Airlines

After entering her assigned row on Icelandair Flight No. 656, Elin Phifer bent over, placed two carry-on bags under the seat in front of hers, stood up, and struck her head on an overhead television monitor, which was extended in the down position. Phifer collapsed and was assisted to her seat by her husband and an Icelandair flight attendant.

The airline industry is again asking the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) or more time — now a full year — to comply with portions of the DOT’s new rules on the disclosure and implementation of baggage fees on multi-carrier routings. When the DOT adopted the rules in April, it set an August effective date, then changed that to January when carriers claimed they needed more time to reprogram their systems. Now the airlines are saying the five-month delay was not nearly enough.

A Taiwanese tourist accused Hong Kong Dragon Airlines of discrimination for letting Hong Kong passengers switch to a Cathay Pacific flight while denying her the same arrangement after her flight was grounded by tire problems on Oct. 20. Dragon Airlines said that it had not discriminated against any passenger but that the Hong Kong passengers were more eligible for transfer because they did not have checked baggage. The carrier said it will continue its current practice of allowing passengers with no checked baggage to switch planes in the future.

The European Union and the United States have initialled a new agreement on the transfer of air passengers' data for flights from the EU to the US. If adopted by the European Parliament and EU Member States in the Council of Ministers, the new agreement on Passenger Name Records (PNR) will replace the current agreement from 2007, improving data protection whilst providing an efficient tool to fight serious transnational crime and terrorism.