Put some flowers in your U.S. trips

Garden shows

If you didn't get enough of a gardening fix at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, which ends Sunday in Seattle, shows are popping up around the country.

In the West, they include:

• Portland Home and Garden Show, Tuesday-Feb. 25 at the Expo Center, www.oloughlintradeshows.com/. • Boise Flower & Garden Show, March 23-25 at Boise Centre, www.gardenshowboise.com/. • San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, March 21-25, at the Cow Palace, www.gardenshow.com/. Farther afield:

• Philadelphia Flower Show, March 4-11 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, www.philaflowershow.com.• Chicago Flower & Garden Show, March 10-18 at the Donald Stephens Convention Center, www.chicagoflower.com. • New England Spring Flower Show, March 17-25 at Boston's Bayside Expo Center, www.masshort.org/.

Airlines earn more money yet give crummier service

Just as the U.S. airline industry's financial fortunes are picking up, its passenger service ratings are plunging. Airlines' on-time performance dropped in 2006 for a fifth year in a row, with one in four flights arriving late or not at all, the federal government said. Baggage handling was the worst in 16 years, with a spike in the number of lost bags blamed on tighter security measures. Passengers were bumped from flights because of overbooking at the highest rate in six years.

Nevertheless, the number of consumer complaints to the government fell last year; The government recorded more than 8,300 consumer complaints in 2006, down from more than 8,700 in 2005.

Get details on the delays and more at the Web site of the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics: www.bts.gov/programs/airline_information/.

Germany

Historic Berlin airport faces closure

A court in Berlin has ordered the closure next year of the Tempelhof airport, the scene of the post-World War II Berlin Airlift and one of the city's three airports. Tempelhof and Berlin's Tegel airport will close to make way for the Berlin-Brandenburg International airport, set for completion in 2011.

Tempelhof, which opened in 1923, played a major role in the Cold War when the Soviet Union's blockade of West Berlin prompted a humanitarian airlift by the Allies — the U.S., U.K. and France — from June 1948 to May 1949.

Florida

Space Center to offer a simulated blast-off

The Kennedy Space Center in Florida will offer a simulated NASA shuttle launch for visitors starting Memorial Day weekend.

The attraction, called the Shuttle Launch Experience, is part of a 10-year development plan at the visitor complex in Cape Canaveral, Fla. It's designed to recreate the sensation of blasting into Earth's orbit and will have a motion platform, multiple video screens, special audio effects and special-effect seats.

Space Center information: 321-449-4444 or www.kennedyspacecenter.com/

Air travel

British Airways slightly eases tough bag rule

British Airways will temporarily accept "modest infringements" of its new baggage policy under which passengers must pay as much as 120 pounds (about $236) each way to check excess luggage. Economy-class passengers may check baggage weighing slightly more than 23 kilograms (50.6 pounds) without incurring an extra charge, the company said.

Passengers also may check more than one bag without charge, provided the total weight is within the limit.

U.S. airlines

Southwest resuming San Francisco flights

Southwest Airlines, the largest U.S. low-fare carrier, will resume flights to San Francisco this fall after a six-year absence because the city's airport has become more efficient and less costly. Southwest ended San Francisco flights in 2001 because air-traffic congestion caused delays across its system.

Seattle Times travel staff and news services