Sky Talk

Southwest pilots union to meet with carrier about new planes

The Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association said it will be meeting with executives at the Dallas-based carrier on Wednesday to talk about bigger planes.

Southwest has said it is considering converting its current Boeing 737-700 aircraft orders to the larger 737-800s but needed an agreement with its pilots union to do so.

“One of the primary concerns for our pilots is job security and the issues associated with adding aircraft with increased capacity while the Company is actively retiring planes with less capacity,” said Capt. Carl Kuwitzky, SWAPA President. “We share the Company’s enthusiasm for the added revenue this aircraft can provide.  However, we must address the aircraft’s effects on pilot productivity.”

Read the full release from SWAPA below.

-Andrea Ahles

Strip club spotlight dazes Southwest pilots on approach to Love Field

All the TV stations in D/FW have been buzzing about the news that a Southwest pilot was temporarily blinded by a spotlight from a strip club as he landed his flight at Dallas Love Field on Sunday.

The pilot of Flight 939 from Albuquerque, N.M. to Dallas was able to safely land the plane after the flash of light interfered with his vision prior to landing.

"All of a sudden, a bright flash of light, and their night vision is destroyed, and it takes a while to come back," Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford told NBC5. "When a laser goes off, it's like a flash bulb going off in your eye."

On Monday, when the story was first being reported, authorities weren't sure where the spotlight had come from. It has since been traced to a spotlight on the roof of Bomb Shells Cabaret, an all-nude strip club near Interstate 35.

The club's general manager Zach Carson said he has disconnected the light and won't turn it on again until it is repositioned.

Here is the story at NBC5.

-Andrea Ahles

TWU not going on strike anytime soon

Evidently there was some confusion last week among Transport Workers Union members related to the American Airlines contract ratification vote.

A letter sent out to members by TWU International President Jim Little says that the federal mediators will "make no judgment about the need for a release until it reviews the progress of any further bargaining."

"Our office has received numerous e-mails and phone calls as a result of confusion created by newspaper and media coverage of our AA negotiations and the contract rejection by two of the work groups. In view of this, I decided that it was important to clarify some of the key facts about where we stand today."

"First, the fact that the contract was rejected does not place us on a 30-day countdown to a strike. We are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the NMB [National Mediation Board] and in order to be on the 30-day clock the Board has to release us. That determination is in the exclusive jurisdiction of the NMB and is made only when the NMB comes to the determination that further bargaining without a release would be futile."

Little's full letter is below.

-Andrea Ahles

AirTran fined $500,000 for violating DOT rules for disabled passengers

The Department of Transportation fined AirTran Airways $500,000 for violating rules related to boarding assistance for travelers with disabilities.

The agency said that AirTran also frequently did not provide adequate written responses to complaints from passengers. Of the $500,000 fine, the DOT said that $200,000 of it can be used to improve AirTran's service to disabled passengers.

"People with disabilities have the right to expect fair treatment when they fly, and we will continue to take enforcement action when their rights are violated," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

-Andrea Ahles

What to do if you have a ticket on Mexicana

With Mexicana Airlines suspending operations over the weekend, passengers with tickets on the bankrupt airline have been in limbo.

I did get a few questions from SkyTalk readers about what should they do if they have a ticket on the airline (one person is flying in two weeks).

First, try to get a refund. Mexicana said it will issue refunds depending on their restructuring process but a refund form must be filled out. Here is the website for the refund procedure for U.S. and Canada flights, or customers can call 1-877-882-9994.

Second, try to rebook on another carrier. American Airlines added another flight between Mexico City and Dallas-Fort Worth Airport on Sunday to accommodate additional passengers. And while the Fort Worth-based carrier hasn't added any other flights so far this week, it does operate four daily flights between DFW and Mexico City. (One SkyTalk reader, however, complained that American wanted about $1,000 for the one-way fare to get out of Mexico City where the reader was stranded.)

Also, on Sunday, AeroMexico offered a passenger protection program to those with Mexicana tickets that included set fare prices on Mexico domestic routes and international routes. AeroMexico does not fly into D/FW but does serve Houston and San Antonio as well as 8 other U.S. cities. Flights to and from the U.S. will be priced at $269 and $289 one-way depending on the destination.

UPDATE: American announced on Monday afternoon that it will offer Mexicana passengers a 20 percent discount on any published fare that matches the passengers' original itinerary. The carrier will permit some destination changes if American or American Eagle does not fly to the passengers' destination.

-Andrea Ahles

What AAA has to say about the TWU vote totals

After seeing the numbers change by hundreds of votes in the Transport Workers Union stores clerks ratification vote, I called the American Arbitration Association to find out what happened.

AAA vice president Jeffrey Zaino insisted that there was no issue with the American Airlines' TWU stores clerk contract vote.

"Our position is that there really was no mistake," Zaino said.

But then how do you explain the vote totals changing from 384 "no"-332 "yes" to a 616 "no"- 398 "yes" less than a day after the vote results were announced? That is almost an extra 300 votes added to the results.

Zaino says the results announced on Tuesday evening were not certified and were unofficial.

"It was still considered the tabulation process. It's an ongoing process until it is certified," Zaino said. "The next day we went back and reviewed all the entries and the tabulation was done correctly."

He added that "I don't consider that we made a mistake or an error because it was never officially released."

Of course, all of Zaino's comments came one day after I received this press release from the TWU that said it was a statement from AAA related to the vote total difference.

"As with all elections, the AAA does an extensive review of the spreadsheet and tally sheets prior to issuing an official certification of results. During the review of the unofficial results, an adjustment was made for a final certification which was provided to the union on Wednesday, Aug. 25. The tabulation and verification process concludes upon issuing the certification. The official tally has a different margin than the results announced Tuesday night, but the results of the ratification vote have not changed."

-Andrea Ahles

Looks like no more Mexicana, at least for now

News agencies in Mexico are reporting that Mexicana will be shutting down all operations in the next 24 hours.

Mexico's Transportation Secretary Juan Francisco Molinar Horcasitas is quoted as saying that the bankrupt airline will cease all flights as of midnight Friday.

The Mexican carrier had filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month as it tried to restructure its costs. At the time, it cut several international destinations, however, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport kept its daily Mexicana flight to Mexico City.

I'm checking with D/FW Airport to see if the airport has been notified about the status of its Mexico City flight.

Mexicana is also part of American Airlines' Oneworld alliance. If Mexicana permanently closes, it would leave the Oneworld alliance without a partner in Mexico although American does have several flights to Mexico, Central America and South America.

UPDATE: Here is what D/FW Airport spokesman David Magana sent me on Friday afternoon about Mexicana.

"It is our understanding that Mexicana will suspend operations by noon Saturday.

"As of this week, Mexicana served DFW with two daily flights to Mexico City, primarily using Airbus A318 aircraft.

"We do not know the status of the flights scheduled for tonight and tomorrow.

"Passengers with valid tickets for future travel can rebook on other airlines which are honoring the tickets.

"Mexicana has had a long history of service at DFW; it was the first and only foreign flag carrier to operate at DFW at the Airport’s inception in 1974, and Mexicana was the first international carrier to serve the newly opened International Terminal D in 2005."

-Andrea Ahles

Southwest announces plans to serve Newark in March 2011

Southwest Airlines plans to launch service to Newark in March 2011 as part of a lease deal with Continental Airlines that will give the Dallas-based carrier access to slots at the New Jersey airport.

The lease deal, which is contingent upon the closing of Continental's merger with United Airlines and government approval, will give Southwest the right to operate up to 18 daily roundtrip flights at Newark.

"We've seen tremendous demand for Southwest Airlines in the New York City/Newark area in the past year," said Bob Jordan, Southwest executive vice president of strategy and planning.

Newark is the third city that Southwest has announced expansion plans for in 2011. The low-cost carrier said it will add service to South Carolina's Charleston and Greenville-Spartanburg next spring. Southwest added only one destination - Panama City, Fla. - to its route network this year.

-Andrea Ahles

American demonstrates new RNP flight path to Hartford

American Airlines has a new approach to landing in Hartford, Connecticut.

On Thursday, the Fort Worth-based carrier operated a flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Hartford using a new flight path developed by GE Aviation that enables aircraft to land at Hartford’s Bradley Airport during low clouds and poor visibility.

“Before, the [old flight path] got you pretty close to the runway and from that point we would line up the airplane visually,” said Captain Brian Will, American's director for airspace modernization and advanced technologies. “This gives you flight guidance so at night or in heavy rain we have good flight guidance all the way down.”

The new flight path incorporates Required Navigation Performance technology which steers a plane more precisely because it relies on GPS rather than ground-based beacons. By using the technology, aircraft can fly more directly between airports which reduces fuel consumption and cuts down on delays.

Passengers on D/FW to Hartford flights will notice a slight difference as the aircraft’s engines will not be powering up and down during the descent into Hartford, said Will, who piloted the flight on Thursday. Instead, the plane will make a continuous descent into the airport with passengers only hearing the deployment of the landing gear about six miles out from the runway.

This was the first time a domestic flight used an “RNP” landing procedure that had been developed by a private company for public use. Prior to this, all of the new “RNP” procedures have been created by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The airline industry has criticized the FAA for taking too long to unveil new flight paths as airlines spend hundreds of millions of dollars on new equipment.

Will said American has spent $450 million outfitting its existing planes with next-generation equipment and all of its new Boeing 737s come equipped with it as well. He added that American is disappointed that the FAA has moved slowly in rolling out the new technology and hopes that with GE Aviation authorized to create RNP flight paths that more paths will be available for use.

Steve Forte, general manager with GE Aviation’s Naverus subsidiary, said that the U.S. needs thousands of these RNP flight paths to replace the old beacon-to-beacon paths created decades ago.

“We’ve been doing this for some time with private enterprises but this is the first time we’ve done one and have it available for all users,” Forte said.

-Andrea Ahles

Delta wants to pick up London slots

Delta Air Lines said on Wednesday it has filed applications with U.S. and European regulators for routes between London Heathrow and Miami and Boston.

The Atlanta-based carrier said it wants to offer two daily flights between London and Boston and one daily flight between Heathrow and Miami.

"Delta's new service would provide more choices and competition for customers traveling between these important U.S. cities and London, one of the most popular destinations in Europe for both business and leisure travelers," said Glen Hauenstein, Delta's executive vice president – Network Planning and Revenue Management. "Awarding these slots to Delta and SkyTeam would significantly enhance competition among the major alliances across the Atlantic."

The routes are now available as part of American Airlines-British Airways anti-trust immunity agreement with the European Commission which requires the carriers to give up slots between London and Boston, New York, Dallas/Fort Worth and Miami to allow competitors to operate those routes.

Delta's announcement is the first since the EC and the U.S. Department of Transportation began accepting slot applications.

Still no word on any new carrier wanting to serve the D/FW-London route.

-Andrea Ahles