Like Starbucks baristas before them, airline workers are going back to school...or at least mandatory training sessions. JFK airport is gearing up for a busy summer of travel, and they're preparing to meet delays and frustrated airline passengers head-on, and with a happy face. At least 500 employees are getting "nice" training; from the AirTran to the parking lot to the ticket booth, travelers should be greeted with a smile -- albeit a forced one.......

Surveillance video image of Phoenix airport police restraining Carol Gotbaum Six months after Carol Gotbaum died in police custody at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport, her family has filed an $8 million notice of claim against the city of Phoenix, saying "members of the Phoenix Police Department used excessive and unreasonable force on Carol, as if she was a dangerous criminal, rather than as the sick, intoxicated and vulnerable person she was." Gotbaum, married to......

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......

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......

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......

"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,......

As if the Giants didn’t have enough to worry about heading into their Super Bowl matchup with the Patriots, the flu bug is going around the team. (Note: stop eating now) Aaron Ross was so sick yesterday that the Giants’ charter flight was delayed an hour to clean up the mess. The New York training staff has been giving the players every type of preventative medicine they can come up with to ward off the......

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......

We think NYC area hospitals should be on alert: TMZ reports that Britney Spears is headed to NYC. Well, if not NYC, something close:"Spears left Van Nuys Airport at 4:00 PM PT this afternoon. We're told Brit Brit, Adnan and one other male passenger were on the plane. The plane is about to land at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Next stop ... unknown."Coupled with earlier TMZ reports about Spears apparently needing treatment for "severe......

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......

John and Annette Ferranti certainly did not feel they were in good hands with the Allstate Insurance Company, after Allstate refused to pay their homeowners damage claim they insist was caused by an Air France Concorde jet. The insurance company, which had wanted to appeal appeal a jury award of $1.15 million to the Mill Basin couple, finally agreed to pay the Ferrantis $995,000. On July 21, 2002, the Ferrantis say that the Air......

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......

In what seems to be separate incidents, NJ Transit and PATH commuters are facing a rough Thursday morning commute into the city. The NJ Transit issue is a downed wire just west of Newark Penn Station. Riders on the Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast Line, and Raritan Valley Lines have delays of at least 60 minutes. According to NJ Transit, Amtrak is working on fixing the problem but "commuters are encouraged to seek alternative transportation."......

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......

Why wasn't this monkey in the care of a zoo or someone who was qualified to care for monkeys? The Feds are nothing but a bunch of incompetent buffoons...

Come next year, when you're flying in and out of JFK, your flight may be slightly less delayed than it's been in the past. U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced a plan today to reduce the number of hourly flights at JFK International Airport to 82 or 83 flights, depending on the time of day. That would be down from 95 this past summer and what would have been 104 an hour next summer. Secretary......

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......

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......

The Maricopa County medical examiner found that the death of a New Yorker in police custody at the Phoenix airport was an accident. Carol Gotbaum, who was flying from NYC to Tucson with a stopover in Phoenix, died of "asphyxia by hanging" on September 28. Gotbaum, stepdaughter-in-law of Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, had been traveling alone to check into alcohol rehabilitation. When she missed her connection to Tucson, she became upset and disruptive, and......

When it comes to driving routes for a JFK airport pickup, George Costanza advocates taking the Grand Central to the Van Wyck, deriding Kramer’s L.I.E. route as a “suicide mission.” In the current New York Magazine cover story, “How to Escape Airport Hell”, the editors invited chauffeur Kevin Sullivan to weigh in. While he comes down squarely on Costanza’s side, he also shares some invaluable alternative routes to all three airports in the unlikely......

Witnesses told police that Carol Gotbaum was "teary" during her flight from New York to Phoenix, according to new documents released by the Phoenix Police Department. Another witness says the mother of three, who was traveling to Tucson for alcohol rehabilitation, may have also ordered an alcoholic drink during the flight. Carol Gotbaum became upset when she missed her connection to Tucson, yelling and throwing things, and the Phoenix police took her into custody. She......

The man who breached security at JFK Airport on Tuesday, after entering the restricted areas by walking through the exit lane near security screening and caused two terminals to be evacuated as the TSA and other authorities searched for him, was arrested yesterday in Albany. Authorities say that William Contreras Ramos, who managed to board his plane to the state capitol, had a 4-inch razor in his carry-on bag and was charged with carrying a......

Just what JFK Airport and the Transportation Security Administration needed: A passenger security breach! Last night, a passenger managed to venture to the gates by walking through the exit line - not the security screening line - which then caused all sorts of chaos. A security guard saw the passenger walk by but "could not immediately locate the passenger" so the TSA was notified and the agency worked with Delta and law enforcement to find......

Today at noon, animal advocates will be holding a rally outside the Port Authority's headquarters at 225 Park Avenue South (between 18th and 19th Streets) to protest the PA's decision to round up feral cats at JFK Airport. The rally is organized by Neighborhood Cats and In Defense of Animals, two of many rescue groups who question the agency's reasoning that cats pose a danger to air traffic safety. In fact, Neighborhood Cats offers......

The Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals thinks the Port Authority is a liar when it comes to how the agency will handle the the tens to possibly hundreds of cats it hopes to trap from the grounds of JFK Airport. The Port Authority ramped up its cat trapping efforts, claiming that cats were a danger to air safety and passengers, since leftover food (much of it given by airport and airline workers) would attract rodents......