airlines that leave passengers stranded on a tarmac in a delayed plane for three hours or more can face a hefty fine under new rules adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation

airlines that leave passengers stranded on a tarmac in a delayed plane for three hours or more can face a hefty fine under new rules adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation.If carriers don’t let passengers out of the plane before the three-hour mark, the agency can fine them up to $27,500 per customer.

At least three domestic airlines have announced plans to avoid the penalties. But that won’t necessarily cut down on delays.US Airways and Continental Airlines have both unveiled procedures to return the plane to the gate if it can’t take off before the three-hour limit.American Airlines Chief Executive Gerard Arpey said his carrier the nation’s second-largest has modified a previous plan to unload passengers stranded four hours or longer.

US Airways, the sixth-largest domestic carrier, announced its plans in an employee newsletter last week.For example, if a US Airways flight is delayed 90 minutes, the crew offers drinks and snacks to avoid a fine that applies if fliers are delayed for two hours without food and water.

After 2 1/2 hours, the airline’s operations center makes a decision: Either return the plane to the gate or, if a takeoff is imminent, keep it in line on the tarmac.In 2009, US Airways alone had 193 flights that were delayed more than three hours. If each had an average of 200 passengers, under the new rules the fines could add up to more than $1 billion.It is unclear what happens to a flight after it returns to the gate, but American’s Arpey predicted bad news for passengers: “Most certainly, it will result in more cancellations.”

Costliest city is still New York

If you can afford to stay in New York, you can afford to stay anywhere.The 2010 rankings for the most expensive cities for business travelers put New York at the top again, with the average daily cost for food, hotel and a car rental totaling $622.The results came from the annual survey of hotel, restaurant and car rental costs by the Business Travel News, a publication for business travel managers, of 100 U.S. travel destinations. New York topped the list last year and in 2008 as well.

White Plains, N.Y., and Detroit inched up in the list, with hotel and car rental prices rising in both cities.Las Vegas, on the other hand, dropped on the list.Last year, Sin City ranked as the nation’s 30th most expensive city to visit. It fell to 45th this year, below such cities as Oakland, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.Honolulu ranked ninth in the 2009 survey but dropped to 20th this year, below Minneapolis, Austin and Detroit.

Most hospitality experts blame what they call the “AIG affect” for the drop in hotel and restaurant prices at cities with a reputation for luxury and frivolity.After the insurance giant American International Group Inc.took a federal bailout in 2008, it hosted a junket for senior executives at the St. Regis Monarch Beach resort and was then stung by public outrage. Since then, image-conscious executives have avoided holding corporate meetings in places known for fun and opulence.

“There is still a huge residual from the AIG affect,” said Carl Winston, the director of the hospitality and tourism management program at San Diego State University.Los Angeles dropped to 16th on the list this year from 13th in 2009, based on cheaper car rental rates.Prank tells guests to break windowYou are asleep in a hotel room, and a frantic caller warns you that the building is on fire, instructing you to pull the fire alarm and break the window.

The American Hotel & Lodging Assn. has issued a warning, telling hotel guests to think twice before following such instructions. Prank callers have been victimizing hotel guests in California, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Nebraska, the trade group warned.The group advises hotel guests who get such a call to phone the front desk to see if the emergency is legitimate.In Orlando, Fla., the victim of such a prank busted a hotel window with part of a toilet after his wife took the call. “When I broke the window, I got suspicious,” the hotel guest told the Orlando Sentinel. “It didn’t seem right, but she was panicking, so I continued.”

Global airlines are undergoing a surprisingly strong recovery with Asian and Latin American carriers leading the way

GENEVA Global airlines are undergoing a surprisingly strong recovery with Asian and Latin American carriers leading the way, the leading industry group said Thursday as it halved its loss forecast for 2010 to $2.8 billion.The International Air Transport Association said carriers began bouncing back late last year, and have continued to see stronger demand after posting record losses during the global economic crisis. The group also lowered its 2009 loss estimate to $9.4 billion from $11 billion because of the year-end rally.”We are starting to see some blue skies ahead of us,” said IATA chief executive Giovanni Bisignani.The group, which represents 240 airline companies worldwide, had predicted in December that 2010 losses would total $5.6 billion because of the “extraordinarily low” yields airlines are generating – the average price someone pays to fly one mile.

Yields are now expected to improve 2 percent for passenger planes, and 3.1 percent for cargo traffic this year, despite a glut of planes on the market and lower corporate travel budgets. Both key statistics dived 14 percent in 2009.Passenger demand should grow 5.6 percent for the year, while cargo demand could jump 12 percent, IATA added. It said strong growth in Asia and Latin America was offsetting lagging demand in Europe and the United States.”We are seeing a definite two-speed industry,” Bisignani told reporters. He noted that American and European travelers may take a longer time to return to higher-priced business class seats for short-haul flights, and said markets in their regions continued to contract.

European carriers are expected to post a $2.2 billion loss, the largest in the world, while North American airlines could lose $1.8 billion because of a jobless recovery and poor consumer confidence, the group said. By contrast, Asian-Pacific companies could make $2.7 billion and Latin American carriers another $800 million.Bisignani said 2010 represents the halfway point in a recovery effort that could take three years – even if that still doesn’t mean profits. Airlines should generate $44 billion in revenues more than last year, but that is still be $43 billion below the industry’s 2008 peak, he said.IATA warned, however, that higher fuel costs would hamper any industrywide rebound. It is now gauging an average oil price of $79 a barrel for the year, meaning $132 billion in costs for carriers. That’s over a quarter of all operating costs.

“Oil is a wild card,” Bisignani conceded.Speaking on industry developments, he noted over 30 airlines were knocked out of business since the crisis began and that carriers have lost nearly $50 billion in the last decade. They now hold over $200 billion in debts.”This is not the time for increases in salaries or prices for services,” Bisignani said, without mentioning specifically Lufthansa’s strike last month or similar action threatened at British Airways.”It’s certainly not the time for strikes,” he said. “All the partners need to work together to get out of these red numbers.”(AP)

An American Airlines flight from Miami Tuesday night overshot a runway during a heavy rainstorm in Kingston,

American Airlines

KINGSTON, Jamaica An American Airlines flight from Miami Tuesday night overshot a runway during a heavy rainstorm in Kingston, injuring dozens of people, officials said. There were no reports of fatalities.Flight 331 took off from Miami International Airport at 8:52 p.m. and arrived at Norman Manley International Airport at 10:22 p.m. It originated at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.CJamaican Information Minister Daryl Vaz said “the airplane is broken in two” and that 29 people were taken to Kingston Public Hospital. He said some others were taken elsewhere and treated at the airport. All passengers were off the plane that normally carries 140 people plus the crew, said American Airlines spokesman Charley Wilson.

Those getting off the plane were bleeding, mostly from the upper parts of their bodies. Officials did not know the extent of the injuries,Passenger Pilar Abaurrea described a chaotic scene as the plane skidded along the runway in heavy rain.

“All of a sudden, when it hit the ground, the plane was kind of bouncing, someone said the plane was skidding and there was panic,” Abaurrea of Keene, N.H. said in a telephone interview.

Kingston Policeman Oneil Hinds at police headquarters said officers at the scene reported the plane ran off the end of the runway.As the crew opened the emergency exits and people scrambled to get off, 62-year-old Abaurrea and her husband, Gary Wehrwein, noticed a number of people with injuries, including one person who had a cut on his head from falling baggage.

Abaurrea said she had pain in her neck and back from the impact and her husband had pain in a shoulder from falling luggage, but were otherwise unhurt. “I’m a little bit shook up but OK,” she said.

Abaurrea said the entire flight was very turbulent, with the crew being forced to halt the beverage service three times before finally giving it up. Just before landing the pilot warned of more turbulence but said it likely wouldn’t be much worse than what they had experienced so far, she said.