Sky Talk

DOT fines American $90,000 for failing to disclose fees on flight vouchers

The Department of Transportation has fined American Airlines $90,000 for failing to disclose fees attached to flight vouchers.

The agency alleges that American did not tell passengers who had voluntarily given up their seat on oversold flights that their vouchers could only be redeemed after paying a ticketing fee. The DOT says that fee in some cases was as much as $30.

"When passengers volunteer to give up their seat on an oversold flight, they are entitled to be fully compensated - not to find out later that they're getting $30 less," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a statement.

According to the DOT investigation, American did not tell passengers they would have to pay a ticketing fee to redeem the vouchers by telephone or at airport counters and that the vouchers could not be used on the carrier's Web site. The carrier also did not tell passengers that if they used the vouchers to pay for a ticket over the phone, it had to be mailed to the carrier for processing three weeks before the departure date.

-Andrea Ahles

American, Westjet announce new codeshare and frequent flyer agreement

American Airlines and Canada's WestJet Airlines announced a new codeshare and frequent flyer agreement on Monday.

The new deal follows the interline agreement that the two carriers had signed in October. The codeshare agreement is subject to regulatory approval.

The carriers say the agreement will allow American customers connecting service to up to 20 Canadian cities not served by American or its regional carrier, American Eagle. WestJet will initially put its code on American flights from Canada to Chicago and Boston with other U.S. cities to follow at a later date.

“As a valuable result of NAFTA economic integration and the open skies aviation agreement between Canada and the United States, Canada has become an ever more important business and leisure destination for travelers from the U.S,” said American chief commercial officer Virasb Vahidi in a statement.

WestJet had originally announced a codeshare deal with Dallas-based Southwest Airlines in 2008 but the two parted ways last year when WestJet's chief executive said Southwest was not going to be ready to implement the deal in a timely manner.

The Canadian carrier then talked to Delta Air Lines, who promised to give WestJet slots at New York's LaGuardia Airports as part of a possible slot swap with US Airways. When that deal stalled with government regulators, American stepped in to become WestJet's first U.S. interline partner.

-Andrea Ahles

Jet fuel price increases could push the airline industry into the red, experts say

Like everyone else filling up a gas tank these days, airlines are feeling the pain at the pump.

Jet fuel spot prices have jumped 19 percent in just the past two months, and with continued political unrest in the Middle East, industry analysts can only guess how much higher the prices will go. But what they do know is this: If the price of jet fuel climbs to the peaks it reached in 2008, the airline industry could be in for a year of red ink.

“Price movements of 9 percent in a day are exactly what this industry does not need,” said Bill Swelbar, an airline researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

So far, airlines seem to be adjusting to the higher price of jet fuel, although not in a way passengers would likely prefer.

Since the beginning of the year, domestic carriers have raised airfares five times. In addition, there have been two successful fare increases targeting last-minute business travelers. On Wednesday, United Airlines added a $20 fuel surcharge on round-trip tickets.

“If jet fuel prices remain at current levels ($3.10 per gallon), capacity and jet fuel consumption will be reduced further, controllable costs shaved more, air fares raised again, and new fees and fuel surcharges added,” wrote CRT Capital Group analyst Michael Derchin in a note to investors last week.

Click here  to read the full airline fuel story that appears in Sunday's Star-Telegram.

-Andrea Ahles

F-35 milestone. First "production" airplane flies; will go into test fleet

Lockheed Martin announced that the first production model F-35 Lightning II (the Joint Strike Fighter) made its inaugural flight Friday afternoon. The jet, AF-6, the first funded in what is known as a "low rate initial production" lot actually beat two of the flight test airplanes into the air.

The F-35 will undergo initial shakeout test flight sin Fort Worth before being delivered to the Air Force and being flown to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. to be part of the F-35 development testing program.

“The aircraft was rock-solid from takeoff to landing, and successfully completed all the tests we put it through during the flight,” said Lockheed Test Pilot Bill Gigliotti. “The Air Force is getting a great jet that represents a huge leap in capability, and we’re looking forward to getting it into the hands of the service pilots in just a few more weeks.”

During the flight, the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) F-35A variant underwent basic flight maneuvering and engine tests. Gigliotti took off from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base at 3:05 p.m. central time and landed an hour later. The jet will continue flight tests in Fort Worth for about a month before it is accepted by the Air Force.

- Bob Cox

Another look at the APFA's decision to let American hire Chinese-speaking FAs

Emotions are still flying high after American Airlines and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants agreed to allow the Fort Worth-based carrier to hire 30 new Chinese-speaking flight attendants even though there are still more than 200 flight attendants on furlough.

A few e-mails forwarded to some flight attendants from their board representatives outline a non-official reason that APFA was willing to go along with American's demands.

According to these e-mails, the outgoing St. Louis flight attendant chairperson had been working with Missouri Rep. Russ Carnahan to get the APFA to extend furlough rights to all of the former TWA flight attendants or else Carnahan was going to attach an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration authorization bill in Congress that would reinstate the TWAers full seniority.

"Instead of [APFA President] Laura [Glading] getting a concession from the company on this speaker issue, she (WE) were basically blackmailed into finding a middle ground we could all live with," wrote San Francisco base chairperson Bob Ross in one e-mail.

Keep reading to see the e-mails that give a look inside the APFA board meeting on this issue.

-Andrea Ahles

TWU to join with other Oneworld airline unions to form labor council

American Airlines has its global alliance and now its union wants one too.

On Thursday, the Transport Workers Union, who represents American’s mechanics and ground crew workers, said it is joining with unions at other Oneworld alliance airlines to create an international labor council.

"To compete in the airline business or any business, you’ve got to be global and the same is true for organized labor," said Gary Drummond, director of the TWU’s Air Transport division.

By having the unions of the twelve Oneworld alliance airlines meet regularly, they hope to exchange ideas, plans and strategies related to contract talks. Drummond said the One World of Labor Council will have its first meeting in April.

The TWU also hopes that with a greater focus on oneworld, its members will be able to perform more work for the alliance carriers when they add routes to the U.S. For example, when Japan Airlines started new flights to Chicago, American’s maintenance group successfully bid on performing ground work for JAL at that airport.

Drummond added that the TWU hopes that its alliance with other international unions will put more pressure on American to reach a new contract with its workers.

"We made a huge investment to keep this company alive," said Drummond, referring to the wage and benefit concessions his union made in 2003. "Eight years later our members have a right to expect a return on our investment but we’re not getting it. We’ve been stonewalled at the negotiating table."

Last year, the mechanics and store clerks voted down a tentative agreement with the airline. Mediated negotiations have restarted between the two parties, however, the ground crew workers have not had any contract talks with American since last May.

American has also received anti-trust immunity for its joint business alliances with British Airways and Iberia for trans-Atlantic routes and with Japan Airlines for trans-Pacific routes.

"As TWU leaders have themselves pointed out, the airline industry is extremely fragile and competitive," said American spokeswoman Missy Latham. "Our alliances help strengthen our company by allowing us a greater ability to compete, provide opportunities for long-term growth and improved job security."

-Andrea Ahles

United's Continental-looking paint livery

Nothing says "we've merged!" like a new paint livery.

On Thursday, United Continental Holdings showed off its new design on one of its Boeing 747 aircraft.

And even though aviation enthusiasts have seen mock-ups of the livery since United Airlines and Continental Airlines completed their merger in October, the paint job is still being discussed on message boards as boring.

It really does look like they decided to just slap some paint over the Continental name and write United. But this is their new corporate design, so look for it to be coming to an airport near you.

-Andrea Ahles 

Transition agreement in place for Southwest, AirTran pilots

Southwest Airlines said that it has reached an agreement with its pilots union that "establishes a procedural framework for eventually integrating" the AirTran Airways pilots.

Details, such as how the AirTran pilots would be added to the Southwest Airline Pilots Association's seniority list, were not disclosed.

"This transition agreement, which was unanimously agreed to by our SWAPA Board of Directors, is an important step in the AirTran acquisition and integration process," Southwest vice president of flight operations Chuck Magill said in a statement. "Our hard-working pilots are now poised to begin the important and challenging work of integrating their AirTran colleagues into Southwest Airlines."

Last year, the Dallas-based carrier announced it would purchase AirTran. The deal is still pending as the two companies are waiting for government regulatory approval and an AirTran shareholder vote. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter, Southwest said.

-Andrea Ahles

Southwest CEO meets with Pres. Obama today, named to presidential panel

Southwest Airlines chief executive Gary Kelly is going to help America grow jobs and be competitive.

Kelly was one of 23 national business leaders named to President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which will hold its first meeting in Washington D.C. today. The panel is led by Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric Co.

According to the executive order that created the council, it iwll offer "non-partisan advice" on how to strengthen the U.S. economy and help it to remain competitive while creating "jobs, opportunity and prospertiy for the American people."

In a statement, Kelly said he was honored to represent Southwest on the panel.

"I agree with the President it is urgent for all Americans that we focus on initiatives that drive economic growth and create U.S. jobs," he said.

-Andrea Ahles

Southwest warns Facebook friends about spammers offering free tickets on the airline

Southwest Airlines has over 1.3 million friends on Facebook and over the weekend some of those friends got spammed.

Spammers began sending out messages that Southwest was giving away free tickets or flight vouchers. "awesome! i just pick up my 2 complementary tickets from Southwest Airlines to fly anywhere i want lol!" one message said.

The messages appeared as comments on Facebook Wall posts and Youtube videos and was being spread apparently by a rogue Facebook application. The link in the messages took Internet users to a site that had a very similar look to Southwest's ad campaigns.

On Tuesday, Southwest sent out a note to its Facebook friends, warning them about the spam. "Hey folks - beware of spammers posting an opportunity to win free tickets on Southwest Airlines. Our friends at Facebook are aware and are working to remove. Please share with your friends and family!" the airline posted on its Facebook site.

These types of scams are becoming more popular as companies, like Southwest, offer more promotions and free stuff through their social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

So if you see one of these comments, don't click on the link. It won't get you free tickets on Southwest and will just annoy your Facebook friends with spam.

-Andrea Ahles