Flying on top

For the second consecutive year, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) has been named the Best Airport in North America.

"For MSP to be recognized by our travelers as one of the best in the world year after year is a testament to our focus on providing exceptional airport experiences so Minnesota thrives," said Brian Ryks, CEO of the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), in a press release.

The top honor by the Airports Council International (ACI) global Airport Service Quality (ASQ) program was based on 465,000 travelers surveyed at nearly 400 airports and in more than 90 countries in 2022. The survey takes into account 30 key factors such as ease of check-in, security, cleanliness, shopping and dining.

Nearly 400 airports participate in the survey. This is the second straight year and sixth time in seven years that MSP has received the accolade for airports with 25 million to 40 million passengers per year.

NANCY NGO

Passport wait times

The State Department was processing as many as 500,000 passports a week over the winter, an unprecedented number, a department official said. (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
TNS
The State Department was processing as many as 500,000 passports a week over the winter, an unprecedented number, a department official said. (Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

The State Department is taking longer than usual to issue new and renew existing U.S. passports because record numbers of Americans are going overseas.

In recent months, the department was sometimes processing as many as 500,000 passports a week. That number is unprecedented, said Andres Rodriguez, lead community relations officer for passport services at the State Department.

As wonderful as renewed wanderlust may be for U.S. citizens, the wave of new applications has strained the State Department employees who process them. To confront the flood of passport applications, the department says it is "aggressively recruiting and hiring."

It's also warning citizens that processing a passport will take eight to 11 weeks. Expedited passports, which cost an additional $60, will take five to seven weeks. And some countries, including popular European destinations, won't accept passports that have fewer than six months of validity remaining.

Last year, the U.S. government issued 22 million passports, a record and a jump of about 85% over 2020, the first year of the pandemic.

"All signs are pointing to having another record this year," Rodriguez said.

For questions about the process, or to check on an application, citizens can visit travel.state.gov.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Traveling with kids

The Transportation Department released its latest tool to fight what it calls "junk fees": a chart that shows which major airlines have committed to "fee-free family seating."

According to the airline family seating dashboard, only three carriers had met the criteria to earn a green check mark: American, Frontier and Alaska all guarantee that kids 13 or younger will be able to sit next to an adult in their party at no additional cost.

In its news release, the DOT said that a four-month review last year found that no airlines guaranteed that parents and kids could sit together without additional charges, though most airlines said they would try to do so.

"DOT is not satisfied with airline statements that they will 'make efforts' to seat families traveling with children together at no additional cost," the department's website says. "The Department urges all airlines to guarantee family seating."

THE WASHINGTON POST