Flights

A stream of highly charged particles from the sun is headed straight toward Earth, threatening to plunge cities around the world into darkness and bring the global economy screeching to a halt. This isn't the premise of the latest doomsday thriller. Massive solar storms have happened before - and another one is likely to occur soon, according to Mike Hapgood, a space weather scientist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford, England. Much of the planet's electronic equipment, as well as orbiting satellites, have been built to withstand these periodic geomagnetic storms.

WASHINGTON - The crowded US Airways flight from Paris to Charlotte, N.C., had just reached the northeastern tip of Canada when one of the passengers, a French citizen who was born in Cameroon, handed a flight attendant a cryptic note that said she had something hidden inside her body. Alarmed that the woman could be carrying a surgically implanted bomb, the crew notified authorities. U.S. f ighter jets were scrambled, and the pilot was told to make an emergency landing in Bangor, Maine.

Bob Kahl slips in through a side door of the vast, abandoned hangar and looks at what's left of the assembly plant where he worked for nearly 40 years. He remembers the hum of power tools, the biting aroma of cutting oil, swarms of workers plugging away on a labyrinth of yellow scaffolding. All that's left is a few piles of broken concrete and a sea of colorless dust that coats a Palmdale factory floor the size of two football fields. "Welcome to the birthplace of America's space shuttle fleet," said Kahl, 60, smiling.

TRIPOLI, Libya — The Libyan intelligence officer convicted in the 1988 bombing of an American airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, died at home here Sunday nearly three years after passions around the case were reawakened when he was freed on compassionate grounds because of what was reported as advanced prostate cancer. Abdel Basset Ali Megrahi, 60, became a symbol of state-sponsored terrorism under the late Libyan dictator Moammar Kadafi. Megrahi repeatedly denied a role in the downing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people, including 189 Americans, and led to Libya's further isolation as a rogue state.

THE BEST WAY TO BHUTAN From LAX , travelers to Bhutan must connect in another city to Royal Drukair, Bhutan's national airline and only regular carrier, which has flights to the airport in Paro, Bhutan's only airport. You can fly into Bangkok, Thailand, on Thai or take a connecting flight (change of plane) on JAL, Korean, United, All Nippon, Air China, Asiana, Singapore, China, Eva and Cathay Pacific. Including the flight to Paro, restricted round-trip fares begin at $1,721, excluding taxes and fees.

JetBlue has rolled out a new airline pass that allows three months of unlimited flying to selected cities in two markets: Long Beach and Boston. The new BluePass is aimed at business travelers but might appeal to frequent fliers too. Here's how it works: Pass-holders pay a flat fee and get a seat (provided one is available) to certain cities in as little as 90 minutes before takeoff. Flight changes or cancellations are free but you get dinged $100 if you're a no-show twice in seven days.

Travelers searching for deals on airfares this fall might consider an unusual alternative: bidding for them online. With the slumping economy and high fuel costs grounding passengers, JetBlue Airways Corp. on Monday began auctioning off more than 300 round-trip tickets on EBay, the popular online bidding site. Opening bids for the weekend-only flights this month and in October started at a nickel. Individuals have long auctioned off unused airline tickets on EBay, and airlines have sold tickets on EBay for charity or for unique events such as the first flight of Singapore Airlines' A380 super jumbo jet. But New York-based JetBlue said the auction was the largest of its kind for an airline, and if successful, could portend the use of the auction site as another way for the low-fare carrier to sell seats on less-than-crowded planes.

Los Angeles or New York? Under a sweeping winter airfare sale by American Airlines, you can have both, no matter which direction you’re traveling, for $99 each way ($198 round trip) . Even better, the special price applies to flights from three Southern California airports. The deal is part of a collaborative effort by American, NYC & Company and the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau to promote tourism in both cities. The deal: The $99 fare (plus tax)

Virgin America announced Tuesday that it would begin flying three daily nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Philadelphia in April -- bringing more options to fly on the airline deemed best in the U.S. by Conde Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure readers.  Flights between Los Angeles and Philadelphia international airports begin April 4. Tickets are on sale now and cost $129 each way, excluding tax and fees. To get that fare, reservations must be made by 9:59 p.m. PST Friday for travel between April 4 and June 15, with some blackout dates.

This is a good time to keep in touch with your airline if you plan to fly in the next few days to Europe because there is a chance that ash from the huge volcanic eruption in Iceland over the weekend could delay or even cancel your flight. Even as Iceland’s main airport prepared to possibly reopen Monday, Europe was on watch for potential flight disruptions as the ash cloud drifted toward the Continent.   "There is a strong possibility that parts of the ash cloud may impact parts of Scotland and Ireland in the coming 24 hours," Eurocontrol , the European air traffic management agency, said on its website Monday, citing reports from the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in London.

Concerns about the Air Force's problem-plagued fleet of F-22 Raptor fighter jets led Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta to restrict flights of the aircraft because of problems with its oxygen systems that can cause its pilots to become disoriented mid-flight. In addition, Panetta wants a monthly progress report on the investigation into the root cause of the F-22's oxygen problems and ordered the Air Force to speed up the installation of an automatic backup oxygen system. Panetta also called on Navy and NASA personnel to find a solution.

If you know anything at all about Del Mar, it's that the seaside town north of San Diego is the place to play the ponies. The horses aren't the only thoroughbreds in the track's history; you'll hear it connected to such names as Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, jockey Willie Shoemaker and, my favorite, Seabiscuit. But I'd encourage a Del Mar visit any time except the July 18-Sept. 5 racing season, just for the peace and quiet. The bed. I was here for a family wedding at L'Auberge del Mar Resort & Spa (1540 Camino del Mar; [800]

JetBlue Airways blamed a computer glitch for an 18-month-old girl being removed from a plane in Fort Lauderdale , Fla., because the carrier's employees thought she was on the no-fly list. The girl and her parents were removed after the flight bound for Newark, N.J., had boarded, media reports say. In a statement made Thursday, JetBlue said it was looking into the incident that happened Tuesday. It also said its employees "followed appropriate protocols" and included an apology to the family.

NEW DELHI - Hundreds of Air India pilots did not report to work Thursday, the fourth day of a sickout to protest their treatment by management, a dispute that so far has resulted in the cancellation of numerous international flights and cost about 45 pilots their jobs. Officials said the Mumbai-based airline was forced to cancel more than 35 international flights this week, including several bound for New York and Frankfurt, because of the protest. India's aviation minister called the sickout illegal, the airline said it had fired some pilots, and a high court called for negotiations.

Two Southwest Airlines flights with ties to Orange County and Phoenix were stopped Tuesday night after threats were made to the planes. The first incident began about 7:30 p.m. after Flight 1184 arrived at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix from John Wayne Airport, an FBI spokesman told The Times. The plane was taken to an isolated area of the airport after authorities received an unspecified threat, said Special Agent Manuel Johnson of the FBI's Phoenix division.

MOSCOW - A new Russian passenger plane with 50 people aboard went missing Wednesday during a demonstration flight over Indonesia, officials said. The Sukhoi Superjet 100, on a South Asian promotional tour, disappeared from radar screens 20 minutes into its second flight from Jakarta. The crew last spoke to ground control while over Mt. Halimun Salak National Park in West Java province, the Rossiya 24 television network reported. "Before communication was lost with the plane, there was no information about the malfunction of the systems," said Vladimir Prisyazhnyuk, president of Moscow-based Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co. "The plane has conducted about 500 flights with the overall flight time over 800 hours [and]

Mammoth Lakes' tourism bureau is offering a discount for those who prefer to fly rather than drive to the Eastern Sierra this spring. The offer , in partnership with Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air, takes about 20% off airfares between Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Mammoth Yosemite Airport (MMH) through the end of June. The deal: The airport is a stepping-off point to Yosemite National Park , Mammoth Mountain ski resort , June Lake and, of course, the town of Mammoth Lakes.

Australia-based Qantas Airlines grounded flights across the globe Saturday amid an intensifying labor dispute that is disrupting international travel for thousands of passengers. The company's domestic and international departures were canceled after Qantas announced that it is locking out workers represented by three of its employee unions, including those that represent pilots and baggage handlers. Qantas advised its customers not to go to the airport until further notice and said a full refund will be available to any customer who chooses to cancel a flight.

The Transportation Security Administration reached what seems like a lofty milestone last week when it announced it had screened 1 million passengers through a new accelerated security program at airports across the country. But the TSA acknowledges that the new security program, dubbed PreCheck, has served only a small fraction of the nation's air travelers. The TSA screens an estimated 1.8 million passengers a day at 450 commercial airports. That means that in the same time that the PreCheck program screened 1 million passengers since it launched in October, the TSA has processed nearly 335 million passengers.

Bedbugs can drive people out of house and home. Turns out they have the power to stop a plane too. A Minnesota woman's apparent case of bug bites caused a health scare that grounded a Delta Airlines flight at Chicago's Midway airport after the bites were mistaken for a monkeypox infection. Lise Sievers, 50, had called her mother in Indiana during her flight's layover in Detroit and mentioned that one of the children she had just visited in Uganda (in hopes of adopting) had suffered from pus-filled red bumps.