MORE WISHFUL THINKING

In a moment of Christmas charity, the following is posted without comment:

"These problems won't occur again. This cannot occur on the eve of a holiday." -- Milton Zuanazzi, the head of Brazil's civil aviation agency, speaking on Friday.


"We had airlines overbooking. They sold tickets they should not have sold. The air force is helping and we can expect that by [Sunday] things will get better and passengers will be able to fly with tranquility." -- Brazil's president Luiz Inacio ("Lucky") Lula da Silva.

From Brazzil.com:

"Airport Chaos in Brazil: Plane Crews and Counter Workers Abandon Posts

Despite the help of the Brazilian Air Force, which is leasing eight of its planes to private airlines, the chaos in Brazil's airports continued unabated for a fourth consecutive day.

If anything the situation only grew more ominous Saturday, December 23. Lines, waiting for hours and lack of information continued while the public has been showing their discontent in a much more graphic way, screaming, attacking airlines' workers and breaking several computers.

Now, the workers themselves are the ones getting revolted. In São Paulo, Rio and Brasília, employees of TAM, Brazil's largest airline, abandoned their check-in counters alleging they had been assaulted by angry passengers. And TAM's crews also are refusing to fly maintaining that they have been forced to work way overtime.

Passengers going to Fortaleza, capital of Ceará, had already boarded a TAM plane in Congonhas, the São Paulo domestic airport, this morning, when they were told that they had to leave the aircraft because the crew were refusing to fly due to excessive work in the last few days. ..."

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