Travel News

Friday, June 14, 2013

What a mess! Turbulence hits flight during meal service

Ben PopkenNBC News

June 5, 2013 at 1:51 PM ET

Alan Cross

Twitter and Instagram are abuzz with photos of the aftermath of a bit of nasty turbulence a Singapore Airlines flight experienced after breakfast was served.

Nasty turbulence hit a commercial flight from Singapore to London after breakfast was served, causing an altitude drop that sent passengers into the ceiling and loaded meal trays flying into the aisles.

Alan Cross

Coffee splattered on the cabin ceiling.

Twitter and Instagram are abuzz with photos of the aftermath posted by passenger Alan Cross, a Canadian music broadcast personality onboard the Singapore Airlines flight. The photos show coffee and cornflakes splattered on the cabin ceiling. The aisles were littered with trays, empty food packages, and cutlery. One of Cross's neighbor's breakfast sausages sat on a pillow; he said he retrieved it after it fell down the back of his shirt in the flying fracas.

After breakfast was served, the fasten seat belt sign came on and the captain announced that the flight was in for some bad turbulence and for passengers to please return to their seats, Cross said. Minutes later, the captain came back on the pa system and announced meal service would have to be suspended until the turbulence was over.

Alan Cross

Breakfast service littered the aisle.

Everything seemed pretty routine to Cross, then suddenly the captain's voice came back, this time quite stern. "Cabin crew, please take your seats immediately!" Cross said he heard the captain order.

When the turbulence hit, "It was similar to being in an elevator and having the cable cut," Cross told NBC News. "Anything and anyone not tied down immediately shot up with quite a bit of violence."

There was a collective "whoa," and then a stunned silence, followed by nervous laughter.

The crew immediately began checking passengers for injuries. Cross said he saw passengers with bumped heads and bloody noses. Thecrew then began cleaning up the mess, which involved laying down passenger blankets in the aisles to soak up the spills. Not longer after, the cabin was back to normal, Cross's photos show.

Eleven passengers and one crew member sustained minor injuries, Singapore Airlines spokesman Nicholas Ionides told NBC News. Ionides confirmed flight SQ308 experienced severe turbulence en route from Singapore to London on May 26.

Alan Cross

An airborne sausage retrieved after it fell down the back of a passenger Cross's shirt.

Seat belt signs were on at the time the turbulence hit the Airbus A380, a Singapore Airlines spokesperson told NBC News, and meal service had been suspended.

Upon arrival at London's Heathrow Airport, medical personnel attended to the passengers, Ionides said. As passengers disembarked, reps from Singapore Airlines met them at the gate and distributed boxes of chocolates, said Cross, who said he is now laughing off the experience and dealing with the global media interest in the story.

"What was really quite nice all these strangers began helping each other out when it came to cleaning up," said Cross, adding that he "can't say enough for the cabin crew, they were brilliant."

The experience hasn't changed his mind about flying with the airline again. "Absolutely still my favorite airline in the world," he said.

Hobbits and elves drawing tourists to New Zealand

Associated PressThe Associated Press

June 10, 2013 at 9:36 AM ET

Reuters

Visitors pose next to a sculpture of the J. R. R. Tolkien character Gollum at the Weta Cave museum in Wellington in this September 25, 2012 handout photograph.

Hobbits, elves and dragons appear to be luring tourists to New Zealand as fans await their first glimpse of the second movie in "The Hobbit" trilogy.

Figures released this month by government agency Tourism New Zealand show that international vacations to the South Pacific nation rose 10 percent from January through April when compared to the same period last year. The agency said a survey indicated that 8.5 percent of visitors cited "The Hobbit" as one reason for coming and that 13 percent took part in some kind of hobbit-themed tourism like visiting a film set.

Warner Bros. announced Monday it will release the first teaser-trailer of "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" at 1 p.m. EDT Tuesday. The second film will premiere Dec. 13 in Los Angeles.

The trilogy is directed by New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson and shot in his home country. The opener "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," was released December 2012. It received mixed reviews but proved extraordinarily popular with audiences, earning a little over $1 billion at the box office.

In an email, Jackson's spokesman Matt Dravitzki said fans can expect "a surprise or two" in this week's trailer, "but I can't say anything more than that!"

A little over 500,000 tourists visited New Zealand for vacations in the first four months of the year. About the same number again visited for other reasons, such as for work or to visit relatives.

Tourism New Zealand has been running a "100% Middle-earth" marketing campaign that seeks leverage from the movies.

"The Hobbit" is based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novel of the same name and traces the adventures of hobbit Bilbo Baggins as he attempts to help a group of dwarves regain their wealth and stature from the dragon Smaug. "The Hobbit" is the prequel to Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings."

Hilton guests may still get room service

Kelli GrantCNBC

June 10, 2013 at 10:05 AM ET

Andrew Kelly / Reuters

An exterior shot of the Hilton Midtown in New York June 7, 2013. The New York Hilton Midtown, a 2,000-room hotel in Manhattan's commercial district filled with business travelers, tourists and conference-goers, confirmed last week that it would end room service.

The demise of room service may be exaggerated.

Sure, it's true that hotels appear to be scaling back or eliminating options. The New York Hilton Midtown made the news last week for its plans to discontinue its food and drink service to rooms in August. It follows in the footsteps of Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, which did so last fall.

Nationwide, according to Smith Travel Research, there are 2.7 million limited-service hotel rooms (i.e., those without an on-site restaurant or banquet facilities), up 16 percent from a decade ago. In comparison, there are 2.2 million full-service rooms, up less than 6 percent over the same period.

It's no surprise—room service isn't profitable, said Robert Mandelbaum, director of research information services for PKF Hospitality Research. In 2012, room service accounted for just 1.22 percent of a typical hotel's revenue, according to the firm. Even though hotels had more guests that year than in 2009, when occupancy hit a low, those guests ordered 25 percent less overall.

But no "room service" doesn't mean that hungry travelers have no recourse. "Very few people are going to find that they absolutely can't get something to eat if they want something to eat, at the hotel, in their room," said Ed Perkins,contributing editor forSmarterTravel.com, a travel-advice site.

What travelers are likely to see less of is room-service touches like a silver tray, fancy stemware or delivery by a butler. Meals are more likely to be brown-bagged, grab-and-go options that can be picked up from a café in the lobby or sent up to a room, said Bjorn Hanson, divisional dean of New York University's Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management. That's what the New York Hilton Midtown will be implementing, he said, and what the chain has been pilot testing in other locations. Even if there's no room-service menu, on-site restaurants are typically willing to offer takeout, Perkins said.

Hotels that don't have a restaurant on site are often aggressive about promoting local restaurants that deliver, too, said Mandelbaum. Guests can often find local menus in the in-room binder of hotel services and amenities, or, failing that, through the front desk or concierge. And there are online ordering sites such asSeamless.com and LivingSocial.com, which connect diners with open restaurants in the area that will deliver, he said. (Just check first that the hotel allows delivery personnel beyond the lobby.)

The new room service might put off travelers hoping for white-glove service, but for travelers on a budget, it's likely to work out more in their favor. Typical room service menus often boast higher prices than travelers would pay eating at the on-site restaurant, Perkins said, plus extra service charges and gratuities. "It really piles on the cost," he said. Local delivery is usually free, and hotel grab-and-go options tend to be more moderately priced.

A tangential trend that might also help: More hotels are offering guests the ability to borrow kitchenware. In February, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts launched a "Hyatt Has It" program that offers guests free use of tea kettles and, in many locations, blenders. It's also common for travelers to find locations offering in-room refrigerators and microwaves, Perkins said.

Travelers are unlikely to see room service disappear entirely, at least in the short term. Rankings from AAA and other groups often require room service to be offered to maintain a top score, said Mandelbaum. Hotels may find that offering it makes them look more favorable compared to similarly priced competitors, particularly if they cater to business travelers or are near airports and have guests arriving at all hours.

Mandelbaum said room service, for some travelers, is like having an on-site pool—"Ninety percent of people will say they want to stay at a hotel with a pool, even though only 10 percent will actually use it."

—By CNBC.com's Kelli B. Grant. Follow her at Twitter @KelliGrant.

Universal Studios $299 VIP line-skipping tours stir online reaction

Ben PopkenNBC News

June 10, 2013 at 5:04 PM ET

Twitter

While hardly a backlash, the NYT article on Universal Studios $299 VIP tours, which offer line cutting privileges, provoked some negative reaction online.

Angry responses to Universal Studios Hollywood's plan to sell VIP line-cutting passes quickly dotted social media after a New York Times article this weekend brought the plan to a broader audience's attention.

In March, Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal, the parent company of NBC News, announced a new VIP package tour, allowing customers to pay $299 to skip lines, get reserved seating on rides, valet parking, and eat catered meals. A regular ticket costs $80 and one with more limited line-skipping privileges costs $149.

Universal's other U.S. theme parks, Universal Studios Florida and Universal's Islands of Adventure, sell a VIP tour for $229 guaranteeing "priority entrance" into a minimum of eight rides.

However, It wasn't until the New York Times this weekend published "At Theme Parks, a V.I.P. Ticket to Ride" that Twitter really sat up and noticed.

Within a few hours the story was trending on the New York Times site. In social media, some commentators expressed simple anger.

"This really pisses me off," tweeted ‏@Friedenberg_IST. "Makes me want to punch everything," tweeted @meggomaheggo. "Boycott!"tweeted @tillzen.

The New York Times zeroed in on the likely source of the frustration in the article's first sentences. "Theme parks have traditionally been the ultimate melting pots," wrote the Times .

"Tourists, retirees, rowdy teenagers, families and fathers who would rather be golfing are all thrown together in an egalitarian experience in which the line for one is the line for all, and cotton candy is the food of the masses. Not anymore."

Some on Twitter cited it as an example of the growing stratification of American society.

"Universal Studios theme park engages in class warfare with VIP tickets," ran Gawker blog Jezebel's headline. "We are, more and more, a class-based society," tweeted @JohnMedaille. "No desire to mingle with the masses? No problem, for a price," tweetedcolumnist @ConnieSchultz. "lol the Universal VIP tix comes with hand sanitizer in case you brush against one of those disgusting poors while skipping them in line," tweeted @JoseEgan.

However, in light of a recent Disneyland line-cutting story that garnered controversy, it's at least "Better than ppl hiring handicapped "guides" to cut the lines," tweeted @SCJoson.

A few of those in the industry praised Universal Studio's move.

It's "market segmentation," noted @AnalyticGlobal, whose profile bills itself as "the leader in marketing analytics consulting and software services." The practice is "customer driven price discrimination done right," tweeted @rags, a pricing strategist.

Others noted that the practice of charging people extra to get in first and get a better experience is hardly revolutionary.

"Who are those people that sit in the front of the airplane passenger section and boarded through a special line? Not new," tweeted@daswenson.

Meanwhile, customers who had opted for the pass seemed pleased with their experience. "Nothing like having VIP access and riding up elevators to every ride at Universal #ScrewLines," tweeted@ConnorCullian in late March. "I have done the VIP Tour 4 Times and I love it more each time," tweeted @DGDXAnimation. "Bout to get this VIP trip in universal #wedontwaitinlines !" tweeted@Robert15Jgod.

Universal Studios did not respond to a request for comment.

Coppy right 2013 NBC News

Hotel room deaths raise carbon monoxide concerns for travelers

Rob LovittNBC News contributor

June 11, 2013 at 3:19 PM ET

WCNC.com

Emergency vehicles outside a hotel in Boone, N.C., where an 11-year-old-boy died from asphyxia.

A trio of deaths at a hotel in Boone, N.C., two by carbon monoxide and one by asphyxia, could have travelers wondering if they should be concerned about running out of oxygen on their next vacation.

“Travelers should be concerned,” said Ted Panagiotopoulos, owner of Fire & Life Safety Concepts LLC, in Wilton, Conn. “Anywhere there are fuel-fired appliances being used where you have the potential for carbon monoxide to build up, you should have CO detection.”

The issue has taken on tragic significance in light of the death of Jeffrey Williams, an 11-year-old boy who died while staying at the Best Western Blue Ridge Plaza in Boone, N.C. According to NBC Charlotte, the local health department has determined that carbon monoxide was present in the room and that Williams died of asphyxiation.

According to the Charlotte News & Observer, the second-floor room is directly above a room that houses the natural-gas heater for the hotel pool.

A March 6th inspection of the pool by the Appalachian District Health Department found several violations, documents obtained by NBC News show. According to the inspection report, the "chemical/equipment room is required to have natural cross ventilation or forced air ventilation. This needs to be corrected asap."

However the Health Department issued a statement today stating that, "The violation noted relates to ventilation of equipment rooms to provide worker safety only for handling pool chemicals in a semi-confined space. Ventilation of any combustion gases from appliances is not part of the health department pool inspection."

This isn't the first time this death by asphyxiation happened in this same room, in this same hotel. Newly obtained blood tests show that Daryl Jenkins, 73, and Shirley Jenkins, 72, of Longview, Wash., died in room 225 at the Best Western in April from asphyxia caused by CO poisoning, Boone police Sgt. Shane Robbins said at a news conference Monday.

The hotel continued to rent out room 225 after the Jenkins deaths and before their blood tests results had been received.

“It is simply inconceivable that the hotel would choose to rent the same room to others while toxicology results were pending related to the deaths of Daryl and Shirley,” said Mark Brumbaugh, the Jenkins' attorney, in a statement. “It is our hope that the hotel will fully cooperate with the investigation into these events to avoid any similar tragedies in the future.”

Through its attorney, the independently owned and operated hotel released a statement to NBC News saying, "The health and safety of guests who stay at our hotel is our number one priority. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of those involved. We are cooperating fully with authorities who are investigating this truly tragic incident. The hotel will remain closed as we work closely with authorities to address any issues identified and authorities declare the hotel cleared for occupancy. "

Known as the “silent killer,” carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas found in combustion fumes that can build up in enclosed or semi-enclosed spaces. Common symptoms include headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and confusion. People who are sleeping can die from CO poisoning before experiencing any symptoms.

About 400 Americans die each year from unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For travelers, the incidents in Boone underscore that while CO detectors are required in all new homes in 27 states, North Carolina among them, few states require hotels to install them. Fire alarms are required in a hotels. According to Panagiotopoulos, some hotel companies are getting proactive and installing carbon monoxide detectors, but they remain the exception rather than the rule.

Nevertheless, CO-related incidents remain so rare that they’re not necessarily foreseeable, says Peter Tomaras of Apollo Hotel Consultancy.

“Hotels have a legal duty to take all reasonable steps to eliminate hazards and protect their guests, but an unexpected hazard is not foreseeable,” Tomaras told NBC News. “Carbon monoxide poisoning is as rare as Legionnaires’ Disease — probably even more rare.”

Rarity aside, Panagiotopoulos still advises travelers to take adequate precautions as long as carbon monoxide alarms aren’t required equipment.

“Always have some ventilation; open a window if you can,” he told NBC News. “With the exception of carrying your own CO alarm — which isn’t the worst idea in the world — there’s not much else you can do.”

Coppy right 2013 NBC News

Trapped fliers sing "I Believe I Can Fly"

Ben PopkenNBC News

June 11, 2013 at 4:19 PM ET

Dripping with sweat, racked by nausea, Allegiant Air passengers stuck for hours on the tarmac in the 110-degree Vegas sun this weekend cut the tension by bursting out into a spontaneous sing-a-long to R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly." Captured by passenger and YouTuber user "joeypancakes," who asked not to be identified, the video has been seen over 249,000 times since being uploaded Sunday.

Allegiant Airlines spokesman Brian Davis told NBC News that the plane didn't have any air conditioning running during the 2 hours and 40 minutes the flight was delayed on the tarmac due to mechanical difficulties. The plane has air conditioning at the gate and after takeoff, but not during taxiing.

The uploader, a 30-year old banker from Phoenix, Ariz, told NBC News she saw one passenger vomit and two passed out on the floor. Passengers took turns in groups of three and four fanning elderly passengers on blood pressure medication who complained of nausea. She said that the airline only passed out small bags of ice and that the airline didn't serve water until the plane was in the air, as, they were told, it would only delay the flight further.

That contradicts Allegiant's records, Davis said, whose reports indicate water and beverages were passed out multiple times to passengers. When the passengers deplaned from the first plane experiencing difficulties to switch into another plane, a snack table with soda, water and food was provided, Davis said.

The uploader told NBC News that the beverage table never materialized, just more sweltering heat and delays.

Though the video she took captured a moment of levity, it came at a critical point during the delay, 4 hours and 20 minutes in total, right after the plane had returned to the gate and 20 passengers took the opportunity to get off.

"It was a really intense moment," she said. "People were trying to get the flight attendants' attention because someone was laying on the floor. That got to be a little scary, because everyone is in this confined space and we didn't want to sit there."

At the point of peak anxiety, the groom in a bachelor party that had been out all night activated a portable "jam box" and began playing the "Harlem Shake" and got the whole plane to do the Harlem Shake dance. That's when Joeypancakes took out her camera and began recording, capturing the plane-wide singing session of "I Believe I can Fly."

"They had everyone laughing," she told NBC News. "They were like our comedic relief for the rest of the flight."

"While we're glad that our customers were able to make light of the delay by singing an R. Kelly song," said Davis, "we take these matters very seriously. Allegiant's top priority is the safety of each of our passengers and crew members, and we will always take a delay to ensure the safety of all involved."

"During the delay, our team members worked to make passengers as comfortable as possible by providing beverages and making use of available air conditioning, but extreme temperatures in Las Vegas made it difficult to keep the plane at a comfortable temperature while it was on the ground," said Davis.

"Mechanical delays are unfortunately a part of air travel."

That, and the $100 voucher the airline offered the passengers, are cold comfort to YouTube user joeypancakes, who says she won't fly Allegiant again.

"It wouldn't have been so terrible if it hand't been so hot," she said. "Everyone kept saying it's illegal to leave a pet in the car in the summer, so why are you leaving humans in a hot plane?"

The flight isn't the only one to have passed time on the tarmac through the power of music. Members of The Philadelphia Orchestra delayed on the tarmac for three hours last week while waiting for a flight from Beijing to Macao treated their fellow passengers to a pop-up concert.

Coppy right 2013 NBC News

Dead wheel-well stowaway went undiscovered for 7 flights

Rob LovittNBC News contributor

June 12, 2013 at 2:39 PM ET

A man who died while flying in the wheel well of a Russian charter plane is shining a spotlight on the issue of airplane stowaways and, by extension, routine maintenance and pre-flight inspections.

As originally reported in The Aviation Herald, it appears the deceased flew in the wheel well on at least seven flights before being discovered.

The incident unfolded on June 6, after the i-Fly flight landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport and maintenance workers discovered blood stains on one of the main landing gear struts. Upon further inspection, they found the body of a young male carrying a Georgian passport.

An autopsy revealed that he had frozen to death four days previously, meaning his body had been transported on at least seven flights. It’s unknown where he initially boarded the flight.

While going undiscovered for multiple flights is an anomaly, stowaways represent an ongoing challenge for airlines. Last September, Jose Matada of Mozambique fell 2,000 feet to his death when a Heathrow-bound jet opened its landing-gear doors, less than a month after another body was discovered after a flight from Cape Town had landed at the airport.

In perhaps the most horrifying case, John Gilpin, an amateur photographer in Australia, unintentionally captured a 14-year-old boy falling out of a Japan Airlines jet as it took off from Sydney in February 1970.

According to statistics maintained by Dr. Stephen Veronneau, a research medical officer at FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, there have been 99 cases worldwide of individuals stowing away in airplane wheel wells since 1947, including the June 6 incident. Of those, 76 have proven fatal.

“Unfortunately, this sort of thing has been happening for years and years and years,” said Patrick Smith, a commercial pilot for a major U.S. carrier and founder of AskThePilot.com. “It almost always involves somebody coming from a developing country.”

The dangers range from the mechanical — massive moving parts in confined spaces — to the physiological impacts of flying in unheated, unpressurized compartments at high altitudes. According to FAA, the temperature at 30,000 feet is typically around -48⁰F and air pressure is roughly 70 percent lower than at sea level.

“Even if they’re not crushed to death by the machinery, they’re subjected to sub-freezing temperatures and no oxygen,” Smith told NBC News. “There’s almost no chance of survival.”

As for a stowaway going undiscovered for multiple flights, Smith says that that, too, isn’t surprising.

“Walk around inspections, which are done by maintenance personnel and flightcrew members, do include a check of the landing-gear bays but there’s so much plumbing and machinery in there that every nook and cranny isn’t necessarily visible,” he said.

“If you’ve ever stood under the wheel well of a widebody jet, you can understand how it could happen.”

Coppy right 2013 NBC News