United Airlines has apologised and given a $500 travel voucher to a passenger who accused the airline of giving her first-class seat to U. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat. An airline spokeswoman said Monday that its internal systems show the passenger, Jean-Marie Simon, canceleld her Dec. 18 seat from Houston to Washington, D.C. after a weather delay. Simon denies that she cancelled the flight. She was given a seat in Economy Plus on the flight, and told the Houston Chronicle she saw Jackson Lee sitting in the seat that was assigned to her. United says it upgraded Jackson Lee automatically and not because she was a member of Congress. The congresswoman says in a statement that she didn't ask for anything "exceptional or out of the ordinary."<br/>
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Jetstar and Air New Zealand have cancelled Christmas Day flights, disrupting passengers' plans. Jetstar Flight JQ261 was scheduled to leave Auckland for Wellington at 3.10 this afternoon. The flight has now been cancelled, according to Auckland Airport's online arrivals and departures board. This follows flight delays and a cancellation on Christmas Eve. Two Emirates/Qantas flights to Auckland from Dubai via Australia have been delayed. Other passengers also reported cancellations with Jetstar between Wellington to Auckland. A Jetstar spokeswoman blamed today's cancellation on "engineering issues requiring parts to be brought in". She said most of the passengers from the 3.10pm flight were rebooked onto another, whose departure time was less than an hour later. The new flight for the rest was less than three hours after the original flight's scheduled departure time. Two Air New Zealand flights were also cancelled today. The airline's Wellington to Hamilton flight at 9.45am this morning was cancelled, as was the 8.05am flight from Hamilton to Wellington.<br/>
A Turkish Airlines plane headed to Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro from Istanbul returned to Turkey after a passenger suffered from a panic attack on Dec. 25. Anton Cestnik, a 54-year-old Slovenian citizen, attacked other passengers and broke a screen of the plane during the panic attack. The pilot of the plane decided to return to Atatürk International Airport while above the Egyptian capital Cairo when members of the cabin crew were not able to take Cestnik under control. Cestnik was detained after the plane landed.<br/>
Zambian Acting Information Minister Stephen Kampyongo stated that Ethiopian Airline will get a 45% share of the newly established Zambia Airways. He also said that the Zambian government will have 55% shares in the national airline. Kampyongo said Zambia Airways would be given a US$16.5m grant for start-up and operational costs in the first year. Kampyongo said government would not interfere in the operations of the airline.“We have learnt lessons on how Zambia Airways failed to conduct business and going forward, there will be no interference with the running of the new face Zambia Airlines.<br/>
Ethiopian Airlines operated its first ever domestic flight within Africa to be staffed by an all-female crew. The flight from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Lagos in Nigeria was manned entirely by women, from pilots to cabin crew, check-in staff to flight dispatchers on the ground, reports This Is Africa. The Boeing 777 made the journey in five and a half hours, and was part of a push to encourage African women to consider pursuing careers in aviation, an industry that is currently dominated by men. This was not the first time the airline has intentionally used an all-female crew; in 2015 it did the same on an international flight to Bangkok, Thailand. The same female Captain, Amsale Gualu, piloted both flights, saying: “This flight shows us that if women get equal opportunities and work hard, I’m sure they can achieve whatever they want in all fields including the aviation industry.” Around a third of Ethiopian Airlines employees are women; however, they are more often than not flight attendants and check-in staff rather than pilots and technicians.<br/>
Scores of flights across New Zealand are going for as low as $19 a seat as Air NZ cuts prices for Boxing Day. The specials include international flights to America, Japan and South America destinations for as little as NZ$800 return. The Grabaseat website says the promotion is to capture the spirit of returns. It suggests instead of returning average presents travellers should consider bagging a bargain return airfare. The dozens of deals across nearly 150 flights are being quickly snapped up. Many cut price seats sold out within minutes. They included flights between Auckland, Queenstown, Dunedin and Christchurch. Most international flights are for March and April but some are available until October. International carrier Emirates also released a swathe of low fares today to regions around its network.<br/>