Did China stage those attempted terrorist attacks?

by Aaron Hotfelder on

A couple days ago, we told you about a report from Chinese officials that an attempted terrorist attack forced a plane to make an emergency landing in the western Chinese city of Lanzhou. Chinese investigators had almost no details about the incident, but they were quick to call it the work of terrorists and seemed to imply that an Uyghur separatist group was responsible.

Now, questions are being raised about the veracity of the Chinese officials’ claim. Steven Tsang, an Oxford professor and expert on China, wonders why the supposedly almost-hijacked flight was allowed to continue to Beijing after landing in Lanzhou. “There’s no way any anti-terrorism police would have released the plane and passengers to fly on without extensive interviews of the passengers, forensic examination of the plane and so on.”

According to Time Magazine: “Tsang also noted that it was particularly easy to blame a shadowy Islamic separatists movement in the build-up to the Beijing Olympics, possibly as a deterrent to those or any other groups who might want to disrupt the Games.”

The exiled leader of the Uyghur people also claims that China fabricated the attacks, saying, “The real goal of the Chinese government is to organize a terrorist attack so that it can increase its crackdown on the Uighur people.”

That doesn’t sound like the Olympic spirit to me.

Salvation: Newark and JFK airport flights capped

by Grant Martin on

Looks like New Yorkers are starting to see some results from last year’s suffocating loads — and subsequent complaints — out of and the Newark and JFK. If you remember the piece published in the New Yorker late last year and several of the subsequent articles that ran here at Gadling, you may know that the three airports suffer from terrible congestion, resulting in late flights all over the country, hours on the tarmac and general misery for anyone traveling through the area.

Much of the problem lies in the sheer demand out of the three airports. Passengers want to fly out at optimal times so airlines pack flights into certain times of the day. But FAA and Air Traffic Control requirements stipulate that only a certain amount of flights can leave within a particular window.

Until recently, there were more flights than there were take off slots, which kind of creates a problem even before one even exists. Mix some crummy weather and mechanical problems in and you have what’s known as today the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Now, the maximum number of outgoing flights will be changed from 100/hour to 83/hour, which should ease some of the congestion woes. Extra flights that were during peak hours will be spread throughout the day, with the net result of extra flights overall during the day. Recall however, that even at 100 flights/hour supply was still extremely tight during peak times. If that goes down, will ticket prices go up? My guess is yes.

[Via CNN]

Anyone want a free Northwest Airlines WorldClub pass?

by Grant Martin on

[Sorry for the delay in getting this posted — we had some legal issues to iron out]

Many of you have been privy to the ongoing discussion between Iva and myself about the virtues and the vices of airline club memberships. I think the benefit has come down to how valuable you find a) free snacks and alcohol and b) free wireless. While the noise is a bit quieter and the seats a bit more comfortable, other purported benefits may not be as useful as the airlines say.

Well, it’s time for you to make your own opinion. I have an extra one-time use WorldClub pass that I can send to any Gadlinger that can use it. It expires March 31st and you must be 21 years old to use it. It also helps if you’re flying on NW, although you don’t necessarily have to be. Just make sure that the terminal that you’re flying through has a WorldClub in it (and that its not in the next terminal over).

All that we ask in return is that you USE the pass and write in to tell us what you thought of the WorldClub. It doesn’t have to be an award-winning essay — just drop us an email telling us how you found the experience.

If you want me to mail the pass to you ASAP, post a comment below. We’ll make the drawing on Wednesday and you’ll have it before the end of the week.

Check out lounge locations here.

Good luck!

  • To enter, simply leave a comment below.
  • The comment must be left before Wednesday, March 12 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time.
  • You may enter only once.
  • One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
  • One Grand Prize Winner will receive a Northwest Airlines WorldClub pass good until March 31 (valued at $45)
  • Click Here for complete Official Rules.

[Thanks for all of your comments, we’ve already selected a winner]

    Chicago plans to build new airport

    by Grant Martin on

    It looks like authorities are slowly getting the green light to start building Chicago‘s third airport. Dubbed the South Suburban Airport, the site has been under development for over forty years now, but the city just submitted new plans for a runway that should start moving things further along.

    The city has also started usurping land around Will County, to the obvious chagrin of the locals. They say that this new airport will alleviate much of the traffic that O’hare airport, the oft despised hub of United and American Airlines, has been subject to over the last half century. While Midway can do much of this, apparently their runways aren’t large enough to accommodate all sorts of aircraft, namely those used frequently in international legs.

    As far as location, Will County is a pretty far hike from the city center. If you remember your El cartography, O’hare and Midway are both positioned on the blue and orange lines respectively, making transfers from the city out to the airports relatively painless. The South Suburban would be even farther away than the Gary Airport (in Indiana), so you would have to budget more time and effort to get out there. It’s kind of like the Dulles of Washington DC.

    To connect the terminals to the city, a high speed rail service is thus part of the construct.

    Planning still seems to be in its early stages, but you can read a ton of info on the Master Plan website. You’ll find that their “Project Implementation” link is broken; maybe even they admit that construction is still a ways off.

    You can read more about the proposed site and opposition at the wikipedia page, or read the airport website here.

    EasyJet busted for misleading advertising

    by Jeffrey White on

    Frequent travelers of Europe’s budget airlines have known for years that the industry relies, to a certain extent, on misleading, if not outright false, advertising.

    Usually this has to do with their pricing. Log onto any of the big European budget carriers — easyJet, Ryanair or Germanwings, for instance — and you’ll be hit with a great offer. Take Germanwings, for instance. You’ll see them pimping April flights from Zagreb, Croatia to Cologne for €5. Not bad. Click on it, choose a random set of dates (say an April 8 departure and an April 16 return) and you can get both legs for €14. Ah, but then the tax is figured in, and that trip is now €77.36 (more than $120).

    European budget airlines don’t usually come under fire for this because (1.) technically there was a flight in this case for €5 and (2.) they make it clear that the prices they pimp often do not include taxes. But that doesn’t completely wash off the stench of ‘scam’ in my book, if simply because I always feel like the promotions these airlines run and the ridiculously cheap prices they quote reflect how stupid they think consumers are. Obviously we’re not smart enough to view a €77 round-trip plane ticket as still a pretty good deal.

    So, it’s nice when one of these carriers gets busted for not playing it straight with customers. This has just happened to easyJet, which was running a special recently along the lines of “book by Friday and if you find a better price, we’ll pay you up to triple the difference.”

    Well, a Swiss woman did just that, and then played hell trying to get the Luton, England-based airline to pay up. It claimed the woman hadn’t delivered proof, and then tried something along the lines of saying she had not found a comparable ticket, since it was a competitor’s return fare she found rather than the two single fairs (there and back) she booked on easyJet. Gimme a break, right?

    That’s what Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority essentially said. They’ve ruled the easyJet promotion was misleading, since the fine print implied that the refund was easy to claim, when it really was like dealing with the IRS. Only bookings made at certain times and dates were eligible. Refund requests had to be made within an hour of the original booking. And so on. The Guardian newspaper reports the whole sordid tale.

    There was good news for the Swiss woman, however. EasyJet told the Guardian that she would receive close to $1,500 in her bank account within a week.