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CNN Saturday Morning News

Memorial Service Under Way for Polish Plane Crash Victims; Volcanic Ash Halting European Air Travel; Action Plan for African- American Community; Less Was Spent on Pork Barrel Spending

Aired April 17, 2010 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everybody, from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING, 8:00 a.m. Eastern, 7:00 a.m. in Wichita, Kansas, 5:00 a.m. in San Francisco, California, wherever you may be, good morning to you. I'm T.J. Holmes.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kate Bolduan. Thanks for starting your day with us. If traveling you are planning to travel internationally today, you may want to think twice.

HOLMES: Yes, the reason is, there's a mess at a lot of airports around the country and around the world. This is video from four international airports. But thousands are stranded all around the globe. Flights are cancelled. Why? You don't hear this often, but because of a volcano, in Iceland of all places. It has been spewing ash into the air.

This video, some new video we just got in, this thing is still spewing this cloud that is keeping planes grounded. You can't fly through this stuff. It could actually shut down the plane's engine. We're going to have more details in just a moment.

BOLDUAN: And never mind dinner for just two. How about dinner for all of your friends and then some? We're talking about new social media website, four square, that let's you tell your friends where you're eating, where you are. But is it really safe? We'll take a closer look.

HOLMES: We do want to get a check now of some stories that are making headlines this morning. A public funeral still taking place right now in Warsaw for the victims of last weekend's Polish plane crash that took place in Russia. This is a live picture. We've been keeping our eye on this the past couple of hours, actually. The country's president and 95 others were killed in that plane crash that happened a week ago today. The ceremonies will be followed by tomorrow's funeral for the president and his wife.

BOLDUAN: And Haiti's top prosecutor says kidnapping charges are not dropped against nine American missionaries. They're accused of trying to take 33 Haitian children out of the country after the 7.0 earthquake in January. The nine Americans are back in the U.S., but the group's leader Laura Silsby (ph) is still in jail in Haiti.

HOLMES: Wall Street investment firm Goldman Sachs is accused of selling mortgage-backed securities that were essentially set up to lose money. Allegedly the deal was put together in part by a hedge front tycoon who was betting against them. The Fed says investors who bought them lost billions of dollars. Goldman says the charge is unfounded.

Get back now to our live picture of that service we've been seeing in Poland, for Poland's president and the other victims of last weekend's plane crash. We've been seeing music. We've been singing as well throughout the morning. This took place or happened about -- started about two hours ago.

We have CNN's Frederik Pleitgen. He's in Warsaw covering the memorial service for us today and what you're seeing -- we can keep this shot up for a second. Those are all the pictures of the 96 people who died there. And again, the Polish president, the first lady, many other high-ranking officials in the Polish government were killed. Let's go ahead while we do have this live picture, let's listen in for a moment.

Again a live picture, a mass happening right now. There's a wider shot of it, but hundreds of thousands really expected there for that memorial in the streets of Warsaw to honor that country's president and first lady and the 94 others who were killed in that plane crash a week ago today, that was trying to land in Russia.

Our Frederik Pleitgen is in Warsaw. He's been covering the memorial for us this morning. We're going to check in with him in just a moment. But first we want to go to Phil Black who is in Krakow where we're going to see actually tomorrow the funeral for the president and the first lady play out there. How are they beginning to prepare for what is expected to be a major event with a lot of world leaders there tomorrow?

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Indeed T.J. It's very much coming down to the last minute here. Officials in the city tell us they would normally have months to prepare for something like this, but had to put it together in just a few days. As you say, dignitaries, world leaders coming from across Europe and beyond. Big crowds are expected. Hundreds of thousands of people, but, of course, a very big security operation must keep an eye on it all.

The funeral service itself will take place in St. Mary's Basilica just behind me. But if it is the location that has been chosen for President Lech Kaczynski as his final burial place that is proving to be very controversial across Poland but especially here in Krakow. He will be laid to rest within a crypt beneath Krakow's (INAUDIBLE) castle. It is considered by many to be the most significant landmark in this country. It is the resting place of Poland's greatest heroes.

While there are some people in this country who believe that he deserves to be among them, there are many who passionately believe he does not.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACK (voice-over): Poland's first responded to the death of its president, first lady and 94 other people with deep sorrow and absolute unity. In less than a week, things changed. These rival protests in Krakow are voicing two sides of a debate that has split the nation. On one side, those who passionately believe President Lech Kaczynski should be entombed beneath (INAUDIBLE) castle, that he simply doesn't deserve it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Polish people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) The royal castle is very important for Polish national identity.

BLACK: On the other side of the road is a smaller, quieter group insisting the late president does deserve the honor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe he was a great Polish hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The decision is made, and we shouldn't make it another reason to fight.

BLACK: This grand structure is what they're fighting over. Krakow's (INAUDIBLE) castle, which contains the royal cathedral. This is the crypt beneath the cathedral and it is where preparations are under way to receive the bodies of President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria. The sarcophagus will be placed here. It is difficult to overstate just how important this tomb is to the Polish people. They are incredibly patriotic.

This is (INAUDIBLE) pilgrimage for many of them and it is often described as the heart, the very essence of what it means to be Polish. To be laid to rest here is considered by many to be the greatest honor that can be bestowed upon a Pole and President Kaczynski will be laid to rest just meters from this section of the crypt.

Here lies (INAUDIBLE) considered by many to be one of the greatest military leaders in Polish history. President Kaczynski will also be among royalty, cardinals, poets and national heroes, the pantheon of Poland's most beloved public figures.

The emotions on both sides of fierce. There are also those deeply disappointed that Poland's universal grid (ph) has so quickly been replaced by division.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't find words for this. It is just -- it shouldn't happen. It's very, very sad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACK: So on one side, you have Polish people who believe that Lech Kaczynski was a hero, championing Polish values and one who died while performing his duty. On the other, they say that he was a victim, not hero and he was a divisive politician and it seems that he is continuing to be so beyond his death. And to give you a sense of how divisive, some of those opposed to the decision are talking about protesting that decision on the day of his funeral service -- T.J.? HOLMES: Nobody certainly wants to see that. One thing, if can you quickly here before we let you go, are the world leaders going to make it? How much concern is there that world leaders are going to have a tough time getting in because, of course, of that huge volcanic ash cloud that is still hovering over much of Europe?

BLACK: That's the key question. Everyone is looking to the skies, really to see. As far as we know, President Obama is still planning to attend. France's President Nicolas Sarkozy is already within Poland. The German chancellor Angela Merkel says she's going to do everything she can to be here. But other than that, there have only been a few solid cancellations. The South Korea prime minister, the Spanish prime minister. Everyone else at this stage says they are coming, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Phil Black for us today. Thank you so much. We'll check in with you again.

BOLDUAN: And speaking of that volcanic ash that Phil was just talking about, this cloud has no silver lining. It has forced airports across northern Europe and beyond to halt all flights. Some 16,000 flights have been cancelled, 23 nations have halted commercial air traffic. That is stranding international passengers beyond -- in Europe and beyond.

And for a better look at just how big an area this ash cloud covers, let's check in with meteorologist Bonnie Schneider. Bonnie, it's huge.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely Kate. Volcanoes erupt all over the world all the time. But it's the location that's making the big difference with this one, as well as the wind. You can see on this animation that here's Iceland and here's the United Kingdom and the rest of central Europe and because of the wind direction, it's blowing into such a populated area right now.

We are anticipating a wind shift later this week, so that will bring more of the ash particles further to the north. But in the meantime, you've got to see what's happening here. When we look at the travel picture it's incredible. We've been talking about all the areas that are not able to fly because of the particles of the volcano and the ash cloud over the region.

It's not until you start heading towards Sardinia, into Corsica and then up towards areas of Valencia, Spain, where you have plane and air travel moving across Europe, a couple of flights reported here. You can see into northern Belarus, down through Bulgaria, into Turkey, but much of Europe grounded because of this tremendous cloud of dust and particles. I mentioned we are going to see some changes.

Let's take a look at that. What we're anticipating is a change in the wind pattern. Instead bringing all of this to the south, we are looking at, Kate and T.J., that the winds shift the particles to the north a little bit further on on Thursday. This doesn't mean it clears out. It just means that Scandinavia will be more affected then central Europe. I'll have more on that coming up. BOLDUAN: We will be waiting to hear all about that. Thank you so much Bonnie.

HOLMES: Leaders gathering this weekend to talk about the biggest issues facing African-Americans today and they put a time line on an action plan to get things done. Full details straight ahead with our Roland Martin. He's going to be with us after the break.

BOLDUAN: And we're showing you right here again live pictures of the mass going on in Poland. We're going to be continuing our coverage of the services going on over there this morning as the country mourns the loss of their president and first lady. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, an action plan for the African-American community. Black leaders all over the country strategizing this weekend over what to do about some of the biggest issues facing African-Americans. Coming up with a plan for the next year, the forum hosted by National Action Network's Reverend Al Sharpton and our own Roland Martin. He is moderating and he's joining us now from New York. Roland, always good to have you on the program.

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: What's up, T.J.?

HOLMES: Twelve months, we got a timeline here. Is that realistic? Will we see some action, something measurable, do you think, in the next 12 months?

MARTIN: Well, first and foremost, this is a two-hour live broadcast that I'm hosting on TV-1 cable network. It's airing on the network and the whole point of this is to have various organizations, not only discuss the issues taking place in black America, but also what are they going to do? Not only the organizations but also their followers. The people who will be following us, who will be actually watch the broadcast, those folks in the room. So it is a matter of whether you have political issues, economic issues and social issues, who specifically is doing what?

One of the problems, T.J., folks tend to say, let's talk about everything and all things at one time, but nothing ever gets done. You've seen the state of black American conversations before. Everything is discussed under the sun. Once you leave, it's kind of like OK, that was great. See you next year.

So the point is what are they going to commit to, each individual organization? And then on my show, on Tom Joyner morning show, on blackAmerica.com, every 90 days we will have a follow-up to say, OK. What are you doing? What's the progress? How are you moving in the particular area?

HOLMES: So you're going to get real commitments from organizations, from people, this weekend, and there's going to be followed up.

MARTIN: Yes. HOLMES: So that's what's going to be different. I want people to listen here, right quick to Al Sharpton and another gentleman that some people will recognize from the news lately talking at the conference, then I'll talk to you about it on the other side.

Let's listen first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: Clearly if we're going to have an agenda that addresses specifically with timetables the concerns of inequality in our community, because that's what this is about, we want to hear from all sides.

MICHAEL STEELE, RNC CHAIRMAN: To follow up those words with action. And that action is not going to be determined by a bureaucrat in Washington, DC. That action is not going to be determined by someone with a title in front of their name. That action is going to be determined by you because this is your (INAUDIBLE) moment. This is the moment where you decide enough's enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We hear from the RNC Chairman Michael Steele there as well. So he kind of hit on this point that I want to ask you about. Is the focus really going to be on partnerships with government as you said? He talked about, you don't need somebody with a title in front of their name. Are most of the emphasis this weekend being put on people in the actual communities and black people themselves stepping up and making the difference?

MARTIN: First of all, it's a combination of both. You can't talk about how do you affect economic change, political change and social and cultural change and act as if there's no policy part of that.

So that is a part of that, but, again, so, like, for instance, a study came out a few weeks ago talking about, that the average black woman, single woman out there has a frankly, a savings of $5. So if we're talking about economic empowerment, then how do you get people to begin the process of saving and investing?

The aerial (ph) Schwab report always lays out where African- Americans stand every year when it comes to investing. That's one aspect, but we're talking about education, if we're talking about a job (INAUDIBLE) that targets African-Americans if you're talking about how do you target resources for HIV-AIDS, the face now of a black heterosexual woman, that then requires a policy component and so (INAUDIBLE) will be there, Michael Blake from the White House will be there.

But you also have organizational leaders, NAACP, National Urban League, American Nurses Association, a variety of people who are going to be there. The point is, we'll talk about these issues, talk about in terms of what needs to be done, but then go down the line and then say, OK. Here is six, seven, eight different things. What are you committing to doing? What are you committed to doing? What are you committed to doing?

So when we come back in 90 days, we're not sitting here having the same conversation. We're saying you specifically committed to do this. What is the status of this? I think that's a millions more movement. It's a million man march. There were announcements made as to we're going to start a national black disaster relief fund. What happened? It didn't get started.

So I'm sick and tired of these chat sessions. Very simple, T.J. Other conversations have been about meet, talk, disburse. This is about meet, mobilize, act.

HOLMES: We'll see what happens over the next 12 months and like you said, there are going to be follow-ups every 90 days and we'll be following up with you as well. Roland, we appreciate you coming in on this Saturday and enjoy and let us know what comes out of it. Talk to you again soon, buddy.

MARTIN: I was looking for the breakfast this morning for you and Kate. All I got was this water T.J. So come on now, can I get some pancakes and bacon?

HOLMES: Again, it's CNN SATURDAY MORNING, Roland. Remember what show you're doing now.

MARTIN: All right. Got me this early. Come on!

BOLDUAN: Moving on -- it's a little book that they say makes politicians squirm. We're talking about the pig book, yes I said pig book. It's an annual report on pork barrel spending in the Federal budget. Josh Levs is here. Josh, you're taking a look at this thing and a little bit more about what's in it?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. You know from being on Capitol Hill, it's something a lot of people dread. Don't necessarily want to be highlighted in it, but it came out this week and I was right here looking at it as it came through. What we're going to do, break down for you some of this year's most noticeable pork barrel projects and we're going to show you what the so-called biggest earmarker in all of Congress says about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. We've got good news. We got some bad news for you. Which one would you like first? (INAUDIBLE) the answer, so I'm just going to tell you. Less of your taxpayer money was spent on pet projects this year. That's the good news.

BOLDUAN: That is the good news, but -- we are still talking about more than $16 billion according to this year's pig book. Our Josh Levs is here to tell us all about that. Josh, what are some of the big winners -- or depends on how you look at it, big winners or losers this year?

LEVS: By the way, "Money Honey," nice lead-in. I really like that. Go (INAUDIBLE) our producer. So here's the thing. Every year it comes out right and every year it's a pretty big deal. It's this list, from Citizens Against Government Waste, of some of the biggest earmarked projects in all of Congress and they have this event where they actually bring pigs to the announcement and they actually show the pigs, and they actually go ahead and make their announcement.

What I'm going to do now is show you a few examples of the pork barrel projects that this group is pointing to that's in the fiscal year 2010 project starting off with potato research, $2.6 million. It was put aside for potato research, $693,000 for beef improvement research and $4.8 million for wood utilization research.

These are just the kind of examples this group talks about. Some lawmakers managed to get their pet projects in, bring some money home to support some companies back at home or groups or whatever it is, in any given example. And along with this, they also had some senators there who say this needs to stop. Here's one senator who spoke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JIM DEMINT (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: So many members of Congress are saying, our debt is unsustainable. We have to do something, but then turn around and say I need $1 million for a local sewer project. It just tells you how irrational this spending culture has become. It's driven by earmarks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: So guys, that's just one example there of a senator who says you know what? We need do something about this. So, Kate and T.J., there are others out there who say the same thing. We'll see if anything changes actually follow.

BOLDUAN: What are some of the senators, you know, that are -- this is not good PR for them, well maybe back in their home district. What are they saying about this?

LEVS: In fact I'll show you an example of a man who was called the biggest earmarker according to the study. I have a screen for you here that shows you Thad Cochran, it's 4.9 -- I believe when they looked at how much money he got, $490 million, they're saying, for all the various pet projects he put in there. He's spoken to CNN. He said, hey, people in my home district aren't upset about this and it is allowed.

And when you look at how this works out, the truth is, (INAUDIBLE) Congress is set up right now. Right now lawmakers can go there and they can bring money home to their pet projects. You kind of say, why should one lawmaker not do it when everybody else is doing it? So really, the answer in the end is going to be to change the system, if anything's going to be done about this at all, $490 million, allegedly the biggest earmark.

BOLDUAN: These are the type of projects that are great to talk about when they go back to campaign.

HOLMES: To campaign. I brought this much money back. LEVS: It helps get votes.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Josh.

So it's being called the next Twitter, a new brand of social media where you share your location with your friends and it might even earn you a free meal. Tech expert Mario Armstrong introduces us to four square coming up after your top stories.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Toyota just can't seem to get a break these days. Once again, they have a recall. This time, vans like the one you're seeing there. These are Sienna minivans. They're recalling about 600,000 of them. You see the model years up there, 1998 to 2010. So what's the problem? Well it's not with brakes or the accelerator like we've seen with some of the other recalls of Toyota.

This time, the spare tire could fall off. There's some issue with rust and road salt coming together causing a wire to break and then the tire could fall off on to the road, injure, of course, another vehicle that's on the road. Toyota now working on the problem but it's telling owners you need to take those to the dealers for inspection.

HOLMES: And scientists at the University of Wisconsin at Madison say they've examined what's believed to be a fragment from the meteor that lit up the skies across the Midwest earlier this week. That video was just amazing when you saw it. Scientists are now saying a man brought the peanut-sized rock to them after it hit the roof of his home Wednesday night in southwest Wisconsin.

HOLMES: And live pictures this morning from, really, expected some hundreds of thousands to be there to honor the victims of that plane crash last week in Russia that took the life of the Polish president and the first lady, and many other top-ranking officials of the Polish government. We're going to see the actual funeral service for the president and first lady tomorrow, but this considered the peoples' funeral today. Again, hundreds of thousands lining the streets of Warsaw today to honor their president.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Four square. You may remember it as a ball game on the playground. I definitely do. But in the digital era, it's a hot new game and social network that has the tech world wondering, could it be the next Facebook, maybe the next Twitter?

Tech guru Mario Armstrong is here to explain this latest media craze. Mario, what is location-based sharing? What is this?

MARIO ARMSTRONG, THEDIGITALSPIN.COM: How does this whole thing work, right, Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ARMSTRONG: It's like, yes -- a lot of people are confused about this thing, because it has kind of taken off quietly. But essentially what it is, is it's called location-based sharing. And what that means is, you can simply take your cell phone and you can use applications like Four Square, Gowalla, or 600 Block, by Mind Grab all this other different types of location-based sharing applications.

And use your phone to check in at locations. Maybe a restaurant, maybe a movie theater, or maybe some special activity and you score points by having more check-ins at those locations. And you can -- and it also alerts your friends as to where your whereabouts are at any given time.

BOLDUAN: So you check out the Web site. I just went on. Just the front page of it, is says, check in, find your friends, unlock your city. Is this just -- there are so many social media, getting your information out there ...

ARMSTRONG: I know.

BOLDUAN: ... things right now.

ARMSTRONG: I know.

BOLDUAN: Is this just another one of those? I mean, what is this designate -- designed to do, really?

ARMSTRONG: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ARMSTRONG: You bring up a good point because you get to a point where we're saturated with so many different tools that are out there. This was a little bit different. It's different in that it actually streams where you are. It sends out information as to the location that you are currently at.

So what that -- that has a couple of different meanings. Number one, it allows you to find places that maybe you haven't visited before. It gives you a chance. So if I show up in an area, in a zip code, and I pull up my phone and I look for a restaurant, I can see what tips or what reviews about that restaurant from other people or from my friends.

The other thing is from a business perspective, though, this could be a huge advantage to small business owners that don't have the large marketing dollar. So can you use something like FourSquare to be, maybe like your frequent flyers of social media program -- kind of like a rewards-based loyalty program?

Because FourSquare can tell a small business, hey, Mario's checked into my place five times in the past week. Maybe this time when he's sixth to tenth I should give him free fries or a free appetizer or a free drink?

BOLDUAN: Or a free something. You know, that's good. It's good to hear what -- kind of what the positive. So there are definitely some positive aspects to, of course, what this is all about, but this coming from the girl who's just now getting comfortable with having a Twitter account ...

ARMSTRONG: Right.

BOLDUAN: ... at face value it does seem like it does raise some red flags of security and privacy concerns. Just putting all of that information out there in real time, where your location is. Is this at all risky?

ARMSTRONG: Yes, absolutely it is, if you ask me. A lot of people are getting caught up playing the game of FourSquare and sharing their locations, and I love what it does for how it works, but I think you have to define who you're calling, "your friend" because you are broadcasting where you are.

And if I tell people I'm not at home that gives them an opportunity, maybe, to go and rob my house or just stalk me.

I did have situations in the past where people would show up at a coffee and that -- kind of unannounced. And I didn't realize that I wasn't really using the privacy settings in the right way. So you're absolutely right, Katie.

And here is my thing. You know, when we talk about technology I'm not here to just explain like how to use this stuff. I really want people to understand how to leverage technology for their personal life, their business or their organization.

And you hit a key point. Do not broadcast this information out unless you really know who the friends are and don't link your account, your FourSquare account to Twitter or Facebook, because that broadcasts you even further. So if you want to give someone your keys to your house ...

BOLDUAN: Right.

ARMSTRONG: ... they're probably not your, your quote, unquote "friend." So be safe.

BOLDUAN: Use it, have fun with it, but be careful.

ARMSTRONG: That's right.

BOLDUAN: As with everything in social media.

ARMSTRONG: That's right.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much, Mario.

ARMSTRONG: That's right.

BOLDUAN: We love having you on. Thank you so, so much.

ARMSTRONG: My pleasure. Thanks Kate.

BOLDUAN: Join us every Saturday at this time as our tech guru Mario Armstrong, gives us the scoop on the latest technology. HOLMES: Yes and just like every weekend, I have no earthly idea what Mario was talking about. I'm just as confused as ever, Mario, something else I've got to sign up for.

All right we're going to --there he is. I'm giving Mario a hard time's he's a good friend of ours.

ARMSTRONG: OK, thanks.

HOLMES: We're going to turn back now to -- to something else.

The picture is simply awesome. But it is called an awesome problem right now. This volcanic ash cloud has been going on now for several days. That volcano in Iceland is still spewing the stuff up into the air. So now all these delays, you see 16,000 cancelled flights some of the stuff could go into next week for several, several days.

Airports across northern Europe and beyond have cancelled a ton of flights as we mentioned. We're talking about 23 nations now have actually halted commercial air traffic. They've essentially shut down their airspace and passengers are stranded. Especially in Europe, but really, it's causing problems around the globe.

Our Jim Boulden is in London. And Jim, that airport behind you is normally one of the biggest and busiest, day-in, day-out in the world. Not so much the case today.

JIM BOULDEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not so much today, T.J. It's very quiet. It's the third day this airport, Heathrow, has been closed, yet still passengers are showing up at the terminals and the airlines are handing out these leaflets.

This one is from American Airlines telling people, pleading for people not come to this airport because there are no flights out of the UK today, period. And American Airlines is making it very clear. Don't come to the terminals, because you cannot change your ticket at the counter. You can only do it by calling.

Now, I have a ticket to the U.S. today that was cancelled on British Airways. I called, took 40 minutes on the phone. There are no seats available before Tuesday. And that's if those flights go on Tuesday.

And this has real serious ramifications in other ways as well. We hear of tourists who have hotels. They're stuck in hotels around the world, around Europe. They're getting turfed out if they don't pay. They're getting turfed out if other people come who have reservations for that room.

So there's serious considerations for some people. What do they do? Where do they go? So they start coming to the airport and then they are being told to leave.

Sports teams can't get to where they are. Food is not being flown into this country. So there are so many other ramifications. Every hour, on the -- every day, it gets more and more serious and more and more people find themselves dislocated -- T.J.

HOLMES: They're dislocated. There're even reports, and I think the Norwegian Prime Minister was stranded at an airport in New York essentially trying to run his country from his iPad, because he can't fly back in. I don't know if he ever got out of there or not.

But Jim, we appreciate it. And we'll be checking in with you throughout the morning, but once again, it is a travel mess, really, across the globe right now.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it's really -- and there's nothing that you can do about it this week, for the winds.

HOLMES: The winds, do you think, it's not like you wait for a storm to pass ...

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

HOLMES: ... or to stop raining. This thing and this volcano is still spewing right now.

BOLDUAN: It's just amazing.

HOLMES: So we're going to see it for the next several days.

BOLDUAN: Blame it on the ash.

HOLMES: Yes.

BOLDUAN: And we'll also keep showing you the services going on right now in Poland this morning. Live pictures right there. You're taking a look at, this as the country mourns the loss of its President and First Lady, and so many others. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: And happening now, you're taking a look at live pictures there. A national mass to honor Poland's president and the 95 other victims killed in a plane crash last week.

Our Frederik Pleitgen is in Warsaw where this somber service is taking place. Fred, you talked earlier about hundreds of thousands of people expected to turn out for this?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN BERLIN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kate. The authorities here in Warsaw were telling us they expect about 500,000 people to come here. I'm not sure it became quite 500,000 people, but it certainly is a large amount of people who came here from all over Poland, and indeed and before that travel ban happened here over Poland air space and much of Europe, people are actually coming from all over the world.

You have to know that this procession have been going on for the better part of the week. Of course, the coffins of the deceased President and his wife have been lying in state for about a week and literally tens of thousands of people have been coming here. And obviously, a lot of them have then stayed here to come to this mass that's been going on for about two hours.

What you're actually hearing and seeing here behind me right now, is the final prayer of this mass. So we don't believe that's going to be going on for much longer than this right now.

However, before this we've seen the Polish Prime Minister speaking with the interim President of Poland speaking of course about this national grief and this national mourning that happened, because, of course, it was not just a president who was on that plane but among the 95 others were some of the top leaders of this country, military leaders as well as cultural leaders who were very, very important to the history of Poland in the last 60 years.

People who were relatives of those killed in a Katyn Massacre, people who are instrumental and the Solidar national movement ism that rid this country of communism about 20 years ago. And so certainly this really is a national tragedy for this country.

And of course, the worst thing about it is, that their president was killed. What's going to be going on a little later today is that there's going to be another mass where the coffins of the president and his deceased wife are going to be displayed and then afterwards they are going to be brought to Krakow for the burial ceremony at Wawal Castle which will happen tomorrow -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: And you're in the middle of -- it's a large public square. Describe kind of the area where you are just briefly, Fred. Just, you know, so many people don't know this area. But it's so -- so somber but so beautiful to see all of these people and all of that music happening there today.

PLEITGEN: This is probably the most important square in all of Poland. It's called Pilsudski Square, named after one of the country's great national heroes, the general who fought for Poland in World War I and won some amazing battles.

So this certainly where in such an event most Poles will descend on this area; this is also known as the tomb of the unknown soldiers. So this where national heroes are mourned and that's certainly what some people here in Poland or many people here in Poland are now saying President Kaczynski is of course.

For one reason because he was kill in that plane crash, but also because he was killed near the port of Katyn which is an area where Soviet troops massacred Polish officers during World War II some 22,000.

It really is a very important spiritual place here for this country and that's one of the reasons why so many people have come here and, of course, also why this event has been held here, because it is a place that the Poles -- just really almost like the national mall in Washington would be to Americans -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much, Fred. Thanks, for putting that all in perspective for us. We will continue to watch this memorial services as they go on today. Stay with us. More after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: And time to take a check of our top stories.

More trouble for Toyota, if you can believe it. The automaker is recalling 600,000 Sienna minivans made between 1998 and 2010. Toyota says too much exposure to road salt may cause the cable holding the spare tire to fall, putting nearby vehicles in danger. Toyota says it's working on the problem and advises owners to bring cars in to dealers for inspection.

HOLMES: You hate to hear this but we've seen reports of this time and again. Few colleges around the country, having to cut athletic programs but at UC Davis, they are really getting hit. They've got a shortfall of nearly $1.5 million in the athletic department.

So what are they doing? Listen to this. They are cutting the women's rowing program. They're cutting men's wrestling. They're cutting swimming, diving, also cutting the track and field team. The school says the move is going to save as much as $6 million over the next five years.

BOLDUAN: Poland is pausing today to honor its late president and 95 others who were killed in last week's plane crash in Russia. This is a live shot you're taking a look at right now from Warsaw.

The memorial was held earlier today. A mass for the crash victims is happening right now. You're seeing live pictures right there. Today's ceremonies will be followed by tomorrow's funeral for the president and his wife.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: President Obama this week ordered that all hospital allow visitation rights for gays and lesbians. Hospitals must also ban discrimination due to sexual orientation and gender identity.

He sent out a memo to the Department of Health and Human Services and it read in part, "Also uniquely affected are gay and lesbian Americans who are often barred from the bedsides of partners with whom they have spent decades of their lives -- unable to be there for the person they love and unable to act as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated."

CNN deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser, joins us now from Washington. Also, Paul -- first, good morning to you -- but there was an apology from the President as well.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. Thursday night after the President signed this rule, which will take a little time to go into affect. He was flying back on Air Force One to Washington D.C. and he called this woman in Florida and her incident a few years ago when her same-sex partner lay dying in a hospital and she was prevented, barred from going in there really sparked a lot of interest in advancing this cause.

So he called her. She said she's been looking for an apology from the state of Florida for years but felt very humbled and thankful to the president.

T.J. as you mentioned, the gay, lesbian and bisexual community -- maybe some are a little upset with the White House and the administration feeling they haven't gone far enough or quick enough at advancing the rights of their cause.

The President campaigned when he was running for the White House that he would champion their cause. He has made some improvements, definitely, but I think there is more to do -- that they feel there is more to do.

"Don't ask, don't tell", another big case now -- the President talked about that in the state of the union address and other areas as well, T.J.

HOLMES: And you talked about maybe some in the gay and lesbian community upset with the President. There's a reason for that. If we look back to 2008, they had high expectations for this President and they gave him a lot of support.

STEINHAUSER: They sure did, yes. When campaigning for the White House, he did definitely say he would try to advance their cause.

Take a look at this. This is an exit poll from the 2008 presidential election; gay, lesbian and bisexual voters, and they made up -- you can see right there -- seven out of ten of them. Seventy percent according to exit polls, CNN exit polls, voted for Barack Obama; only 27 percent for John McCain.

T.J. they only made up around 4 percent of the electorate in the 2008 presidential election but they overwhelmingly went for Obama and in any close elections down the road it could be a very important factor.

HOLMES: All right. Paul Steinhauser for us this morning. Always good to see you, Paul. We'll check in with you again here shortly.

STEINHAUSER: Thanks T.J.

BOLDUAN: Cities are in a budget crunch. That's no news. You wouldn't guess that with some of the big stadiums being built.

HOLMES: Yes. We're going to be talking baseball in this economy with who else? That guy. You think he's our money guy, but he's our sports business analyst. And yes, he has to pay us for the privilege of coming on this show. We're going to take a break -- right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Baseball season under way. This week Minnesota Twins unveiled a new $500-plus million stadium. But what is the actual cost to the community?

Author of the book, "Beyond the Box Score" and CNN's sports business analyst, Rick Horrow, joins us now with more on the economics behind the new buildings. Rick, good morning.

The first question we've seen, what, St. Louis, New York past couple years. You have Minnesota now. What's the logic? Sometimes you need to upgrade an old stadium, yes. But there's more to it than that. Why do these cities and these teams feel like they need new big, beautiful stadiums? Money.

RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Want me to talk about it?

HOLMES: Sure.

HORROW: Good morning. How are you?

It's all about the dollars. A few years ago, 40 years ago, everybody had those big round stadiums: Philadelphia, Cincinnati. The public put up all the money. It was treated like infrastructure, like a park, like a library and they raised property taxes to do it.

Now they're public/private partnerships. The teams will spend a certain amount of money, probably about a third, two thirds by the government. And they get the extra dollars because of skyboxes, its parking, its concessions. And these days with those astronomical salaries, that's the fuel that pays those salaries and doesn't require the ticket prices to go through the roofs to pay them.

HOLMES: OK. So you kind of hit it there I think just a bit. But how much are we footing the bill here? Taxpayers? How much are we giving up to pay for these stadiums?

HORROW: Let me do this. 250 of these sports arts recreation facilities done since 1990, a cost of about $23 billion total. About two-thirds of it generally comes from the public sector in a whole bunch of different ways.

Biggest way is, you take the dollars generated by these facilities. You funnel it back into the construction costs, kick start it and then the public gets the benefit of all these events that come in. That's kind of the philosophy.

HOLMES: That's kind of -- is that how they sell it? Governments who are -- everybody is, right now, short, state budgets. You look around, municipalities. Everybody is short on money. Is that how they justify it? They say we get some kind of a kickback if you will once this stadium's up? We get the financial benefits?

HORROW: Yes. And let's remember. This is not a case of should you spend money on schools or hospitals versus stadiums. Stadiums have their unique economics to go along with it. so the final fours, the super bowls, the out-of-towners, Oklahoma City's a good example. They got a team but all of the benefits that come from these mid- markets as well. The dollars usually are maybe twice as much coming back in benefits, and that's the way this is sold.

HOLMES: That's a tough sell for a lot of people. All they know is right now I'm hurting. My community is hurting. My state is hurting and here we go spending money on a stadium.

Who's going to going to do this next? Like we talk about some of the others we've seen in the past couple of years. Another city coming down the road is going to be building a big, beautiful stadium?

HORROW: Yes, well. Look at the facilities that are already being done. Brooklyn is opening a new arena, Pittsburgh opening a new arena. Miami has a new baseball stadium. But Tampa Bay and Oakland need them for baseball. San Francisco and Minnesota need them for football.

And if you have enough of these, the dollars, the Benjamins, you can get them done. But it has to be a public/private partnership or these buildings don't get completed.

HOLMES: You said Benjamins, but you're holding up 20s, man. Come on.

HORROW: These are Andrew Jacksons. I don't know what's on these 20s or the 100s. I mean God forbid you do. I mean in your stratosphere, you can you tell me what's on here.

HOLMES: You know it Rick. As always, it's a pleasure.

Good to see you, buddy. Talk to you soon.

HORROW: All right. Next week, man.

HOLMES: All right -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So are you tired of being nickeled and dimed by the ever increasing fees you're forced to pay every time you fly? You are not alone. We're dedicating the next 30 minutes to airline outrage.

The big issue, how to cope, who's fighting for you, and what changes are ahead? There's quite a few of them. That's at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What ticks me off about the airline is the way they're charging for bags that are kept under the plane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they want to charge for carry-on bags, I mean, it's like where do you go? They start (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What ticks me off about the airlines is when they lose my baggage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you're going to take a whole second step to find out what the baggage fees us because they're all different and they don't build it in the price anymore. It's really annoying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very cramped seats and delays.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: The bottom line is very simple. And that is, this is one of the, you know, it's a quality of life issue. We all travel. We're all now accommodated to stuffing things in a little suitcase that can fit right on top, and they ought not to charge for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: This week some emotional baggage boiled over at the mere mention of carry-on luggage. Spirit Airlines didn't realize the national firestorm it would stir up when it announced plans to implement a new fee but the tiny Florida airlines ended up on Congress' radar.

HOLMES: Yes, two bills are now pending. The House fired off the first one. The Senate came next. Lawmakers want to either ban the fee or force the airline to pay a tax on it and to quote one senator, enough is enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHUMER: Everyone cares about this. You know, life is difficult these days. It gets more and more complicated. And more and more difficult. Let's keep a couple of things the way they were.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, after all, folks, you know, there are already fees for blankets, pillows, extra leg room. Bags that are too heavy. Bags that are too large. Sandwiches, headsets, and wi-fi and yes, there's even an airline looking at possibly charging you to use the bathroom. But perhaps the one thing that tops the list for folks now, Spirit.

They're starting to charge possibly for carry-ons a little later on in the year. Now they kind of led the way when it came to charging for checked baggage and pretty much every other airline as, you know, kind of followed through. So let's bring in now, Mr. Popularity himself, Ben Baldanza. He is the CEO and president of Spirit Airlines.

There he is with a smile on his face. Sir, we appreciate you being here. I know you certainly want to be able to explain this thing. But let's just start very simply, before we get into a lot of the ins and outs of it. Spirit is going charge anywhere between $20 and $45 possibly for a carry-on. Why do you think it's necessary to start charging people to carry a bag on to a plane? Something that is absolutely necessary for them to take on pretty much any trip?

BEN BALDANZA, PRES. AND CEO, SPIRIT AIRLINES: Well, thank very much, T.J.. It's great to be on your show. We think it's necessary because there's simply too many bags being brought onboard the airplane today, that's creating delays. It's creating a lot of customer frustration and even some conflict right at the time the plane's trying to get out. And to be clear about something though, our policy has been designed to be very customer friendly. A personal item that is able to fit under the seat in front of you is still going to be free, and I brought an example of one that would work. For example, this bag, which you might think of as quite large, actually, because it's soft sided, can hold a day or even two of clothing. It can hold medicines. It can hold reading material.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: But Ben, where do I put my feet? Where do I put my feet once I put that under the seat?

BALDANZA: Well, the answer is, if you bring that onboard, if it will fit under the seat in front of you, that's great. And if there's room in the overhead bin, go ahead and put it in the overhead bin. However, if there's not room in the overhead bin we know that will fit under the seat and that will make sure that everyone can have room for their bag.

HOLMES: But then on the simple issue of principle, people that -- the reason they stopped checking bags is because the airlines disincentivized us to do that by charging. OK. We're going to get around that. I'll just carry the bag on. Now you want to charge them for that. Just in principle, doesn't it seem a little icky here to do that? Just in principle?

BALDANZA: It sounds that I agree except it's fundamentally fairer. And let me explain why.

HOLMES: Got to hear this.

BALDANZA: Even when everything was included in the ticket price, checked bags, and other bags, about half of our customers at Spirit never checked a bag. And yet there's a lot of expenses for checking bags. There's tugs, there's carts, there's employees, there's insurance. There's bag belts, the mechanics to keep all that stuff working. And so if half the people don't check bags everyone would have to pay a higher ticket price for those who do, and we think it's fundamentally unfair to charge someone for services they don't use.

So the checked bag fee fixed that problem as it charged those who checked bags but didn't charge those who don't and our new carry-on fee does the same thing. We've lowered fares for everyone. So if you carry on a bag, you pay. But if you don't, you save money.

HOLMES: But are you saying the only way you can keep fares low is to charge people to carry on a bag?

BALDANZA: Well, we're saying we've lowered fares even further by being able to carry on a bag. So what that does is give people a choice. If you want to still carry on a bag on Spirit, beyond the fairly large one I showed you, the bigger roller bag would have to go in the overhead, you're still not pay more in total for your ticket than do you today. But if you choose not to and you help us make the boarding more quick as a result of that, you'll save $40 or more on your ticket. We think that's a great option for some people.

HOLMES: But psychologically for people to hear they have to be charged now for a carry-on is just going -- it's driving people crazy and it's understandably so. Isn't this just about, come on, between me and you, now. Just me and you, isn't this about making a little more money?

BALDANZA: Actually, it's not when it comes to the carry-on fee. It's about reducing delays and by reducing delays, that's a cost that we will get rid of and that will help save us some money. It's not about taking more money out of the individual's pockets to fly. It's about allowing them to be able to fly differently and save some money.

And in an economy when everybody's looking to save now and then, why not give people the option? If you don't carry onboard, we'll takes 40 bucks off your ticket. That seems pretty fair to me.

HOLMES: But if you carry it onboard, we're going to charge you 40 bucks for it? It sounds like ...

BALDANZA: Well, 20 or 30.

HOLMES: 20, 30 or 45, if they do it at the gate. Is this something or are you worried now, you're about to lead the way on this and other airlines are going to pick up and is just going to cause more headaches for all the customers because you kind of led the way on checked bags' fees and now here we are on carry-on bag fees?

BALDANZA: Well, I'm not -- I don't really have enough brain capacity to think about the whole industry. OK. I can think about my company. At Spirit Airlines, we believe this is good for our customers and our customers are responding very positively as our sales after August 1 are just doing great.

Customers who are sitting down to buy a ticket recognize that when they get a super low fare up front, paying an extra $20 or $30 for the carry-on at their option is a really fair thing. Now, we know what's right for Spirit. We believe it's good for our customers and our customers are responding in kind with that. If other airlines decide to do this or not, it's totally up to them to decide to do. We've not done this based on whether other people will match or not.

HOLMES: Are you making a calculated risks and some consumers might just stop flying your airline? Now, they might just hear this whole interview and your explanation. They might hear that that airline charges for a carry-on bag, I'm not going there.

BALDANZA: Well, you know, businesses take risks all the time, T.J., you know that. A number of years ago Spirit was a two-class product and we removed our business class a few years ago. And at that point, there's probably some people who used to fly Spirit and now don't also. The point is, businesses take risks all the time, and the marketplace judges those risks. You know, a long time ago Coke put out new Coke, and it didn't work and they pulled it back. Coca-cola and Microsoft and all kinds of companies make decisions all the time. Apple, to make decisions about what their products are going to be, and the marketplace tells them whether it's right or wrong based on how they behave.

That's what this is. Do you think this is right for Spirit and our customers are going to tell us if it's right or wrong?

HOLMES: All right. That's the point there and some would say, Congress shouldn't get involved. We let the consumers decide what happens. But last thing here, I mean, how far are we going to take this thing? There is another airline out there looking at the possibility of charging people to use the bathroom. Do you think that's OK?

BALDANZA: You know, I wouldn't do that at Spirit. I'll tell you why. Our general view is, if it's necessary for a trip, we want to include it as part of the fee. Sorry, as part of the ticket price. A bathroom I would think is necessary, as would be ...

HOLMES: So is the carry-on bag.

BALDANZA: But a reasonable sized carry-on that fits under the seat, can hold all essentials you have to have need inside the tube of the airplane versus underneath. So at Spirit we wouldn't charge for the bathroom. But I can tell you, I've been to Paris, I've been to London, and you probably have, too, and people pay for bathrooms, outside the airplane there too. So maybe in Europe they see it differently. I don't know.

HOLMES: On that last point there, you say -- what's necessary. That carry-on bag is necessary. I do not have a carry-on bag that will fit under the seat.

BALDANZA: What can't you fit in here, T.J.? What can't you fit in here that you have to have on the airplane with you?

HOLMES: You take an overnight trip. You take a two-night trip, you need a couple pairs of jeans, a couple t-shirts, maybe a jacket. You can't fit that under and then you're asking people to fly for hours without stretching their legs out at all. That's necessary, Ben.

BALDANZA: So pay $15 and check the bag. It will be there when you get there and you'll have an easier time onboard. Because everyone will get out quicker and you'll get to your destination on time more often.

HOLMES: But Ben, that's the point too. We don't want to have to wait for the bags to come off. We like to get off the plane, we got to go. We got to get places. You're taking away the whole beauty of that convenience of a carry-on bag.

BALDANZA: Well, again, let customers decide if ... HOLMES: They will.

BALDANZA: If it's mandated to go away, we think that's wrong, because that's taking a choice away from the consumer. Not everybody eats at every restaurant. Some people like some restaurants than others. Not everyone shops at Nordstrom's, some prefer Wal-Mart. And the reality is, the world is a better place and consumers are better off when they have a wide range of choices to chose from. We're just presenting one different choice. Customers will decide whether they like it or not.

HOLMES: All right. Ben, you and I got to fly together. You and I need to take a trip to Vegas and we're going to use carry-ons and we're going to try to get under the seats, and we are going to be two uncomfortable guys for a couple hours on that flight.

Ben, I can't thank you enough for coming on and really, you probably put it best there, the customer, the consumers will decide. You're doing what you say is best for your airlines. And your consumers will certainly decide. We appreciate you coming on. Fun talking to you.

BALDANZA: WE love to have you come out to Las Vegas on Spirit Airline, by the way, T.J.

HOLMES: Yes. I'll mail my bags, I suppose, before I fly you guys. Ben, thanks so much. We'll talk to you again soon. Good luck with it. All right?

BALDANZA: Thank you.

HOLMES: All right.

BOLDUAN: How do you feel, T.J.?

HOLMES: Well, we all do this. We all have to carry on. And that's the beauty and convenience. I can carry this on without having to wait for the bags afterwards and I don't have to pay for a checked bag. They seem to be taking that away.

BOLDUAN: A la carte services.

HOLMES: Yes. It is and ...

BOLDUAN: Consumers will decide if they like it or not.

HOLMES: Absolutely. And he makes a point about keeping the fares low as well. It's good to let him come on and certainly respond. You can tell I'm a frequent flyer.

Now, a lot of you out there will have something to say about this, of course, interested to hear how some of you respond, in fact about the changes ahead.

BOLDUAN: And I tell you what, come April 29th, the end of this month, you may be spending less time on the tarmac, at least. That's good news, but it could come at a price.

HOLMES: Everything coming at a price.

BOLDUAN: Everything has a price.

HOLMES: All right. What problems the airline passengers' bill of rights will solve and what problems the new laws could actually create.

BOLDUAN: We're talking to a woman who was instrumental in demanding more respect for passengers. Stay with us after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to see provisions preventing just these random charges for bags. I've heard about other things that they're charging for. There's got to be some limit. I mean pretty soon they'll be charging us for the air we breathe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ability for these people to be able to come off the airplane, after so much time sitting on the tarmac.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know they've taken out a lot of food and like other concessions during that time. Maybe they should add on that to make it easier for the passengers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, don't hold your breath on that one. In 2006, Kate Hanni, she decided the airlines need to show passengers a little more respect. She had nine hours to think this over. That's how long she sat onboard a plane that was stranded on the tarmac.

BOLDUAN: Oh. And she formed a coalition to push for changes in the industry. She took action, and this is one woman you don't want to mess with, because at the end of this month, the new Airline Passenger Bill of Rights takes effect. She's with us now from San Francisco.

Kate, thank you so much for joining us. Tell me, what are all the big changes? What are people going to see? What are the big changes that passengers are going to see when they get onboard the planes at the end this month?

KATE HANNI, AIRLINE PASSENGER BILL OF RIGHTS ADVOCATE: Most notably, if they're stuck on the tarmac for any time of all they're going to be able to get portable water, food. They'll know that the toilets will be serviced so they don't overflow. They'll have clean trash receptacles and temperature control in the aircraft. So they can't just turn off the engine and let you sweat while you're sitting on the tarmac.

And the second thing and this is a very big deal, is that if you are on the tarmac for three hours, they must give you the option to get off the plane. And that's a very big deal. It's the big thing that the airlines did not want to have happen.

BOLDUAN: You have been fighting for this for a very long time. Are you -- do you feel like this is a success? You've won this fight? Or is there still -- are you still looking for more things to come?

HANNI: Well, unfortunately, while we've been fighting for these basic human rights issues, the airline industry has gone into a free fall as far as what they're offering customers. And now with all of the unbundling of fees and that passengers have no way of knowing what they're going to pay, really, for all of the unbundled fees until after they buy their ticket a lot of the time, we have a lot more work to do after this.

But we do feel vindicated that the government agreed with us, that it is inhumane and unsafe to hold people longer than three hours on the ground, without giving them the option of getting off and making sure that they have medications and potable water and some food in case they are stuck on the ground. So it's pretty rewarding that we've gotten as much as we have and we're still fighting for more.

BOLDUAN: So these new rules take affect at the end of this month, but already some of airlines are pushing back asking for extensions of these deadlines. Really saying that some of the stuff is out of their hands. When you talk about airport construction, or weather delays. This isn't their airlines' fault and so they should may be dealt with on a case by case basis, is that reasonable?

HANNI: They have great spin. Their P.R. is excellent and they want to scare the pants off of you and I and the American flying public, and frankly, their arguments just don't fly. They literally are trying to scare us, but the truth is, they caused most of these issues by over scheduling, and if they were to de-peak those hours especially on the east coast between 6:00 and 8:00 a.m. when they have most of the traffic and spread out the flights more evenly throughout the day you wouldn't have these long tarmac time on the East Coast.

Granted, there are always going to be a few exceptions, where there's going to be actual weather, and you're seeing that now in Europe with this volcano. There are going to be acts of God that are going to happen, but those are rare. Few of these tarmac events are events that are actually caused by weather, and we tracked them with our hot line, and I've got to tell you, too.

You know, it's amazing the arguments that the airlines are spinning out there about this, to scare people, and I guarantee you that unless they try to retaliate for a short period of time, and try to force the Department of Transportation into thinking that the rule doesn't work, we're going to see a huge improvement in their efficiency.

BOLDUAN: That's very interesting. We will definitely see. So at the end of this month, you may be paying more fees for carry-on luggage of all sort of things like that, but you can see he, Kate smiling today because you're at least not going to sit on the tarmac for more than three hours without the option of getting out. Thank you so much, Kate. It's great speaking with you, as always. HANNI: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: You just heard it right there. T.J..

HOLMES: You know, that's something. We'll take what we can get this morning as we fly. And you just heard there, airfares -- we're expecting those to go up this summer but if you know where to look, you can still find some deals out there. Josh Levs going to show us how. He's coming up right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hong Kong junior Yi Wei Lu, (INAUDIBLE) is at ease on the keyboard and with the college boards. On the SATs Wei scored a whopping 790 in reading and 770 in Math. 99 and 98 percentile scores. The secret, his after-school tutors.

YI-WEI LIU, HONG KONG STUDENT: I'm doing pretty well at school. In no small part thanks to these tutors.

LU STOUT: Yi-Wei spends four hours a week with tutors on various subjects, including English and critical reading in Hong Kong's Kelly Young project.

KELLY YANG, MANAGING DIRECTOR, KELLY YOUNG PROJECT: There's the myth that every Chinese kid is good at math. But aside from that I think it's just that they have the access to the school, to the extra curricular activities which are going to be helping them with these different subjects, to the extracurricular activities which are going to be helping them with these different subjects and then there's also a lot of priority at home for them to do well. Their parents won't take B for an answer.

LU STOUT: Students in Hong Kong spend less time in school than students in the U.S.. and yet they often outperform their American peers in reading, Math and Science exams. Why?

(on camera): It may all come down to tradition. I'm at Hong Kong's temple, and this is the Confucius Hall, which honors the philosopher and his philosophy of self improvement. Researchers say it's the Chinese tradition of emphasizing education as a top factor behind Hong Kong's top scores.

(voice-over): Gerald Postiglione has been studying the education system here for more than 20 years.

GERARD POSTIGLIONE, UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: Hong Kong, in this region, the Confucius Society is very test oriented. There's a heritage of that. But there are also some other pragmatic reasons why. If you pass examination, you get into better schools, you get into better universities.

LU STOUT: With such an intense emphasis on getting into that better university, tutoring is huge in Hong Kong. According to a recent survey, more than half of Hong Kong students get private tutoring.

LIU: The entire Hong Kong school community is very, very competitive. When I go to the U.S., for example, or even the U.K., I find people are a lot more relaxed.

LU STOUT: Yi-Wei is not happy with his S.A.T. writing score. A mere 680. Mind you, that's a 94 percentile performance.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

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BOLDUAN: So what is going on with our schools? Budget cuts, exploding class size, tumbling test scores. This weekend, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan tackled these questions and more in a special CNN town hall "Fixing America's Schools," tonight at 7:00 Eastern.

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BOLDUAN: You probably know there are lots of web sites out there to help you book travel at a discount, but you might not know there are now some web sites that search the internet for you.

HOLMES: OK. We get lazier and lazier. Don't we, Josh? No. Everybody can use a little help. So, they promise to find you the best deal. So, please ...

BOLDUAN: You'll decide.

LEVS: We have technologies that we don't have to do anything? Oh, man. Tell you, here's the deal. There are some great web sites out there. There's literally a minute left. So here's what I'm going to do. First, I'm going to show you the statistic. This really struck me.

People trying to book travel deals on-line make an average of 21 different visits to web sites before they ever book. What there are now, is a series of web sites, they were just saying, will do the searching for you. I'm going to show you a few of them. But you don't need to write them down. I'm going to show you where I've linked all of them for you.

So let's come into the screen quickly. One of them right here is called momondo.com. And they do exactly that. Another one right here, kayak.com and one more here to check out, fly.com. You tell them what you want, they search the internet for you and they promise to find you the best deal there is.

Let's go to my screen quickly. All the links are there for you at my Facebook page right now. Try it out. Facebook.com/joshlevscnn. Give it a shot and let us know if it is working and if it is really saving you a lot of time and a lot of money, I definitely recommend you try all three each time because they sometimes find better deals than each other.

Kate and T.J., I'm going to follow up people are saying and then next week we're going to report on how well they're paying off for people.

HOLMES: All right.

BOLDUAN: Apparently, we need to save a little money for flying these days.

LEVS: Wherever you can.

HOLMES: Yes, we do. Don't get us started on that any more. All right. Josh, thank you.

CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues at the top of the hour. Kate and I will be back with more live news. But for right now, it's time to hand it over to Stephanie Elam and "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" right after the break.

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