Travel Briefs

April 2008 issue

Singapore airport

In Singapore, Changi Airport’s new Terminal 3 opened in January 2008. The 7-story building (three below ground and four above) has a roof with 900 skylights, and there is a 5-story-high vertical garden with four waterfalls. Along with an intra-airport train system connecting the three terminals, there are shopping and eating areas and a new hotel.

July 2009 issue

Cooling the Tube

Dealing with the heat on board the trains of London’s nearly 150-year-old Underground system has been a problem, especially in summer. The problem is that heat generated by conventional air-conditioning has to go somewhere.

Transport for London is working on multiple solutions, including improving existing ventilation shafts; tapping into underground aquifers to create water-based heat-exchange systems, and “hydro cooling,” using ice reservoirs and fan units.

As the infrastructure work continues, air-conditioned trains will be added to the system. The first cars, planned for...

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May 2009 issue

Rome carriage ban

The City Council of Rome voted March 4 to ban horse-drawn carriages on streets in the city center except on weekends. Monday to Friday, the city’s 44 botticelle (carriages) will be permitted to work in public parks such as the Borghese Gardens.

The city had attempted to regulate working conditions for the approximately 90 carriage horses, including mandating a 30-minute break after each trip and no work 1-5 p.m. during the hot months of June-September. These conditions were “routinely flouted,” according to a spokesman for the local animal-rights campaign. Also, two horses were...

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December 2009 issue

UAL’s ‘Premier Baggage’

United Airlines is offering an introductory annual subscription rate of $249 for its new “Premier Baggage” program, which allows subscribers and up to eight traveling companions (traveling on the same confirmation number) to check up to two bags each at no additional charge on domestic and international United- and United Express-operated flights for a one-year period. (Flights operated by another airline and connecting onto a United or United Express flight are subject to the standard fees of the originating carrier.)

Oversized, overweight and/or excess baggage fees still may apply...

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September 2010 issue

Cycle Lancaster

Britain’s Lancaster has 30 kilometers of off-road bike routes created from disused railway lines. Travelers can rent bikes for £1 per hour or £6 per day from Cyclepoint (at Lancaster Station, LA1 5NW; phone 01524 389410). Bikes can be delivered to other stations, such as to the Lake District.

June 2008 issue

‘Bumping’ regs revised

The U.S. Department of Transportation on April 14, 2008, revised the rules (Part 250) regarding the rights of passengers who are “bumped” (involuntarily denied boarding from an oversold flight) from any scheduled-service flight within or leaving the U.S., including those of foreign carriers. (Excluded are charter flights and planes with fewer than 30 seats.) The limits on the amounts that airlines must pay in compensation have increased; other changes are subtle. In this summary, the major changes are highlighted in bold.

When a flight is oversold (too many passengers for the seats...

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April 2008 issue

Chopper over Rome

The Hassler Roma hotel’s “Roman Skyline Package” includes a helicopter ride in Rome over the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica, the Colosseum and the Pantheon. 

Until Dec. 31, 2008, the package cost of €6,570 (near $9,800) per room, double occupancy, includes three nights in a Classic Suite, airport/hotel private transfer (a charge of €50 applies 9 p.m.-7 a.m.), dinners (excluding beverages), buffet breakfasts, a 30-minute helicopter ride (additional time with supplement), hotel/heliport limo transfer and more.

Call The Leading Hotels of the World at 800/223-6800 or contact...

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November 2009 issue

Kabuki-za, Ginza

The Kabuki-za Theatre (Ginza, Tokyo, Japan; phone, for info, 81 3 3541 3131 or, for tickets, 81 3 5565 6000, www.shochiku.co.jp/play/kabukiza/theater), a landmark in Tokyo’s Ginza district, will be demolished and rebuilt, due to the structure’s age. The first theater on the site was built in 1889, and it was rebuilt three times, last in 1950 (based on the 1924 building destroyed by fire). 

Farewell performances will be held January-April 2010, then productions will move to a new venue until the theater is rebuilt. Tickets cost ¥2,500-¥17,000 ($26-$178).