Delta Air Lines and the FBI are trying to figure out how needles got into turkey sandwiches served aboard four flights from Amsterdam. One passenger was injured.

The airline said that what appear to be sewing needles were found in five sandwiches on Sunday. One passenger on a flight to Minneapolis was injured, but the passenger declined to get medical attention, according to Delta spokeswoman Kristin Baur. The other needles were on two flights to Atlanta and one to Seattle.

The FBI's Atlanta office has opened a criminal investigation into the matter, the agency said in a written statement. An FBI spokesman in Atlanta did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

From the moment I approached the Virgin America check-in desk at Los Angeles International Airport, I knew I wasn't flying a typical U.S. airline.

With smooth and soulful music playing amidst a relaxed and softly lit check-in area, I felt like I was checking into a trendy hotel. Here's my review of my first experience flying Virgin America in this installment of "Road Warrior Tested."

Route: Los Angeles to Seattle.

Aircraft: An Airbus A319 seating 8 passengers in first class and 111 in economy.

Cabin/Seat Assignment: First class seat 2A, which offered 55 inches of space between rows and a 21-inch wide white leather seat.

Will we never learn? Apparently, not.

Travel scams haven't changed much over the years, but we still get stung by them. Even savvy travelers like Lonely Planet U.S. travel editor Robert Reid. He recently took a $15 cab ride in Baltimore, only to find out later he'd been charged twice the regular fare.

"Some meters are quicker than others," he says. "Clearly, there was something going on."

Other cities singled out by Lonely Planet contributors for questionable taxi fares: Las Vegas, New Orleans and Atlantic City. Reid's advice in any city: Ask the minimum fare before getting in, and keep an eye on the meter.

It's high travel season and that means it's time to be on high alert for operators trying to separate you from your vacation dollars. After being taken for that ride in Baltimore, Reid compiled six other travel scams to beware of this summer.

An industry forecast that nearly half a million new airline pilots will be needed worldwide over the next 20 years as airlines expand their fleets has raised safety concerns that airlines will hire lower caliber pilots as they struggle to fill slots.

Boeing, one of the world's largest makers of commercial jetliners, forecasts about 460,000 new pilots will be needed worldwide between now and 2031 as global economies expand and airlines take deliveries of tens of thousands of new commercial jetliners.

The forecast includes 69,000 new pilots in the North America, mostly in the U.S. The greatest growth will be in the Asia-Pacific region, where an estimated 185,600 new pilots will be needed.

Likewise, Boeing predicts 601,000 new aircraft maintenance technicians will be needed over the same period, with the greatest demand — 243,500 technicians — in the Asia-Pacific region. An estimated 92,500 new technicians will North America.

The rising global demand for airline pilots has raised concern among industry and government officials that there will be a global and a domestic pilot shortage.

Hotel porn may be a dying stream of revenue for hotel operators, but it's still a headline maker.

Two professors from different faiths — a Muslim and a Christian — issued a letter to the hotel industry last week and asked hotels to stop selling pay-per-view porn.

It's not clear what exactly prompted the letter, given a growing number of travelers carry their own porn (and other content) with them instead of paying big bucks for a pay-per-view title that they can't expense to their company. Furthermore, in January 2011, Hotel Check-In broke news that Marriott is phasing out pay-per-view porn offerings as it shifts to newer entertainment platforms and porn-title revenues dry up.

Some excerpts from the letter, written by by Robert George and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf:

When it comes to hotel bars, the sky has no limits.

Rooftop bars are increasingly showing up in hotels from New York to New Orleans to Los Angeles, and they're getting more elaborate with their decor and food and cocktail menus.

Some even have heaters or fire pits so they can stay open in the winter.

Pioneered by boutique hotels, rooftop bars are popping up at bigger hotel chains as part of a larger trend of taking any space available and turning it into social areas where food and drink can be sold.

Among the newer bars:

The scenario is almost as predictable as doping scandals and security lockdowns. Every four years, Olympics travel prices soar — and, much of the time, disappointing bookings from international fans translate to last-minute deals.

The London Olympics, which run July 27 to August 12, are no exception. Central London hotel rooms are selling nearly a third below their usual rates, West End theater hits are available at half price, and trans-Atlantic airfares have dipped. Even frequent flier tickets have become easier to find, says George Hobica of Airfarewatchdog.com.

"When the Olympics are on, normal tourists are scared away because cities are perceived as expensive and too difficult to deal with," the European Tours Operators Association's Tom Jenkins told the London Guardian . "This presents consumers with a big opportunity."

British Airways really wants to get to know its customers.

So much so that the airline has dispatched crew members with about 2,000 Apple iPads to look up the Google images of a select group of VIP customers, much as someone would do before a blind date.

"We just want to be able to recognize them," says Simon Talling-Smith, executive vice president of the Americas for British Airways.

Googling its most important frequent fliers is part of a larger program British Airways launched earlier this year called "Know Me." The airline has gathered the information it has on all its frequent fliers into a database that sends messages to crew members and ground staff. They then use that information, which can include flight history and preferences, to deliver more personalized service.

Hotel room TV sets finally are catching up to tech-savvy guests.

More hoteliers, especially high-end properties, are outfitting rooms with sleek sets that act more like computers and concierges. Offering modern TVs isn't something hotels have always done, despite technology-conscious consumers.

"You can't have worse technology in the room than you have at home when you're paying $400 a night," says Katherine Doggrell, editor of Hotel Analyst Distribution & Technology . "You can't walk in and say, 'I had that TV 20 years ago.'"

Spirit Airlines is expanding service from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), and switching airports in the Washington D.C. area.

In a press release issued Tuesday, Spirit announced it will add nonstop service to five new cities from DFW, marking a total of 20 nonstop destinations served from Dallas. Spirit began operations in Dallas, the headquarters and main hub of American Airlines, in May 2011.

The new cities are Baltimore, Houston, Los Angeles, Oakland and Cancun, Mexico (subject to government approval).

The new domestic routes are scheduled to begin as follows:

• DFW to Baltimore — One daily nonstop effective September 6.
• DFW to Houston Bush Intercontinental — Two daily nonstops effective September 20.
• DFW to Los Angeles — One daily nonstop effective April 25, 2013.
• DFW to Oakland — One daily nonstop effective April 25, 2013.