Alaska Airlines has become the first US airline to launch an electronic bag tag programme, which enables passengers to tag their luggage through the airline’s mobile app before they even reach the airport. Alaska Mileage Plan members will begin receiving their electronic bag tag. Those elite status members included in the first wave of the programme are passengers who have travelled in the last 12 months, checked-in at least one bag and were among the first to register to use the device. “The last thing our guests want to do is stand in line,” said Charu Jain, Senior Vice-President of Merchandising and Innovation for Alaska Airlines. “With the addition of the Alaska Airlines electronic bag tag, our guests can complete almost all of their check-in tasks – from the comfort of their home, at work or on the way to catching their flight.” The three-by-five-inch devices are updated with a passenger’s flight information through the Alaska Airlines mobile app during check-in; essentially allowing travelers to head straight to the bag drop area once they arrive at the airport. The Alaska Airlines electronic bag tag is estimated to reduce the time passengers spend in airport lobbies by about 40%, including reducing lines and the use of paper bag tags. In addition to the device’s impressive lifespan and durability (Alaska Airlines employees tested it by running it over with a truck), the devices don’t require charging or batteries.<br/>
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The Dutch prosecutor’s office said Thursday that it will not appeal the acquittal of a man charged in the shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet as it flew over eastern Ukraine in 2014, citing concerns over the stress it would place on the families of the 298 people killed in the tragedy. Earlier this month, a court in the Netherlands convicted three other men in absentia for supplying the Russian surface-to-air missile which was used to bring down Flight 17, killing everyone on board the Boeing 777. Oleg Pulatov, a Russian who was the only suspect represented by defense lawyers at the trial, was acquitted for lack of evidence. “An appeal would be a great burden for the next of kin, because they would then remain in uncertainty about the outcome of the criminal case,” the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service said. All of the men are believed to be in Russia, which does not extradite its own nationals. Through his lawyers, Pulatov maintained he was not involved in the tragedy. A former officer in the Russian military intelligence service, he was considered the lowest-ranking member of the group. Russians Igor Girkin and Sergey Dubinskiy, and Ukrainian separatist Leonid Kharchenko were given life sentences for coordinating the transportation of the Buk missile system from a Russian military base to a separatist-controlled region of Ukraine and its subsequent return after the airliner was shot down. The prosecution service said it would continue its efforts to bring Girkin, Dubinskiy and Kharchenko into custody. “No offender should be allowed to escape punishment,” the office said in a statement.<br/>
In the run-up to the World Cup, Qatar pledged to make this the first carbon-neutral event in the tournament's history. But climate advocates raised serious doubts about its sustainability claims. So, is Qatar living up to its promise? Due to an acute shortage of hotel rooms in Qatar, tens of thousands of visitors are staying in neighbouring Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates. A shuttle flight service has been set up to take fans to football matches, with an estimated 500 daily flights in and out of Qatar's capital, Doha. Of those, Dubai in the UAE is operating nearly 120 flights every day. The environmental cost of transporting fans to the host nation by plane has come under scrutiny. The Paris-based carbon accounting firm Greenly estimates the shuttle flights have resulted in between 6,000 and 8,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions every day since the tournament started. The immense volume of shuttle flights undermines the organisers' pledge to minimise flying during the tournament, Khaled Diab, of advocacy group Carbon Market Watch, says. "One of the rationales for having so many stadiums concentrated in a small geographical area was to help reduce emissions related to air travel," he says. The World Cup was expected to attract more than 1.2m visitors, but Qatar only had 30,000 hotel rooms, 80% of which were booked in advance by Fifa for football teams, officials and sponsors. Shuttle flights allow travellers to book same-day round-trip flights from Dubai or other Gulf locations to attend a match in Qatar and return. Private jets and charters are also in huge demand, with hundreds landing in Qatar every day from around the region. Diab, from Carbon Market Watch, says their use shows the pledge to make the tournament carbon neutral was never serious. "If they wanted, they could have looked for other solutions, like driving from neighbouring countries," he says. But Qatar has defended its decisions.<br/>