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CNN This Morning

At Least 177 Killed in South Korea Plane Crash; 2 Dead After Tornadoes Slam Texas, Mississippi; Trump Defends Foreign Worker Visas, Siding With Musk. At Least 177 Killed In South Korea Plane Crash; 181 On Board; Putin Apologizes, Doesn't Take Responsibility For Jet Crash; Severe Storms Could Snarl Holiday Travel On One Of The Busiest Weekends Of The Year; How To Set Yourself Up For Financial Success In 2025. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired December 29, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:00:32]

AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Amara Walker in Atlanta. Victor Blackwell has the morning off.

We begin with breaking news this morning. At least 177 people were killed when a South Korean plane crashed at an airport. 181 people were on board. Now, two crew members were pulled alive from the wreckage. Rescuers say the rest of the passengers and crew are presumed dead.

Video into CNN shows the plane dragging on the belly of the plane on the runway with no landing gear before bursting into flames. Local fire officials and aviation experts say some sort of landing gear malfunction was likely. There's also speculation from officials that this may have been caused by a bird strike. The pilot also made a mayday call shortly after the control tower warned about birds in the area.

According to Flight Aware, the Jeju airliner was listed as a Boeing 737 traveling from Bangkok, Thailand, before a crash landed at the Muan Airport in South Korea. That's in the southwest part of the country. This is the country's worst air disaster in decades.

CNN's Mike Valerio has been following this breaking news story from Seoul. Mike, update us on the investigation and where things stand now.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I would say that probably the most dramatic element, Amara, under the flood lights that are illuminating the crash site here, is just the urgent effort to try to find the two sets of remains that are of the passengers who are unaccounted for right now.

I'll tell you, we've had such a whiplash, you know, chain of events as we followed this story throughout the day here in South Korea. And there was so much hope, Amara, as you mentioned, after the two people were found, the survivors in the back of the plane, the two crew members were rescued and made it out with their lives. There was hope from a whole host of emergency responders that perhaps a third or a fourth person could be found alive as well. But that hope quickly diminished after the noon hour here in South Korea.

So what's happening right now the two survivors are being moved to hospitals here in Seoul. We don't know their exact conditions as of yet or if they've been able to speak to investigators. But what they have to say will be critical because the voice and data recorders that comprise the black boxes of this aircraft have both been found.

So when you combine those two elements plus the two survivors that could paint a more accurate picture because there are elements that are in tension of just what happened here. And what we mean by that is we have a whole slew of people who were involved in the investigation from government officials that have come from Seoul and also more local leaders like the chief of the fire department who have mentioned that bird strikes, or a bird strike, I should say singular, could have played a role in a cascading series of events that led to the landing gear malfunctioning.

But still, you know, from our analysts who we've spoken to over the past couple hours, it's unclear how a potential bird strike would lead to landing gear not coming down, would lead to the flaps on the aircraft wings not coming up to slow down the speed of the aircraft.

It's not clear why exactly the 737-800 landed so far down the runway, very close to the end of the runway. And why there was all of this equipment near the end of the runway, which is what the plane slammed into when it met its cataclysmic end. So there are still so many unanswered questions.

But, Amara, as you -- and, you know, so many of our viewers have been following, we're coming off a time of martial law, December 3rd into December 4th. We're now on our third person who's holding the powers of the president because of the impeachment saga that has been going on since December 3rd. So to say that this has cast a new pall over the country, I would say is such an understatement as so many people are in mourning here across South Korea. Amara.

WALKER: Yeah, just very difficult scenes to watch as this continues to play out. Mike Valerio, thank you very much for your reporting. Let's talk more about this with CNN Safety Analyst -- Aviation Analyst David Soucie.

David, you just heard there from Mike that two of the black boxes, the data and voice recorder have been recovered.

[06:05:04]

So obviously, we will be learning more in the coming days. But from what we know, also seeing that video where you see the plane landing, you see that the wheels that are used for takeoff and landing are not out when it comes down. And then we've also heard speculation from South Korean officials that this could have been a bird strike playing a factor in this. What is your initial assessment, David?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, there are so many different aspects to this and unanswered questions. I don't see any connection between a bird strike and whether the landing gear was able to come up or down or not. I really can't see that those two things are related.

However, what can be related is the response to a bird strike. So after you hit a flock of birds, you may have an engine out, you might have things going on, and that creates a lot of chaos in that cockpit as far as how the aircraft is going to land, where it's going to land on the runway, all of those things, you don't have a lot of options.

If you overshoot a runway by a little bit, which appears this happened here, is that you're going to hit in the middle of the runway as you traverse down it. So that can cause that over speed condition at the end. But there's so many different unanswered questions and yes, flight data recorder will give us those answers.

WALKER: Also, the fact that there was equipment at the end of this runway, you know, what you see is this plane landing. It's on the -- it's careening on its belly and then you see that it strikes navigation equipment there on the runway, hits a wall and then bursts into flames. I mean, why is there equipment there on the runway?

SOUCIE: You know, that's my biggest question that I have is airports are supposed to be designed where an aircraft can land without landing gear and if it veers off the runway to one side or the other into the grass, that there isn't obstructions and barriers of this type that are close to the runway.

In this case, I haven't quite been able to determine yet. But there's no answer as to why that lighting facility, which is a large piece of concrete equipment, is -- is located exactly where it is. No reason in my mind for it to be there.

So that would be my next question is, is the airport -- does the airport meet the standard design criterion for an international airport? So those things will be looked at very closely by the investigators.

WALKER: If there was an issue, David, with the landing gear, you know, being deployed, would there have been a warning system in place notifying the pilots so they don't attempt to land?

SOUCIE: Yes, there is, there's a -- it'll say gear up -- gear up to make you remind yourself to bring the gear up as you have a proximity warning to the ground. So they would have gotten those notices.

But by the time you get that, if you are in this situation, and let's say, for example, you come in to land, you don't have another engine, you can't make a go around and try it again. So even though you get those warnings, by the time you get the landing gear down in the position that they were in, you wouldn't have time to get them fully extended. So that -- that may be the problem here, is that they didn't have time to make a go around and assure that the gear had been lowered properly. WALKER: You know, David, it's remarkable that we're talking about survivors in yet another plane crash here. Two survivors, we understand they are crew members who were pulled out of this plane. They were apparently found in the tail of the plane.

And I want to ask you this because we've been talking about. Wow, I think it was the Azerbaijan airline where you had survivors as well. The plane that was apparently shot down at the skies there. And the survivors from that crash are believed to have been sitting in the rear. Is the rear of the plane the safest part of the aircraft?

SOUCIE: Well, it depends on what kind of accident you're in. But in -- I think it was 2021, the FAA did a study on this to determine the fatality rates on the -- those accidents that had survivors. They came up with not much difference. There was 39% fatality rate in those people that are in the front of the aircraft versus the middle of the aircraft, which was around 34%. But in the rear it was 32%.

So it was a slightly better chance of survivability in the tail of the aircraft. But it's not a significant number, although we have witnessed that in the last few days, both miraculously having survivors. Yes.

WALKER: This Jeju Airlines flight is listed as a Boeing 737-800. What do we know about this particular plane? Considering that we've talked about Boeing a lot over the past years and it's, you know, the hits it has taken to its reputation with other crashes and also the safety record of this airline. What else do we know about that?

SOUCIE: This airline has an impeccable safety record. There's nothing to indicate that there's anything wrong with their maintenance, their facilities, their operations. Everything seems to be in line with this airplane.

As far as the 800 goes, it's an NG model.

[06:10:01]

They talk about it as an NG. This airplane is the backbone right now, not only in domestic U.S. where it's manufactured, but around the globe. This aircraft flies -- a typical model of this aircraft flies four or five flights every day. And there are thousands of these airplanes out in the industry.

So this is one of the safest airplanes, record wise, percentage wise that is in the air right now. So the fact that this has occurred when everything seems to be in order is very disturbing. And we're really looking forward to seeing what we can learn from this horrific accident.

WALKER: A horrific accident indeed. Obviously still an active scene there in Muan Airport in South Korea as we try to learn more about the cause of this plane crash. David Soucie, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

In other news, a severe weather system is on the move after spawning deadly tornadoes that slammed Texas and Mississippi. More than 200,000 people are without power this morning. Most of them are in Mississippi. Emergency crews are still climbing through the rubble assessing the damage. And residents in both states will spend their Sunday morning sorting through what's left after the destruction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAN #1: We just got hit.

WOMAN #1: At least two people are dead, one in Texas, another in Mississippi after a series of severe thunderstorms tore across parts of the South, Saturday. Nearly seven million Americans were under a tornado watch, including more than two million in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas that were under a rare, particularly dangerous situation tornado watch.

WOMAN #2: Just hope it breaks up.

WOMAN #1: According to the National Weather Service, this type of special tornado watch is issued only when there's unusually high confidence in the potential of multiple, at least EF2 strength and long lived tornadoes in the area.

JASON MASK, LIVES IN ALVIN, TEXAS: My whole life I've never seen a tornado around this time of year. So it's kind of out of the blue, just weird. Just very, very strange.

WOMAN #1: In Texas, multiple confirmed tornadoes touched down.

MAN #2: Dude, this is bananas.

WOMAN #1: In Brazoria County, about 45 miles south of Houston, a deadly storm peeled back roofs, toppled trees and shattered windows. The sheriff telling CNN the tornado touched down in four different locations in the county.

ANNA PETERSON, LIVES IN BRAZORIA COUNTY, TEXAS: It sounded like a loud combination between a train and a horn just roaring at you. And it happened within seconds.

WOMAN #1: Anna Peterson and her husband were inside their fifth wheel when the storm hit.

PETERSON: The back door flew open and I told my husband, run. And we hid in the closet with our puppies. And about two or three minutes later it was over. And then we opened the front door to see and it was all gone.

WOMAN #1: In Montgomery County, a family of seven found themselves trapped in their car under a pile of downed trees. First responders used chainsaws to rescue them. The family, including five children ages one to 14, had just pulled into the driveway of a for sale home when the storm hit.

JUAN ALVAREZ, FAMILY RESCUED FROM CAR: We were waiting for the realtor to come show us the property. And all the reports said that the tornado or the storm was passing already by us. It was headed northeast. So we were sitting there waiting for and then two minutes later everything just shifted tremendously. The wind started blowing and then the trees just fell on top of us.

WOMAN #1: All seven of them were not hurt.

WOMAN #3: That used to be a house.

WOMAN #1: And in Porter, Texas, drone video shows the extensive damage in one subdivision.

KATT LOMISON, LIVES IN PORTER, TEXAS: That's the house at the end of the street. The roof is gone, but next to it it's blank because the house isn't there anymore.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: And the threat for severe weather continues today. Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is here to talk about some of the tornado watches that are still in effect.

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Just issued. We have one just east of Atlanta that goes until nine o'clock this morning, but the threat continues through the afternoon. This now goes until one o'clock from Charlotte down towards Charleston and towards the Georgia coast as well as we'll continue with this threat through the afternoon. We've got this line of intense storms that has been charging through since yesterday for parts of eastern Texas.

Right now, we've got warnings that are in effect just east of Macon where we've had winds up to 60 miles per hour reported, that is some damaging winds. And then the line stretches down to the Florida Panhandle, Panama City with a severe thunderstorm warning again for some 60 mile per hour winds as this line continues to progress eastward.

Now, this is after yesterday was just so active and destructive. More than 150 storm reports, 112 of them wind. More than 34 reported tornadoes. And that threat again continuing to shift east today as this line continues to charge eastward.

Now, the intensity of these storms is coming down. As it moves east. We have a level two out of five risk, that slight risk instead of the heightened risk that we had yesterday. But we're still looking at the threat of damaging winds, isolated tornadoes and large hail from Charlotte down towards the Florida Panhandle.

[06:15:04]

That line continues to progress east through mid-morning.

Again, that's why that watch was just issued until one o'clock this afternoon for parts of the Carolinas. Then we'll continue to find it through the end of the day along the coast. Once it exits, we'll find the parent low pressure up to the north just kind of swirling along the east coast with some rain, maybe even some snow around the Great Lakes. As we go through the rest of the day and into tomorrow.

Rain totals will be on the lighter side, one to two inches. We're more concerned about that damaging wind threat in the South. So when it comes to holiday travel, of course the East Coast a little bit messy today with some delays possible out of Atlanta and Raleigh with those storms. We'll find some rain and even some fog possible up towards New York and Boston. Fog has been a problem even over in Kansas City.

We also still have rain, snow, gusty winds in the Pacific Northwest. That continues to be a problem that will cause some travel delays as we go through the day. Again, the east coast with some problems with the storms, the rain, the snow, the lightning. These thunderstorms tend to be tall, can't really fly around them too much. And then as we head towards New Year's, things will quiet down a little bit. But some showers possible in New York City at midnight. Amara.

WALKER: All right, Elisa Raffa, thank you very much.

President Elect Donald Trump sides with Elon Musk on a hot button immigration issue that's dividing some of his most faithful followers. We're going to go inside the controversy straight ahead.

And with only about three weeks left in his presidency, newly released images raise new doubts about President Biden's claims that he never had any business related contact with his son.

And dramatic new video shows the moment a train crashes into a fire truck in Florida injuring more than a dozen people. What we know about the investigation a little later.

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[06:21:11]

WALKER: We are continuing our breaking news out of South Korea this morning. 177 people were killed and two rescued after a South Korean plane crash. It crash landed at the Muan Airport in Southwest Korea. Officials say the two survivors were found in the tail-end of the plane, which was the only part that retained some of its shape following the crash.

These are live pictures there on the scene. It is after eight o'clock in the evening there. The survivors were both crew members and they are currently being treated at a hospital. Now, rescue crews were able to recover both black boxes from the wreckage, but investigators say it could take years to figure out the cause of this crash.

A battle over foreign workers is brewing in the GOP ranks and now President Elect Donald Trump is weighing in. He is siding with ally Elon Musk, who once held an H-1B visa. They support the program which has been a target of some of his biggest supporters. CNN's Alayna Treene explains this latest development.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, President elected Donald Trump on Saturday defended the H-1B visa program, essentially which allows high skilled foreign workers to come and work in the United States. Weighing in for the first time on an issue that has really divided his supporters this week. I want to read for you what he told the New York Post in a phone interview on Saturday.

He said, quote, "I've always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That's why we have them." He added, I have many H- 1B visas on my properties, I've been a believer in H-1B. I've used it many times. It's a great program.

Now, to take a step back here. This is a conversation that has really come kind of shown a rift among his supporters this week. On one hand, you have kind of The MAGA faithful, the people who have been very loyal to Donald Trump and many of whom have been attracted to him because of his hardline immigration views. Then on the other hand, you have a lot of the Silicon Valley latecomers to this, people who have supported Donald Trump, but also really rely on these high skilled foreign workers for their own businesses.

Now, all of this kind of started playing out when we saw Elon Musk, a close confidant of Donald Trump and also someone who is going to be running his new Department of Government Efficiency initiative, started weighing in on it on X this week, really defending the H-1B visa program. We also saw Vivek Ramaswamy, who's going to be running that initiative with him, defend that program as well.

Now, to be clear, Donald Trump has been ambiguous on this issue in the past. I'd remind you that back during his first administration, we actually saw H-1B visas -- excuse me, H-1B visas declined significantly during his first-term and at one point his administration had even suspended them altogether.

However, earlier this year, Donald Trump told a popular podcast that he actually believed that any immigrant who came to this country and graduated from a United States university should receive a green card and be allowed to stay in the country. All to say, Donald Trump is now saying that he supports this program. It's unclear exactly what this will mean for policies come his next administration.

Now, one thing as well I want to note is going back to Elon Musk's support of this program. He weighed in again on Friday, something that drew a lot of ire from far right pundits like Laura Loomer and Ann Coulter.

I'm going to read for you what he said. Musk said, quote, "The reason I'm in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H-1B. He added, I will go to war on this issue, the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.

So as of now, it does seem that Donald Trump and Elon Musk are aligned on this issue, despite a lot of the backlash we've seen Musk and others who have supported this program receive this week. Alayna Treene, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

WALKER: Alayna, thank you.

For years, President Joe Biden maintained that he never had business related contact with his son Hunter.

[06:25:03]

But new photos from the National Archive cast doubt on those statements. Hunter Biden's foreign business deals have been under the microscope for years. While he was never accused of corruption, federal prosecutors charged him with tax crimes. CNN's Marshall Cohen has more on the revealing lawsuit and the Biden family's response.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: New pictures released this week of Joe Biden when he was vice president, meeting with some of his son Hunter Biden's business associates in China. These images released by the National Archives after a lawsuit from a right wing pro Trump legal organization.

And the photos show what we've known for a while, but we've never seen that there was at least one photo op between Vice President Joe Biden in 2013 during an official visit to China where he met some of Hunter Biden's business partners from the private equity firm DHR Partners. You can see the pictures of Hunter Biden introducing his father to these Chinese business executives and they all posed all smiles for this photo op.

Now, not only are we seeing these images for the very first time, but we also saw pictures of Joe Biden introducing his son to top Chinese government officials, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, one of the most powerful figures in the world, as well as the Vice President of China at the time, who was also participating in some of those bilateral meetings.

So this is important because these pictures of Joe meeting some of his son's business partners undercuts the unequivocal denials that President Biden has previously offered where he said that there was never any contact between him and his son's business affairs.

Now, we've known for a while that those denials haven't really held up. They weren't true, they weren't accurate. Because it has come to light that there were some dinners, some phone calls and some meet and greets and some photo ops like the pictures that you saw here.

That being said, Hunter Biden himself testified to Congress earlier this year and he said, yes, there were photo ops, yes, maybe I put him on speakerphone once or twice, but we never discussed any substantive business and he was not involved in the financial arrangements whatsoever. A former Hunter Biden business partner here in the U.S. testified that he thought Hunter was selling the illusion of access, but not actually selling access.

Now, Republicans have argued that pictures like these and all of these contacts amount to a corrupt and illegal influence peddling scheme. But of course, I have to note that the Justice Department spent years investigating Hunter Biden and never charged him with violating any lobbying laws or any sort of corruption whatsoever.

Hunter Biden's attorney released a statement about these pictures saying, quote, "These attacks trying to twist these images into something they are not is just more of the same old tired, misinformation spin from some Republicans who can't let go of their ridiculous conspiracy theories." Marshall Cohen, CNN, Washington.

WALKER: Marshall, thank you.

Russian President Vladimir Putin goes on the record about the plane that crashed after entering Russian airspace on Christmas Day, what he told Kazakhstan's President, plus what he did not admit. Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:53]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: We're following breaking news out of South Korea. At least 177 people are confirmed dead after a jet -- passenger jet crash-landed at an airport in the southwestern part of the country. You see live pictures here with crews still on the scene sifting through the damage. It is 8.30 in the evening there.

This video shows the moment the plane touches down, skidding down the runway before hitting navigation equipment and then crashing into a wall and ultimately bursting into flames. Officials say they have recovered both the plane's black boxes but caution that the investigation into the cause of the crash could take years. We, of course, will continue to follow this breaking news story and bring you updates as we get them in.

In other stories we are following this morning, an investigation is underway to determine what caused a Brightline train to collide with a fire truck in South Florida, injuring 12 passengers and three firefighters. Authorities say the fire truck was responding to an emergency call when the crash happened in Delray Beach yesterday morning. The collision you see here forced the Brightline train to temporarily stop service. Officials say the three injured Delray Beach firefighters are in stable condition at the hospital.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is undergoing surgery to remove his prostate. That is according to a statement from his office. There is no word yet on who is temporarily taking over as interim prime minister during Netanyahu's surgery. But a government meeting previously scheduled is set to happen as originally planned.

The oldest living survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 died on Christmas Day. Warren Upton, or Red as he was known, died from pneumonia at the age of 105. That's according to his family. The World War II veteran was also the last surviving member of the USS Utah, one of seven battleships that sank during the attack.

Upton's daughter says her father also served in the Korean War. When his death -- with his death, there are now only 15 known survivors left from the Pearl Harbor attack.

[06:35:03]

Vladimir Putin is apologizing but stopping short of saying Russia is responsible for the Azerbaijan Airlines crash. During a phone call with Azerbaijan's president, Putin called the flight that crashed after entering Russian airspace on Christmas Day, quote, a tragic incident.

Azerbaijan's president told Putin that external interference led to a complete loss of control before the plane went down in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people.

CNN's Nada Bashir has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as questions continue to mount over the possible connection between Russian air defense systems and Wednesday's deadly plane crash, Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued an apology for the fact that the flight crashed after entering Russian airspace around the Chechen city of Grozny, acknowledging, according to the Kremlin, that Russia's air defense systems were in fact active when the plane attempted to land in Grozny.

However, no admission of responsibility from Moscow. Investigations are still ongoing, but nearby Ukrainian drone attacks in the moments preceding the crash have led some officials to believe that the plane may have been downed mistakenly by Russian anti-aircraft defenses, with officials in Azerbaijan saying that the plane came under external physical and technical interferences while in Russian airspace. Meanwhile, several aviation experts and U.S. officials have said that perforations seen in the fuselage are consistent with shrapnel damage from an explosion, but the cause of the holes in the wreckage has not yet been confirmed.

Investigators are continuing to assess the evidence, including two black box recorders which were recovered from the wreckage, as well as, of course, eyewitness accounts. Remarkably, 29 people out of 67 on board the survived the crash, some of whom filmed their final moments on the flight, one survivor describing a loud bang being heard and felt before the plane began to descend. But it could still be a matter of days or even weeks before any final conclusions are made by investigators.

For now, at least five airlines have suspended flights to areas in Russia, many citing safety concerns.

Nada Bashir, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Nada, thank you.

Nasty weather could cause tricky travel for millions of Americans, either heading home from the Christmas holiday or heading out for New Year's Eve fun.

What to expect at the nation's airports today? And big air travel changes are on the horizon in 2025.

That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:00]

WALKER: Severe storms could mean disruptions at some of the nation's busiest airports today. We're joined now by Clint Henderson, managing editor of the popular travel website, The Points Guy.

Clint, good to see you.

I would imagine a lot of people might be frustrated right now dealing with perhaps delays, maybe even cancellations because of these storms. And even before Christmas, travelers had to deal with the pain of that American Airlines tech outage and it forced a nationwide ground stop.

What are some things that people should keep in mind as they are facing some headaches at the airports?

CLINT HENDERSON, MANAGING DIRECTOR, "THE POINTS GUY": Yes, the first thing I would say is its actually fairly good news considering all the storms we've had this week and that tech outage that you referenced. How quickly the airlines have been able to recover. We have seen over half the flights at Houston and Dallas get delayed because of thunderstorms. But overall, it's not leading to the catastrophic sort of domino effect that we saw in 2022. So that's the good news.

I would tell people, though, knowledge is power here. You want to get to the airport earlier than normal. You want to know what's happening at both your home airport and the airport you're traveling to and have a backup plan. So, if something like the tech outage happens, you know what other airlines are flying that route.

So, you can potentially get rebooked, rebook yourself and have that airline app installed in your phone because you can do a lot in that app, including rebooking.

WALKER: And you also are a big fan of biometric screening. I bring this up because this is something that will help lessen the headaches at the airports when it comes to getting through that security line quickly.

Tell us more about this facial recognition technology that's being used at more and more airports.

HENDERSON: Yes, so it's rolling out. It's a -- it's a major hubs for right now. So, New York, Atlanta, places like that. But essentially, you have to have global entry TSA precheck. You have to be preauthorized by the government.

But then you can use a separate line. So, you're -- you're skipping the clear line and you're skipping the TSA precheck line going straight to the front. They match your face to government documents and you can literally go through the line in about, I would say, 30 seconds. It's revolutionary. It's coming to more airports. So that's a big trend. But it means you also have to have a global entry, at least for now. So go ahead and get that process started for this year. I cannot recommend that enough.

WALKER: Let's talk about 2025, because I know a lot of people are looking forward to traveling, you know, next year, maybe already looking at routes. Are there any new routes that you are excited about?

HENDERSON: Oh, my gosh. So many crazy routes. I think the airlines are getting really ambitious with the international networks because travel is become so popular. They're able to fill these unusual routes. So, we're seeing now new routes to places like Greenland, Mongolia, all kinds of odd and unique places to go.

But then there's tons of new lift as well to all over Europe. So, whether that's Edinburgh in Scotland or that's Sicily, which has been hugely popular because of the White Lotus show, we're seeing all kinds of new routes and additional service to big cities that we've already seen just because the demand is so heavy to Europe.

[06:45:11]

WALKER: And give us some advice about when we should be booking, you know, for our spring break holiday or, you know, even summer break.

I am a planner, so I've already booked out some of my trips, you know, six to nine months out from today. Is there a time frame that's the best, you know, to book for, you know, your summer trip? Is it 60 days beforehand where you can get the best deal?

HENDERSON: Yes, so the cheapest time to book is for domestic flights is one to three months ahead of time. And for international, it's usually that six-to-nine-month window that you're talking about.

But I would go ahead. If you're looking to go for spring break, you need to start researching those trips now. You need to set some Google flight alerts. That's one of my favorite tools. It'll track prices for you. You can see if prices are high or low right now, but it will give you a good idea of what the airfare should cost.

And if you see a deal, of course, scoop it up.

WALKER: Yes, I'm a fan of those Google alerts as well.

Clint Henderson, good to see you this morning.

HENDERSON: Yes.

WALKER: Thank you very much.

HENDERSON: Good to see you. Bye-bye.

WALKER: Well, if you're getting your finances in order and that is one of your goals for 2025, we have a few ideas to help you do that and make sure that you are securing your financial future for years to come.

And the countdown to 2025 is on. And the biggest party of the year is right here on CNN.

Join Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen for New Year's Eve Live. Coverage starts at 8:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:45]

WALKER: We are just three days away from 2025 and while many of us are planning our new workout regimen or diets, it's also a great time to set yourself up for financial success in the new year.

Joining me now to give us some tips about how to do that, personal finance columnist at The Washington Post and author of the book What To Do With Your Money When Crisis Hits Michelle Singletary.

Michelle, good to see you this morning.

So, what is your number one tip to preparing to start on a positive footing financially for the new year.

MICHELLE SINGLETARY, PERSONAL FINANCE COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: So oddly enough I say look at the bad and look at the good for the past year. So, the good is motivation, you know, I did a great job putting money in my emergency fund and the bad is like, oh, I think I need to do a little bit better. So maybe it's motivation to like push forward through some stuff that you didn't do well, like maybe you overdid it on the credit card debt. But you've got to do that got look at the good and look at the bad.

WALKER: And some of the bad I'm sure includes some debt and credit card debt. And you were talking about to our producer that a lot of people including myself have a hard time admitting how much debt you might really have.

SINGLETARY: That's right. I'd like to ask people how much that you have and -- and they their head tilts down and they go, well, I don't know. And I'm thinking how is not knowing working for you?

Because when you look at the totality of how much you owe and I mean everything, your home, your car, credit card debt, student loans it that's can be a number that could shock you into going I need to take some steps to make sure I bring down some of this debt. So, you have to know. It's sort of like when you're driving and there's a rearview mirror, you got to look back, you got to look forward and one way to look forward is to total all your debt and embrace that number, embrace your financial truth.

WALKER: And once people have that number, I'm sure for some it will be overwhelming, you know, what's the first step in tackling that debt turning it around? Especially if they've been making payments month after month and they don't see that number budging much. SINGLETARY: Yes, you know there are different methods to pay off your debt. I am an advocate what I call the debt dash. So, list all your debts from the smallest to the largest. Now I know there's some math people out there. No, no go with the highest interest rate. But I work with hundreds of people both, you know, through my column in the Washington Post and my community I have a financial ministry at my church.

And what I found is that when people can pay off smaller debts it -- it energizes them. It's like oh I used to have ten now I have eight and then what they find out is that they rush through the debt and then they don't actually end up paying all those extra interest charges because they're getting rid of the debt a lot faster. It's a great motivation for those people who've been slogging through this debt for a long time.

WALKER: Yes, sometimes it's those small victories that, you know, really make a difference. You also say that it's a good time in the new year to get a will together if you don't already have one?

SINGLETARY: Yes, I'm going to give you a little quiz real quick. So how many -- what percentage of Americans do you think don't have a will? Just real quick? I don't remember.

WALKER: Six -- 50 -- 60 percent?

SINGLETARY: You don't (INAUDIBLE). So actually, a hundred percent of Americans have a will. It's just not one they've written. So, every state has laws that did -- I know it was a trick question.

WALKER: That was. It's like wait a second.

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SINGLETARY: But every American, every state lays out how your assets are going to be distributed what you pass away. So, if you want to decide how those assets are distributed, you need a will. And I know people think Is she talking about this this early and what is going on with her? But and -- and -- and when you think of a will you think of death, and I understand that. But I actually think of it as life. Think about the people you're going to leave behind and a most tragic time.

Wouldn't it be great if everything was organized? They knew where all your things where they knew who your financial your banks and -- and what you wanted if say you incapacitated. I mean that is a gift to the people you say that you love.

So, if you've been promising to get a will all these years and you haven't done it, get that paperwork together and start now, so that in the new year you have your state in order. And I can tell you a really quick story. Listen one guy didn't have his will, had a second wife, didn't change his beneficiaries, and all his house and his money --

[06:55:13]

WALKER: Went to the first.

SINGLETARY: -- went to his ex.

WALKER: Oh, my goodness.

SINGLETARY: That's right.

WALKER: OK, that's a good lesson to take home with us to push us to get a will together, at least start thinking about it.

Michelle Singletary, great to have you this morning. Thank you very much for the great advice.

SINGLETARY: You're welcome.

WALKER: All right, and we continue to follow breaking news out of South Korea, where a deadly crash has left nearly every person on a passenger plane dead this morning. Although there are two people who were pulled from the wreckage alive.

We're going to go live to South Korea with what we know about the investigation at the top of the hour on "CNN This Morning."

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