Air Force One’s Decades-Long Theft Problem, a 747 Sunk as an Underwater Theme Park, and More Travel News

Here are this week’s travel news headlines from around the web and interweb I found the most interesting. Take a look:

• Princess Cruises Just Launched a Standby Program — Balcony Cabins From $99 a Night if You Can Drop Everything

If you live near Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral, Los Angeles, or Seattle and can pack a bag with two to seven days’ notice, Princess Cruises has a new program worth knowing about. The standby program lets flexible travelers join a waitlist for discounted fares on select sailings — inside and oceanview cabins start at $79 per person per day from Florida and LA ports, balconies at $99, and third and fourth guests in the room pay just $29. Seattle sailings run a bit higher. You call a dedicated reservations line, provide payment upfront, and then wait. If Princess can fit you in, they reach out within that window. No refund if you’re confirmed and decide not to go. No cabin selection either — you get what’s available. For spontaneous cruisers near those home ports, this is legitimately a solid deal. For the rest of us, maybe not so much.

• A Luxury Cruise Ship Accidentally Damaged a World War II Aircraft Wreck That Divers Have Been Visiting for Decades

A luxury cruise ship dropped its anchor directly onto a submerged World War II aircraft wreck off the coast of Papua New Guinea, causing significant damage to a site that underwater historians and divers have been carefully visiting for decades. The vessel in question was anchoring in what should have been a clearly marked exclusion zone around the wreck. Dive operators and heritage preservation groups have been raising alarms about exactly this kind of incident for years, as cruise itineraries increasingly include remote dive destinations without sufficient coordination with local maritime authorities. The wreck now has structural damage that cannot be repaired. Sad!

• Bahrain Bought a 747 for $100,000, Spent Seven Months Stripping It Down to Every Last Bolt, and Sank It in the Arabian Sea to Create the World’s Largest Underwater Theme Park

This is one of the coolest aviation retirement stories I have ever come across. A former Malaysia Airlines 747 that had been sitting in storage in Fujairah in the UAE since 2013 was purchased by Bahrain for about $100,000. Then specialists spent the better part of seven months removing every fuel line, wire, insulation piece, rubber seal, and plastic component from the aircraft, cleaning every single bolt of oil residue, and then reassembling it before it was declared safe to enter the sea. The wings were removed for road transport from Fujairah to the port, which briefly caused a social media frenzy from people who thought a jumbo jet had made an emergency landing on the waterfront. Once rebuilt, it was towed 20 hours offshore and slowly lowered 20 to 24 meters to the seabed, where it now sits as the centerpiece of Dive Bahrain, the world’s largest underwater theme park. It was even repainted to resemble the original 1969 Boeing 747 prototype. Just a spectacular second act for an old jumbo jet.

• Mashable Sat Down With the Boring Company to Talk About What the Vegas Loop Actually Is Right Now, and What It’s Going to Become

The Vegas Loop currently moves passengers through a network of tunnels beneath Las Vegas in Tesla vehicles, connecting the convention center to Strip resorts. But the Boring Company’s ambitions go much further. A 68-mile network with 104 stations is the ultimate goal, including connections to Harry Reid International Airport and Allegiant Stadium, with up to 1,200 Teslas eventually in operation. The big development this year: autonomous driving is on the horizon within the system, with early driver-assist features targeted before the end of 2026. The company is also expanding tunneling at a pace that recently hit a record single tunnel drive of 2.28 miles. Mashable’s interview is worth a read if you’ve ever been skeptical about whether this project is actually going somewhere.

• Reporters Who Flew on Air Force One Had a Decades-Long Habit of Stealing the China, Glassware, and Pillowcases. One Allegedly Amassed Enough Gold-Rimmed Plates to Host a Dinner Party.

Luxury Launches dug up a genuinely fascinating piece of White House history. For decades, journalists traveling on Air Force One quietly pocketed embroidered pillowcases, wine glasses, gold-rimmed porcelain plates, engraved whiskey tumblers, towels, and cutlery. It was apparently so normalized that veteran reporters would point out coveted items to newcomers on their first flight. One former White House correspondent allegedly collected gold-rimmed Air Force One china piece by piece over years of presidential travel until they had enough to host a full dinner party. A 2024 crackdown included an amnesty period for reporters to return items discreetly, with exactly one person taking the airline up on it and returning a pillowcase via a discreet handover near the White House.

• China Just Figured Out How to Mass Produce the World’s Strongest Carbon Fiber, and It Could Change Aviation and Energy for Good

Carbon fiber isn’t new, but producing it at scale and at the highest strength levels has always been dominated by Japan and the United States. China has now cracked mass production of T1100-grade carbon fiber, which has a tensile strength of roughly 7 gigapascals compared to the 5 GPa typical of standard aerospace fiber. That gap matters a lot when you’re trying to build lighter planes, longer wind turbine blades, or more efficient spacecraft. Until now, producing limited quantities in a lab was one thing; reliable large-scale manufacturing was another. China closing that gap is a significant geopolitical and industrial development. Lighter commercial aircraft means lower fuel costs for airlines. Lower costs mean more competitive pricing. And if China starts undercutting the global carbon fiber market on price, U.S. and European manufacturers are going to feel it.

• The Ryanair Passenger Who Was Nearly Sucked Out of the Plane Just Revealed the Email Ryanair Sent Him Afterward. You Can Imagine.

We covered the terrifying incident a couple of weeks ago, when Ljubiša Karović had his head and shoulders sucked outside a Ryanair 737-800 after a window shattered mid-climb, and his wife and fellow passengers physically pulled him back inside. He is now wearing a neck brace for six weeks, has burns on his face and right arm from the wind velocity, and may need surgery if his neck pain doesn’t improve. Ryanair’s response? Emails to his son asking if they’d like to rebook their flights and inquiring how Ljubiša was doing. Nobody from Ryanair contacted him directly. No phone call. No visit. Nothing. The couple has now hired a lawyer who described Ljubiša as having “come back from the brink of death.” Ryanair, for its part, says its CFO has been in “active” contact. Ljubiša says otherwise.

• 14 People Were Injured When a Danube River Cruise Ship Hit a Lock Wall in Vienna at 4:30 in the Morning

The river cruise ship Anna Katharina, a 135-meter vessel carrying over 200 passengers and crew, struck a lock wall near Vienna’s Freudenau power plant in the early hours of July 24. The bow was crushed, passengers were thrown against interior walls by the force of the impact, and 14 people were injured, with six taken to hospital. No one suffered serious injuries, which is fortunate given the force involved. Passengers have since been transferred to a replacement vessel to continue their journey. This comes right on the heels of our coverage last week of Danube river cruises being disrupted by low water levels. And now this. The Danube is having a rough summer. If you’re considering a European river cruise, do your homework on the line’s safety record, contingency policies, and current conditions before you book.

• Margaritaville at Sea Just Landed a Preferential Berthing Deal at PortMiami — Its Third Ship Is Coming

Miami-Dade commissioners approved PortMiami’s first preferential berthing agreement with a new cruise line in seven years, landing Margaritaville at Sea and its newest vessel, the Beachcomber, ahead of a January 2027 launch. The five-year deal is projected to generate a $23.15 million economic impact at the seaport. Margaritaville at Sea was founded in 2022 and will now operate three ships out of Florida. The Beachcomber will offer short to mid-length Caribbean sailings from its new PortMiami homeport. For a brand that only launched a few years ago, landing a preferential berth at one of the busiest cruise ports in the world is a meaningful sign that the line is here to stay. I still can not see trying them out – you?

Were there any crazy or interesting travel news stories you found interesting that I missed? If so please drop a comment below and include a link to the story! – René