Travel

A Chicago-area mansion once owned by all-time NBA great Michael Jordan is now listed on Airbnb, offering high-end travelers the chance to vacation like a six-time champion. Champions Point is a seven-bedroom, 17.5-bath estate on 7.39 acres that can accommodate 12 guests, according to the Airbnb listing and property owner John Cooper. The home, in Highland Park, Illinois, has a stunning price tag and requires a minimum seven-night stay. For example, a weeklong respite over Labor Day weekend, checking in on Aug. 29 and out on Sept. 5, would cost $120,920.The mansion's grand entry.Champions Point LLCThe mansion features a movie theater, commercial gym, cigar lounge, wine cellar, pool tables, bars, salon, saltwater aquariums and — of course — a full-size basketball court. “This estate was b...

Travel woes are likely for Fourth of July revelers with planned trips starting Thursday due to stormy weather. Thirty-nine million people from Philadelphia to Maine in the Northeast corridor are at risk of extreme weather as severe storms are forecast today.The storms could see 60 mph wind gusts and hail up to one inch in diameter. The turbulent weather is forecast to develop after lunchtime on Thursday and last through the evening, potentially lingering overnight.The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center said there’s a slight risk level of severe thunderstorms over parts of the Northern Plains, Northeast and mid-Atlantic on Thursday. New York City will see scattered storms from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET, Philadelphia from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., and Boston from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.In Ne...

Indeed, Tourism Economics found travel spending by U.S. residents abroad rose 8.6% in the first four months of the year from the same period a year earlier. “This indicates continued U.S. outbound demand,” the firm said.While the economy and household finances always influence travel demand, “today those factors are looking to have more of a negative impact than positive one,” said Nicki Zink, deputy head of industry analysis at the market research firm Morning Consult.In the group’s recent survey, 31% of consumers said both the state of the U.S. economy and personal financial pressures are reducing their interest in leisure travel in the next three months, “higher than any other factor we survey about,” said Zink.For its own part, the tourism market research firm Future Partners found ...

It’s now OK to keep your shoes on at the airport.The Transportation Safety Administration will allow passengers at airports across the country to keep their footwear on as they go through security checkpoints, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters Tuesday.The new policy is nationwide and takes effect immediately, said Noem, whose department oversees the TSA.While the rule may not apply to passengers who need additional layers of screening, Noem said, it will be the norm for most people going forward. "With this no-shoes policy, we anticipate that Americans and travelers and those coming into our country will be very excited they will no longer have to remove their shoes," she said.Noem attributed the change to a review of the agency's security and screening protocols t...

A Delta jet experienced engine problems on what was supposed to be a trans-Atlantic flight and landed on an island in the middle of the ocean, leading to a more than 31-hour delay, officials said Thursday.Flight 127 left Madrid on Sunday, bound for New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, when it had "to divert to Lajes, Azores (TER) after indication of a mechanical issue with an engine," according to an airline statement.A satellite image of the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. Planet Observer / Getty ImagesThe Airbus A330 had 282 customers and 13 crew members on board, Delta said.The passengers and crew "deplaned via stairs at TER" and "were accommodated overnight in area hotels and provided meals," the airline added.They were taken off the island in Po...

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced on Thursday that the TSA will open security lanes dedicated to families and military service members.“Families on the Fly" will create dedicated security lines for families with small children and give families a $15 discount for TSA pre-check enrollment, Noem said at a press conference at Nashville International Airport. The new policy has already begun a pilot program at an airport in Orlando, Florida, home to Disney World, Noem added.“This means that when families come into our airports and enter our TSA security checkpoints, they will have dedicated lanes specific for families,” Noem said. “They’ll be expanded areas that will give them the benefit of recognizing that they have children with them, and will help make sure that we ha...

Over 140 passengers and crew members aboard a Royal Caribbean International cruise ship were sickened by a gastrointestinal illness that led to vomiting and diarrhea, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outbreak happened on the Navigator of the Seas ship during its July 4 to 11 voyage, the CDC said. The ship sailed from Los Angeles to a few stops in Mexico, including Cabo San Lucas, and back again, according to Gangwaze, which tracks cruise routes. The outbreak was reported on July 11 to the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program, which works to prevent and control the spread of gastrointestinal illnesses on cruise ships. Cruise ships are required to report such outbreaks to the CDC. According to the CDC, 134 out of 3,914 passengers onboard reported being ill durin...

A SkyWest flight had to perform a go-around maneuver after it nearly collided with a B-52 bomber Friday before landing in North Dakota. The air traffic control tower had cleared the plane to approach the airport, but the pilot "performed a go-around when another aircraft became visible in their flight path," SkyWest said in a statement. The SkyWest pilot identified the second plane as a B-52 bomber. The Air Force said Sunday evening that it was "looking into" reports of a military aircraft “operating in the same airspace” as a commercial airplane. It added that a B-52 assigned to Minot Air Force Base had conducted a flyover of the North Dakota State Fair on Friday evening. Delta Flight 3788, operated by SkyWest, landed safely in Minot, North Dakota, after it flew in from Minneapolis, th...

Alaska Airlines and its regional subsidiary, Horizon Air, requested a ground stop to all flights Sunday night because of a computer system outage.The request to federal authorities kept Alaska and Horizon flights out of the air until the Federal Aviation Administration said the stop was lifted after 2 a.m. ET. Monday.In a statement earlier, Alaska said that the outage involved its information technology network and that it was "impacting our operations."“We are experiencing issues with our IT systems. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to resolve the issues," read a message on the airline's website.Even as the problem is now resolved, it could have a lasting effect and cause delays to the airlines' schedules through Monday."There will be residual impacts to our operation...

LONDON — Ellen DeGeneres has made no secret of her new British life, posting social media clips of sheep charmingly trotting into her luxury rural home while she mows the lawn of the sprawling estate, her trademark hair now natural and undyed.On Sunday she confirmed for the first time that she moved to the United Kingdom permanently for one reason: the election of President Donald Trump in November.“We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, ‘He got in.’ And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here,” she told an audience at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, central England.After her long-running talk show ended amid allegations of workplace bullying, DeGeneres, 67, bought a home in England’s picturesque Cotswolds re...