The Queens DA announced that two American Airlines baggage handlers at JFK Airport were charged with stealing $280,000 of jewelry from a suitcase checked in and bound for Los Angeles. Apparently Albert Acevedo and Angelo Riviello had a code to let each other know about certain bags; in this instance, Riviello said, "Wow, that’s heavy," and Acevedo, baggage crew head, came over and opened the bag. Acevedo took some of the suitcase's envelopes and later......

The federal Department of Transportation has been looking to reduce congestion at airports, especially the NYC-area ones, but the Port Authority says auctioning departure and arrival slots would "have a severe negative impact” and “would be illegal without Congressional authorization.” The Port Authority said today it will deny any flights at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark that are result of government auction. Hmm, that sounds like a good way to reduce congestion!......

The world's largest passenger airliner touched down at JFK yesterday. The NY Daily News has a thorough description of the "superjumbo jet" that includes amenities such as an on-board lounge with a massage system, bathrooms where passengers can shower, and an entertainment system with more than 1,200 channels to choose from. The Emirates Airbus A380 completed its 13 1/2 hour flight from Dubai in such comfort that passengers "felt like they had just emerged from......

Yesterday's glitch with American Airlines' baggage system that delayed flights and kept checked bags from traveling with their owners is now, as of 6 a.m., fixed, but some prior flights were canceled. An AA spokesman told the AP baggage was sorted by hand yesterday and they are "marked and ready to go to their destinations." It's still unclear what caused the system to fail (it's only a year old). And while most of the affected......

Yesterday afternoon, a Delta Air Lines flight headed for Salt Lake City from JFK didn't get too far: One of the plane's tires blew out during takeoff, forcing the plane to circle the airport and dump fuel before making an emergency landing back at JFK. The AP reports, "Passengers say they heard a loud explosion and started praying." According to Delta, there were no injuries and passengers are being rebooked to other flights. Additionally, it's......

After two incidents where planes nearly hit each other at JFK Airport, the FAA is offering ways to increase runway safety. One is to use a system of warning lights (sort of like traffic lights) that will change color to let pilots know when runways can cross--the near hits at JFK occurred on its perpendicular runways--and will be installed at JFK and LaGuardia. The FAA is also offering a $100K salary incentive for veterans air......

The FAA made immediate changes to the take off and landing procedures at JFK Airport, after two jets came within 600 feet of crashing into each other yesterday afternoon. The incident was the second near collision at the airport in a week, and personnel from the National Transportation Safety Board were at JFK investigating the circumstances of the first incident when the second occurred. According to the New York Post, a Boeing 757 arriving from......

Air traffic controllers say two planes were within 100 feet of colliding at JFK Airport this past weekend. The FAA is investigating (it hasn't heard of such an incident yet), and a spokesperson for one of the airlines allegedly involved said the claim from air traffic controllers was "false." However, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association says the incident occurred on Saturday, between two passengers planes on runways perpendicular to each other. According to the......

A business consultant is accused of "falsely claiming there was a bomb in her suitcase" after she was unable to get onto her JetBlue flight at JFK Airport last week. According to the complaint filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court, Rosalinda Baez was trying to argue her way onto the plane after the jetway closed. Baez allegedly told a flight attendant, "What if I had a bomb in my bag? Well, I have a bomb in......

His Holiness has arrived! Pope Benedict XVI arrived at JFK Airport this morning (NY1's Roger Clark excitedly noted the flight from DC was shorter than expected) and was greeted by various Catholic Church and political dignitaries. Some children from local Catholic schools presented him flowers. From JFK, the Pope took a helicopter to Wall Street and then traveled by car to the United Nations, where he is about to address the General Assembly. (You......

Image of firefighters trying to put out overturned fuel tanker fire in Queens from WNBC A two-alarm fire was ignited on the Van Wyck Expressway when a tanker crashed near North Conduit Avenue - and JFK Airport - around noon. The driver could not escape and died in the blaze. The was extinguished by 1:30PM, but WCBS 2 reported, "A sea of foam covered the ramp and surrounding ground area, even catching fire at......

American Airlines refuted a family's claims that a Brooklyn woman died because of faulty equipment and attention. The airline's spokesman said, "American Airlines, after investigation, has determined that oxygen was administered on the aircraft, and it was working." Carine Desir, a nurse who was flying from Haiti back to NYC with her brother and cousin, started to feel thirsty and later had trouble breathing. According to her cousin Antonio Oliver, they asked for oxygen which......

Some dogs traveling to the U.S. from Iraq weren't dogs of war or trained to sniff explosives. Instead, they provided a little comfort and unconditional love to soldiers stuck in a war zone. With the help of the International SPCA's Baghdad Pups program, two dogs named Liberty and K-Pot have been adopted by soldiers' families. Because the military doesn't allow units to take adopted dogs with them when they move, soldiers either had to turn......

On Friday, a woman traveling from Haiti to New York City died on the American Airlines flight. Her cousin say the crew initially refused to give her oxygen and that when they did, the oxygen tanks were empty and the defibrillator wasn't working. Carine Desir, who lives in Brooklyn and is a nurse, "collapsed an hour into the flight." She was traveling with her brother Joel Desir and cousin Antonio Oliver, who tried to get......

Any color you like, by Unlisted Sightings at flickr; Artist: Jim Lambie at MoMA.Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on East 39th St. in Manhattan, a large fight on 2nd Ave. in Manhattan, and a child in cardiac arrest on Pitt St. in Manhattan. Police in Nassau County are conducting an active homicide investigation in New Cassel, after they were called to a home where three children--all under the age of seven--were found......

Photograph of someone determined to get around in the snow by Charley Lhasa on Flickr After January hype - which resulted in rain - and a brief moment of snow last week, a winter snow storm finally made an appearance this year. Two weather disturbances resulted in many inches of snow falling in the region: By 2PM, more than 6 inches fell in the city, which is the biggest snowfall in two years and......

Workers are almost done dismantling the 317 feet long, 23 feet wide stained-glass exterior to the American Airlines’ vacant Terminal 8 building. The red, blue and white wall, comprised of 900 panes of glass, was designed by artist Robert Sowers and was completed in 1960; at the time it was the world’s largest stained-glass window and the first to heavily incorporate stained glass in a secular building, an aesthetic that soon became fashionable. The 48-year-old......

A 7-year-old New York City boy has joined a growing number of children who’ve had the horrifying experience of getting their feet mangled by escalators while wearing popular plastic clogs made by Crocs. The boy’s mother says the accident happened in a Kentucky airport: ”All of a sudden I hear this excruciating screaming from Nicky and I turn around and his little foot is being sucked into the side of the escalator. It's just like......

"The skin was peeled off her toe; it's a pretty horrifying injury,” says the lawyer representing the family of a 3-year-old girl in a $7 million lawsuit against the Colorado-based footwear company Crocs. The girl, Emma Hochberg of Westchester, was wearing pink clogs when she got caught in an escalator at JFK Airport, chewing up her big toe and causing “severe and permanent” injuries. There have been similar incidents of children getting stuck in escalators......

Queens DA Richard Brown announced an off-duty NYPD detective and his girlfriend were charged with promoting the prostitution of a 13-year-old Brooklyn runaway. Brown said, “This case is every parent and every child’s worst nightmare – made even more frightening by the fact that one of the defendants is a police officer who swore to uphold the law and protect the community he serves.” Detective Wayne Taylor and a woman he claims is his wife,......

from her to you, by lisa.lisa at flickr Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on 173rd St. in Manhattan, a robbery/assault on 13th St. in Brooklyn, and an aircraft emergency at JFK airport in Queens. Barnard at Columbia has a new incoming president, snagged from Harvard Business School. Don't miss the Super Bowl sitting in your local precinct's drunk tank. Get your Super Brawling out of the way early the next time someone......

After talk of flight caps to help ease airport congestion that leave many travelers very irritable, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced another policy to help ease airport woes. The DOT will let airports charge airlines based on the time of day and volume of traffic their planes are landing in. Previously, aircraft was only charged based on plane weight. The hope, per the USDOT, is that "airports would be able to spread traffic more......

Would a bridge by any other name, bring you to JFK Airport just as smoothly as the Triborough? In all likelihood, yes, but the big question here is should it be renamed after JFK's younger brother, former New York senator Robert F. Kennedy. The NY Sun reports the Governor will address this during his State of the State address today, making him the latest governor to consider it. Governor Carey planned to rename it after......

The Dept. of Homeland Security is funding the installation of a number of anti-missile defense systems on commercial jets flying in and out of JFK Airport. The tests are the third stage of testing of a system that is already used by military aircraft. The defense system consists of equipment affixed to the bottom of the aircraft that electronically jams the heat-seeking component of shoulder filed missiles. The latter are referred to as man......

Authorities claim that a 22-year-old Jamaican man used his prosthetic legs to smuggle a kilo of cocaine into the country. The Daily News reports that wheelchair-bound Dean Stewart was, who wears two prosthetic legs, stopped at JFK Airport for a routine search when the drugs were discovered. Stewart aroused suspicion in a number of ways. He had claimed he couldn't remove the legs, and the feds noticed his ticket "had been purchased in cash three......

Just the kind of thing needed for everyone to continue questioning in the current air traffic control situation at area airports. Two planes almost collided on Sunday at JFK Airport. Senator Charles Schumer said that an air traffic controller said, "That was the closest I have ever seen two airplanes get together." According to the NY Times (also, see image at right), a "37-seat commuter jet" almost collided with a "Boeing 747 cargo jet on......

Another reassuring tale of airport security. At JFK Airport yesterday, an airport security screener was able to board a plane - without a ticket. Apparently the man wanted to go the United Arab Emirates to see off his parents, so somehow he managed to board an Etihad Airways flights without a ticket or boarding pass. And, according to the AP, "when the plane's doors shut, [he] told a flight attendant what he had done." We......

The Thanksgiving Day and Thanksgiving Day Eve have emerged as some of the busiest travel days of the year. While the media shows shots of crowded airports and train stations on the Wednesdays before Thanksgiving (like today), the Bureau of Transportation Statistics says that when personal vehicle travel is included into calculations, "Thanksgiving Day is actually a heavier long-distance travel day [to and from a destination more than 50 or more miles away] than......

Realizing that air traffic congestion is terrible and will be even worse next week during Thanksgiving holiday, President Bush announced that the FAA is working on new ideas, plus military airspace will be opened up for five days to civilian planes. If using military airspace (the "Thanksgiving Express Lane") works well this time around, it may reopened for the Christmas holidays. The other measures the President announced were: FAA will focus on preventing delays......

Yesterday, people gathered for the sixth anniversary of the fatal American Airlines Flight 587 crash in Belle Harbor, Queens. It was the second deadlist aviation crash in U.S. history, with 265 victims. Mayor Bloomberg led the ceremony, saying, "Once again, we have come together to remember all of them, and to share the sorrow that all of us feel." On November 12, 2001, the Dominican Republic-bound plane had taken off from JFK Airport; turbulent air......