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Travel roundup: three bits of hot travel news.

AT THE AIRPORT

Canadians who fly to New York regularly probably knew this already, but now it's official: LaGuardia is the worst major airport in the U.S., according to Zagat's latest airline survey. It has held the basement position for four years straight. Portland tops the list, followed in order by Tampa, Salt Lake City, Detroit and Denver. The survey was based on the opinions of 8,007 frequent fliers and travel professionals.

IN THE AIR

Planes make emergency landings for a lot of unusual reasons. Last week, a US Airways jet stopped unexpectedly in Pittsburgh after an elderly woman's small dog jumped from his cage and bit a passenger and a flight attendant. In August, a Poland-bound Ryanair flight was diverted to Germany when a passenger doused herself with a hot cup of tea. And a year ago a Northwest plane put down in Tennessee because of a suspicious object that turned out to be a Christmas ornament.

ON THE GROUND

If Canadian vacationers notice more Americans in Cuba this winter, blame Barack Obama. Since the U.S. President lifted restrictions for ethnic Cubans and academic, religious, cultural and professional travellers, more than 1,000 Americans have been arriving on average every day. The U.S. now sends Cuba more visitors - most of them of Cuban origin - than any country except Canada. But beach holidays for the masses are a long way off. Americans still need their government's permission to visit.

Sources: zagat.com, The Canadian Press, Reuters.

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