TRAVEL AGENT MAGAZINE Archives

TRAVEL AGENT MAGAZINE

Turkish Defector Says He Was Ordered to Kill Politician in Austria

One afternoon last month, a man claiming to be a Turkish intelligence operative walked into a police station in Vienna. His confession was explosive: The man said he had been ordered to shoot a Kurdish-Austrian politician, which he did not want to do, and asked for police protection.

He also said that he had been forced to give false testimony used to convict an employee at the American Consulate in Istanbul.

If true, the claims by the man, who identified himself as Feyyaz Ozturk, provide new insight into how far President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is prepared to go to pursue his foes.

Mr. Ozturk’s confession, detailed in a police report which was obtained by The New York Times, could blow a hole in the conviction of Metin Topuz, who worked for the U.S. State Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration in Istanbul. In June, Mr. Topuz was sentenced

October 13, 2020By: iwano@_84

TRAVEL AGENT MAGAZINE

Seven Natural Phenomena Worth Traveling to Alaska For | Travel

Alaska is a place of extremes. Midnight sun. Polar night. Winter temperatures of 50 below. Summers lush with wildflowers and blackberries. The continent’s tallest mountain. More coastline than all other 49 states combined. The state is also home to some of the wildest natural phenomena in the world. From the tidal bore of Turnagain Arm to the gleaming “sundogs” that appear on the coldest days, here’s a guide to the state’s once-in-a-while wonders.

Turnagain Arm Tidal Bore

Here’s something you don’t often find in the lower 48: Surfers on a river. Twice a day, Alaska’s Turnagain Arm waterway experiences a bore tide, when outgoing water slams against the tide coming in from the ocean. It causes an inland wave as high as 12 feet, more than big enough to hang ten.

The Turnagain Arm’s impressive tidal bore has

October 13, 2020By: iwano@_84

TRAVEL AGENT MAGAZINE

Tourist Returns Stolen Artefacts From Pompeii Claiming They’re Cursed

A tourist who stole artefacts from the ancient city of Pompeii in 2005 begged for them to be taken back after allegedly suffering 15 years of bad luck.

The Canadian woman, identified only as Nicole, stole items including two mosaic tiles, parts of an amphora and a piece of ceramics while on a trip to Pompeii’s archaeological park in her early 20s.

In a letter of confession written to a travel agent this year, Nicole admitted she took the artefacts because she wanted a piece of history that ‘nobody could have’.

In the years after her trip to Pompeii, Nicole, who is now 36, revealed she had suffered with breast cancer twice, ‘the last time ending in a double mastectomy’, and that she and her family also struggled with financial problems.

We’re good people and I don’t want to pass this curse on to my family or children.

Nicole asked

October 12, 2020By: iwano@_84

TRAVEL AGENT MAGAZINE

Pandemic revives ‘Avon lady’ jobs as thousands look to supplement income

Tens of thousands of workers have signed up to risky direct sales schemes, which can be notorious cash sinkholes, after waves of redundancies have starved many for income during the pandemic.

Many have been enticed into working for multilevel marketing groups, where people sell goods independently on behalf of a company and earn commission on sales made by their recruits. There are an estimated 563,000 people involved in the modern day version of Tupperware parties.

Recruiters have lured new starters on social media with promises and slogans such as: “Are you ready for the travel boom?”, “What if I told you £69 could change your life?” and “Work your own hours and get paid instantly.”

Susannah Schofield, of the Direct Selling Association, said a growing number of unsafe and predatory MLM firms, some of which are illegal pyramid schemes, were set up this year to prey on the most vulnerable.

October 10, 2020By: iwano@_84

TRAVEL AGENT MAGAZINE

French-Japanese designer Kenzo Takada dies from COVID-19

by: THOMAS ADAMSON, Associated Press

Posted: Oct 4, 2020 / 09:52 AM PDT / Updated: Oct 4, 2020 / 11:36 PM PDT

FILE – In this Saturday, March 28, 2015 file photo, Japanese fashion designer Takada Kenzo poses for photographers as he arrives at the Rose Ball in Monaco. Fashion designer Kenzo Takada dies from COVID-19 complications at age 81 near Paris, spokeswoman and reports said Sunday Oct. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, file)

PARIS (AP) — Kenzo Takada, the iconic French-Japanese fashion designer famed for his jungle-infused designs and free-spirited aesthetic that channeled global travel, has died. He was 81.

The family said in a statement to French media Sunday that Takada died from complications from COVID-19 in a hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris. A public relations officer for Kenzo’s brand confirmed that Takada died, but didn’t give a cause of death.

“It is with immense sadness that KENZO

October 6, 2020By: iwano@_84

TRAVEL AGENT MAGAZINE

Sturgeon promises ‘no countrywide travel restrictions’ for Scotland

The cancellation of Eurostar’s popular direct service to the French Alps was a huge blow for the thousands of skiers and snowboarders who use it each winter. But today those keen to travel by rail to the slopes can still do so as tickets for indirect services go on sale today, Lucy Aspden reports.

On Thursday evenings, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the ski season skiers can travel direct with Eurostar from London to Paris, before connecting to a high-speed TGV service from the Gare du Lyon to Chambéry, Albertville, Moûtiers, Aime-la-Plagne, Landry or Bourg-St-Maurice. From any of these stations they can travel on to some of Europe’s leading ski resorts.

For example, the Saturday morning service departs London at 07:52, arriving in Paris at 11:17. From the Gare de Lyon the 11:47 service arrives in Bourg St Maurice at 16:51. From there it’s a seven-minute funicular ride to

October 6, 2020By: iwano@_84

TRAVEL AGENT MAGAZINE

American, United to furlough 32,000 as time runs out on aid | WGN Radio 720

American Airlines and United Airlines say they will begin to furlough 32,000 employees after lawmakers and the White House failed to agree on a broad pandemic relief package that includes more federal aid for airlines.

American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said that if Washington comes up with a deal with $25 billion for airlines “over the next few days,” the company will reverse 19,000 furloughs set to begin Thursday and recall the workers.

United said the impasse forced it to furlough 13,000 workers. United said it told leaders in the Trump administration and Congress that if payroll aid is approved in the next few days, it too could undo the furloughs.

The moves by two of the nation’s four biggest airlines represent the first — and likely the largest part — of involuntary job cuts across the industry in coming days.

Airline employees and executives made 11th-hour appeals this week

October 6, 2020By: iwano@_84

TRAVEL AGENT MAGAZINE

laska Airlines to furlough or lay off more employees

As federal aid for airlines runs out and negotiations over more coronavirus relief stall, Alaska Airlines has begun cutting nearly 450 more flight attendants and other employees from its payroll while borrowing $1.3 billion from the U.S. Treasury.

The furloughs, first reported by online aviation magazine The Points Guy, were hardly unexpected. In June, Seattle-based Alaska announced it would begin slashing 3,000 jobs from its 23,000-person workforce starting at the end of September to bring expenses more in line with revenues, which have plunged as the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed travel.

The vast majority of furloughed employees are flight attendants. Unless Congress and the White House come to a much-anticipated deal on additional coronavirus relief, including payroll support grants to airlines, many of those employees will need to find work elsewhere, said Jeff Peterson, the president of the Alaska flight attendants’ union, “but it’s not exactly a great job market to

October 6, 2020By: iwano@_84

TRAVEL AGENT MAGAZINE

London Marathon 2020 – What Was It Like Inside the Bubble?

The easy option was to quit, to throw this year’s London Marathon into the garbage, and start looking ahead to 2021. It’s what most World Marathon Majors did—and who could blame them, given the global pandemic?

Seven months ago, the Tokyo Marathon hosted an elite-only race on March 1. Ten days after that race, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. For many months, the world’s best marathoners saw few competitive lights on the horizon.

Staging an event of this magnitude long seemed an impossible dream. For athletes, agents, and organizers, there were so many hoops to jump through, so many headaches to deal with.

And even if the marathon existed, who would be willing to travel?

The London Marathon organizers decided to find out. In June and July, they reached out to agents

October 5, 2020By: iwano@_84