Clearing Customs

to get quicker

Beginning Tuesday, international passengers arriving at Miami International Airport’s Concourses D, E and F will be welcomed by a new three-level, 400,000-square-foot passport control area. With 72 lanes, Customs officers can process 2,000 passengers per hour — twice the capacity of Concourse E’s 36 lanes.

MIA is now the top U.S. airport for international flights, with nearly 1,300 weekly flights serving 85 international destinations.

New York

Taxis hiking

mileage charges

The cost of a taxi ride in New York City is rising by an average of 17 percent.

The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission approved the fare hike July 12. It takes effect in September.

The base fare of $2.50 will not increase, but the mileage charge will. The flat-rate fee between Manhattan and Kennedy Airport will jump from $45 to $52. The surcharge to travel to or from Newark Liberty International Airport will rise from $15 to $17.50.

Research

More ‘working’ vacations planned

With more Americans worried about the direction of the economy, a survey found that 52 percent of employed adults planned to put in some work during their summer vacation this year.

That is up from 46 percent who said in a similar survey last year that they worked through their vacation.

The latest survey was conducted by Harris Interactive for TeamViewer, a producer of remote control and online meetings software. It found 30 percent planned to read work-related emails and 23 percent planned to take work-related calls while on vacation.

Employed men were more likely to say they would work during summer vacation than women (56 percent for men compared with 47 percent for women).

Airlines

New service

American Airlines said it will convert its daily Miami to Salvador, Brazil, flight, with continuing service to Recife to nonstop flights five days per week between Miami and both destinations beginning Nov. 15. American will also increase its current one daily nonstop flight between Miami and Rio de Janeiro to two daily nonstops on Dec. 15.

JetBlue Airways said it will begin nonstop service between Fort Lauderdale and Providence, R.I., beginning Nov. 29.

Spirit Airlines said it will operate daily nonstops between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Fort Lauderdale beginning Nov. 8. The seasonal service will run through April 24.

Miami Herald

wire services