Air France

The first sign of trouble was a glitch that appeared in the air speed sensors. Inside the sleek cockpit of Air France Flight 447, according to aviation experts, the crew would within minutes be confronted with a cascade of mysterious system failures. The atmosphere of a routine international flight would vanish. Warning lights would be flashing and alarms would sound as one high-technology system after another of the highly automated jetliner began going off line.

If there is ever to be an answer to what caused Air France Flight 447 to fall from the sky, the best clues probably lie on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean amid rugged volcanic ridges and steep trenches, some plunging deeper than the Grand Canyon. Search planes scouring the area Tuesday spotted a seat, an orange buoy, a tank and a fuel slick about 400 miles off the Brazilian coast.

Brazilian authorities said military aircraft Wednesday located several more pieces of debris floating in the Atlantic near where an ill-fated Air France flight is thought to have crashed with 228 people aboard. The debris detected by aircraft radar included a 23-foot section that officials said might be part of Flight 447, which disappeared late Sunday after flying through turbulence and sending out an automatic alert of an electrical failure.

A sophisticated flight-control system that relies on electronic instruments and computers came under growing scrutiny Thursday as investigators tried to unravel the mysterious crash of an Air France Airbus 330 into the Atlantic.

Brazilian military officials announced Saturday that they had found two bodies and some debris from the Paris-bound Air France flight that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean with 228 passengers and crew aboard. Two male bodies, a leather briefcase containing an Air France boarding pass, a numbered blue seat and a nylon backpack were fished out of the ocean about 400 miles northeast of the Fernando de Noronha archipelago off Brazil's northern coast, Col.

You know you're a troubled airline when even Aeroflot refuses to buy you. Italy's national air carrier, Alitalia, spent much of 2007 searching unsuccessfully for a buyer. The airline is heavily in debt, loses about $1.6 million a day, is plagued by strikes and is saddled with an aging, fuel-guzzling fleet. One suitor after another, including Aeroflot, dropped out of bidding last summer for the Italian government's 49.9% controlling stake of Alitalia.

Few technology enhancements to travel have been as fraught with angst as allowing cellphone use in flight. Only 16% of leisure travelers said they would like to use their cellphones in flight, said Henry Harteveldt, vice president and principal analyst for Cambridge, Mass.-based travel research firm Forrester Research, which conducted a study. "The truth is we do view flying as the last respite of being off the grid," Harteveldt said.

Up, up and FlyAway The price of the FlyAway bus, which runs from downtown Los Angeles, Westwood and Van Nuys to Los Angeles International Airport, will increase on New Year's Day. One-way fares from Union Station in downtown and Van Nuys will increase to $6, from $4; the one-way $4 fare on the Westwood route will increase to $5. A new discount fare of $4 one-way will apply to people who are older than 65, disabled or on Medicare (with government-issued proof of eligibility).

*--* CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND LAX $1,245 Air New Zealand, Qantas *--* *--* HELSINKI, FINLAND LAX $1,142 American, British, KLM, Lufthansa *--* *--* LISBON, PORTUGAL LAX $1,010 Air France, American, Continental, KLM, United, US Airways *--* *--* LONDON, ENGLAND LAX $842 Air New Zealand, American, British, Continental, United, Virgin Atlantic SNA 842 American, Northwest, United BUR 842 American ONT 842 American, Delta *--* *--* MADRID, SPAIN LAX $1,020 Air France, American, Continental, Delta,