| Airline fuel bills today are anything but peanuts and How not to be a 'Hangover' tourist |
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NEW YORK — To fly someone from New York to Los Angeles and back, airlines spend close to $330 these days " just on fuel.That's a 48 percent increase from last year and the main reason vacationers face record costs to fly this summer. To offset their single biggest expense, airlines have hiked fares seven times this year and raised fees for checking bags and other services.This has only added to the frustration of most casual fliers who see $59 fares advertised but are quoted prices well above $300 when they actually try to book. Americans' expectations of a cheap vacation are being destroyed by the reality of $100-a-barrel oil.This weekend's blockbuster "The Hangover Part II," a movie in which a perfectly innocent bachelor party takes several dark turns, is a cautionary tale for travelers."The passenger has to understand that the airline industry in the United States is not meant to be a low-cost mass transit system. [Read the full article] NAPLES, Italy — Italian police are holding two men suspected of trying to mug a Puerto Rican tourist in Naples who was knocked to the ground and died.Police in the southern Italian city said Tuesday that they have identified two men and are holding them at the police offices. Officials refused further comment.The victim, identified as 66-year-old Oscar Antonio Mendoza, was pushed to the ground by two muggers aboard a scooter after he resisted their attempt to grab his watch. The man had just arrived in Naples aboard a cruise ship on May 18, and was strolling with his wife near the port when he was attacked.Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.NAPLES, Italy — Italian police are holding two men suspected of trying to mug a Puerto Rican tourist in Naples who was knocked to the ground and died. [Read the full article] The Gibraltar Chronicle reported that there were also two injuries onshore, one of them serious. The AFP added that dense black smoke could be seen from the city center.Gabrielle Phillips, a Gibraltar resident who was at a playground with her son when the tank exploded, characterized the scene as "surreal." "At first there were gasps from the cruise ship passengers," she wrote in an e-mail to Cruise Critic. "But then they just watched on, very chilled out. My son didn't want to leave the playground, but there was a second container and I didn't want to be around for that explosion as well."The Gibraltar Chronicle reported that there were also two injuries onshore, one of them serious. The AFP added that dense black smoke could be seen from the city center. [Read the full article] 
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