Travel briefs: London unveils cable car
LONDON – Think Swiss Alps rather than San Francisco.
A new cable car will soar over the Thames River this week, promising to become part of the London landscape ahead of the Summer Olympics.
Transport for London has set Thursday as the opening date for Britain’s first urban cable car – well in time for the massive crowds expected for the Olympics. It is called the Emirates Air Line, after the air carrier invested $56 million as part of a 10-year sponsorship deal.
The cable car will make the half-mile crossing between Greenwich and the Royal Docks, allowing visitors to take in the views of Olympic Park, the Canary Wharf financial center and the Thames Barrier, massive structures in the river that keep London from flooding.
Each of the 34 cars holds 10 people and looks like the gondolas that ferry skiers up the mountains in the Swiss Alps. Travelers can go one way or round-trip, with a one-way ticket costing about $5.
Era Alaska cuts free beer
KODIAK, Alaska – It turns out, there is no such thing as a free beer, at least on Era Alaska flights.
The airline had been offering a free 6-ounce beer to adult passengers.
KMXT, Kodiak’s public radio station, reports the airline discontinued the program Tuesday as a courtesy to the state, which prohibits free alcohol from being used as a marketing tool. There is no federal law against it once planes are airborne.
The airline will now charge $1 for each glass of Denali Brewing Co.’s “Single Engine Red.” Previously, the first beer was free and every beer thereafter was $3.
The beer is available on the airline’s Dash 8 routes between Anchorage and Fairbanks, Deadhorse, Homer and Kodiak.
Civil War’s 150th anniversary
SHARPSBURG, Md. – The National Park Service says a remembrance of the Battle of Antietam will top a series of summertime events in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia marking the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.
Officials from four national parks and Maryland’s South Mountain Battlefield said last week the events also will recognize the 50th anniversary of America’s civil rights movement.
The Confederate offensive known as the Maryland Campaign began in the summer of 1862. It included battles at Manassas, Va.; Harpers Ferry, W.Va.; and South Mountain before culminating along Antietam Creek on Sept. 17, 1862.
More than 23,000 soldiers were reported killed, wounded or missing there on the bloodiest day of the war.
Korean Air’s ‘primitive’ apology
NAIROBI, Kenya – A notice on Korean Air’s website announcing the start of nonstop flights from Korea to Kenya sparked a flurry of angry Tweets and Facebook postings Monday over the description of Kenyans as indigenous people full of “primitive energy.”
Muthui Kariuki, who is handling public relations for Korean Air in Kenya, said that the notice had been removed from the website and that the word “primitive” was a result of a mistake in translation from Korean to English.
Kariuki said the airline, which launched thrice-weekly flights this Thursday, will post an apology.
Kenyans expressed their anger on social media.
“An insult to a nation. Kenya doesn’t have primitive people,” posted a Twitter user who identified himself as George Njoro.
Others however felt that the mistake in the notice was an intentional marketing gimmick.
“Now everybody knows Korea Air is coming to Kenya. Nice marketing strategy,” tweeted another person using the Twitter handle of Komboste.