Passengers’ Angry Over ‘Porno Plane’

Passengers are angry about being forced to fly on a new Southwest Airlines plane featuring a bikini-clad model, saying it is “soft porn” and is offensive to families.

Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli, currently dating actor Leonardo DiCaprio, is pictured lying seductively in a revealing white bikini along the length of the Boeing 737 as part of a promotional deal with Sports Illustrated.

The latest addition to the US-based airline was unveiled this month and is deployed like other aircraft in the fleet, servicing all its routes.

The airline has received a flood of criticism on its corporate blog about the promotion, with many passengers complaining about having to board an aircraft “covered in pornography”. 

“I would not want to have to watch this plane pull up to the gate traveling with my young child, or mother, grandmother, etc,” customer Jim Dawson said.

“I know Southwest is known for its fun, laid back qualities but this is just completely inappropriate to plaster all over the side of the plane.”

Mr Dawson was not alone in his disapproval, with many passengers slamming the aircraft as being in poor taste.

“(It’s) very tacky. I know Southwest is notorious for it’s fun, but this is simply in bad taste,” Don said.

“This looks like a flying porn ad! I’m a longtime fan of SWA, this is one reason for me to change airlines,” another customer, Yvonne, said.

The bikini jet has some customers calling for a boycott of the airline, with others defending the promotion.

The paint job will be removed when the promotion ends within a few months.

Source: news.com.au

Puerto Rico “Government Is Bankrupt”

Puerto Rico’s Gov. Luis Fortuno on Tuesday outlined a plan that would cut spending by $2 billion per year and slash government payrolls by what could be more than 30,000 workers, or 10 percent of the government’s work force.

“It’s up to us to confront the bitter reality that the government is bankrupt,” he said in a televised address.

The number of laid-off workers will depend on how many accept voluntary buyouts and how many agree to cut their hours, he said.

“But I am frank,” he said. “The quantity could be significant and I fear they could exceed 30,000 workers.”

Though he did not lay out a timetable, Fortuno prefaced his prediction by calling for “immediate action” to emerge from a crisis that has left the government unable to pay its bills.

The situation is dire, he said. “Imagine that in June, the government stopped paying the light bill,” he said. “Or the water and phone.”

Failure to take quick action, he predicted, could delay recovery by a decade. “Simply put, I am not going to permit it,” he said.

Fortuno said his plan would slash government operations by 10 percent, cut his own salary by 10 percent, cut salaries of chiefs of agencies by 5 percent until 2010, and freeze others’ salaries. He said since entering office two months ago, he discovered the fiscal deficit is four times greater than what he had been told — or more than $3.2 billion, which translates into the highest per capita deficit figure in the nation.

Failure to take immediate action would result in an unemployment rate above 10 percent in two years, he added.

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