The Queens woman who is accused of verbally abusing and punching Jet Blue flight attendants during a flight from NYC to San Francisco was released on bail yesterday. Christina Szele was allegedly drunk and caught the crew's--and fellow passengers'--attention when she lit a cigarette on the plan. She had been in a Denver jail for the past week and a half; 1010 WINS reported, "The magistrate who set her bail ordered her not to travel......

Get this woman a reality TV show! Christina Szele of Woodside, Queens created such a disturbance during a Jet Blue flight from JFK airport to San Francisco that pilots diverted the plane and landed in Denver, where federal authorities took her into custody. According to an affidavit obtained by the Smoking Gun, things started to go sideways after a flight attendant noticed Szele waiting on line for the bathroom with a book of matches and......

If this is what a Jet Blue "buddy pass" is, we totally pass. An Inwood resident is suing the Queens-based airline or $2 million, claiming a pilot made him sit on the plan's toilet for three hours during a flight from San Diego to New York earlier this year. Gokhan Multhu was using a buddy pass (per the AP--the "standby travel voucher that JetBlue employees give to friends") and though the flight was full, since......

A business consultant is accused of "falsely claiming there was a bomb in her suitcase" after she was unable to get onto her JetBlue flight at JFK Airport last week. According to the complaint filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court, Rosalinda Baez was trying to argue her way onto the plane after the jetway closed. Baez allegedly told a flight attendant, "What if I had a bomb in my bag? Well, I have a bomb in......

Photograph of someone determined to get around in the snow by Charley Lhasa on Flickr After January hype - which resulted in rain - and a brief moment of snow last week, a winter snow storm finally made an appearance this year. Two weather disturbances resulted in many inches of snow falling in the region: By 2PM, more than 6 inches fell in the city, which is the biggest snowfall in two years and......

Workers are almost done dismantling the 317 feet long, 23 feet wide stained-glass exterior to the American Airlines’ vacant Terminal 8 building. The red, blue and white wall, comprised of 900 panes of glass, was designed by artist Robert Sowers and was completed in 1960; at the time it was the world’s largest stained-glass window and the first to heavily incorporate stained glass in a secular building, an aesthetic that soon became fashionable. The 48-year-old......

Jaunted took a jaunt over to the new Terminal 5 (not the music venue) at JFK. The terminal, with design by Gensler, will house JetBlue and is set to open in September of this year. The original T5 was the Eero Saarinen-designed TWA terminal and will be incorporated into JetBlue's, which is set behind and connected to it (Jaunted notes that "airline reps say that at minimum there'll be check-in kiosks in the TWA......

After many airline passengers were kept on bad weather-grounded planes for hours without fresh water and working bathrooms, lawmakers backed a bill for a passenger bill of rights. Today, the bill goes into effect, after opposition from the airlines. Governor Spitzer signed the bill into law in August, citing "much needed consumer protections that will help guarantee greater passenger safety and comfort when severe delays impact their travels from New York airports." (Especially important......

While it may be beautiful now, yesterday's weather was awful enough to cause some holiday travel headaches for those flying out of area airports. Winds were gusting up to 47 MPH, and travelers arriving at LaGuardia had two hour delays, which wasn't bad considering arrivals at Kennedy and Newark had delays of four to four-and-a-half hours. A non-weather incident, though, caused a JetBlue flight from San Francisco to New York to be diverted to Denver......

In spite of the reports, hypes and fears, there actually wasn't much snowfall in the city yesterday - just about an inch - though we did see some sleet that quickly melted. The suburbs got a few inches of snow, while much of the accumulation was in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. However, area airports did have a number of delays and canceled flights (many airlines canceled them due to ice conditions, as well......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: Fatal jumper on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, a MOS (member of service) bitten by a dog at 48-36 47 Street in Queens, and a car vs. a building at West 27th Street in Manhattan. A-Rod may stick with the Yankees in a last-minute windfall deal that may be worth worth $280 million. Ira Levin, the author of "Rosemary's Baby," "The Boys From Brazil," and "The Stepford Wives" passed away......

When it comes to driving routes for a JFK airport pickup, George Costanza advocates taking the Grand Central to the Van Wyck, deriding Kramer’s L.I.E. route as a “suicide mission.” In the current New York Magazine cover story, “How to Escape Airport Hell”, the editors invited chauffeur Kevin Sullivan to weigh in. While he comes down squarely on Costanza’s side, he also shares some invaluable alternative routes to all three airports in the unlikely......

New York City was amply represented during last night's National Design Awards at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. The Landscape Design award went to PWP Landscape Architecture, the firm that won the World Trade Center Memorial design competition (with Michael Arad). PWP Principal Peter Walker thanked Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki and described the last four years as "difficult," presumably for the number of redesigns and challenges with moving the project forward, but he......

A new plan adopted by the FAA yesterday hopes to decrease delays in airports around the nation by 20%. The focus of the plan is on airports in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelpha, where delays can cause a ripple effect on the rest of the nation's air traffic. The Airspace Redesign Project, as the FAA is calling it, is supposed to modernize the systems in the affected airports (Newark, JFK, LaGuardia, and Philadelphia......

Six months ago, ice storms on Valentine's Day walloped airlines, especially JetBlue, at the area airports. WABC 7 got a hold of some tapes between air traffic controllers and pilots on that crazy day where some flights were lingering on runways for more than seven hours, even up to 13 hours. Here are two of our favorite conversations:Air Traffic Control 1: "These [flights] were there before I got here. You got JetBlue 80, 1048,......

Did you excel at yo-yo and rock, scissor, paper as a kid? Well, this past weekend was the 1st ever New York State Yo-Yo Contest at the South Street Seaport. From what we hear, excelling in yo-yo is the way to get all the ladies (they dig the finger dexterity and creativity with the yo-yo). It's not just the kids that are throwing the yo-yo around either. Downtown Express tells us that Riad Nasr, the......

The NYCLU and ACLU are suing the Transportation Security Administration and Jet Blue over an incident where a passenger was forced to cover/change his shirt, which had Arabic lettering. Last year, Reid Jarrar, an American resident of Iraqi descent, was taking a JetBlue flight at JFK when a TSA official asked him to over his shirt, which read "We Will Not Be Silent" in both English and Arabic. The shirt's message is taken from the......

Governor Spitzer signed airline passenger bill of rights legislation that will ensure that passengers on delayed flights in NY State airports are "provided with basic customer protections." Spitzer said, "As a major international travel hub, it is our duty to take the lead in adopting measures that will ease air travel for passengers." The bill, backed by Queens Assemblyman Michael Gianaris and Long Island State Senator Charles Fuschillo, will "require airlines to have snacks......

Last week, Jonathan Aponte admitted to paying a man $500 to shoot him in the leg so he wouldn't have to return to Iraq and his unit. The physical pain of his injury was augmented by the pains of embarrassment when people complimented or thanked him for his service in the Army as he was transported back to Fort Hood in Texas. While he's facing criminal charges of conspiracy and falsely reporting an incident in......

Okay, so being stranded on a grounded Jet Blue flight for hours and hours on end with the airport in sight is no good. But we think the passengers of a Continental flight from Amsterdam to Newark win the "Woe in my plane ride." Because they had to endure a flight with backed-up toilets that caused sewage to seep down aisles. Last week, passengers flying back to Newark had to stop in Shannon, Ireland because......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a carjacking on 130th St. and 15th Ave. in Queens, an overturned auto on Spring St. and West Broadway in Manhattan, and a stabbing on Caton Ave. in Brooklyn. Remember when Paris Hilton forgot that she'd left her Tinkerbell with her grandma and papered her neighborhood with Lost Dog flyers? New Yorkers hire private detectives and publicists to get the job done right. A tiny dauchsund is missing. New......

Finally, the stats to back up what we know: NYC area airports have had more delays so far this year than in 2006. New data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics shows that delays have increased by 140.6% at JFK Airport, when comparing April 2007 to April 2006. The delays at LaGuardia are up by approxmiately 35% and delays at Newark are up by 21%. Senator Charles Schumer says that labor disputes between the......

The British teen whose parents were frantically looking for him after he ran away from his London home on Monday was found at JFK yesterday. Seventeen- year-old George Lenon had an argument with his parents and managed to get himself on a plane to New York. Lenon had been seen at JFK's immigration area, but never showed up at an Upper West Side hotel where he claimed he was staying. The Post reveals that Lenon......

Say that headline five times fast! The city is cleaning up today following yesterday's late-winter messy mix of snow, sleet, rain, and freezing rain. Snowfall totals ranged from 2.5 inches in Sheepshead Bay to 5.5 inches in Central Park. There was probably more snow in the Bronx but nobody reported it. Across the region, Goshen, in Orange County, received a dash more than a foot of snow. Long Island didn't get much snow but......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: large protest at a school in Brooklyn, person in water in the Bronx, and two funerals for the slain Auxiliary Police Officers-- one in Brooklyn, and one in the Manhattan. Good news for St. Brigid's-- demolition stayed for now. Are Park Slope parents angry about school overcrowding, or scared of an Arabic-language middle school? Shake Shack opens on Wednesday-- let this year's backlash begin! Bronx Boulevard of Death: six......

On the Gothamist Newsmap today: A naked EDP on East 14th Street in Manhattan, a van into a building on Cromwell Avenue in Staten Island, and an illegal factory in Brooklyn Stupid China! A stock sell-off in the most populous country caused the Dow to drop 416 points The Brooklyn Record looks at Con Ed's green power option Bottle rockets + turkeys = animal cruelty and disturbing wildlife charges for a Staten Island man......

Snow came last night and it's pretty much gone. The National Weather Service no longer has winter storm warnings, as there's just a little more "sleet and rain mixed with snow" (as per WABC 7) expected today. But just because the weather is now manageable doesn't mean that JetBlue totally has its act together. The low-cost carrier canceled 68 flights in and out of JFK Airport today because of the snow. JetBlue claimed it was......

Austinist gets arty with an interactive guide to SXSW, loved some local art galleries and a new art exhibit and lamented the possible loss of "Friday Night Lights" production to New Mexico. Bostonist was happy they finally found an Anna Nicole Smith connection to their fair city and that an Apple Store was opening up. They were less happy that new rules have been established limiting underage shows and that their Governor spending a lot......

JetBlue's flight operations were pretty much back to normal yesterday, after about a week of canceled flights and unhappy, confused customers. The lower-priced airline apologized at every opportunity - uploading a video on the Internet on Monday, issuing a customer bill of rights yesterday, and apologizing in newspapers today. But we did wonder about some sort of "air craft disturbance" that was reported yesterday in the late afternoon. It turns out that an "unruly......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A large fight in the Bronx, an unusual MVA in Manhattan and a "Jet Blue aircraft disturbance" at LaGuardia - Gate B5 Promises from the Department of Transportation mean nothing, even after two children die Activists want tax-paying immigrants to have the right to vote; immigrants did vote in national elections between 1776 and 1926 Stop planning a scuba trip in Fiji - amNew York has the scoop on......