Airberlin introduces a microsite catering to LGBT travelers in North America

 

Airberlin announced on Wednesday, February 15 the launch of a new mircosite catering to LGBT travelers in North America. Airberlin flies nonstop from San Francisco International to gay-friendly Dusseldorf.  That service began nearly two years ago. Both Dusseldorf and Cologne have large gay communities, so travelers should feel comfortable.

Airberlin is now providing the airline’s valued lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender customers with additional travel resources when planning travel to Europe and introduces its new microsite airberlin.com/lgbt. The microsite features information on LGBT travel to Europe and a calendar of events, providing customers with highlights about some of the most popular LGBT happenings in Europe.

To celebrate the launch of the microsite together with its U.S. customers, airberlin will launch a “Pride” sweepstakes between the months of March and June, 2012. One lucky winner and a companion will fly for free from any Airberlin gateway in the U.S. to Germany. Among airberlin’ s worldwide destinations are many cities favored by the LGBT community, such as Berlin, Cologne, Munich, London, Barcelona (Sitges), Ibiza, Mykonos, Venice, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna, Zurich and more.

It's great to see more airlines participating in LGBT travel. 

UPDATE: Passenger Who Fell From Atlantis Cruise “Intentionally Went Overboard”

The unnamed passenger who fell off a Atlantis gay cruise “intentionally went overboard,” reports The Sun UK.Representatives from Royal Caribbean International say a review of CCTV tapes indicate the man, who has been reported to be British, did not fall accidentally over the railing and was not pushed.

The 30-year-old passenger plunged from his balcony on deck 11 of luxury liner Allure of the Seas in waters off Mexico… The ship made multiple public announcements and began a complete search of the ship, in efforts to locate the guest. When the guest did not respond to the pages and was not found onboard, the captain alerted the local authorities of the situation. Our care team is providing support to the guest’s family and our thoughts and prayers are with them.”

Another passenger saw the man go overboard at 7:10am EST and raised the alarm. The Mexican navy and coastguard have taken over the search while the Allure continued on its journey.The man’s family has been notified but his name has not been released to the press.

Passenger Overboard from Atlantis Allure of the Seas.

Via cruiselawnews.com By: Jim Walker

The AP is reporting that a British cruise ship passenger went overboard.from the Allure of the Seas, which is the world's largest cruise ship cruise ship.

Royal Caribbean states that another passenger allegedly saw the British passenger, age 30, go over the railing from his stateroom on the Allure. The cruise line then apparently verified the overboard by viewing images from closed circuit television.

The incident occurred as the cruise ship had stopped off the coast of Mexico near Cozumel. The ship was to depart tonight at 8:00 PM tonight and was scheduled to be at sea tomorrow, with a return to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday.

There are no details regarding when the incident occurred.

The last British citizen who disappeared in international waters near Mexico is Rebecca Coriam, a Disney cruise member employed as a youth counselor aboard the Disney Wonder.

The last reported incident aboard the Allure of the Seas involved multiple rapes earlier last month.

The cruise ship was under charter by Atlantis, which hosts parties for the gay and lesbian community. The Allure had sailed from South Florida on January 29, 2012 to Labadee Haiti, Costa Maya Mexico, and then to Cozumel.

In the past, the Atlantis - Royal Caribbean cruises have been marred by controversy, with drug overdoses, suicide, and a travel agent busted for selling drugs (arrested with 142 ecstasy pills, 3 grams of methamphetamine, ketamine and about $51,000 in cash). You can read about these incidents below.

One year ago: Passenger Busted for Selling Drugs on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas

Two years ago: Another Death on a Royal Caribbean - Atlantis Cruise

Three years ago: GLAAD Board Member Dies Aboard Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas

Does anyone know what happened on this latest Atlantis cruise party?

Gay Russian Flight Attendant Forced To Marry A Woman To Keep Job

Via PerezHilton.com

Awful!

A gay flight attendant says Russia's leading airline forced him into a heterosexual marriage to keep his job.

No, this isn't our pitch for a for a shitty rom-com, it's Maxim Kupreev's real life.

The 25-year-old flight attendant claims that when he tried to found a gay support network at the airline, Aeroflot, the company heads shut it down.

A spokesperson for the airline said they didn't need an LBGT group because:

"One should separate personal and professional life."

Yet, that's not what happened a year later when Aeroflot gave him a really weird ultimatum to either marry his high school girlfriend beard, Sofia Mikhailova or lose his job.

That's not fair to ANYONE!! Especially not Sofia (even though she gets 10% off the flights now) because she was already married! Where are the family values in that??

Aeroflot is insane.

Gay activists in Russia are planning to ask air passengers to boycott Aeroflot and not to use its services until the creation of equal conditions for all workers. We fully support this boycott!!

If you are planing a trip near Russia PLEASE do not travel with Aeroflot!