Originally published February 16, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified February 16, 2007 at 10:58 AM
Travel briefs
Put some flowers in your U.S. trips
Briefs from Seattle Times news services.
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.
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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
Copyright © The Seattle Times Company
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shopping
Give yourself a treat and visit Watson Kennedy's Holiday Open Houses
More minding the store
events for Monday, Nov. 23
- Castle Discount with Military ID
- CraftsGiving
- Alhambra 20 Percent Off Jewelry Sale
- Dish It Up! Totally Truffles
editors' picks
- Phinney Ridge & Greenwood shopping
- Independent video stores
- Pioneer Square shopping
- Garden furnishings
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Illegal workers quietly let go
372 - Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
210 - Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
171 - Metro won't cut bus service after all
150 - New Husky recruit: Enes Kanter
97 - Historic health care bill clears Senate hurdle
95 - Tattoos at Mill Creek Church pierce skin, soul
83 - Middleton says Huskies "plan on scoring at least 50 points'' Saturday
82 - Jerry Brewer: Seahawks can't lean on the Hutch Crutch now
74 - Seattle woman charged with knife attack on boyfriend's ex
64
- Sprouts, raw fish on attorney's 'do not eat' list
- Tattoos at Mill Creek church pierce skin, soul
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
- Architects, chefs find 'kid' within to build Gingerbread Village
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Taste | The Great Pie Bake-off pits friends and fruit




