Free Republic

Southwest Airlines issued a press statement Thursday declaring their intention to fire around 2,000 employees and cancel service to four airports following financial difficulties. “[W]e are implementing cost control initiatives, including limiting hiring and offering voluntary time off programs. We now expect to end 2024 with approximately 2,000 fewer Employees as compared with the end of 2023,” Bob Jordan, the president and CEO of Southwest Airlines ... Jordan also announced that the company was shutting down its service to three airports in the United States and one in Mexico. “[W]e have made the difficult decision to close our operations at...

An Oklahoma man is facing up to 12 years in prison for having ammunition in his carry-on bag at a Turks and Caicos airport, according to a GoFundMe page for his family. Ryan and Valerie Watson, the parents of two young children, were flying home from their island vacation, where they were celebrating a friend's 40th birthday, on April 12 when they were arrested at the airport. "They had their lives turned upside down when they tried to return home, as local airport security found four rounds of ammunition unknowingly left in a duff[le]bag from a deer hunting trip," a...

SunExpress’s German-American boss Max Kownatzki told trade publication TTG that one special flight operated by the Turkish airline for a group of Brits on a golfing break was drunk dry in the space of 25-minutes.

A Florida man has revealed how he and his wife were stung with a $143,000 bill after a three-week vacation to Europe last year. Rene Remund, 71, lives with his wife Lynda, 65, in Dunedin, Florida, but is originally from Switzerland. In September, the couple returned to the town in which he grew up and enjoyed 'magical' moments with family and friends. Many of those moments were captured in photographs, which were sent back to the U.S. using cellular data. But it appeared to come at a cost. The couple returned home to shocking cell phone charges from their carrier,...

Reclining seats are one of the most controversial airline amenities. For some, it's a necessity for getting comfortable on long flights. But for others, it's a source of broken laptops, spilled drinks, and mid-flight arguments. No matter which camp you fall into, it's no secret that personal space in economy has slowly, but surely, eroded over the years. And as airlines release new seat designs, some travelers fear When Southwest Airlines recently debuted its new cabins rolling out on planes in 2025, travelers were quick to take to social media complaining about the seemingly thin design. The airline has since...

American Airlines’ pilots union has reported a “significant spike” in safety issues, raising red flags over fewer routine aircraft inspections and shorter test flights on planes following major maintenance work. The Allied Pilots Association cited a slew of “problematic trends” in an email to members Saturday, noting a “significant spike in safety- and maintenance-related problems.” It highlighted incidents in which tools were left in wheel wells and items were left in the sterile area around planes parked at airport gates. The airline has increased the time between routine inspections and ended overnight maintenance checks unless a plane is written up...

On Monday’s broadcast of CBS’s “Late Show,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) stated that the student loan plan announced by President Joe Biden earlier in the day is “hope” for those who benefit from the plan to be able to do different things, including traveling abroad. Ocasio-Cortez said, “Actually, I’m going to be one of the few” that doesn’t get any benefits from the program, “I’m a member of Congress. I’m a little bit outside the threshold and bounds. But, if I wasn’t, just a few years ago, waitress me, five years ago, would have benefited from it. Congresswoman me will...

President Biden will travel to Baltimore on Friday to visit the site of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, the White House announced Monday. “We are with you Baltimore, and we will be there to get this done,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said when making the announcement. Biden himself had vowed to visit Baltimore, saying on Friday he would visit alongside Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D). Hours after the collapse early Tuesday morning, Biden said he planned to go to the site “as quickly as” he can. Jean-Pierre said Biden is continuing to lead a “whole of government”...

Being proved right isn't always fun. Just weeks after my warning in the March issue that our modern high-tech cars are tracking us and sharing data with manufacturers, cops, and parties unknown, came a report of soaring auto insurance premiums because of snitching vehicles. The consequences get worse from there. Fortunately, there are ways to keep your snoopy ride from contacting the mothership. Your Driving History May Be Transmitted and Stored "Car companies are collecting information directly from internet-connected vehicles for use by the insurance industry," Kashmir Hill reported this month for The New York Times. "Sometimes this is happening...

The California company working to start a deluxe overnight passenger train between San Francisco and Los Angeles says it has signed a “landmark memorandum” with Union Pacific Railroad. It’s not a final contract, but Dreamstar Lines of Newport Beach said the memorandum of understanding “formaliz[es] the parties’ negotiations toward a comprehensive final agreement” and “identifies the fundamental terms for Dreamstar to operate its trains” on UP’s Coast Line via Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and San Jose. Dreamstar wants to start the service in summer 2025. Union Pacific owns most of the 470-mile route. To complete the link between San...

A United Airlines plane flying from San Francisco to Mexico City made an emergency landing in Los Angeles on Friday after a hydraulics issue was reported by the crew. The plane, an Airbus A320 jetliner, safely landed at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) around 4:30 p.m. local time Friday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). *** This was the fourth emergency landing of a United Airlines flight this week and will be investigated by the FAA. ***

Does anyone know why so many flights have been cancelled? My wife was going to fly from Phoenix to Miami this evening, but the flight was cancelled, and there seems to be nothing else available on any airline. At first the airline said it was due to weather, but later somebody said it was something to do with air traffic control problems. There seems to be nothing on the news about this.

metmom :""Warning to Freepers in flood prone areas of Kalifornia to make preparations in the event of such a scenario. Get your important papers and items together, pack a bag, prep several days of food - all in a ‘grab and go’ level of preparation.Review potential escape routes to high ground and make preliminary plans on where to stay. If with friends/family, make sure you call them and touch base so they aren’t taken by surprise when you show up at the door. Hopefully, the spring will be relatively tame and the snow melt not triggering massive floods. But you...

For over 20 years, Americans have been questioned by a credit card catchphrase asking, “What’s in your wallet?” The more relevant question today is who is in your wallet, given the activist lawmakers in Washington eager to regulate nearly every aspect of our financial lives. And once again, we open our wallets to find Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) settling in and making himself comfortable. Aside from earning a spot on the Mt. Rushmore of Senate tax raisers over his career, Durbin has gone above and beyond, raiding Americans’ wallets – specifically their debit cards – with vigor in 2010 through...

NEW YORK (AP) — A United Airlines cross-country flight was cut short and the jetliner landed in Denver after one of its wings was damaged. A passenger on the San Francisco-to-Boston flight Monday said he had just put in earbuds and started to doze off when he felt the plane shaking. “All of a sudden I heard this violent vibration like I had never heard before,” Kevin Clarke said in an interview Tuesday. Clarke said one of the pilots walked down the aisle of the main cabin, then returned to the cockpit and announced that the plane had minor damage...

Biometrics are transforming the way we travel. The technology, which identifies travelers using unique physical traits like fingerprints and faces, is becoming more common at airports in the United States. As a result, time-consuming rituals that once required repeated ID checks — such as bag dropping, security screening and boarding — are getting easier and faster. Some experts believe that this will be the year that biometric use, primarily facial recognition, becomes standard at many airports. The technology offers several advantages: enhanced security, quicker processing of passengers and a more convenient airport experience. It also raises concerns about privacy, ethics...

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – The West Virginia State Senate has passed a bill designed to keep slow drivers out of the fast lane. Senate Bill 441 was introduced to the State Senate in January with a goal of restricting slow drivers from driving in the left lane, or the fast lane, of multi-lane roads. It would require drivers to remain in the right lane, except in circumstances such as passing a vehicle, preparing to exit to the left or if the right side of the road is in need of repair or otherwise unsafe to drive on, among other exceptions....

Horrified air passengers screamed and were left 'traumatised' yesterday when a German husband started coughing up 'litres of blood' in front of his wife before collapsing and dying mid-flight. The man - who was travelling with his Filipina wife - had got on with 'cold sweats' and was 'breathing much too quickly' before passengers rushed to help him, offering chamomile tea and taking his pulse. But as the plane took off, his health went quickly downhill. The man was said to have been spitting into a bag when a 'gush of blood' came out of his mouth and nose, splattering...

Two moms from Kentucky are speaking out after they were drugged and raped in the Bahamas after the US issued a travel warning for the vacation hotspot. Longtime friends Amber Shearer and Dongayla Dobson said their first kid-free vacation ended with a traumatic, broad-daylight assault when they decided to go to the beach after the Carnival cruise ship they were on docked at the island country. Now they’re warning other women. The moms were relaxing on a Grand Bahama beach when a resort staffer offered them a two-for-one drink deal ... they soon felt like the drinks were much stronger...

Fani Willis, the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney prosecuting former President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies over 2020 election interference, admitted to having a relationship with the man she appointed to special prosecutor in the case. In a new court filing on Friday, attorneys for Willis hit back at demands to disqualify her over allegations that she had an "improper" romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. The highly-anticipated court filing was in response to a January 8 motion that was filed by a lawyer for one of the co-defendants in the racketeering case, former Trump campaign staffer...