18 May 2013
  • Amtrak NY-Boston service shut for the weekend after commuter rail crash

    Transport

    A commuter train traveling eastbound from New York City derailed near the Connecticut suburb of Fairfield during the evening rush hour on Friday and collided with a westbound commuter train, injuring up to 60 people, three critically, officials said. The collision of the two Metro North trains forced Amtrak to shut down service indefinitely between [...]

17 May 2013
  • Best travel ads this week: Holland argues it’s cooler than Brooklyn

    Transport

    Trave ads seek to inspire and excite viewers into booking a trip. The methods used to elicit such sentiments include fast-paced music, flashy images, and emotional voiceovers; and ultimately they aim to convince viewers that a better time is just a plane ride away. This week Holland defends its traditional way of life as the [...]

  • New American Airlines won’t repeat Pan Am and TWA mistakes, official says

    Transport

    Pan Am and TWA, two iconic airlines that were grounded for good in 1991 and 2001, respectively, got “out-competed” domestically by rivals such as United, American, Delta, Continental and Northwest, and that contributed to the duo’s demise. To be sure, the reasons Pan Am and TWA went bust are complex, but US Airways president Scott [...]

  • Study suggests U.S. passengers are learning to accept baggage fees

    Transport

    Grouse all you want about airline baggage fees, but the numbers don’t lie: You are slowly learning to accept them as a painful but necessary part of the flying experience. In fact, the overall satisfaction with air travel has increased to the highest level since 2006, according to the J.D. Power & Associates airline satisfaction [...]

16 May 2013
  • Tokyo is the world’s most dynamic food city, even without the Michelin stars

    Destinations

    In 2007, Michelin published its first-ever restaurant guide to Tokyo and awarded the city more stars than even Paris. Jean-Luc Naret, Michelin’s editorial director at the time, was emphatic: Tokyo, he said, was “by far the world’s capital of gastronomy,” a comment that seemed as much an indictment of Paris, and of France, as it [...]

  • U.S. airlines trade group blasts customs agency on Abu Dhabi Airport program

    Transport

    Arlines for America, the U.S. airline trade group, lashed out at the way U.S. Customs and Border Protection allocates resources considering its goal of speeding the clearance of 90 million passengers who arrive on international flights annually. In the A4A’s crosshairs is the recent CBP agreement with Abu Dhabi Airport to establish a preclearance facility [...]

  • Qantas creates custom books to read in-flight

    Transport

    Aussie airline Qantas is asking consumers to ditch their Kindles and curl up with a good book — one that’s been specially penned by the airline so that fliers they’ll manage to finish just as their plane touches down. Droga5 Sydney, which won the client’s business last year, teamed with publishing house Hachette to create a push [...]

  • The world’s most popular international meeting destinations

    Destinations

    The number and frequency of meetings held by international associations, and the business travel they generate, is on the rise. The International Congress and Convention Association estimates that the number of conventions increased by more than a thousand to 11,150 meetings in 2012. Europe is the most popular destination for international meetings with 12 out [...]

  • Florida’s raking it in, record first quarter in visitor numbers

    Destinations

    State tourism officials say that more people visited Florida in the first three months of 2013 than any other quarter in the state’s history. Visit Florida announced Wednesday that preliminary numbers show that 26 million visitors came to Florida in January, February and March. It’s an increase of 4.7 percent over the same period in [...]

  • Europe’s days as the leader of global tourism are numbered

    Destinations

    Despite rising competition from tourism destinations in Asia and emerging economies, Europe welcomed more than half of all international tourist arrivals in 2012, or 535 million foreign visitors, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Europe also earned the largest regional share of international tourism receipts, which reached an estimated total of $1075 billion [...]