Travel

In a landmark order, the State Consumer Commission has held that airlines operating from Delhi will have to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 each to domestic travelers if the delay exceeded two hours. The order came on an appeal filed by Alliance Air Limited (AAL) against the verdict of a District Consumer Forum which had asked it to pay Rs 6,000 as compensation to one Daljit Singh Nirman who could ... [full story]

India plans to open 15 islands in the remote Andaman archipelago in a bid to develop tourism. A total of 50 new sites will be developed in the northern cluster of islands, 1,200 kilometres off mainland India. Only 36 of the more than 500 islands in the archipelago, closer to Indonesia than India, are inhabited. Others have sensitive Indian naval and airforce bases. Almost 52,000 arrivals were recorded between January and ... [full story]

On Tuesday India’s Civil Aviation Ministry has asserted that India would not carry out any racial profiling of air travelers. The Ministry’s comments came on the wake of implementing a pilot project aimed to receive advance information regarding passengers arriving in the country’s airports from the airlines concerned. Zee News quotes Civil Aviation Secretary Ajay Prasad as saying, "There will be no racial or any other kind of profiling of passengers.” Advance Passenger Information ... [full story]

A Mumbai-bound Northwest Airlines flight escorted by two Dutch F 16 fighter planes returned to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport today after the pilot raised an alert over 'suspicious behaviour' of some passengers. Twelve passengers have been arrested so far. A Dutch air traffic control spokeswoman said the plane was in German airspace when it turned back after the crew reported some passengers were behaving suspiciously. The Dutch Defence Ministry and airport ... [full story]

Visitors from India and 22 other countries will now be able to get visas on arrival at the international airports in Malaysia from September one.   The tourists will have to pay 100 ringet for the single entry, which will be valid for one month.   This move aimed at providing a boost to the 'Visit Malaysia Year 2007' involves only those arriving at international airports, Home Affairs Minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad ... [full story]

To avoid any further tragedy after the Mumbai bomb blasts, the Railway ministry is finalizing plans to introduce strict security measures on railway stations by keeping away non-passengers from entering the platforms and installation of CCTV's amid other security checks.      Speaking at the inaugurating the country's first multi-modal transport system (MMTS) at NSC Bose International Airport in Kolkata, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said that according to new ... [full story]

In an attempt to counter the ever growing fossil fuel prices the Indian Railways has for the first time on its South East Central Railway (SECR) sector started using a mix of diesel and jatropha, bio-fuel made from the jatropha shrub, to run some of its trains.    Railways, now, annually spends more than Rs 4,000 crore on their diesel requirements, and after the recent hikes in prices of diesel, have started ... [full story]