Travel News: US airline staffing at ‘highest level’ in decades – so why the flight delays?

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In travel news this week: Wild weather around the world and “unacceptable delays” for US airline passengers. Plus we hear from a woman who broke up with her boyfriend on holiday and moved in with a man she’d known for three weeks.

Heat waves, forest fires, floods and storms have affected regions of North America, Europe and Asia. Thrill-seeking tourists went to China “flaming mountains” to experience ground surface temperatures of up to 80 C (176 F), while tennis ball sized hail injured more than 100 people in northern Italy.

While Southern Europe struggles with a heat dome that has transformed it into “a giant pizza oven,” tourism operators see a “increase in popularity” to more temperate or less crowded destinations, such as Ireland, Denmark, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

If you find yourself traveling in a heat wave zone this summer, here’s what you need to know.

US airline employment is now at its highest level in more than two decades, a new statement says from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), as airlines build their workforces to meet the huge demand for post-pandemic travel.

However, the passengers this summer still face “unacceptable delays and disruptions” due to a shortage of air traffic controllers in North America. IATA, a trade association representing the world’s airlines, blamed “poor planning” by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NAV Canada, the Canadian aviation services provider. But outdated technology, airline personnel problems and inclement weather also play a role in recent air traffic meltdowns, CNN previously reported.

There were more problems when medical teams were called to an airliner on the tarmac in Las Vegas to treat “heat-related discomfort” and one emergency evacuation slide from a United flight fell into a Chicago neighborhood.

If all this has you wondering about a bygone “golden age of air travel”, however, you would be very wrong. When it comes to safety, accessibility and affordability, we have never felt so good.

A bar in Hong Kong has just been named Best bar in Asia for the third consecutive year. Coa, helmed by Jay Khan, focuses on the mezcal and agave spirits that are so hot right now.

Other stimulant properties have been attributed to the wild mushrooms, which were enjoyed by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to a Beijing restaurant earlier this month. The jian shou qing mushroom is a popular delicacy in Yunnan, and Yellen reportedly ordered four servings of them – even though the mushroom is listed as poisonous due to its hallucinogenic potential.

And a love story or two

Belgian traveler Liesbet Collaert was driving across North America in an RV with her longtime boyfriend when she met a stranger from California. Within three weeks she had fallen in love, broken up with her boyfriend and moved into her new love’s apartment. It was 2004. Here it is how the next 20 years worked.

A few years earlier, in Egypt in 1996, Englishwoman Christina Ward worked as a tour guide on the Nile. She met a local man, Wahid Kandil, who worked on the same tour boat. His Free to came within six months.

It’s one of life’s saddest ironies that when you’re frizzy-haired and greasy-skinned from a day of nonstop sightseeing, you end up appearing in a whole year’s quota of photographs because you’re on your big vacation.

Our partners at CNN emphasized, a guide to product reviews and recommendations owned by CNN, understand your pain. That’s why they’ve put together this list of theirs 21 Best Beauty Products for Travel in 2023so you can face the next camera with a smile.

Scotland’s windswept island of Barra has the only airport in the world where scheduled flights land on a beach. Here’s how pilots go about this unique track.

She got a job on a superyacht, cooking for the international elite.

Here is then what happened.

What it’s like to be an American living in Paris.

Dreams can come truebut how does reality compare to fantasy?

Our guide to weird and wonderful trains that breaks the rules.

Rail technology is more versatile than you think.

A sea otter has become a notorious surfboard thief.

The spree may be down to “hormonal surges.” Watch here.