Air Travel

In a letter about the Norwegian cruise line Hurtigruten (Bellevue, WA; 866/552-0371, www.hurtigruten.us), a reader complained about their policy of not permitting guests to take their own water to the dinner table (July ’15, pg. 26). 

A commercial flight from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to Moscow, Russia, operated by Russian airline Metrojet crashed in the Sinai Peninsula on Oct. 31 killing all 224 people on board, mostly Russians.

Investigations indicated that the crash was due to an explosive device that had been placed on the plane before takeoff. Islamist militant group ISIL claimed responsibility, sharing an image of the bomb they reportedly used. Egyptian authorities arrested two employees of the Sharm el-Sheikh airport on suspicion of assisting with the bombing. 

After giving Thailand’s Department of Civil Aviation 65 days from July 18, 2015, to correct national air service safety-standard issues, including a lack of qualified inspectors and improper testing procedures (Sept. ’15, pg. 2), the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded Thailand’s civil aviation authority from Category 1 to Category 2 on Dec. 2 after a 30-day review showed that standards had not been met. 

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 479th issue of your monthly foreign travel magazine.

I saw the item stating that travelers no longer will be able to get pages added to their US passports after Dec. 31, 2015 (Aug. ’15, pg. 58).

While serving as a volunteer for Travelers Aid International (www.travelersaid.org)* at Washington Dulles International Airport in 2012, I heard about a case in which Immigration agents in South Africa had refused to check in a passenger who didn’t have enough blank pages (six, I think) in his/her passport.** 

My letter about the best day on which to book certain domestic flights on United Airlines was printed under the title “Wednesday’s Fares” (Aug. ’15, pg. 50). 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has upgraded Nicaraguan carriers from Category 2 to Category 1 in their International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA), due to that nation’s compliance with the International Civil Aviation Authority’s regulations.