With a demure smile and a garland of jasmine, Thailand has always welcomed the world. China and Japan may have screened themselves off for centuries, but the ancient kingdom of Siam, as Thailand was once known, thrived on trade and tourism. Even today, the country depends on visitors lured by golden spires and white-sand beaches. But on Nov. 25, Thailand abandoned its traditional hospitality when antigovernment agitators swarmed Bangkok's international airport, grounding one of Asia's busiest air hubs. ...

Like many flight attendants, William Conn, 30, of Miami, often took advantage of an airline practice called deadheading, in which employees hitch rides to work assigned flights in other cities. For almost a year, dressed in a Pan Am uniform, using an unauthorized ID number and traveling under the name B. Cohen, he jetted around the world on various Pan Am flights, virtually for free. As is customary, he usually pitched in to help the crew and even received letters of commendation from flight attendants and ...

The 23-year-old son of a banker from Nigeria should have tripped every alarm in the global aviation-security system put in place after 9/11: He bought a $2,831 ticket for flights from Lagos to Amsterdam to Detroit and paid for it in cash. He left no contact information with the airline. He checked no bags. Seven months earlier, he had earned himself a spot on a security watch list in Britain after applying for a visa to attend ...

The challenges inherent in getting a 162,000-pound aircraft off the ground and landing it safely are pretty obvious to most observers. But at cruising altitude, above 10,000 feet, pilots face a different critical challenge: staying focused."You can't read a novel, but you could read a manual about procedures or about the airplane," the former Boeing 767-400 pilot said. "You can't read a newspaper. You can't use a laptop. That's strictly prohibited." However, some airlines make documents, including manuals, available only ...

Federal aviation authorities are expected to suspend or revoke the licenses of the two Northwest Airline pilots involved in last week's overflight of the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, a federal official said.

Iceland is losing its only three McDonald's restaurants as a result of the poor economic situation in the country.

Every morning, Lisa Strong's 10-year-old son lifts her heavy prosthetic legs and screws them into the levers in her knees. He reaches for a pair of pants and pulls them up around her waist.The report identified the pilot as Timothy B. Cheney and the first officer as Richard I. Cole. "The pilot ... indicated they had become involved in conversation and had not heard radio communications," the report said. "They indicated there had been no involvement from anyone in the ...

A Northwest Airlines flight from San Diego, California, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, overshot the Minneapolis airport by about 150 miles Wednesday evening, and federal investigators are looking into whether the pilots had become distracted, as they claimed, or perhaps fallen asleep. Air traffic controllers lost radio communication with the Airbus A320, carrying 147 passengers and an unknown number of crew, when it was flying at 37,000 feet, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. There was no communication with Flight 188 ...

Like many things in Japan, the message is subtle. At least Japan's All Nippon Airways hopes it is, now that the nation's second largest airline has started quietly asking passengers in Japanese to use the bathroom before boarding 38 domestic flights and four international flights between Tokyo and Singapore. The request is part of the airline's "ecological flight" program, now in its fourth year, to reduce its carbon footprint by lightening planes' loads and reducing fuel consumption. Through ...

The global aviation industry has agreed to cut its net carbon emissions to half 2005 levels by 2050 under a plan to be set out on Tuesday by British Airways chief, Willie Walsh. Mr Walsh, who will outline the initiative at Tuesday's United Nations forum on climate change in New York, said it was the "best option for the planet" and should be taken up at the December Copenhagen summit, where world leaders are due to come up with a ...