Passenger Allegedly Tried to Break Into Cockpit. Then a Former MMA Fighter Stepped In
Passenger Allegedly Tried to Break Into the Cockpit. Then a Former MMA Fighter Stepped In
Shandell Venegas/Unsplash
https://www.fodors.com/news/photos/passenger-allegedly-tried-to-break-into-cockpit-then-a-former-mma-fighter-stepped-in
And other travel news you may have missed.
This week in travel, we have several stories that may have flown under your radar. Among them: A German cathedral will start charging tourists; the U.K. wants to ban abusive passengers from all airlines; a former MMA fighter restrained an unruly passenger after disruptive behavior; and a cruise passenger jumped into the water to save an elderly guest.
Dive into these and more as we examine the latest in travel news.
PHOTO: RONAN O'CONNELL
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Cologne Cathedral to Charge Tourists €12 Starting in July
Germany’s Cologne Cathedral will begin charging tourists €12 ($14) for entry starting in July to cover maintenance costs. The Gothic church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and, at 515 feet, is the tallest twin-spired church in the world. It first announced its plan to charge tourists in March and has now confirmed the fee for daily operations, maintenance, and security.
Cathedral operators said that 99% of the visitors are tourists, and it costs €16 million ($18.5 million) per year to maintain the site. The church will reserve a small portion for worshippers, and some tourist groups, such as children, will be able to visit for free. Charges will also be waived on German Unity Day (October 3) and Labor Day (May 1).
PHOTO: MISTERVLAD/SHUTTERSTOCK
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U.K. Proposes Ban on Unruly Passengers Across All Airlines
After British low-cost carrier Jet2 called for a nationwide ban on unruly passengers last month, the U.K. government has begun working on a proposal to prevent disruptive passengers from flying with any airline. Such a database does not currently exist in the U.K., and, as a result, an individual banned from one airline can book with another.
A national database would be managed by the airlines and the government, but data protection laws in the U.K. could be a significant roadblock. Airlines U.K., a trade association, also supports the idea, and a spokesperson said, “Additional measures for the most serious cases of disruption, including the creation of a national ban list, is an important next step ensuring a tiny minority of passengers cannot disrupt air travel for the majority.”
The Department for Transport is planning to meet with airlines to discuss implementation. “Everyone should be able to enjoy a pint at the airport, but antisocial behavior on flights is totally unacceptable,” a government source told the BBC.
PHOTO: JASON SCHRONCE/SHUTTERSTOCK
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Former MMA Fighter Restrains Unruly Passenger
On a recent flight from Puerto Rico to Chicago, a passenger tried to open the emergency exit, choked an off-duty flight attendant, and attempted to break into the cockpit. Fortunately, a former MMA fighter was aboard and stepped up to restrain the unruly passenger.
The incident occurred on a Frontier flight last week when 51-year-old Juan Reyes tried to open the exit, saying he wanted to leave. He ignored crew instructions to sit down and charged toward the cockpit. The passenger was moved to a different seat, and an off-duty flight attendant volunteered to sit beside him to keep watch. However, the man attacked the flight attendant after being asked not to touch his belongings. Reyes choked him, and other passengers intervened. One of them was John Longood, a former MMA professional and jiu-jitsu black belt.
Longood subdued Reyes and held him until the plane diverted to Miami. Reyes was arrested upon landing and now faces federal charges of assault and crew interference, with a potential maximum prison term of 20 years.
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Cruise Passenger Jumps Into Water to Save Elderly Guest
On May 19, an elderly passenger fell into the water while trying to board the Carnival Jubilee cruise ship, which had stopped in Costa Maya, Mexico. Another guest jumped in to save the individual.
Amy Nelson, the wife of Myron Tucker, posted a video on TikTok recounting the incident. She said they were returning to the docked ship when they encountered “a scene of panic and distress.” Her husband rushed down the pier and saw that an elderly man was struggling, “face down [drowning].” He jumped in to help “as no one else seemed to be taking action, including the Carnival staff.” He managed to grab the man until both were safely lifted from the water.
Carnival thanked them by gifting a free dinner and acknowledging Tucker’s efforts.
PHOTO: NAN104/ISTOCK
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Woman Sues Carnival Cruises After Losing Both Legs on Excursion
A woman from Memphis lost both her legs during her graduation cruise last year and has filed a lawsuit against Carnival Cruises. Twenty-three-year-old Hannah Smith took a cruise with her childhood best friend to celebrate her graduation from Miles College. While the cruise ship was docked in the Bahamas, she joined an excursion and suffered serious injuries after being sucked under a catamaran ferry. The propellers repeatedly cut her, resulting in the loss of both legs in the accident.
In the lawsuit, she claimed the excursion employees gave her and her friend dangerous amounts of alcohol and marijuana. Her complaint also alleged that on an employee’s suggestion, she entered the water to relieve herself, even though the ferry was not properly docked. After getting sucked into the propeller, her friend and another passenger pulled her from the bloodied water. She underwent two surgeries in the Bahamas before returning to the United States for further treatment.
Her lawyers are demanding a jury trial for mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, disfigurement, disability, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Carnival has asked the judge to dismiss the case, stating it does not own the tour company that organized the excursion.
Hotel Pays Tourist $1,200 After He Couldn’t Get a Pool Chair
Courtesy AVA Cancun
https://www.fodors.com/news/news/hotel-pays-tourist-1-200-after-he-couldnt-get-a-pool-chair
A German tourist won a $1,200 settlement after failing to secure poolside lounge chairs at a packed Greek resort, reigniting debate over “towel wars” in Europe.
A German court has ordered a tour operator to pay a cash settlement to a tourist who was unable to find a vacant sun lounge chair at a resort in Greece. The Hanover court last month awarded a $1,200 to the plaintiff who sued the German tour operator TUI Deutschland after he was unable to get access to sun loungers on a family vacation in 2024.
The family had booked an 11-night vacation package at the Grecotel Kos Imperial on the Greek island of Kos, paying about $8,500. August is a peak vacation month for European families, and they had difficulty securing lounge chairs because all of them had already been marked as reserved by other guests at the heavily booked resort. In German, there’s a word for this—handtuchkriege (towel wars)—that describes the practice of using towels to reserve sun loungers.
The man said he rose early each morning to check for available sun loungers (in German known as morgendlicher liegestuhl sprint—literally “morning deckchair sprint”) and over the course of his vacation found only a single pair for his family of four. His children ultimately put their towels on the ground nearby.
Lawyers for the family argued that the resort had posted signage indicating the reservation of sun loungers was prohibited, and that resort staff did nothing to enforce the policy. The man complained multiple times, both to the tour operator and on their instructions, directly with the hotel, but says his complaints did not have any effect. The family’s case was bolstered by witness testimony and security camera footage showing that no loungers were available.
The tour operator provided a partial refund to the family post-travel, but by the court’s calculation, they weren’t adequately compensated, and ordered an additional settlement.
German law dictates that package holiday prices must be rebated if a portion of the advertised amenities or services is not fulfilled by the tour operator or by an agent of the tour operator, which the judge ruled the hotel would have been considered in the case. The court found that although the vacationers needed to accept the possibility that they would not get access to a sun lounger, the tour operator had a responsibility to work out a solution with the resort after being alerted to a defect in the package they had purchased.
The judge also ruled that it was the responsibility of the tour operator and the resort to enforce their own posted policies rather than expecting that consumers would handle any disputes directly. Many resorts that post notices that sun loungers cannot be reserved also typically inform guests that their belongings will be removed unless the chairs are occupied within a set period—typically 20-30 minutes.
It’s not the first time a German court has awarded damages to travelers on a package holiday. In December 2023, another complaint from a German vacationer on the Greek island of Rhodes was also awarded a partial refund. In that case, the tour operator had argued that the tourists could have been more diligent in seeking and securing a sun lounger, because other guests had been successful. The court also disagreed in the earlier case, awarding damages to the travelers.
A spokesperson for the court told The New York Times that the tour operator had a responsibility to correct any defects in vacation packages when alerted by guests of the problem, ostensibly by insisting that the resorts enforce their own posted policies.
Germany and other countries in the European Union have significant legal protections for consumers purchasing vacation packages. The law mandates protection against tour operator insolvency for prepayments, allows free cancellation if a tour operator significantly alters the package components after purchase, and requires rebates if a tour operator doesn’t provide all the contracted services. To qualify as a package, a tour operator must sell more than one component (e.g., airfare, car rental, accommodations, tours) together for a single price.
Exec: Why MGM Resorts is undervalued amid acquisition bid
Live experiences will only increase in importance to the Las Vegas market, the chief financial officer says
MGM Resorts International's chief financial officer said his company believes that live entertainment and experiences will only grow in importance to the Las Vegas market. (Getty Images)
https://www.costar.com/article/41418802/exec-why-mgm-resorts-is-undervalued-amid-acquisition-bid?
By Bryan Wroten
NEW YORK — When Jonathan Halkyard, chief financial officer at MGM Resorts International, agreed to an on-stage interview at the NYU International Hospitality Investment Forum, an acquisition bid from Barry Diller's People Inc. was not on his radar.
Had he known, Halkyard said he "would have given it a second thought. Let's just say it hasn't been the week I expected it to be."
The day before Halkyard's onstage appearance, MGM Resorts confirmed it received an acquisition proposal to buy all outstanding shares for $48.30 per share in cash, a valuation of roughly $18 billion for the global resort-casino company. Diller, whose company owns a 26.1% stake in MGM Resorts, wrote a letter to MGM Resorts' board, stating the company was not realizing its full potential in the public markets.
"We continue to believe the market materially undervalues the power and durability of MGM's assets," Diller said in a news release accompanying the letter. "We believe MGM's management team is superb, and that there is a compelling opportunity to support MGM's next phase of growth and help unlock its full value."
The news of the MGM Resorts acquisition bid came not even a week after the announcement that Fertitta Entertainment intends to buy Caesars Entertainment for $5.7 billion and take on its approximately $11.9 billion in outstanding debt.
In the five and a half years since he’s been with MGM Resorts, Halkyard said he often takes the time to make a case for the company’s valuation. That means accounting for its Las Vegas business, its regional domestic operations, its properties in Macau through MGM China, its integrated resort in Osaka, Japan, and its digital business.
Jonathan Halkyard, chief financial officer at MGM Resorts International, said at the NYU International Hospitality Investment Forum that professional sports in Las Vegas can potentially surpass the market's entertainment offerings. (Bryan Wroten)
“You account for all of that — the valuation on our domestic business, which most people know about in Las Vegas and other places, is at a very low multiple, and that’s been the case for quite a while,” Halkyard said. “Why do people miss that, despite my harping on it? I’m probably just not communicating it well enough, but also, it’s a complicated group of businesses: digital, brick and mortar, cash flow generating now, big development in the future.”
It’s kind of a mixed bag, and sometimes investors aren’t doing that work to value some of MGM Resorts' parts, he said.
When looking at the accepted bid to buy Caesars Entertainment, Halkyard said there are investors who understand the long-term value of these businesses and the reliable cash flow from the regional markets and the dynamism of Las Vegas.
In a recent conversation with investors, Halkyard said one of them asked about Las Vegas bottoming out.
“I was like, ‘Bottoming out? I missed that one, because I was looking at occupancies on Wednesday nights in March of 98.5%,” he said. “This business has been doing exceptionally well for a long time, and I think that long-term investors realize it.”
Las Vegas faced its challenges last year for multiple reasons, including a drop in international inbound visitors, particularly those from Canada, as well as the perception that Las Vegas was too expensive a destination. During MGM Resort’s third-quarter 2025 earnings call, President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle said the company was correcting course after receiving feedback about how rooms and amenities were priced.
“When we think about pricing and the things that got everyone’s attention, whether it’s the infamous bottle of water, or a Starbucks coffee at Excalibur that cost $12, shame on us,” Hornbuckle said. “We should have been more sensitive to the overall experience at a place like Excalibur for those customers. You can’t have a $29 room and a $12 coffee.”
Halkyard said that Hornbuckle’s comments were correct and that Las Vegas has always been a place where people can both find the right value for their dollar as well as splurge when they want. What MGM Resorts is doing is giving everyone the opportunity to have the kind of trip they want to have.
The MGM Grand Las Vegas, for example, is a “beast of a property” with its finest VIP lodging in 12,000-square-foot suites with more economical rooms 100 yards away for about $150 a night, Halkyard said. MGM Resorts also introduced all-inclusive packages a few months ago at its Luxor and Excalibur properties, in which guests can buy a stay starting at two nights that includes the daily resort fee, dining, entertainment, and parking.
One of the main draws of Las Vegas is all the different forms of entertainment available, and MGM Resorts’ team believes that having these live experiences won’t become less important over time, Halkyard said.
“They’ll actually become much more important, and that people will seek that out, maybe even more than they do today, because let’s face it, the way people are pursuing entertainment is so much different now from the way it was even five or 10 years ago,” he said.
Entertainment has been changing constantly in Las Vegas, he said. The model used to be that people would come to Las Vegas, stay in a hotel, gamble, and buy a ticket to a show. The nature of that show has changed. They used to be production shows, and then Cirque du Soleil became popular in its residencies in the 2000s, and typically about two to three discrete things going on at the same time.
Now, the show integrates with the other offerings, he said.
“Whenever we’re signing a new entertainment deal, it seems more often than not there’s a food-and-beverage component to it,” he said. “There’s a retail component to it. Oftentimes appearances.”
New Kids On The Block played at Dolby Live, and then they would appear at the nightclub at Park MGM, he said. Bruno Mars plays at Dolby Live and has his own club at the Bellagio.
“We kind of expected he might show up there three or four times a year,” Halkyard said. “He went there, I think, 50 times last year. and oftentimes getting up on stage and playing.”
The approach now is to always integrate things beyond simply the ticket to the show, he said.
Nashville is the only other city that Halkyard said he could think of as another market that could compete with Las Vegas as the country’s entertainment capital. That said, he doesn’t believe Nashville has the scale and hotel room base yet to do it.
What has been going on with professional sports in Las Vegas may be even more impactful to the market than entertainment has been, Halkyard said. The city has gone from zero to four major sports teams in about 11 to 12 years, and there are hopes for an NBA team in a couple of years.
“Where it really makes a difference is the experience that we create around this, and it's a lot about the away fans coming to Vegas,” he said. “I mean, the poor Raiders. A lot of their home games are actually away games because so many people come from other cities.”
Quoting Hornbuckle, Halkyard said a three-hour game becomes a three-day weekend for Las Vegas visitors.
It’s difficult for other cities to promote themselves as a destination to another team’s fanbase, but Las Vegas can do that, he said. When the former Oakland A’s come to Las Vegas in 2028, there’s enough of a draw to get fans from other cities, such as Atlanta, to fly out to catch the game.
“We have a huge database of Atlanta customers, and so now that the three-game series playing the A’s becomes an event for either casino customers or retail, the possibilities with sports in Las Vegas are just almost endless,” he said.
The other thing Las Vegas can do with sports is when there’s nothing going on, it can create something, he said. The Players Era Festival, an early-season college basketball tournament, started in 2024. The first year it had eight teams, growing to 16 in 2025 and 32 this year.
“It’s like March Madness in November, December, and it’s going to bring that kind of energy and visitation,” he said.
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