Investigations tips

Executives from five major U.S. airlines are set to be grilled Wednesday on Capitol Hill over those pesky add-on fees that regularly cause passengers to pay far more than the base price of a plane ticket.

Sweden has formally asked China to cooperate in explaining the recent rupture of two data cables on the Baltic Sea bed in an area where a China-flagged vessel had been sighted.

Authorities at London's Gatwick Airport have said a security alert that forced the evacuation of one of the terminals and delayed dozens of flights has been "resolved and cleared by police".

The South Terminal at London Gatwick Airport (LGW) was evacuated this morning after a suspicious item was found in a piece of luggage.

Over the last few years, the federal government has shown an increasing interest in credit cards and points and miles. Much of this originated with the proposed Credit Card Competition Act, but it has since expanded to major airlines and the loyalty programs they offer. Incidentally, the two original cosponsors of the CCCA were the first to call for an investigation into these frequent flyer programs — a call that ultimately led to the announcement of a formal probe by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Unite Here, a national hospitality labor group with members currently on strike across several U.S. cities, is calling on state attorneys general to investigate hotel loyalty programs for what the labor group says are deceptive practices and devalued awards.

Allen Onyema, the CEO and founder of Nigeria's Air Peace airline, has been charged with obstruction of justice in the US, adding to previous charges of bank fraud and money laundering.

The Transportation Department announced on Thursday that it was investigating the rewards programs of the country’s four biggest airlines, part of the agency’s continuing efforts to bolster protections for air travelers.

The U.S. Department of Transportation launched a formal investigation on Thursday into the frequent flyer programs of the four biggest domestic airlines, targeting what the department described as the "fairness, transparency, predictability, and competitiveness of airlines' rewards programs."

On the outside, credit cards and debit cards look very similar: Both have 15-16 digits, expiration dates and security codes.

Brazilian investigators on Saturday began analyzing the black boxes from a São Paulo-bound flight to try to understand why the passenger plane fell from 17,000 feet on Friday, in a crash that killed all 62 on board.

Delta's flight disruptions have continued as hundreds of flights were canceled and delayed on Tuesday, which has now led to the Department of Transportation to open an investigation into the airline.

Dear Anonymous Kind Stranger Who Didn’t Include a Return Address:

Next time you think about getting a gift card from the display rack as a last-minute gift, you might want to think again. According to the Federal Trade Commission, gift card scams accounted for $217 million of the more than $10 billion U.S. consumers lost to financial scams in 2023.

Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to misleading U.S. safety regulators. According to a court filing, the plane-maker will formally acknowledge guilt and accept additional punishment due to its recent actions. These center on dealings with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following fatal crashes involving the company’s 737 Max aircraft in 2018 and 2019.

Boeing drew fresh criticism from a federal regulator on Thursday over disclosures about the continuing investigation into a harrowing January flight in which one of the company’s 737 Max planes lost a panel, exposing passengers to howling winds at an altitude of about 16,000 feet.

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun was questioned by senators on Tuesday over a host of issues, ranging from mounting whistleblower allegations to his own pay. 

Now both major airplane manufacturers are under scrutiny.

Managers at Boeing's largest factory in Everett, Washington, "will hound mechanics" to keep quiet about safety and quality assurance concerns, a mechanic who has worked for the company for more than three decades told The Guardian.

When they felt their plane lurch and plummet, Ade Tan and Amos Chan, both 28, barely had time to react.

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