Congress is making another push to help parents sit with their kids, with “the Families Flying Together Act of 2015.” The plan, from Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), would “require the U.S. Department of Transportation to direct each airline carrier to notify passengers traveling with minors if seats are not available together at the initial booking stage and for each carrier to establish a policy to ensure, to the extent practicable, that a family is seated together during flight,” Rick Gegenheimer writes. The representatives tried to get a similar piece of legislation passed in 2012. (Elliott.org)
Australia may suspend its search for MH370 by the end of 2016, Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said. “unless the examination of the debris [found on Reunion] revealed evidence of an explosion or structural failure changing calculations of where the aircraft may have come down,” Rob Taylor reports, “Australia expected to wrap up the search late next year.” (WSJ)
Southwest Airlines will continue to let “bags fly free,” as its slogan goes, despite the fact that the competition is making literally billions of dollars from such ancillary charges. “Ticket sales more than make up for the revenue [Southwest is] losing by offering free checked baggage,” Barbara Peterson reports. (Condé Nast Traveler)
Madagascar hopes that it can lure tourists who might otherwise visit Mauritius or the Seychelles, but challenges abound. “With the mining industry hit by low global commodity prices, the government has promoted tourism as a spur of growth and job creation in one of the world's poorest nations,” Reuters reports. “Touting its rainforests, reefs and weird and wonderful plants and animals, officials are aiming for 1 million tourists by 2020, five times higher than last year and more than double the 2008 peak, when 380,000 people visited the former French colony.” (Reuters)
In another play for differentiation, a few high-end hotels “are getting into spirits, offering private label blends guests can sample at the bar or take home as a memory in a bottle,” Marissa Miller reports. (NYT)
United will resume its year-round service between Newark Liberty International and Belfast International. (Business Traveller)
Aman will open its first onsen-inspired property, the Amanemu, in Japan in the first quarter of 2016. The resort, in Ise Shima National Park, about two hours by car from Kyoto, will have “24 suites and four two-bedroom villas all of which have their own onsen, as well as an extensive Aman Spa, a lap pool, restaurant, and lounge,” the brand says.
“Just how corrupt is FIFA, the governing body of the world's most popular sport?” asks Jenna Scherer. “Enough that it's getting its own permanent spot at a museum dedicated to the world of organized crime, jostling for exhibition space with John Gotti's leisure suit and a .38 from the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.” (Condé Nast Traveler)