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Here come the holiday air travel horrors

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How bad will your holiday airline trip be this year? About 5 or 6 percent worse than last year. That’s the increase in passenger numbers that travelers are expected to encounter at the nation’s airports over the Christmas-New Year’s period.

Airlines for America (A4A), the trade organization for major U.S. carriers, said this week its members are expecting to carry a record 45.7 million passengers during the 18-day holiday period (December 20-January 6), or 5.2 percent more than last year.

That works out to 126,000 more travelers per day than during the same period a year ago.
To handle the extra crowds, A4A said, its member airlines have scheduled flights totaling an extra 143,000 seats a day during that period.

The numbers are a little different at the Transportation Security Administration, which came out with its own holiday travel forecast. TSA said it expects its airport screeners to handle six percent more passengers than last year, or an average of 2.3 million a day over the holiday period, and it is scheduling overtime hours for its screeners to handle the load. (A4A is predicting 2.54 million a day.)

Both A4A and TSA agree on one thing: The busiest travel day will be Friday, December 21, when TSA is gearing up to screen more than 2.7 million passengers. The airline group said the second- and third-busiest travel days will be Thursday, December 20 and Wednesday, December 26 respectively, while the lightest travel days will be December 24 and 25 and Saturday, January 5.

TSA is advising travelers that airport traffic (on the roads and in the terminals) will begin to pick up noticeably on Wednesday, December 19, with increasing numbers continuing through December 24. It is reminding passengers to arrive at the airport at least two hours before their scheduled departure. The fact that many major airports like LAX, New York LaGuardia and Denver are in the midst of substantial construction and expansion projects will likely contribute to congestion for holiday travelers this year.

Some good news? When Christmas and New Year’s Day fall midweek (Tuesday this year), the holiday travel season is longer and more spread out. In this case, it begins about Wednesday, December 19 and runs all the way to the Monday after New Years, January 7.

What’s feeding the holiday travel frenzy? A4A says it’s because air fares are at “historic lows.”

If the predictions are correct, this would be the fifth year in a row that year-end holiday passenger numbers set a new record. For the full year 2018, it looks like U.S. airlines will carry a record 1 billion passengers – an increase of almost 150 million in the past five years, from 2014’s 854 million. Meanwhile, inflation-adjusted domestic air fares this year are running about 15 percent lower than they were in 2014, according to government figures.

If you will be traveling over the holidays, just pray that the weather holds up. We’ve seen a number of serious storms sweep across the nation from west to east in recent weeks, resulting in thousands of flight cancellations and delays. Considering that many flights will be going out close to 100 percent full during this busy period, making a timely rebooking unlikely, a cancellation could mean that you won’t be singing “I’ll be home for Christmas” in the terminal.

Do you have any advice for holiday travelers? Ever been marooned by a storm and unable to get home for the festive season? Tell us all about it in the comments. 

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Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis.

Former city official hit with ethics investigation over questionable spending | WSB-TV

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  • By:
    Dave Huddleston

    Updated: Jan 2, 2019 – 6:56 PM


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ATLANTA – A former Atlanta city employee has been accused of spending close to $150,000 in taxpayer money for items including first-class flights, high-end hotels and $200 trips to Walmart.

Channel 2 Action News has investigated these expenses before, but over the holidays Channel 2’s Dave Huddleston got a tip that the city’s ethics officer had filed a complaint against Atlanta’s former Chief Financial Officer Jim Beard.

Beard was CFO under former Mayor Kasim Reed. 

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Huddleston filed an Open Records Request and received a copy of the five-page complaint.

The city’s ethics board is demanding Beard answer for questionable spending. Among the items in question are:

  • Beard’s use of his city issued credit card for $17,616.86 for air travel to Barcelona, Spain and premium hotel accommodations and lavish restaurant expenses.
  • A charge of $14,732.67 for premier air travel to Amsterdam, while staying at this exclusive hotel.
  • A charge of 10,277.67 at the Shangri-La hotel in Paris.
  • A $7,500 donation to the United Negro College Fund.

Huddleston took the report to Sara Henderson, executive director of Common Cause Georgia.

“I think it’s outrageous. I think taxpayers should be completely incensed about this. I mean the price of this ethics complaint is about the price of a house in some places in Atlanta,” Henderson said. “If you live in Atlanta and you’re an Atlanta taxpayer, you need to call your council member and demand that these types of things are investigated.”

[READ: Former city CFO initially used city credit card for pricey Paris hotel upgrades, investigation finds]

Huddleston emailed Beard three times to see if he could explain the expenses. He’s still working to get a response.

Beard has until Jan. 7th to respond to the city’s ethics officer.

[VIDEO: Close ally of former mayor is out at City Hall]

The ethics complaint also said Beard bought airline tickets for a number of former and current city employees.

Huddleston has filed another open records request to see if more complaints have been filed.

© 2019 Cox Media Group.

Growing trend continues at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport

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ROANOKE, Va. – November marked a busy month for air travel in Roanoke.

The Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport says it saw a 12.1 percent increase in passengers compared to November 2017.

November 2018 saw 60,708 passengers compared to 54,143 in November of 2017.

If this pace continues, the airport says 2018 could be the busiest year at the airport since 2007.

Copyright 2019 by WSLS 10 – All rights reserved.

For nervous flyers wondering why so many people died in plane crashes in 2018, these are the real reasons

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Many travellers, I find, are lousy at risk assessment. Judging from the questions (and heckles) that reach me on social media, they will worry deeply about the dangers of terrorism in Egypt or Tunisia, but not fret about the atrocious road safety record in each country (three times as bad as the UK in Egypt, seven times worse in Tunisia).

The Ebola virus is a vile scourge for some communities in west and central Africa, but poses almost zero risk for everyone else. Yet tourists cancelled trips to Kenya and South Africa to avoid being in the same continent as the few unfortunate carriers of the disease.

And even my close family and friends pay hundreds of pounds extra to avoid airlines they regard as “dangerous”.

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The fatality figures for 2018 may intensify that miscalculation. 

According to figures provided to me by the Dutch aviation safety consultancy To70, 534 passengers died in commercial aircraft accidents last year. 

If you wish to fuel your fear of flying, you could deduce that aviation became 41 times more dangerous in 2018 than in the year before – in which 13 people sadly died in plane crashes.

But that would be to draw entirely the wrong conclusion.

For a headline, try this instead: “Another incredibly safe year for airline passengers.”

That is not to diminish the tragedy of those 534 lost lives. But please place that number in the context of the 4.34 billion individual journeys that the International Air Transport Association says were undertaken in 2018, giving odds of better than eight million to one.

Not all airlines are equally safe. The UK and Ireland are, happily, at the extreme end of air safety: easyJet, Flybe, Jet2, Ryanair, Thomas Cook Airlines and Virgin Atlantic have never experienced a fatal accident, and Aer Lingus and British Airways have had outstanding safety records for decades.

I would not for a moment shun other carriers, because accidents are thankfully so rare that it is difficult to draw meaningful conclusions. But for nervous passengers anxious to learn something from the statistics, let me drill into the crashes last year with the highest death tolls.

The Lion Air crash in which 189 died happened in Indonesia, a country whose safety oversight has been a source of concern for Western governments.

Next, Cuba has had a poor safety record over the decades – partly attributed to the US economic embargo. But the domestic flight tragedy near Havana airport in which 112 people died involved a jet leased from a small Mexican firm. The plane was a 39-year-old Boeing 737. While aircraft age is no reliable indicator of danger, had I seen the jet from the departure lounge of Jose Marti Airport I might have had second thoughts about stepping aboard.

Old age and poor maintenance are not unknown in Iran, again with American sanctions sometimes blamed. So a domestic flight on an elderly prop-jet is, in global terms, high risk – as it proved when 66 people lost their lives in the Zagros Mountains.

Kathmandu Airport has seen many more than its fair share of accidents, and I would fly in and out of the Nepali capital only on an established international carrier, rather than a small Bangladeshi airline.

What did all these calamities have in common? The characteristic that looks clearest to me is: they did not involve the types of airlines that you are ever likely to fly on.

Stay safe if you are driving to the airport. Then relax.

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Gold is trading at an all-time high, but air travel is cheaper this year

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Photo: AFP

It may not be a good time to invest your savings in gold, which is trading close to its all-time high, but this could be a good time to spend more on vacations because economy class airfare is 22% cheaper this year.

Gold was 20% more expensive in December 2018, compared to its price in the same month of the previous year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics revealed on Wednesday. This may not surprise those keeping a track of gold prices lately, which surged to an all-time high of Rs68,000 per tola on December 20. By contrast, the price of economy airfare fell by more than a fifth this year.

According to the PBS data on inflation, prices of the basket of common goods and services increased 6.17% in December over the same month in 2017. The PBS uses this basket to track the prices of essential items an average household consumes every day.

Among the commodities and services that increased the most in terms of price were gas (85%), train fare (56%), CNG (30%), diesel (29%), iron bar (24%), petrol (24%) and mobile phone services (18%). This means from cooking to taking a train or bus up country and even making a phone call is going to cost more now compared to the same time last year.

Related: Suzuki jacks up motorcycle prices by up to Rs8,000

However, the increase in December prices was less than the previous month and indicates inflation has actually been slowing down since October when it reached 7%, its highest level of in four years.

Besides airfare, the price of vegetables and lentils also decreased in the last month of 2018. According to PBS data, tomatoes and onions are 50% cheaper this year while potato prices decreased by 36% and daal mash became 6% cheaper compared to December 2017.

In March 2018, the inflation rate was hovering around 3.25%, but prices had been going up since then. This was because of a rise in international crude oil prices and devaluation of the Pakistani rupee. As a result, prices were increasing. The recent measures taken by the government, such as increasing gas and electricity prices, which have 29.4% weight in the consumer basket, had pushed the prices further up.

The central bank has been raising its policy rate to fight inflation and achieve economic stability. In the last monetary policy, the State Bank of Pakistan raised its interest rate to a five-year high of 10%. The inflation rate could reach 7.5% by June, according to a forecast by the SBP.

January is the Best Month of the Year to Book Cheap Flights

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(Photo: Getty)

Holiday air travel is on the rise

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Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

U.S. airlines expect a 5.2 percent increase in air travel during the Christmas and New Year’s break, to more than 2.5 million people a day.

The busiest day is expected to be the Friday before Christmas.

The trade group Airlines for America said Tuesday it forecasts that 45.7 million passengers will fly on a U.S. airline during the 18-day stretch that starts Thursday, Dec. 20, and runs through Jan. 6, the Sunday after New Year’s Day.

The group says that since last Christmas, airlines have added 143,000 seats per day on domestic and international flights.

They are hoping that’s enough to handle the expected increase of 126,000 passengers a day.

Travelers looking for relative calm, take note: The least-busy days are expected to be Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

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Overseas Air Travel Outpaces Domestic Traffic First Time In 15 Months

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The number of Indian travelers to international destinations grew at a faster pace than those flying within the country for the first time in 15 months in November.

Passenger growth rate on overseas routes stood at 12.8 percent during the month compared with 11 percent on domestic routes, according to data compiled by BloombergQuint from the website of Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

Ask Kate About Beer: What’s the best way to pack beer for air travel?

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Photo: Kevin Pang, Graphic: Nicole Antonuccio

DrinkeryDrinkery is The Takeout’s celebration of beer, liquor, coffee, and other potent potables.  

Welcome to Ask Kate About Beer, in which The Takeout’s resident beer expert answers everything you’ve ever wanted to know about beer but were too drunk to ask. Have a question? Shoot it to beer@thetakeout.com.

Hi Kate: I’m traveling home this month, and I’m planning on bringing a bottle of beer in my checked luggage (an Alesmith barrel-aged and cellared wee heavy, thanks for asking!). I’ve packed wine and rum before, but not beer. A quick Google search seems to indicate that this isn’t a problem, both from an airline rules and physics perspective. But I am still worried about anything that might happen due to low pressure or temperature on the flight. Do you have any tips or warnings for air travel with precious beer?

Thanks,
Beer In Transit

Hey Beer In Transit,

You came to the right person. I’ve flown with beer souvenirs… oh, let’s say a few times. You’re right that packing beer in your checked luggage is the way to go; there’s now way you’ll get that bottle or can through security in your carry-on, unless you’ve poured it into a collection of 3-ounce shampoo bottles. (Not recommended.)

I’ll give you my tried-and-true method for beer-packing, then share some tips from other beer friends, too. Enjoy the friendly skies!

  • My method: Wrap that bottle or can in a Ziploc bag just in case, then secure with a rubber band, then wrap it in squishy clothes like a sweatshirt or sweater. Make sure to place the beer bundle in the center of your suitcase.
  • Corey Regini, brewing supervisor at Athens, Georgia’s Terrapin Brewing, says that if you’re planning to transport a decent amount of beer, a dedicated beer box might be your best bet: “A great option which I have used several times is to pack a Styrofoam cooler. It’s best if you can find a snug box for it to fit in as that will help it stay intact while making it through checked baggage.” Otherwise, a hard-sided suitcase is her go-to.
  • As the co-founder of Sheridan, Wyoming’s Black Tooth Brewing, Tim Barnes says he’s flown on “some of the smallest and sketchiest planes the FAA will ever allow out here in the wild West.” He’s a big fan of traveling with beer, and recommends sneakers or shoes as a cushioned cradle, or wrapping each bottle in its own piece of your clothing.
  • An avid hiker and camper, co-founder of Pittsburgh’s Cinderlands Beer Co., Paul Schneider, says he’s learned how best to layer beer in a backpack or suitcase: “Every can or bottle gets its own layer of a shirt or pants, then a mid-layer of clothing between beers keeps them from bumping into each other, and a shell of soft stuff between all that and the outside of my pack keeps them protected from impact.” Also, if you’re camping, he notes that every beer you bring is a weight-to-benefit calculation, so make sure the few precious beers you bring are truly delicious.

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