Chinese airlines are buying planes with larger seats to accommodate an increasing number of passengers who are overweight. A China Eastern Airlines employee said the carrier imported its planes from the West, where the population is generally larger. Even so, the company will cut out 20 seats on the new Airbus 321 to make the seating space wider.

The local airline Flybe played cupid to a lovestruck man who was smitten with a fellow passenger on board a flight from Belfast to Newcastle. Reportedly, Michael Young was seating in 2C, while Juliet Lever was in seat 2B during the flight. Young engaged Lever in a conversation during the flight but was too shy to ask for her number.

An Austrian Airlines jet was set back by an unscheduled stop to search for an escaped hamster smuggled in by a passenger. The Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to Graz flight stopped over at Innsbruck as a precaution ensuring that the rodent didn't gnaw through any wiring.

Bankrupt Northwest Airlines distributes a booklet that advises employees to save money by digging through the trash for desirable items, or shopping in thrift stores. The struggling carrier has cut the wages of most of its employees and is seeking to trim more jobs as it attempts to exit bankruptcy. The tips were handed out to about 50 workers and posted on its employee Web Site.

Vanity is a necessity among flight attendants and they have to look good even while fighting terror. Superintendent Rizalino Roxas, in charge of police and intelligence operations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the Philippines said Monday all airline crews, particularly flight attendants, were exempted from the "no liquid, no gel" ban being enforced at the airport on all U. S. -bound passengers and U. S. carriers.