Report: Here’s how to repair airline security — Significant gaps in security at the nation’s airports could be curtailed even at a time of rising passenger traffic by quickly making a wide range of relatively modest changes in screening people and bags, a confidential report by the Department of Homeland Security has concluded. Fixing serious weaknesses in the nation’s aviation security system is critical as passenger traffic rises beyond levels seen before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the report observed. (The New York Times)
Lawmakers say ‘no’ to freebie trips — Two Kentucky lawmakers have suspended privately paid travel in their offices amid increased congressional scrutiny of the practice. Some members of Congress are pushing for new limits on the widespread practice of accepting privately funded travel as Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and other Republican and Democratic lawmakers face questions about who paid for their trips. (AP)
Waldorf sued over feather pillow — A woman from Ireland who warned the Waldorf-Astoria of her allergies sued the hotel for $20 million yesterday after she allegedly had a violent reaction to a feather pillow. Eileen Boulger of Galway had to be rushed to Weill Cornell Medical Center on the third night of her April stay and still hasn’t recovered, said her attorney Ralph Drabkin. “She tells me at present her legs are elephantine and this is more than a month later,” he said. (Daily News)
United says it will be profitable next year — United Airlines will not only leave bankruptcy in the fall, but will turn a profit in 2006, airline CEO Glenn Tilton predicted in a newspaper interview. Recent labor agreements will save the company $700 million, but other strategies must be employed in the face of rising fuel prices, Tilton told the Chicago Tribune for a story in Friday’s editions. He said the airline’s cash balance of $2.4 billion is encouraging, despite the fact that the company has lost more than $1.2 billion so far this year. (AP)
Hotel guests vent on feedback sites — Christie Aden’s room at The Westin Seattle didn’t live up to the standards she’s come to expect from the hotel chain, so she decided to share her impressions with a few million fellow travelers. “While the Heavenly bed was great (as usual) the rest of the room (carpets, furniture, even closet doors) were worn and tired,” she wrote in a review posted on fodors.com. (Seattle Times)
Three stabbed in ‘bus rage’ incident — Three people were stabbed during a fight on a Greyhound bus on Interstate 95 early Saturday, police said. The injuries were non life-threatening and the bus continued on its scheduled trip from Richmond, Va., to New York, said Baltimore County police Sgt. Edward Forbes. (AP)
United will add Wi-Fi to planes — United Airlines plans to announce today that it is the first domestic airline to receive approval from regulators to install wireless Internet networks on its planes. United passengers will not be able to take advantage of the service just yet. The airline is still at least a year away from having its in-flight Wi-Fi service up and running. (The New York Times)
Starwood to unveil new ‘XYX’ brand — Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. will debut a new hotel brand to provide style, design and energy at comfortable rates. Currently referred to as “Project XYZ”, the brand is being developed by the team that created W Hotels. (BW)
For sale: pieces of plane wreckage — More than three decades after Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash while on a mercy mission to Nicaragua, Leland’s, an online sports auction house, is selling pieces of the wreckage as sports memorabilia. The news, first reported by The New York Times, angered the Clemente family, which has vowed legal action. (Post-Gazette)
Cruise industry must provide disabled access — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that foreign cruise lines sailing in U.S. waters must provide better access for passengers in wheelchairs, expanding the scope of a landmark federal disabilities law. The narrow 5-4 decision is a victory for disabled rights advocates, who said inadequate ship facilities inhibited their right to “participate fully in society.” (AP)
If you lower fares, they will fly — One thing that’s certain about Americans: given a choice between staying put and dashing madly about the country, they’ll dash. And when it comes to air travel, the math is simple: lower the fares and they will fly. Fares are indeed sliding steadily down, as discount airlines barge into market after market, giving their old-line counterparts ulcers, and worse. (The New York Times)
Correspondents: John Frenaye, Leslie Friedman, Mary Staley, Stephanus Surjaputra.
