Travel Web sites say average spring break airfares up, but hotel rates down

Spring break travel: Airfares up, hotel rates down

NEW YORK – Average airfares for spring break are up from last year but hotel rates are down, according to data from Bing Travel and Travelocity.
Travelocity found average airfares are up 9 percent compared to last year, with the average domestic roundtrip flight at about $351, while hotel …. Source article  : Travel Web sites say average spring break airfares up, but hotel rates down.

Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger, ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ pilot, retiring from US Airways

‘Miracle on the Hudson’ pilot retiring
NEW YORK – Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who piloted a US Airways flight during its emergency water landing on the Hudson River in January of last year, is retiring.

Sullenberger, 59, joined US Airways’ predecessor airline in 1980. Until 2007, the mandatory retirement age was 60 for commercial pilots in the … Read more »»».

Obama greenlights program to promote US as tourism destination for international travelers

Obama signs bill to entice foreign travelers to US
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has signed a bill creating a program to promote the U.S. as a premier tourism destination for international travelers.
The U.S. Travel Association calls it a major step in addressing the drop-off in such visits to the U.S. during the past … Read this article on Gaea Times at : Obama greenlights program to promote US as tourism destination for international travelers.

Virginia tourism’s latest promotion offers family vacations as prize

Va tourism sweepstakes offers family vacations

RICHMOND, Va. – The Virginia Tourism Corporation is offering families a chance to win a free vacation in the commonwealth.
The agency kicked off a new promotion, the Virginia is for Lovers Family Vacation Sweepstakes, on Wednesday at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond.
Four trips are being offered. The prize … Read more »»».

National Park Service predicts DC’s peak cherry blossom bloom will start April 3

Park Service predicts peak for DC cherry blossoms

WASHINGTON – Those famous pink and white flowers in Washington are expected to bloom on schedule on trees around the nation’s capital as soon as the end of March, the National Park Service predicted Thursday.
Horticulturalist Rob DeFeo, who keeps a close eye on the city’s cherry blossom trees … Read more »»».

National Park Service to predict peak bloom dates for DC’s cherry blossom festival

Park Service to predict DC cherry blossom bloom

WASHINGTON – The National Park Service is hinting at when spring will arrive in Washington.
Organizers of the National Cherry Blossom Festival will be announcing the predicted peak bloom dates Thursday for when the pink and white flowers will be in full color.
The 2010 festival is scheduled to run … Read more : National Park Service to predict peak bloom dates for DC’s cherry blossom festival.

TSA announces 10 more airports to get body scanners to detect hidden explosives, contraband

Airport body scanners spreading across US
BOSTON – The Transportation Security Administration is spreading airport body-scanner technology across the country.
A TSA official said Friday that units will be fielded next week in Chicago, and in the coming months at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; San Jose, Calif.; Columbus, Ohio; San Diego; Charlotte, N.C.; Cincinnati; Los Angeles; …. Source  : Gaea News Network.

Passengers leave food poisoned-stricken cruise ship in Brazil

Passengers leave cruise ship in Brazil
SAO PAULO – Health authorities have allowed passengers to leave a cruise ship that had been quarantined in southeastern Brazil after hundreds were stricken with vomiting and diarrhea.

Royal Caribbean spokesman Rodrigo Dionisio says the 310 people who suffered gastrointestinal disorders aboard the Vision of the Seas have recovered.
He says the … Read more »».

3 new full-body scanners in Boston at vanguard of new wave of US airline security upgrade

US upgrading airline security with more scanners

BOSTON – The Transportation Security Administration is fielding a second, more widespread wave of full-body scanners at U.S. airports amid heightened concern about hidden explosives.
Three new machines going online at Boston’s Logan International Airport were being displayed for the media Friday.
They go into service Monday at a terminal used … Original article on : 3 new full-body scanners in Boston at vanguard of new wave of US airline security upgrade.