Travel

The communications breakdown last week that resulted in air traffic controllers losing radar and radio contact with the pilots of planes they were guiding into Newark Liberty International Airport has happened at least two other times since August, a current veteran controller told NBC News on Tuesday.And at least eight or nine times in recent months, controllers lost radio contact with pilots flying into one of the nation's busiest airports, said the Newark airspace controller who asked not to be identified.“We lost all radios! No backups!" the controller said. "Everything went down."The Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the claims Tuesday.This comes a week after controllers in Area C of the Philadelphia TRACON, which guides flig...

After years of delays, people boarding flights domestically in the United States will need to present REAL ID-compliant forms of identification at airports in a major change for travelers across the country.As of Wednesday, certain standard driver’s licenses and other identification cards will no longer meet federal standards for people seeking to fly within the United States and for access to some federal facilities, according to the Department of Homeland Security.Residents have scrambled to motor vehicle offices nationwide to upgrade their IDs to meet the deadline, and state officials have warned about overcrowding and long lines.As the policy is set to take effect this week, here’s what you need to know about REAL ID.What is a REAL ID?A REAL ID is a security-enhanced, state-issued d...

Air traffic controllers temporarily lost communication with aircraft flying in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport last week, an incident that has continued causing major delays at the travel hub.Last Monday, a ground stop was issued at Newark airport due to a Federal Aviation Administration equipment malfunction. The administration has still not clarified what the equipment malfunction was.During the incident, air traffic controllers in Area C of the Philadelphia TRACON, a traffic control facility that guides flights in and out of Newark, lost communication with aircraft traveling to and from the airport, making them unable to see, hear, or talk to them, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). The air traffic controllers are in charge of "sepa...

The skies above the Garden State are not so friendly this weekend if you’re flying into or out of New Jersey’s Newark Liberty Airport.Delays averaged just under two hours out of Newark by early Saturday afternoon, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.United CEO Scott Kirby said his airline had to cancel dozens of flights at Newark following a chaotic week of travel that left some passengers dealing with massive delays.United Airlines airplanes sit parked at gates while others proceed to a runway at Newark Liberty International Airport in New York City on Feb. 20, 2025, in Newark, N.J.Gary Hershorn / Getty Images file“United is committed to doing absolutely everything in our power to minimize the impact that this will have on customers and so we are unilaterally cancelling 35...

Portugal's Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said Monday he did not know what caused the blackout but said “everything indicates” that it originated in neighboring Spain. His Spanish counterpart Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Monday he was also not sure what caused the problem.“It is better not to speculate,” Sanchez said Monday.Videos on social media and verified by NBC News showed residents of both countries cheering as power was slowly restored late Monday. People could be heard cheering and clapping in celebration in both Madrid and Barcelona as streets suddenly lit up.Some might have preferred the blackout to go on for just a little longer. Residents in Barcelona and Madrid poured to the streets amid the mayhem, taking the opportunity to disconnect, dance and enjoy picnic in the ci...

A disgruntled former Disney employee was sentenced to three years in prison for hacking into a menu-creating system used by the park's restaurants to falsely say foods were safe from certain "allergies, when they were not," Florida federal prosecutors said Thursday. Michael Scheuer, a 40-year-old Winter Garden resident, pleaded guilty earlier in January to several computer-related crimes, authorities said.After a contentious termination in June 2024 from his job as menu production manager at Walt Disney World, prosecutors say Scheuer accessed the company's internal menu-building system and modified food listings."These intrusions included manipulating allergen information in restaurant menus to indicate that food items were safe for customers with certain allergies, when they were not,"...

Despite a downturn in foreign tourism and broader economic uncertainty, Frontier CEO Barry Biffle remains optimistic about the budget airline’s future.“People think that there’s some kind of Armageddon going to happen,” Biffle said in an exclusive interview with “NBC Nightly News” correspondent Hallie Jackson that airs Sunday. “I think that as we look here today, I’m optimistic.”Travel experts have been sounding the alarm amid President Donald Trump’s global trade war, warning that a year that was initially projected to be profitable for the tourism industry could instead face an economic downturn.Before Trump announced a 90-day pause on most of his proposed tariffs, Delta CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC last week that air travel has all but stalled for both leisure and business travel.“I thin...

A few Canadians are still stopping by the Blaine visitor center, said local Chamber of Commerce Secretary Carroll Solomon, but it’s often just to use the public bathroom.A few yards away one recent Sunday, Trent Arce and Gary Farrow were chatting by the welcome sign at the town entrance that reads “Blaine, Washington, the Peace Arch City,” referring to its 67-foot monument to bilateral concord. The two co-workers at a nearby cold storage facility weren’t too worried about the dearth of Canadians.Blaine’s Peace Arch commemorates U.S.-Canadian relations.David Jaewon Oh for NBC NewsTrump “is very wild with the things he says and does,” shrugged Arce, a transplant from Georgia.“People will get over it,” said Farrow, a Blaine native. “I think it will go away.”Blaine Mayor Mary Lou Steward ha...

A plane carrying five members of the U.S. House of Representatives was clipped by another aircraft on the ground at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., on Thursday, officials said. U.S. Reps. Nick LaLota, R-NY, Grace Meng, D-NY, and Josh Gottheimer, D-NJ, all confirmed to NBC News they were aboard the American Airlines plane that was clipped at about 12:45 p.m.Two of those lawmakers also confirmed that U.S. Reps Adriano Espaillat and Ritchie Torres, both Democrats from New York, were also aboard that craft. Both planes were connected to American Airlines, the FAA and airline both said."American Eagle flight 5490, operated by PSA Airlines, made contact on a DCA taxiway with American Eagle flight 4522, operated by Republic Airways," American Airlines said in a statement....

Florida investigators identified a pair of teenagers whose bodies were found in an airliner's landing gear after a New York City-to-Fort Lauderdale flight back in January, officials said on Tuesday.It took the use of "extensive DNA testing" for detectives to name Jeik Aniluz Lusi, 18, and Elvis Borques Castillo, 16, according to statement by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.Both teens were from the Dominican Republic, Sheriff's spokesperson Carey Codd added.Their bodies were found late at night on Jan. 6 after JetBlue Flight 1801 landed at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.Flight 1801 took off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport that evening at 7:49 and landed in South Florida at 11:10 p.m.That particular craft had also made a stop on Jan. 5 in Puerto ...