witnesses at the scene reported people were trapped inside the burning limo. The CHP told NBC Bay Area there were multiple fatalities, but could not confirm a number. Witnesses told...

Airlines paying more for fuel because waistlines are expanding by: Anne Wright From: Herald Sun January 12, 2012 12:00AM PEOPLE weighing more than average should pay more for their airfares than slimmer passengers, a former Qantas executive says. Tony Webber said airlines were paying more for fuel because the average weight of the population had increased. The extra fuel needed cost about $472 a plane, he said, and additional weight of passengers affected airlines' profits. "It's just a fact, and the thing is airlines consider these things when deciding how much fuel to put on the plane," said Mr Webber,...

An East Coast blizzard that has forced nearly 7,000 flight cancelations will leave many travelers stranded through the end of the week. Runways were expected to reopen Monday evening at several major airports in the Northeast. But canceled flights into and out of Philadelphia, New York and Boston left hundreds of thousands of people scrambling for a way home. The storm and its aftermath could end up costing the airlines $100 million, one analyst predicted. The challenge for the airlines goes beyond weather. Flights are usually full this time of year, making it difficult to rebook travelers affected by a...

Passengers aboard a British Airways flight were stricken with fear after hearing a false announcement warning them their flight to Hong Kong from London was going to crash. As the flight flew over the North Sea on August, 24 passengers heard this message echo through the cabin: “This is an emergency. We may shortly need to make an emergency landing on water.” Reports the Sun newspaper of London: Michelle Lord, 32, of Preston, Lancs, said: “People were terrified, we all thought we were going to die. They said the pilot hit the wrong button because they were so close together.”...

Project has $171M in financing, but much work remainsOnce viewed as a possible relief valve during major reconstruction of Route 28, a commuter rail line proposed for the Allegheny Valley remains a distant dream. With construction of the North Side section of Route 28 set to begin next month and disrupt traffic through the fall of 2014, the rail line to Downtown Pittsburgh, talked about for more than a decade, has yet to advance beyond preliminary studies. Robert Ardolino, a consultant to the Allegheny Valley Railroad, which has been offering to provide commuter service along its line since 1999, said...

Navy tells ships to come in peacefully to Ashdod harbor or be boarded. The Gaza protest flotilla ships were about 150 miles from Gaza late on Sunday night, they had been sighted by the Israeli navy and were in contact with them. Flotilla passengers had put on life vests and were on high alert, they reported via their live feed. They were told by the navy they had two options: Either be boarded or follow the navy in to Ashdod harbor to be processed there.

NEW YORK – During her first four days living in an airport, Dominica Zschiesche cleaned her body with hand wipes and used a public bathroom sink to shave her legs and wash her hair. But by Day 5 at Camp Kennedy, she seemed almost at home, standing near the concourse barefoot and with her hair wrapped in a blue towel after she finally got to shower. "It was wonderful. It was the best shower I ever had," said the 29-year-old art student from Frankfurt. Hundreds of passengers are stranded at John F. Kennedy International Airport while they wait for the...

On rail lines, freight trains have priority over passenger service, which frequently causes delays for Amtrak customers. Freight also appears to have the upper hand when it comes to money for improving service and infrastructure. Recent federal grant awards to Western Pennsylvania have included $35 million for improvements for cargo-hauling trains and just $750,000 for those that move people. But people stand to benefit from the freight investment because it will mean fewer trucks on congested highways, less pollution and lower road maintenance costs, railroad officials told a state House committee on Wednesday. ~~~SNIP~~~ The money will be used to...

CHARLESTON, W.Va., Feb. 19, 2010 – Thirteen of the 17 passengers stranded in a remote region of West Virginia’s Pocahontas County have been evacuated from a Navy MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter that was forced to land in the area yesterday, National Guard officials said. Rescued passengers are being evaluated by emergency services agencies and transported to a local hospital for further evaluation and treatment. West Virginia Army National Guard medics still are at the landing site and are working with emergency crews to evacuate the remaining passengers, said Mike Cadle, the state public affairs officer. The helicopter reportedly was carrying passengers...

NEW ORLEANS - Angry, frustrated, and confused--those are just a few of the lingering emotions being felt by close to 100 United Airlines passengers still stranded in New Orleans Their packed flight to Los Angeles was supposed to leave at 7:18pm Tuesday evening, but after spending 3 hours on the plane, flight #263 never took off. “The flight that they rescheduled us to doesn’t leave until 2:30 or 3pm [Wednesday] afternoon,” said Dwight Webster, a passenger trying to get back home to Oakland, California. “So all in all it will be 24 hours before I get home.” Passengers say they...

A Muslim bus driver stunned passengers when he pulled over and started praying in the aisle - with the engine still running. The driver parked without warning then rolled out a fluorescent jacket as an improvised prayer mat. He took off his shoes, knelt down facing Mecca, and began to chant. The prayer session held up the bus for more than five minutes with no-one able to get on or off. Passenger Gayle Griffiths complained to Transport for London about the bizarre incident on the No.24 bus in Gospel Oak, north London, this week

You're paying to check your belongings, so why should other people's excess baggage get a free ride? That's the question being asked by a growing number of travelers. As airlines look for new ways to boost revenue, fees for checked bags are on the rise; so is scrutiny of overweight customers whose baggage is built in. It's a touchy subject, Airfarewatchdog.com has found, and one that airlines have been happy to avoid discussing, where possible. As late as 2008, United Airlines wouldn't even address the matter with us. But an outcry among passengers, tired of their seatmates taking up more...

A Metro Transit bus driver was punched in the forehead during a stop on the Nicollet Mall during afternoon rush hour in Minneapolis by an angry and drunken man who was forcibly removed by several riders, a bus official and witness said Wednesday. The assault happened about 6:15 p.m. Tuesday on Nicollet between 10th and 11th Streets downtown, said transit spokesman Bob Gibbons. The man swung at the driver several times, according to video surveillance on the bus and struck her once, Gibbons said. She did not require medical attention. The suspect was arrested on the street by transit police...

The Christmas Day Northwest flight showed once again that passengers can stop a would-be terrorist. FOX 9 investigators show you how passengers can fight back. Bruce Schneier is a sought after expert in airport security, based in Minneapolis. He believes the government is ignoring the "x" factor. "One of the things we've learned since 9/11 is that a line of passengers fighting back is a line of defense we have and that's one of the things that worked Christmas Day," said Schneier. Christmas day, in Detroit, it was a Dutch passenger, sitting an aisle away, who finally subdued a Nigerian...

Updated: Tuesday, 12 Jan 2010, 2:28 PM EST Published : Tuesday, 12 Jan 2010, 2:15 PM EST Dennis Kraniak MyFoxDetroit.com - Sources tell Fox 2 that a flight from Amsterdam into Detroit Metropolitan Airport was held on the tarmac after landing because of unruly behavior by some of the passengers. The source says four men, thought to be of middle eastern descent, acted out in such a way that it forced the plane's pilots to stop it short of the terminal. The men were removed from the plane while it was parked at the tarmac, away from the aiport's passnger...

Jasper Schuringa, a passenger on Northwest Flight 253, who helped apprehend Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, gives an eyewitness account. Video

PASSENGERS who have poor personal hygiene or kick seats have been voted the most disliked flyers in a new survey. A wide variety of annoying travel behaviour was detailed in US travel company Travelocity’s 2009 Rudeness Poll, which surveyed 1600 passengers on their pet peeves.The annoyances varied between the time of boarding the plane, during the flight and when departing. When boarding those surveyed were most annoyed by passengers who wrested with larger than allowed carry-on luggage. This was followed by people who crowded the boarding line, blocked the isle, stored their luggage carelessly or used overhead bins for small...

Travellers to Europe face being treated like drug smugglers as security chiefs are expected to recommend new intrusive security measures. French anti-terror chiefs are expected to propose the new measures, such as full body X-rays or handing in all electronic devices, after a terrorist tried to kill a Saudi prince with a bomb he had inserted into his body. Al Qaeda's latest ploy was first pioneered by Abdullah Hassan al Asiri, who blew himself apart in Jeddah in late August in an attack on Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the Saudi anti-terrorism chief. The 23-year-old terrorist blew himself into 70 pieces...

Critics of the government's secret no-fly list scored a potentially important victory Monday when a federal appeals court ruled that would-be passengers can ask a judge and jury to decide whether their inclusion on the list violates their rights. In a 2-1 ruling, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco reinstated a suit by a former Stanford University student who was detained and handcuffed in 2005 as she was about to board a plane to her native Malaysia. The ruling is apparently the first to allow a challenge to the no-fly list to proceed in a federal...

Two passengers have been stabbed to death after they complained about a man humming on a train, say reports in China. The knifeman was humming along to his CD player when three people in the carriage complained about the noise. A fight began and the trio wrestled the man to the floor and began beating him, said the state-run Xinhua news agency. The man — identified only by his surname Yan — then pulled out a blade and stabbed all three of them.