Travel
‘Clearly not suitable’: Airline apologises after R-rated film airs on every screen during flight
The airline is reviewing how the incident took place after a movie that was ‘clearly not suitable’ was aired on every screen.
Qantas Airways has drawn up a stir after broadcasting a slightly-racy movie across an entire flight. And the Australian carrier now is apologising to customers.
There were technical issues with the in-flight entertainment for a trip from Sydney to Haneda last week, Qantas has confirmed – making individual movie selection unavailable. As a result, the crew chose one movie to play across all screens “based on the request from a number of passengers”, the company said.
Qantas did not identify the movie by name, but several media outlets have reported that it was ‘Daddio’, an R-rated film – rated 18 in the UK – that hit theatres earlier this year.
Why did the movie make passengers uncomfortable?
‘Daddio’ follows a woman (Dakota Johnson) who takes a cab from JFK airport and strikes up an extended conversation with her driver (Sean Penn) on her way back home to Manhattan – as the two discuss anything from what it takes to be a New Yorker to relationships and infidelity, notably her current affair with a married man. The film carries an R rating for “language throughout, sexual material and brief graphic nudity”.
Social media posts from users who claim they were on the Qantas flight said they were uncomfortable by nudity and sexting featured in the film – particularly for families and children who were on board. Two users on Reddit said that it was also impossible for individual passengers to turn off the movie.
‘We sincerely apologise to customers for this experience’
After determining that the movie was not appropriate for all ages, the Qantas crew attempted to fix screens for travellers who did not want to watch it – but later found that this was not possible and changed course.
“The movie was clearly not suitable to play for the whole flight and we sincerely apologise to customers for this experience,” a Qantas spokesperson said in a statement. “All screens were changed to a family friendly movie for the rest of the flight, which is our standard practice for the rare cases where individual movie selection isn’t possible.”
The spokesperson added that Qantas is “reviewing how the (initial) movie was selected.”
In the days following the incident, the airline has taken some flak online – including from travel rivals.
“Plot twist: We let you choose your movies,” Air New Zealand wrote in a reply to the news on social media platform X.
Travel
Hurricane Milton: Locals urged to evacuate amid rumours of airline price gouging and ‘lack of fuel’
President Joe Biden has warned that Milton could be ”the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century”.
The Tampa Bay region on the west coast of Florida is preparing for a cataclysmic storm, touted as one of the most powerful in recent history.
Hurricane Milton is set to hit from Wednesday and residents have been warned they’re at risk of catastrophic damage, flooded homes – and even death.
Tampa’s Mayor, Jane Castor, speaking on CNN, did not hold back while urging residents to evacuate: “I can say without any dramatisation whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re going to die.”
It’s not just Tampa which is at severe risk. St. Petersburg and densely populated areas on the Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the bay are also likely to be in the immediate path.
In fact, experts suggest the threat from storm surge extends some 240 kilometres to the north – into the state’s Big Bend region – and the same distance to the south – to Naples and into the Florida Keys.
Two years ago, cities in the south saw devastation caused by Hurricane Ian, which washed away homes and made bridges to barrier islands impassable.
Wherever Milton lands, it will have an enormous impact, with flooding alone likely to be catastrophic.
Here’s how Florida is trying to protect residents from Hurricane Milton.
Countless residents flee Tampa Bay region as the hurricane approaches
Many of Florida’s highways have seen wall-to-wall traffic this week, but local authorities warn that time for evacuations was running out on Wednesday.
Jane Castor noted that up to 4.5 metres of predicted storm surge forecast for Tampa would easily be deep enough to swallow an entire house.
“So if you’re in it, basically that’s the coffin that you’re in,” she warned.
Ahead of the storm’s arrival, officials have been scrambling to remove piles of debris left in a recent storm, Hurricane Helene’s, wake. There are fears that Milton could effectively turn loose wreckage into flying missiles.
Despite publicly sparring with Vice President Kamala Harris, Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, announced that 300 dump trucks had successfully removed 1,300 loads of debris as of Wednesday.
Insisting that everyone who can should evacuate immediately, DeSantis also made it clear that those who defy such orders are “on their own” and that emergency services will not be expected to risk their own lives to carry out rescues at the height of the storm.
“You do not have to get on the interstate and go far away,” DeSantis said at a news conference, “You can evacuate tens of miles. You do not have to evacuate hundreds of miles away.”
President Joe Biden confirmed he was cancelling a trip to Germany and Angola to help with the aftermath of Milton.
He announced that, for people who can’t leave Florida, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has almost 900 staff members in place in the region to assist.
The White House also confirmed it has 20 million meals and 40 million litres of water ready for those who need it.
While DeSantis made assurances that there would be enough gasoline for evacuees to fuel their cars, he has been criticised by some who have struggled to find any available.
Fuel is getting harder to find, Floridians say
Patrick De Haan, an analyst for GasBuddy, told the AP news agency that, on Tuesday afternoon, about 16.5 per cent of Florida stations had no fuel, up from 3.5 per cent on Monday a day earlier.
GasBuddy also confirmed that at least 43 per cent of gas stations in the area had run dry by Tuesday morning.
Nevertheless, DeSantis maintains that there isn’t a fuel shortage.
“We have been dispatching fuel over the past 24 hours as gas stations have run out,” the governor said at the press conference, “So we currently have 268,000 gallons of diesel, 110,000 gallons of gasoline. Those numbers are less than what they were 24 hours ago because we’ve put a lot in, but we have an additional 1.2 million gallons of both diesel and gasoline that is currently en route to the state of Florida.”
De Haan, though, has criticised this response.
“[DeSantis is] technically correct,” he told the AP, “Fuel is flowing, but stations can’t keep caught up… It’s hard to tell somebody that’s at a pump with a bag over it that there’s no shortage.”
Some locals say it’s been taking hours to find a gas station which has any fuel in stock.
That came as Ned Bowman, spokesperson for the Florida Petroleum Marketers Association, told the AP that the situation was typical for a Florida hurricane, in that demand is at a high and some stations are running dry – temporarily, but that suppliers are “constantly” moving fuel to stations.
“Have patience,” Bowman advises, “It’s out there.”
Airlines announce they’re capping fares in Milton’s path, as flights are cancelled
Despite rumours on social media that some airlines have been charging upwards of $1,500 (about €1,400) for flights out of Milton’s path, many companies say they have imposed fare caps on such routes.
While a number of airports, including St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport and Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, have already closed their doors and cancelled flights, Joe Biden has warned companies not to overcharge those fleeing the storm’s path.
“I’m calling on the airlines and other companies to provide as much service as possible to accommodate evacuations, and not to engage in price gouging – to just do it on the level,” Biden said at a hurricane briefing.
By Tuesday afternoon, airlines had cancelled more than 700 domestic flights, with more than half of the cancellations at Tampa International Airport.
One customer, Cerina McQuillan, told the AP that she was trying to get her 17-year-old daughter on a flight to New York.
McQuillan said that when she first tried to buy a one-way ticket, prices were around $200 (€182). Then the airline’s site crashed.
“All of a sudden it went back on again, and the flights quadrupled in price. It went up to like $750 (€685) within a matter of seconds,” she told the news agency, “There were prices even as high as $1,000 (€912) for one leg. So wrong! So wrong!”
Others reported fares as high as $2,351 (€2,143) for a one-way economy ticket, but airlines were quick to dispute such high prices.
Delta alone confirmed it had capped fares and American Airlines said it had added an additional 2,000 seats leaving from Orlando on Tuesday night, having already added 2,000 out of Tampa and Sarasota on Monday.
Airlines do tend to raise prices on last-minute tickets, which often blurs the line between “gouging” prices and simply filling up flights to maximise revenue.
However, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took to X – formerly Twitter – to address concerns.
“The Department takes all allegations of airline price-gouging seriously. We are keeping a close eye on flights in and out of areas affected by Hurricane Milton to make sure airlines are not charging excessively increasing fares,” he wrote.
Popular attractions set to close ahead of Milton’s arrival
Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld are some of the most visited tourist destinations in all of the United States – and they’ve announced their closure on Wednesday.
That’s despite the fact that Orlando’s iconic parks are located some 135 km away from Tampa.
Universal Orlando and SeaWorld have confirmed they’ll remain shut until Thursday at the earliest, with Disney World set to follow suit.
The announcement comes after Orlando International Airport, the USA’s seventh busiest, said it will cease operations on Wednesday morning.
October is one of the busiest times in Orlando, thanks to many theme parks putting on Halloween-related celebrations, which are now major money spinners for owners.
Disney World rarely shuts its doors and, during past hurricanes, its hotels and resorts have served as safe spaces for coastal Floridians fleeing danger. There are currently no vacancies at any of their accommodations ahead of Milton’s arrival.
Travel
Is climate change to blame for the increasing closure of European ski resorts?
Residents of Grand Puy, France, voted to shutter the ski lift after a lack of snow and visitors made it unfeasible.
As the weather cools down, many of us will be thinking of a trip to the slopes. However, thanks to the impact of climate change, more ski resorts are being forced to close for good.
In the small Alpine resort of Grand Puy, in Seyne-les-Alpes, France, a ‘télésiège’ – or chairlift – has been ferrying skiers up to an altitude of 1,800m for some 65 years.
Now, due to an increasingly frequent absence of snow and a lack of visitors, locals have voted to shutter the lift and the winter resort as a whole.
Seyne-les-Alpes, with a permanent population of just over 1,305, was making losses of hundreds of thousands of euros every year, according to the town council.
Locals were given the chance to vote on whether or not to keep the resort open and, in the end, 71 per cent chose to bring it to a close.
From 1 November, the lifts will stop running at Grand Puy and the community will instead focus on expanding the development of “activities independent of the ski lifts”.
A lack of snow is causing ski resort closures worldwide
Across Europe and the wider world, climate change is affecting a number of mid- to low-altitude ski resorts. Many now have no choice but to diversify and invest in all-season activities to attract visitors back and improve their economies.
During the ski season earlier in 2023, the popular French resort of Saint-Colomban-des-Villards had to stop its lifts running completely, after a significant lack of snow combined with temperatures climbing up to 13°C. The resort’s average February temperature is, in contrast, just over 4°C.
Grand Puy boasts more than 24 km of slopes, but has seen visitor numbers halve over the last decade.
During the 2013-14 season, officials recorded 17,000 skier days; in the same period from 2023-24, that figure was just 6,000.
“My aim is not to close Grand Puy, but I no longer want the resort to cost the municipality €350,000 a year and prevent us from investing in the town as a whole,” says Laurent Pascal, the mayor of Seyne.
Local reports say that the small town had taken out a loan of €2 million in order to run and maintain the lifts. In the end, the mayor took advice from a consultancy, which came up with seven potential scenarios relating to the future of the resort.
In the end, the preferred choice was full closure.
What is the future of the Grand Puy resort?
Locals were asked if they agreed to a plan to “sell all equipment (chairlifts, drag lifts, snow guns, snow groomers, etc.)” and “diversify activities with a self-financing budget of €150,000 over five years”.
The mayor and councillors say they hope they can recoup some €600,000 from the sale of the assets to expand their touristic offerings.
While some locals were fiercely opposed to the closure, with a number saying the lift could be repurposed for year-round activities, a majority agreed it was for the best.
The mayor insisted that the replacements will consist of “sports and nature activities that respect the environment”.
Although it’s not yet clear exactly what these will be, there have been discussions on, variously, electric-assisted mountain bike trails and the turning of a reservoir into a fishing lake.
What impact is climate change having on ski resorts?
Grand Puy is not the only resort which has decided it must close before the season has even begun.
In the French Alpine resort of Le Grand Serre, officials announced the end of subsidies for ski activities, despite the fact it’s been in operation for some 85 years.
It’s thought that around 200 jobs will be lost, but there was no choice but to call an end to operations, especially given that the local government had injected €2.7 million into the resort over the past seven years, something that is now untenable.
Geographer Pierre-Alexandre Metral discovered that more than 180 ski resorts have closed in France since the 1970s, many of which are small, family-run operations.
Especially in recent years, these shutterings have increasingly been down to climate change.
In 2023, the French resort of La Sambuy also closed after a shortage of snow, with local officials confirming that ski lifts would be dismantled, despite the fact that the resort continued to attract summer visitors.
“Between the 1960s and today, the climate has changed greatly. Now, there is less snow in the winter,” Jacques Dalex, the local mayor, told Europe 1 radio at the time of the announcement. “This year, we opened for only four weeks, that’s it. The season is getting shorter and shorter, and obviously, it is not going to get any better.”
While the majority of the closed resorts are in lower or mid-mountain areas, climate change also poses a severe threat to those at higher altitudes.
At resorts across France, Austria and Bosnia, owners have been forced to make use of artificial snow.
That practice actually causes more climate-related issues, as it uses huge amounts of water and energy every time it’s created.
Travel
A passport on your smartphone: EU pledges faster, smoother border checks by 2030
Digital travel credentials will be free, voluntary and less hassle, offering a more seamless and secure experience, the European Commission says.
Travellers to and from the EU’s Schengen zone will be able to store their travel credentials digitally, under plans unveiled by the European Commission on Tuesday.
Data currently stored on the chip of a passport or ID card can be transferred to a smartphone to allow a swifter border crossing, the European Commission said.
“Today’s proposal to digitalise passports and identity cards paves the way for a more seamless and secure travel experience,” Věra Jourová, the Commission’s Vice-President for values and transparency, said in a statement.
Submitting travel plans and documents to the authorities in advance will cut times at border crossings, allowing them to verity authenticity and focus on more troubling cases like migrant smugglers, the Commission argues.
The plans have to be agreed by the EU’s Council, which represents member states, as well as lawmakers at the European Parliament – and comes as the bloc prepares to introduce a separate new system to check entries to and exits from the EU’s Schengen Area.
The entry-exit system is due to come into operation in November, though recent reports suggest it could face further delays.
It would mean non-EU travelers have to go through scanners when entering Schengen, the internal passport-free zone that covers most of the EU plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, but excludes Ireland and Cyprus.
The digital passport service will be voluntary and free for travellers, the Commission said, and could take effect by 2030.
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