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Thursday, October 29, 2009
United hits"Breaks Guitars" musician again

You may recall the saga of Dave Carroll, the Canadian musician who created a YouTube sensation with his song "United Breaks Guitars," after the airline wouldn't pay him $1,200 for damaging his guitar during a flight transfer at Chicago O'Hare Airport. The original can be heard here. If you view it, you will be among more than 5.8 million who have seen and listened. It's all about how United was indifferent to his plea for compensation.

Carroll, who I met in Washington last month when he endorsed efforts to get Congress to approve passenger-rights legislation, now has the fodder for more songs and videos. He flew United from Saskatchewan to Denver on Sunday -- and guess what, his bag is still missing. No guitar gone this time, but his bag did contain CDs of his latest version of the United series. Irony of ironies, Carroll has become a speaker on the topic of good customer service, and he had gone to Denver for a speaking engagement. Read more of the latest chapter. 

Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 9:57 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Airline union voting rules expected to ease
The National Mediation Board, which oversees labor relations in the airline and rail industries, is set to make it easier for unions to win approval of airline workers by changing voting rules. Read more detail here. 
Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 9:19 AM  Permalink | 2 comments
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Northwest pilots draw wrong kind of attention: The Feds
The Obama administration is worried about distracted driving, and now about distracted flying -- of big Airbus jets. Read the latest in the ongoing saga of the Northwest pilots multitasking in the cockpit here.
Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 7:14 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
US Airways cutting 1,000 jobs, some PHL Europe service
US Airways made a major announcement today about realigning some of its service, including cutting some PHL flights to Europe, giving up for now plans for PHL-China service and eliminating 1,000 jobs. Read the details in Linda Loyd's story found here.
Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 1:27 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
U.S. hotels' performance slips, again, in third quarter
U.S. hotels in the third quarter continued to see occupancy fall, prompting them to lower room rates and thus hurt their revenue per available room, the key measure of good health. Read more about it here.
Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 9:16 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
UPDATE on laptop-loving Northwest pilots

UPDATE at 6 p.m. Philadelphia time: The Federal Aviation Administration revoked the licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots in this now-famous incident. They have 10 days to appeal the revocation to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Here's another very good story, from Bloomberg News, raising many questions about the Northwest flight crew that overshot their destination because they said they were distracted by poring over their laptops. Read it here. One other possibility for their mistake that's not in this story: Were the pilots actually playing spider solitaire on their computers?  

Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 5:00 PM  Permalink | 1 comment
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Southwest settles safety-related lawsuit

Southwest Airlines has settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of shareholders who had alleged the airline failed to comply with federal safety regulations. Read more here. 

Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 11:06 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Continental joins Star Alliance today
Continental Airlines joined US Airways, United and Lufthansa, among others in the Star Alliance network, the world's largest. The tie-up allows airlines to coordinate schedules and services. Read a little more here.
Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 10:58 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Monday, October 26, 2009
Northwest pilots say it was their laptops, not fatique
The two Northwest pilots who overflew their destination last and prompted the White House to be apprised of the situation have told federal investigators that they were working on crew scheduling software on their laptops, not napping in the cockpit. A few more details are in an AP story here.
Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 5:09 PM  Permalink | 2 comments
Monday, October 26, 2009
PHL gets TSA funds for closed circuit TV system

The Transportation Security Administration announced today that PHL will get about $4.9 million to buy a new closed circuit TV system, to be used to dectect security threats. Acting aviation direcor Mark Gale said in a statement that the new cameras and recording equipment are part of a larger, integrated security system at the airport. The system is still in development and could take as long as two years from design to final installation. About 90 cameras are to be installed, Gale said.

Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 4:40 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About Tom Belden
Tom Belden has been reporting and writing about Philadelphia International Airport and other air travel subjects for nearly 25 years. He has written business travel columns for The Inquirer's Travel and Business sections. His ground-breaking reporting (with colleague Craig McCoy) on baggage handling problems in Philadelphia have been credited with helping improve the system. His previous blog was called Road Warrior. He can reached at tbelden@phillynews.com.
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