Monday, April 19, 2010

Volcano in Iceland update: New York Hotels offering discounts

As an update to the last post on the Volcano in Iceland and its impact on New York City, The New York Times reports that New York hotels are giving discounts of as much as 15 percent to European travelers stranded in in New York at airports like JFK.

But a 15 percent discount's not enough: over 1,000 travelers are sleeping at John F. Kennedy International because local hotels are booked and Manhattan's too expensive an option for them.

New York JFK Airport Officials say they're providing "baby formula, diapers and water, along with cots" for stranded travelers. Unfortunately, because the airport terminals aren't designed for sleep-overs, there aren't showers for the travelers. (You'd think after all this time an airport would have such facilities for people, even if it's just able to accommodate 30 or 40 at a time.)

The stranded passenger problem appears unique to New York City because of its proximity to Europe and the impacts of the Volcano in Iceland. Other U.S. international destinations aren't impacted.

Stay tuned.

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