uFlying Uzbekistan Airways? You’ll Have To Get Weighed At The Airportr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie)

  While Uzbekistan Airways won’t sell travelers different fares based on their weight, the airline has announced that passengers will need to step on the scale with their carry-on bags before flying, citing safety reasons.

  The airline announced the change in a recent notice on its website about pre-flight procedures, saying passengers will be weighed on scales in airport departure zones. Uzbekistan Airways says the results will be confidential, and will only correspond to a passenger category like male, female or child.

  “According to the rules of International Air Transport Association, airlines are obliged to carry out the regular procedures of preflight control passengers weighing with hand baggage to observe requirements for ensuring flight safety,” says the airline’s statement.

  That’s news to an IATA spokesman, however.

  “We are not aware of an IATA rule concerning the weighing of passengers and their hand luggage prior to flight,” the manager of IATA corporate communications told CNN. “All airlines have policies in place for load calculations, weight and balance of their aircraft. These policies in turn are subject to the rules and regulations of their national aviation regulator.”

  The Federal Aviation Administration has guidelines for airlines trying to calculate the average weight passengers add to a plane, which involves applying an average passenger-mass value. The latest weight averages set by the FAA define adults as between 190-195 pounds and kids at 82 pounds, with variations depending on the season (heavier clothes = heavier passengers). The guidelines include a 16-pound allowance for carry-on items.

  It’s unclear whether heavier passengers will be penalized, or if the airline will charge different fares based on weight. Samoa Air instituted weight-based fares back in 2013, and still uses that system today.

  “Airlines don’t run on seats, they run on weight, and particularly the smaller the aircraft you are in the less variance you can accept in terms of the difference in weight between passengers,” Chris Langton, head of Samoa Air said at the time. “Anyone who travels at times has felt they have been paying for half of the passenger next to them.”

  Related: Survey: 40% Of Travelers Would Get Weighed At Airport, Other 60% Just Laugh In Response

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uPornhub Censors Commercial Likening Video Service To Parmagiano-Reggiano After Cheese Group Complainsr

4 4 4 9

• Although dairy lovers might compare a beautifully shaped, delicious, hard cheese to food porn, an Italian cheese group says an ad that likened a streaming porn service to its famed Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese is basically blasphemy.

  The Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese Consortium says it’s considering legal action against Pornhub, an online company that has been running ads that compares the cheese to its new subscription service, reports The Guardian.

  In the ad, a couple is grocery shopping, mulling what kind of cheese to buy.

  “Why don’t we get this aged Parmigiano-Reggiano … They say it’s the Pornhub Premium of cheeses,” the man tells his partner, in reference to the $9.99 month new video service.

  The consortium called the ad “not only distasteful and unacceptable, but offensive for our producers and their work,” adding that it’s “vulgarly aimed at making a profit from the exploitation of the fame gained by Parmigiano-Reggiano,” the statement said.

  The cheese group strictly regulates cheese-making in Italy: only products made in Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, and parts of Bologna and Mantova can legally carry the name “Parmigiano-Reggiano.”

  A spokesman pointed out that it all comes down to the specific word — the company could’ve gone with the word parmesan, which is the generic term used for the cheese in the U.S.

  The consortium has requested that the ad be removed immediately — and that may have worked, sort of: it appears Pornhub has released a new “censored” version of the ad, which now bleeps out the words “Parmagiano-Reggiano” and puts a big black box over the cheese itself.

  Watch below — safe for work:

  Hard cheese: Pornhub may face legal action over Parmigiano-Reggiano ad [The Guardian]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uHBO Will Get 9-Month Exclusive Window On New Sesame Street Episodesr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (Scott Lynch)

  In an attempt to make its cable and streaming services more appealing to families, HBO has struck a five-year deal with the folks at Sesame Workshop that will give the premium cable channel a 9-month exclusive window on new Sesame Street episodes.

  Sesame Workshop says the partnership will allow the company to double its content output, but at the expense of having to hold back its new programming from PBS for nine months after it first appears on HBO.

  Meanwhile, HBO can now market to parents as the exclusive home of new Sesame Street content. This could help the network sell subscriptions to its pay-TV service and its standalone HBO Now online streaming service, which has primarily been marketed as a means of getting more mature content like Game of Thrones and True Detective (or at least the first season of that show).

  Now, in addition to the new content, which is expected to launch later this year, HBO will gain access to a library of 150 older Sesame Street episodes, and around 50 total archive episodes of two other shows, Pinky Dinky Doo and The Electric Company.

  The deal will last for five seasons of the long-running educational show for kids. It will also include a currently unnamed “Sesame Street Muppet” spinoff series, along with a new original educational series for children.

  “Our new partnership with HBO represents a true winning public-private partnership model,” said Jeffrey D. Dunn, Sesame Workshop’s CEO. “It provides Sesame Workshop with the critical funding it needs to be able to continue production of Sesame Street and secure its nonprofit mission of helping kids grow smarter, stronger and kinder; it gives HBO exclusive pay cable and SVOD access to the nation’s most important and historic educational programming; and it allows Sesame Street to continue to air on PBS and reach all children, as it has for the past 45 years.”

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uConsumers Have Filed 75 Antitrust Lawsuits Against Delta, American, United & Southwest Airlines Since Julyr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (kevindean)

  Shortly after the Department of Justice announced in early July that it had opened an investigation into alleged collusion between major airlines to keep ticket prices high two groups of passengers filed lawsuits against the major U.S. carriers. Since then, the legal system has been inundated with strikingly similar complaints from travelers.

  According to the Dallas Morning News, 75 different lawsuits have been filed against Delta, America, United, and Southwest since July 1, when the DOJ revealed its antitrust probe.

  The legal actions, which have been filed across all corners of the U.S., use the DOJ’s investigation as a basis for allegations that the airlines colluded to keep fares high through a series of mega-mergers.

  The four airlines named in the lawsuits have undergone major mergers in the last decade and now reportedly account for 80% of all domestic air travel.

  Back in 2008 Delta merged with Northwest Airlines; in 2010 Southwest acquired AirTran; United merged with Continental Airlines in 2012; and American and U.S. Airways finalized their merger in 2013 but have not yet combined all operations.

  “This action challenges a collusion among major airlines to limit routes, information and available seats to keep airfares artificially high,” the first lawsuit to be filed in New York states. “Plaintiffs allege that defendants illegally signaled to each other how quickly they would add new flights, routes, and extra seats. To keep prices high on fares, it was undesirable for the defendants to increase capacity.”

  While it’s possible that the lawsuits could be consolidated into one mega-class-action suit, for now they move forward individually.

  So which area of the U.S. has seen the most complaints files? That would be a tie between the Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn and the Northern District of California, San Francisco, which each have 15 cases pending.

  Of course, the home bases for many of the major airlines have seen several legal actions files. The Northern District of Texas – home to Southwest and American airlines – has four lawsuits, while Chicago – the home of United Airlines – counts nine suit on its docket. Delta’s home area of Atlanta has only one lawsuit filed, the Dallas Morning News reports.

  The District of Minnesota has compiled 11 class-action suits, counting a wide-range of plaintiffs from Minnesota, New Jersey, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan and San Diego County.

  You can check out a full list of the filed lawsuits via the Dallas Morning News.

  Guess how many antitrust lawsuits have been filed against the Big 4 airlines (No, more than that – guess again) [Dallas Morning News]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uExperimental Verizon FiOS Service Would Be 10X Speed Of Google Fiberr

4 4 4 9

• With Google Fiber continuing to expand, offering gigabit broadband service for a reasonable price, some Internet service providers are feeling the heat and beginning to test networks that would blow the pants of Google.

  Verizon announced earlier this week that it’s completed new fiberoptic technology that could eventually be deployed via its FiOS broadband service and provide download and upload speeds of 10Gbps, ten times the top speed offered by Google Fiber and similar services, and 20 times the current fastest option from FiOS.

  To put it in real-world terms, it currently takes about 17 minutes to download a 2-hour HD movie on current FiOS service. At 10Gbps, it would take around 8 seconds.

  The company also believes that 10Gbps isn’t the maximum speed for the tech, dubbed “next-generation passive optical network,” or NG-PON2. Verizon contends that it could ultimately provide service at anywhere from 40-80Gbps.

  One lucky FiOS residential customer in Massachusetts, and one business customer in the area, have been testing NG-PON2. In addition to running the test on a dedicated fiber line, Verizon sent out the next-gen signal on a line serving current-gen customers to prove that the two systems could be delivered on the same fiber.

  Verizon is touting NG-PON2 as a way to greatly increase speeds, serving the needs of customers with a growing number of Internet-connected devices in their homes and offices, without having to entirely replace the existing network.

  Similarly, Comcast recently confirmed that it will soon begin testing DOCSIS 3.1 (short for Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification), which allows for high-speed transfer of data over existing cable lines. It’s hoped that this tech could provide upwards of 10Gbps in download speeds over Comcast’s current coaxial network.

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uBumble Bee Foods Will Pay $6M For Worker Who Was Killed In Pressure Cookerr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (RustyClark hottnfunkyradio.com)

  Almost three years after a Bumble Bee Foods worker was killed when he was accidentally locked inside a pressure cooker he was repairing, his employer will have to pay $6 million for “willfully violating worker safety rules” as part of a settlement agreement announced by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office.

  The payout for the man’s nightmarish death is the largest known payout for workplace safety violations involving a single victim in a California criminal prosecution, reports the Los Angeles Times.

  In October 2012, a 62-year-old worker stepped inside a 35-foot oven at the company’s Santa Fe Springs plant so he could fix something inside the machine, which is used to sterilize cans of tuna. Other plant workers didn’t realize he was inside, loaded a bunch of carts inside it, shut the door and started the oven. As the temperature reached up to 270 degrees, the worker inside died and his remains were found by another plant worker.

  “You don’t have warm blood running in your veins if you’re not affected by the way this guy died. It’s horrific,” Hoon Chun, assistant head deputy district attorney for the office’s Consumer Protection Division told the LAT. The CPD helped prosecute the case. “I cannot imagine a worse result of violating safety rules than something like this.”

  Bumble Bee will have to change the way things work at its plant, paying $3 million to replace outdated tuna ovens with new ones that don’t require people to go inside them. Newly enhanced safety measures like video cameras installed at those ovens, training for employees about safety rules and safety audits of equipment will also be required.

  The company will also pay $1.5 million in restitution to the man’s family, $750,000 to the district attorney’s Environmental Enforcement Fund and an additional $750,000 in combined fines, penalties and court costs.

  “I hope it sends a message that safety rules are not a recommendation, they are a legal requirement,” Chun said. “I’m hoping people will … realize shortcutting safety rules to make a few extra bucks and improve the bottom line is not a tolerable equation.”

  In April, the company was charged with three counts of willfully violating safety rules, causing death — a felony. If Bumble Bee complies with the terms of the settlement agreement with the district attorney’s office, it will plead guilty to one misdemeanor count after 18 months.

  “While this resolution will help bring closure with the district attorney’s office, we will never forget the unfathomable loss of our colleague… and we are committed to ensuring that employee safety remains a top priority at all our facilities,” Bumble Bee Foods said in a statement.

  Two Bumble Bee employees were also hit with the same felony charges in April: the director of operations in charge of safety, and the company’s safety manager, who had responsibilities for safety on the plant floor.

  The director of operations agreed to do 320 hours of community service, to pay $11,400 in fines and penalty assessments and to take work-safety classes. If he complies with those conditions, he can plead guilty to a misdemeanor at his sentencing in 18 months.

  The safety manager pleaded guilty on Wednesday and was sentenced to three years of formal probation, ordered to complete 30 days of community labor and take work-safety classes. He’ll also have to pay $19,000 in fines and penalty assessments. He’ll also have the chance to have the charge downgraded to a misdemeanor in a year and a half.

  Both workers are also required to make public statements admitting guilt for their roles in the man’s death.

  The victim’s family thanked investigators, prosecutors and others for “ensuring that safe work practices are implemented” at Bumble Bee.

  “Certainly, nothing will bring back our dad, and our mom will not have her husband back, but much can be done to ensure this terrible accident does not happen again,” a statement from the family said.

  Bumble Bee Foods to pay $6 million in death of worker in pressure cooker [Los Angeles Times]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uMan Suing Restaurant Known For Throwing Dinner Rolls After He Says He Was Hit In The Head With Oner

4 4 4 9

• 

  (Coyoty)

  Sometimes, food isn’t enough, and diners want a show. Restaurants know that, including one well-known Missouri spot that’s known for being the “Home of the Throwed Rolls,” which means exactly what you might think: dinner rolls are tossed through the air from servers to guests. But one customer claims things got out of hand when he was hit in the eye with a dinner roll, and he’s now suing over his injuries.

  The Missouri man filed the lawsuit this week, claiming he “sustained a lacerated cornea with a vitreous detachment and all head, neck, eyes and vision were severely damaged” after being hit by a dinner roll during a visit in September of 2014, reports the River Front Times.

  He’s seeking at least $25,000 to cover medical bills and legal fees, alleging that the restaurant’s “carelessness and negligence” has already caused him to rack up $10,000 in expenses. He says the restaurant should’ve known how dangerous it could be to chuck rolls around, which the lawsuit claims is a “defective condition” of the business.

  But as the River Front Times points out, the man might not have much of a case, noting that “Home of Throwed Rolls” signs are posted all over the place, which could mean customers assume they will be putting themselves in the line of fire upon entering.

  And in June, the Kansas City Royals and their mascot were found not to have been at fault after a hot dog that was thrown into the stands hit a man in the face and tore his retina. The jury found that the man who was hit assumed some responsibility for personal awareness by entering a baseball stadium.

  Throwed Roll Leads to Lawsuit [River Front Times]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist