Airlines raise holiday fares

Airlines raise holiday fares

If you plan to travel around the upcoming holidays, prepare to pay a little more — again.

Several of the largest U.S. airlines have increased a surcharge for travel on the busiest travel days to $20 each way, up from $10.

The surcharges apply to a large number of flights within the U.S. on more than a dozen peak days around holidays including Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.

Tom Parsons, who runs the discount-travel site Bestfares.com, said that the increases were part of a clear trend in airline pricing.

"With airlines downsizing, fuel going up and airlines still losing money," he said, "we're going to pay more for family vacations going into 2010."

The airlines' busiest days tend to fall right before or after a major holiday — Thanksgiving and Christmas themselves are often slow travel days.

Da Vinci on view

Cities around the country are in Da Vinci mode with shows about Leonardo Da Vinci's work.

In New York, "Leonardo Da Vinci's Workshop: Inventor + Artist + Dreamer," opens Nov. 20 at the Discovery Times Square Exposition and runs through April 4. The show offers full-scale, interactive models of da Vinci's inventions, including his ideas for the airplane, automobile, robot knight and mechanical lion.

In Baltimore, "Da Vinci — The Genius: A Traveling Exhibit" at the Maryland Science Center through Jan. 31 features some of his inventions, anatomical drawings and writings, plus "Secrets of The Last Supper' and the "Mona Lisa" revealed in 3D animation. "

Another show scheduled to remain at the Birmingham Museum of Art until Nov. 9 reopens at the San Francisco Museum of Art Nov. 15-Jan. 4.

"Leonardo da Vinci: Drawings from the Biblioteca Reale in Turin" displays a 500-year-old group of chalk, metalpoint and ink drawings from da Vinci's notebooks, including 11 drawings and his Codex on the Flight of Birds, an 18-page notebook which has never been shown in the United States. Magnifying glasses are available for visitors to get a close look at the detail he packed into the drawings, some of which are nearly complete and others that seem like quick doodles.

Yellowstone closures

Roads into the interior of Yellowstone National Park have closed for the winter, limiting access to Old Faithful, Canyon and Fishing Bridge until the snowpack is cleared from the roads in the spring.

The roads will reopen for guided snowmobile and snowcoach travel beginning Dec. 15.

Outside the park, Highway 212 is closed east of Cooke City, Mont., ending travel for the season over the Beartooth Highway to Red Lodge, Mont., and over the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway to Cody, Wyo.

Disney ship debuts

Disney's new cruise ship will include a 765-foot-long water-coaster ride and virtual portholes with a live view of the ocean for windowless staterooms.

The Disney Dream ship is scheduled to launch Jan. 26, 2011, from Port Canaveral, Fla., on a cruise to the Bahamas. The virtual portholes hang over beds in inside staterooms and stream live footage from video cameras mounted around the ship, with 24-hour views of the water and sky, punctuated occasionally by the appearance of a Disney character on the screen.

Compiled by Times staff and news services