Sky Talk

Celebrating some aviation history

American Airlines recently celebrated an important moment in the history of the company and commercial aviation in general. In 1964, Capt. Dave Harris became the first African-American pilot to fly for a major carrier. That same year, Joan Dorsey became the airline's first African-American flight attendant.

The two were honored at the C.R. Smith Aviation Museum in Fort Worth this week.

The airline provided some great photos of Harris and Dorsey, which we thought Sky Talk readers might enjoy.

- Trebor

Delta, Northwest pilot talks still stalled

Pilots at Northwest and Delta apparently haven't met for a week, according to an Associated Press report. The two unions have been trying to hammer out a deal to combine their seniority lists so that their airlines can merger.

The lack of meetings doesn't necessarily mean the deal is dead. But it doesn't indicate any sort of fast-track on the merger at this point.

- Trebor

Big D/FW announcement unrelated to D/FW

Well, we went to hear the big, mysterious D/FW announcement that we blogged about yesterday. Here's what it was:

The Texas Ballet Theater was invited to perform at the China Shanghai International Arts Festival this fall.

Kudos to TBT. But ... we're still trying to figure out what it has to do with D/FW. Here's a bit more from the news release:

Texas Ballet Theater’s participation in the festival supports the continued efforts by American Airlines and the Airport’s Visit DFW Campaign to raise the visibility of North Texas in China.  It also helps them to open another direct portal to China, in addition to American’s parallel route to Beijing.

The airport's Visit DFW effort is trying to improve the visibility of North Texas in China, so perhaps that's the connection.

They're also chatting about this over at the Frontburner blog run by D Magazine.

UPDATE, 3:21 p.m.

We got a note from Ken Capps, the airport spokesman, with his take on why the announcement was indeed a big event for D/FW:

Trebor, the announcement was related to DFW.  The Airport has kicked in $5M to the Visit DFW campaign, being run by the Dallas and FW CVBs to promote DFW as a gateway to the rest of the world.  In a very short period of time, the program has met with great interest and success South America, Mexico and Korea. The program is opening doors and giving the Airport and CVBs better access to these countries than ever before.  That’s why Visit DFW is kicking in 25K to the TBT trip and DFW will gain access to new  business contacts and awareness with new audiences in China. With China tourism to open to the U.S. soon, this is a big market and big deal for the Airport.  While I certainly understand this was a not a new airline announcement – nor did we ever imply it that it was – this is a very strategic business move for DFW to be part of this cultural mission to China. Plus the TBT  performs in Dallas and Fort Worth – and calls both cities home – so it’s a prime way for the Airport to assist both Owner Cities in their promotion of tourism/culture. 

- Trebor

More food options on American

American is offering some new items for sale on its coach class food menu.  Starting March 1, the airline will sell  GNS Vanilla Honey Trail Mix and Mega Bite Chocolate Chunk Cookies for $3 each on flights departing before 10 a.m. Later flights will still have Lay's Stax Potato Crisps (which happens to be American's best-selling item), also available for $3.

The airline is also testing some new beverages. Lipton Green Tea with Citrus (a favorite of mine, actually), will be sold on flights during March; Vitaminwater will be offered on flights during April, and Smartwater will be sold on May flights.

- Trebor

Mysterious D/FW announcement tomorrow

Officials at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport have another big mystery announcement scheduled for Friday. In a news release, airport folks are calling it a "historic business - cultural announcement for North Texas." And they refuse to provide any other details, "due to the confidentiality of this announcement."

The last time they did a super-secret news conference, it was to unveil a new nonstop flight on KLM to Amsterdam. Will this one be as big a deal? The mayors of Fort Worth and Dallas are both going to be there, and both were at the KLM announcement.

The news conference is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Friday at Terminal D. We'll update the blog as we find out more.

UPDATE, 10:16 a.m.

We've heard from several folks that it's not new airline service.

- Trebor

More secrets of first class

We published a story in the Star-Telegram earlier this year about tips for getting into first class at coach prices, and quoted travel expert Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com extensively about the mysterious "Y-Up" fares.

Now, Rick has penned his own article on ways to break the first class barrier in his "business traveler" blog at ABCNews.com. It has some great tips, and you can read it here.

- Trebor

Smoke in Southwest cockpit

This in from the Associated Press:

  PHOENIX (AP)--A Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) flight that had just taken off from Phoenix Sky Harbor airport was forced to return Wednesday morning after the pilots reported smoke in the cockpit.

The Boeing 737 jet carrying 126 passengers and a crew of five made an uneventful landing and was met by the airport's fire crews, who cleared it to return to the gate.

Flight 1176 departed at about 8:15 a.m. EST headed for Chicago's Midway Airport and returned to Phoenix just after 9 a.m.

Southwest spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger said there was a short-circuit in one of the cockpit control panels, but there was no fire. An airline mechanic was on board the plane.

The airline was bringing in a replacement aircraft.

- Trebor

Another airline starts second-bag charge

U.S. Airways has followed United's lead in beginning to charge a $50 fee to check a second piece of luggage. So far, other carriers have refused to match the policy, but you can be sure they're watching closely. The policy at both airlines will be implemented May 5.

- Trebor

Glading elected prez of AA attendant union

Longtime union activist Laura Glading was elected the new president of the American Airlines flight attendants’ union, taking the top job as the labor group approaches contract talks that could be contentious.

Glading, who is based at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, beat John Ward, a former union president, in voting that was tabulated late Tuesday. According to unofficial results from the Glading campaign, she received 6,420 votes versus 5,363 for Ward.

Both candidates had pledged to take a hard line with airline management during contract talks. “We’re going to reclaim what we’ve given up,” Glading told the Star-Telegram in a recent interview.

She said her goals would be higher wages, richer benefits and improvements to work rules, like more rest periods between flights and more flexible scheduling.

Flight attendants, as well as pilots and ground workers, approved steep concessions in 2003 to keep American out of bankruptcy. Contracts for all three labor groups open for changes in May.

Pilots began talks more than a year ago, and little has been achieved. Negotiations with most ground workers started last November.

While union leaders are pushing for richer contracts, airline executives have said they need to keep labor costs under control. Under federal laws that regulate airline labor talks, negotiations can stretch on for years when the two sides disagree.

Relations between American and its pilots union soured quickly after new leaders were elected to that labor group last year. The current president of the attendants’ union, Tommie Hutto-Blake, did not run for re-election.

- Trebor

More on Southwest's too-pretty travelers

Southwest just issued this news release:

DALLAS, Feb. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines would like to set the record straight regarding a situation involving two female Customers, Ms. Sarah Williams and Ms. Nisreen Swedberg, on Flight #3600 from Tampa Bay to Los Angeles on February 14, 2008.  During this flight, the Flight Crew and several witnesses confirm that Ms. Williams and Ms. Swedberg's unruly behavior was touched off by an occupied lavatory.  After banging on the door, Ms. Williams and Ms. Swedberg became verbally abusive and threatening toward the Customer who had been using the lavatory.

When Our Flight Crew addressed the situation with Ms. Williams and Ms. Swedberg, the two Customers continued their threatening behavior and abusive language.  At this time, the Flight Crew requested that local police meet the flight upon its arrival in Los Angeles.  The police questioned several witnesses, as well as Ms. Williams and Ms. Swedberg, who were later released. Contrary to reports, we did not ban these Customers from flying Southwest Airlines.

Our Employees must maintain a Safe and comfortable environment onboard the aircraft at all times.  Despite some news reports, this story has nothing to do with Ms. Swedberg and Ms. Williams' appearance, but rather, their use of what other Passengers tell us was profanity and threatening behavior onboard one of our flights.  Finally, we would have gone out of business a long time ago if we discriminated against beautiful women -- or anyone else for that matter.  We carry almost 100 million Customers a year, and they are all beautiful in our eyes.

- Trebor