Stuck on a plane? Here's how to complain
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - Page updated at 04:12 AM
If you're stranded for more than three hours on an airport tarmac, the Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights wants to hear from you. Your call to 877-FLYERS6 will help the nonprofit coalition gather data in its fight for legislation to require airlines to give passengers the option of returning to the terminal once waits exceed three hours.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) keeps statistics but doesn't include waits on planes that are diverted, waits on planes that never take off or waits on small regional carriers.
Kate Hanni, of Napa, Calif., who formed the coalition after sitting in a plane for more than eight hours after her flight was diverted last December, said that many more long waits are omitted than are included by the DOT. If you get through to the toll-free number while sitting on a plane, you'll be offered advice on such topics as how to start a petition asking your captain to let passengers off the plane, how to reach local media and how to fashion a diaper from a T-shirt if plane lavatories have been closed. Details at www.flyersrights.com.
Jamaica | Country hopes cameras will help fight crime
The government has hired a British company to install closed-circuit TV cameras at strategic spots across Jamaica to try to stem crime and create safe havens for tourists.
Security Minister Peter Phillips said the cameras would be installed in high-crime areas such as rural Clarendon parish, as well as the relatively crime-free resort cities of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios.
It was not clear how much the system will cost or when it will be launched.
More than 1,300 people were slain in Jamaica last year, including an Australian man who was found dead in his hotel room in Montego Bay. Police blame much of the island's gun violence on street gangs vying for control of drug and extortion rings. Earlier this year, the government sent additional police and soldiers to patrol key tourist areas.
Online travel | New site helps wine buffs create their own tours
A new Web site called www.winerybound.com allows visitors to create their own wine tours. Wineries, restaurants and lodging facilities across the United States list their services on Winerybound's site, and visitors can access that information to create their own tours.
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The site lists more than 15,000 restaurants, lodging facilities and wineries plus maps of wine regions around the country.
Asia travel | Cathay Pacific to double U.S. flights
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. will double its nonstop passenger flights to San Francisco and New York in the next few months as it increases capacity by taking delivery of new long-haul aircraft.
By this fall, Cathay Pacific will operate two daily nonstop flights each to New York and San Francisco, up from one a day. The airline also operates one flight a day to New York via Vancouver, B.C., as well as three daily services to Los Angeles.
The airline hasn't given a start date for the additional flights, but the launch coincides with the arrival of new Boeing 777-300 aircraft, with the first of 18 planes on firm order to be delivered in September.
Macao | Las Vegas Sands to open Venetian Resort Hotel
Las Vegas Sands Corp. said its Venetian Macao Resort Hotel will open Aug. 28, making it the first property to debut on the Cotai Strip.
The Cotai Strip is a master planned development of hotel and resort properties being created by the casino operator.
The Venetian Macao will be the largest building in Asia at 10.5 million square feet, including 3,000 all-suite rooms; 1.2 million square feet of convention and exhibition space; an 1,800-seat Cirque du Soleil theater; a 15,000-seat arena; and 1 million square feet of retail space.
The Cotai Strip will have 20,000 hotel rooms and more than 3 million square feet of retail space.
United States | Get updated information on country's passport mess
The government's underestimation of the demand for passports continues to cause travelers grief, and events are unfolding rapidly.
For constantly updated information, refer to The Seattle Times Web site at www.seattletimes.com/travel.
For specific passport information, including how to get a receipt if you've applied for a passport and not received it, see www.travel.state.gov.