A Qantas pilot sacked after groping a female co-worker's breast while he was drunk and stoned on an overseas stopover has lost a bid to have his dismissal reviewed. The industrial umpire has rejected the pilot's claim that his beer had been spiked with an illicit drug at a pub in Santiago, Chile, before he sexually harassed his co-pilot. Stephen Gregory – a first officer Boeing 747 pilot of nearly 20 years' experience – was sacked for the serious misconduct in February 2014. One evening on the two-day stopover in Santiago, the crew had shared a bottle of rum in Gregory's hotel, before moving on to an Irish pub in the city's nightlife district of Bellavista. Gregory briefly separated from his colleagues while they were at the pub and returned about 30 minutes later. While in a taxi heading back to the hotel, Mr Gregory held and massaged the female co-pilot's breast as she tried to evade his reach, the Fair Work Commission heard. Cannabis was identified in his system in a urine test back in Australia, and the airline sacked him with five weeks' pay. Fair Work Commissioner Ian Cambridge last year ruled that, despite having an unblemished work record,Gregory's claim to be an innocent victim of drink spiking was implausible. The tribunal on Tuesday upheld the commissioner's earlier ruling, and refused Gregory permission to appeal.<br/>
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A mobile hot spot with the name "Mobile Detonation Device" had some Qantas Airways passengers refusing to fly over the weekend. A passenger spotted the hot spot on her phone's Wi-Fi menu after she boarded the Qantas flight in Melbourne, according to a report in the Western Australian. She notified the crew, and the captain delayed the Saturday flight to Perth to locate the device, passenger John Vidler told the media outlet. "He said there was a device on the plane that had a name on it that he found threatening and that we were not leaving until that device was brought to him," Vidler said.<br/>Not a smooth move. Although the device wasn't found, the flight was cleared for takeoff -- but not before Vidler and about 40 other passengers opted not to fly. "There was no security risk to the plane, which landed safely in Perth," a Qantas spokesperson said.<br/>
LATAM Airlines launched service Monday connecting Washington Dulles to the company’s hub in Lima, Peru. LATAM moved to add the nonstop route after seeing strong connecting demand for Washington-Lima travel via its Miami hub, said Pablo Chiozza, LATAM’s SVP for USA, Canada and Caribbean. LATAM Airlines is the only carrier to fly nonstop between the cities, starting the route with a schedule of three flights a week. LATAM will fly the Washington-Lima route with Boeing 767-300 aircraft that seat 18 in business class and 220 in coach. Chiozza says LATAM expects leisure demand to account for 70%-80% of passengers on the route.<br/>