Macomb Daily staff writer Amanda Lee gives her take on movies, music, television, technology, games, sports and even soap operas.
Delta airlines is bringing Starbucks to the sky!
Starting on February 1st, Starbucks will be available on Delta flights.
It is offered internationally in 64 countries throughout over 300 destinations.
The Seattle-based brew is also offered on Horizon air, Alaska air, and other foreign airlines.
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MOSCOW, January 26, (Sputnik) — A commercial plane was evacuated and at least two others were diverted Sunday over security concerns, USA Today reports.
“JetBlue bomb set to detonate in 25 minutes,” the tweet said, setting alarm bells ringing.
Shortly after, the JetBlue flight from Long Beach, California and a SkyWest plane from Phoenix were evacuated upon arrival at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport over security concerns, AP reports.
An FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles said online threats targeted the JetBlue and Delta flights. She said there was no actual threat to the aircraft despite the threat made via Twitter.
Seattle Airport officials say crews investigating ‘security concern’ involving JetBlue flight at airport.
The flight disruptions come a day after bomb threats targeted two jets bound for Atlanta, prompting F-16 fighter jets to escort the planes.
Flight has landed safely passengers have deplaned and there are no injuries. The police department will continue to investigate.
— Sea-Tac Airport (@SeaTacAirport) 26 января 2015
An incident on a Delta flight has prompted a complaint to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee as well as significant attention on Twitter. Darlene Hider, an Arab-American woman, who wears a hijab, said she was boarding a Delta Airlines flight with her husband and four children Monday when another passenger complained about her children and yelled at her, “This is America!” A ticketing agent who was on the aircraft to help in the boarding process for the Fort Lauderdale-to-Detroit flight did not reprimand the passenger in question, Hider said, but instead asked Hider’s family to move to other open seats, WWJ reports.
Hider, who lives in Dearborn, Michigan, has since contacted the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee about the incident – part of which was videotaped by another passenger. Hider, 32, said the attendant told her to “change seats” and “you better be quiet before I kick you off of this plane!”
Brian Kruse, a spokesman for Delta Airlines, said the company was reviewing the situation. “We have been in touch with the customer,” he told the Detroit Free Press. “Delta does not condone discrimination of any kind.”
According to Hider the incident began when her family was boarding. The woman in front of her turned around and told her to “control her kids,” she told Mashable. She later said, “This is America!” Hider’s husband told the woman to turn around. At that point a ticketing agent intervened, heard Hider’s story and asked her family to move.
“Not only did I feel belittled by the passenger, now I am being spoken down to and scolded by a Delta ticket agent,” Hider told Mashable. “I was afraid to defend myself because of my scarf, at that moment, I felt that I couldn’t defend myself.”
Delta confirmed that after the flight landed Hider was met by two representatives who told her the company would investigate the incident. The airline was made aware of the confrontation thanks to Hider’s brother Abed Ayoub, who is the legal and policy director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Ayoub tweeted details about the incident and his tweets went viral.
What does @Delta and @DeltaAssist do when you are harassed? They put you and your kids on the back of the plane. pic.twitter.com/9DpLUNTo5N
— Abed A. Ayoub (@aayoub) February 2, 2015
“I felt like I couldn’t defend myself because I was afraid to be called a terrorist” – My sister, mother of 4, after being harassed on plane
— Abed A. Ayoub (@aayoub) February 3, 2015
Since the incident, other passengers from the flight have voiced their support for Hider. On Facebook Joelle Ghorayeb called the ticketing agent “disrespectful and rude.” And in a separate post Ghorayeb said Hider’s family was “very well-behaved” in the terminal and on the plane. “In fact, we were surrounded by teenagers that were making more noise than these kids!”
“Too bad the video did not show Darlene thanking [the attendant] at the end of the debacle and telling her how much she appreciates her assistance!” Ghorayeb said. “Poor Darlene was crying and just wanted to get this settled to get home while that b—- threatened to kick them off the plane!”
More than a month after a Delta Airlines employee was arrested for his role in a gun smuggling operation, U.S. Rep. John Katko led a hearing — his first as chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security — examining internal security at airports nationwide.
The focus of the hearing was on access controls at airports and specifically, what security procedures are in place, if any, to ensure employees don’t pose an internal threat to the airport and airliners.
Katko, R-Camillus, asked Gary Perdue, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, if the recent security issues were a concern for the FBI.
“It’s a big deal for us,” Perdue said. “And I think one of the things we continue to do is work with (the Transportation Security Administration) and to collaborate and to come up with other programs that we think that we can help each other with the security matters.”
Concerns about what security measures are in place for airline and airport employees were raised after the arrests that were made in the gun smuggling operation.
The scheme involved a former Delta Airlines employee who allegedly transported guns on several flights between Atlanta and New York City. According to authorities, the former employee, Mark Quentin Henry, would pass the guns off to Eugene Harvey, a Delta employee at the Atlanta airport. Harvey would then use his clearance to gain access to get the bags of guns into secure parts of the airport.
Once he gained access to the airport, Harvey would hand the bags of guns off to Henry, who boarded flights with the guns and transported them to New York City.
Katko, in his opening statement at Tuesday’s hearings, cited other examples of incidents at airports. All of the examples he mentioned involved the Atlanta airport.
“It raises concern that all of the most recent breaches occurred at Atlanta, one of the world’s largest and busiest airports,” he said. “Having said that, these incidents are just some of the latest examples of breaches at our nation’s airports. These problems are not unique to just one airport. Every case presents unique challenges and opportunities for TSA, airports, airlines and other partners to strengthen security protocols.”
While there is agreement that these security breaches are a major issue, there doesn’t appear to be an easy solution.
The Miami airport screens all its employees on a daily basis. But that comes at a great cost to the airport.
According to acting TSA Deputy Administrator Mark Hatfield, it costs the Miami airport $3 million to physically screen all of its employees.
Hatfield cited a Government Accountability Office report released in 2008 that found it would cost between $5.7 billion and $14.9 billion in the first year to screen all employees at U.S. commercial airports.
In the aftermath of the gun smuggling scheme, Hatfield said TSA is working with airports, law enforcement officials and others to draw up plans for improving security.
“TSA has increased operations to focus on screening airport employees at employee entrances and direct access points, such as turnstiles, secure area doors and elevators and vehicle dates,” he said. “Air carriers at (Atlanta airport) have also implemented additional security measures to address the issue.”
Katko said he hopes the “glaring vulnerability” that was exposed in the gun smuggling operation and other incidents will be addressed. With terrorists adapting to security procedures, he said, it requires an “agile and resourceful” approach.
“TSA spends billions of dollars every year to ensure every passenger is screened before boarding a commercial flight. That’s an important responsibility,” he said. “However, we must ask ourselves: What good is all of this screening at the front door if we are not paying enough attention to the back door? The answer is common sense.”
Marie Tolonen
Lt. Gov. Tina Smith hosted a roundtable discussion on broadband Internet access Tuesday at the Delta Airlines Iron Range Reservation Center in Chisholm. The visit was a day after the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced $19.4 million in broadband infrastructure grants for 17 communities across Greater Minnesota, including Balkan and a portion of Hibbing.
Posted: Wednesday, February 4, 2015 6:00 am
Hibbing Daily Tribune
CHISHOLM — Lt. Gov. Tina Smith hosted a roundtable discussion Tuesday at Delta Airlines in Chisholm as part of a statewide tour to discuss the importance of high-speed broadband access.
“Minnesotans have a proud history of innovation,” said Smith. “Ensuring that all Minnesotans have access to high-speed broadband Internet is critical to unleashing the next generation of dreamers and innovators. These new infrastructure investments will help Greater Minnesota communities compete in the global economy.”
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ROMULUS, Mich. –– The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is asking Delta Air Lines to take action after an employee threatened to remove a Muslim family from a Detroit-bound flight when another passenger harassed the mother over her head-covering.
Delta says it “doesn’t condone discrimination of any kind” and is investigating.
The Washington-based civil rights group says the Arab-American family was aboard the plane Monday preparing to leave Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for Detroit when a passenger berated the hijab-clad woman and her four children, saying, “This is America.”
The group says a Delta employee took no action against the harassing passenger, instead telling the woman and children to change seats. It says the employee refused to listen to the husband and told the wife she’d “better be quiet” or they’d be kicked off the plane.
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A Delta Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing in the US after a pilot became locked out of the cockpit, according to airport officials.
The Md-90 plane was flying from Minneapolis to Las Vegas, when the cockpit door malfunctioned at midday on Thursday, Sky News reported.
The first officer quickly took over the controls, and safely landed flight 1651 and its 168 passengers and crew at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.
Airport spokesperson Christine Crews said that the incident had been taken “very seriously”.
The captain later explained to the passengers what had happened.
Passengers reportedly applauded when the flight landed safely as scheduled at about 12:30pm.
The incident comes after a FlyBe plane had to make an emergency landing at an airport in Belfast in late 2014.
The snap landing came just weeks after a similar incident involving the same airline.
The plane, carrying 69 passengers from Southampton to George Best Belfast airport, landed safely after smoke was detected in the baggage hold.
-Independent
Orlando attorney Dawn Millner reached a unique milestone in her career recently when Delta Airlines notified her she had flown a million miles on the airline.
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“Frankly, it’s probably a lot more than a million, but that’s with other airlines,” Millner said. “Flying is not fun or glamorous, but it is required for this line of work.”
Millner, a corporate defense lawyer, flies routinely for work to take depositions. She loves to fly for fun to places like Paris and Rio de Janiero, but most of the work trips are to U.S. cities. Other favorite places include Copenhagen and South Africa.
“The most recent trip was to Kentucky, and I had to drive through the mountains in snow,” Millner said with a laugh.
Millner is the chair of Greenberg Traurig’s litigation practice in Orlando. She handles complex litigation like employment law and product liability. An example is defending tobacco companies in Florida’s widespread tobacco litigation.
Millner began her career in 1989, when litigation was hot because of a downturn in the economy. She was a summer associate at Rumberger Kirk Caldwell, already a long-time law firm in Central Florida. She began doing research on a massive case where DuPont was being sued over use of benlate fungicides, which were suspected of killing plants in Florida nurseries. DuPont ended up paying out $750 million in benlate cases, but its legal defense in courts dragged on for years. And it helped launch Millner’s career.
Since then Millner’s clientele includes a wide variety of companies ranging from tobacco giants to pro-wrestling organizations. Rules of litigation often require that she travel to the place where the litigant lives for depositions.
She said business travel is not fun, but she has learned a lot and met a lot of fascinating people. After the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001, of course, travel changed a lot.
“These days planes are always full and travel is more demanding. There was a time when I would arrive at the airport 30 minutes before a flight, but no more. Getting there early is important. It also helps when people know you are a frequent flyer,” Millner said. “Airlines offer more travel perks than ever now.”
She works on planes more than ever, not that wi-fi is a common feature in the air.
Delta provided her with a free rollerbag suitcase to mark the million miles.
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