Union at British Airways Threatens Further Disruptions

A dispute over travel perks -- that is, the traditional free airplane rides for employees -- could mean continuous disruption at British Airways this summer, the union for striking B.A. flight attendants said. Here's a link.

At many airlines, including B.A., the reduction in availability of free travel has created serious morale problems for staff. At some airlines, they call the desk where flight attendants and pilots apply for free travel "the wailing wall."

British Airways flight attendants started their second five-day strike yesterday. Others are planned.

Unaccountably, British Airways has failed to update its online customer-service information on the situation for five days. What, nobody working today?

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Another Strike Starts by Cabin Crews at British Airways

Two days after an earlier five-day strike ended, British Airways flight attendants began a second strike today. The union, Unite, said it would last for five days.

Here's a British Airways "update" on the situation which, unaccountably, is three days old.
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Weather Forecast, Tucson

[Above: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer takes a well-deserved rest to catch up on her rays. Oh, wait, that not Brewer, that's actually Magda from "There's Something About Mary."]

Today
Sunny. Highs 97 to 102. South wind 5 to 15 mph becoming west 15 to 20 mph this afternoon.

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Ed Murrow Speaks From the Grave...

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British Airways Flight Attendants Are On Strike

The on-again, off-again strike by British Airways flight attendants is on today, after the union action was upheld by a court ruling.

Here's an update by the Guardian newspaper.

Here's the British Airways customer-service announcement on the action.

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Jamaica Travel Heads-Up: Street Violence in Kingston

Anyone considering traveling to Jamaica really needs to listen up: There is trouble in the capital, Kingston. The violence is perpetrated by thugs supporting a popular gangster wanted by the police -- and by the Americans.

The Jamaican government today posted a state of emergency for some parts of Kingston.

And here's the New York Times update. The Times blog is reporting that the gangster. Christopher "Dudus" Coke, is barricaded in west Kingston.

There's gunfire in some streets, and several police stations in the capital have been attacked by roving bands of thugs.

There may be some element of anti-Americanism involved, since the gangster is wanted in the U.S., but that's just my speculation. The situation evidently has been deteriorating since the State Department issued an alert yesterday.

The wanted criminal in question is a charismatic Jamaican drug figure known locally as Christopher "Dudus" Coke. An article today in the Jamaica newspaper "the Gleaner" has some information on this foul character (once you get past the windy lead-in paragraphs).

The American media have not had this situation on the radar, so there's little context. My hunch: There are genuine anti-American aspects of this violence. The airlines, hotels and cruise companies have not yet caught on to the implications, and when they do, they'll be slow to react.

Americans should be very careful about travel to Jamaica.

The State Department alert says in part:

"The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens about developing security concerns in Jamaica, particularly the Kingston area. The possibility exists for violence and/or civil unrest in the greater Kingston metropolitan area. There are unconfirmed reports of criminal gang members amassing in the Kingston area, as well as mobilization of Jamaican defense forces. If the situation ignites, there is a possibility of severe disruptions of movement within Kingston, including blocking of access roads to the Norman Manley International Airport. The possibility exists that unrest could spread beyond the general Kingston area. U.S. Embassy Kingston is taking extra security precautions. This Travel Alert expires on June 21, 2010.

U.S citizens should consider the risks associated with travel to and within the greater Kingston metropolitan area. U.S. citizens are urged always to practice good security, maintain a heightened situational awareness and a low profile. U.S. citizens in Jamaica are advised to monitor local news reports and consider the level of security present when venturing outside their residence or hotel."

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American Airlines Flight Attendants Authorize Strike

American Airlines flight attendants have overwhelmingly authorized a strike. The strike vote count was announced to members today and, I am told by flight attendants, it was 96.8 percent yes.

More than 90 percent of American's over 18,000 flight attendants voted. The union is the Association of Professional Flight Attendants.

Stay tuned on this one.

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160 Dead in Crash of Air India Express 737

At least 160 people died when an Air India Express 737-800 overshot the runway in Mangalore in southern India. The plane was arriving from Dubai.

Air India Express is a budget airline that flies a fleet of 24 737-800s.

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TSA a Bloated 'Bureaucratic Nightmare,' Says GOP Congressman Mica, Calling for "Immediate Reorganization" of the Agency

In advance of a new federal report today on the failures of the Transportation Security Administration’s vaunted "behavior detection," U.S. Rep. John L. Mica (R-FL) called for a reorganization of the TSA, which he called a "bloated, ineffective bureaucracy."

Mica also says that the TSA is top-heavy with highly paid supervisors. AT TSA headquarters, he says, over 30 percent of employees are supervisors, with an average salary of over $105,000.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed the TSA’s behavior-detection program, known as SPOT ("Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques"), at Mica’s request. The public version of the report (GAO-10-763) is expected to be released later today.

[I'll post the link when it's available]


Says Mica, the ranking minority member on the House transportation committee, "GAO’s report confirms that TSA has bungled the development and deployment of a potentially important layer of aviation security. Other countries, such as Israel, successfully employ behavior-detection techniques at their airports, but the bloated, ineffective bureaucracy of TSA has produced another security failure for U.S. transportation systems.

"I have written to Secretary Napolitano to express the need for the immediate reevaluation and reorganization of the TSA, an agency teetering on the verge of disaster," he said, referring to a letter sent today to Napolitano.

The TSA, as I have noted repeatedly, has been without a permanent director for 16 months, and is still being run by the same Bush-era appointees and hires who have presided over its myriad operational and security failures and out-of-control budgets since the agency was started in 2003.

Mica's statement continues:

According to the GAO report, TSA spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on the SPOT program. TSA began pilot tests of SPOT in 2003, and began to significantly increase deployment of Behavior Detection Officers (BDOs) in March 2007. Approximately 3,000 BDOs are now deployed to over 100 of 457 TSA-regulated U.S. airports.

However, according to the GAO, TSA never scientifically validated the list of behaviors underpinning the program, never determined whether the techniques could be applied for counter-terrorism or in an airport environment, and never conducted a cost-benefit analysis.

The program has also failed to identify known terrorists that have traveled through SPOT airports. Since the program’s inception, 17 known terrorists have traveled through eight SPOT airports on 23 different occasions. This includes Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square Bomber.

The GAO reports that between May 2004 and August 2008:

-- 2 billion passengers went through SPOT airports
-- 150,000 were selected for secondary screening
-- 14,000 were referred to law enforcement
-- 1,100 were arrested
-- 0 were arrested for terrorism.

Mica had urged the development of a behavior detection program, based on the highly successful Israeli model utilized by EL Al Airlines.

Unfortunately, the TSA’s SPOT Program is not like the Israeli behavior detection model. Unlike the Israeli program, SPOT is conducted from a distance, with no personal interaction between the passenger and the TSA employee performing the SPOT screening unless the passenger is identified for secondary screening,” Mica said. “El Al also trains all their staff in behavior detection techniques, not just the screening staff working the passenger checkpoints.

Earlier airport screening penetration tests have repeatedly demonstrated the TSA’s failure to detect threats. I sought a robust behavior detection program to address those failures. Unfortunately, penetration testing continues to show that even with new screening technology and the SPOT Program, the aviation screening system is not working.

TSA is a bureaucratic nightmare, with over 60,000 employees and top heavy with supervisory and administrative staff. At TSA headquarters, where 30 percent of employees are supervisors, the average salary is over $105,000. Thirteen percent of field employees are supervisors. This is a massive bureaucracy that cannot effectively ensure the safety of U.S. transportation systems, and something must be done to improve the agency’s performance." [End of Mica statement]


[MY COMMENT} And oh, while Mica is excoriating the TSA, maybe he might consider leaning on his own party, which blocked two of President Obama's nominees to head the agency on ideological grounds (one for not being sufficiently anti-union), to get out of the way and let the president appoint someone to get this "bloated bureaucracy" under control -- and start fixing the chronic security failures.

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TSA Screener Accused of Stealing Cash From Woman in Wheelchair

A TSA agent has been arrested and arraigned on a federal charge of stealing more than $400 from a wheelchair-using passenger as she passed through a security checkpoint at the Newark airport, according to this report by WNBC-TV in New York City.

According to the criminal charge, Leroy Ray lifted cash from the woman's carry-on bag after she had placed it on the X-ray machine belt at the checkpoint. Ray was caught on surveillance video, the complaint said. The incident occurred on Feb. 3.

Here's a much more detailed report on the incident, in a somewhat windy article in the Newark Star-Ledger newspaper. Warning: You have to wade through a baloney journalistic sermon about the "social compact," etc., before you get to the actual news.

This is the latest theft scandal for the TSA, which always points out that nearly 2 million people a day pass through TSA checkpoints, and only a very tiny percentage of them are actually robbed.

And so on.

But let me add one more concern to the growing number of concerns about a security agency that has been troubled for many years, and without a permanent director for 16 months.

Once those whole-body imagers are all in place, you know, the ones the TSA hates it when someone calls them "strip-search machines," passengers will need to put all of their personal possessions onto the belt. Wallets, which we now carry in our pockets through the old-tech magnetometers, are not be allowed on one's person in the whole-body image scanners. Everything goes onto the belt.

Where it's available to the teeny, tiny percentage of TSA agents who might be thieves.

On its Web site, the TSA has a Q&A section in which a TSA person who goes by the name "Blogger Bob" addresses the query of whether one must "divest" onself of a wallet before entering the whole-body imager (WBI) machine -- which the TSA has lately begun calling "advanced imaging technology." The reason for the new name, I am informed, is that consultants suggested that "whole-body imager" had a bad connotation with the public, which is wary of strip-searching of their whole bodies.

Once divested, the wallet then goes on the belt along with your carry-on and shoes and other stuff.

Says Blogger Bob:

"Your wallet must be divested prior to WBI screening so we can screen its contents via the X-ray.

We also need to be able to determine you have nothing on your person while being screened in the WBI.

If you choose to keep your wallet on your person, you will be referred for additional screening and your wallet will receive a physical inspection. The additional screening is not a threat or a punishment for not divesting, it's just security protocol.

It's always a good idea to place your wallet in one of your bags or a coat pocket. It reduces the chances of it being separated from your belongings. Also, you can request to have your property stay in your view."




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Airlines to European Airspace Regulators: Get Your Ash in Gear

As noted here the other day, the volcanic ash problem from that volcano in Iceland that nobody can pronounce and whose indecipherable spelling I am tired of looking up, the problem is not going away any time soon. We may be looking at a year or more of on-again, off-again volcanic ash-cloud drifts disrupting air traffic.

Yesterday alone, another 1,000 flights were canceled. Dealing with volcanic ash may well be the "new normal" in travel to and from western Europe.

Well now. The airlines are finally speaking with a unified voice, following incremental complaints by airlines such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

The International Air Transport Association issued a statement today calling for European regulators to get their act together on this matter.

"This problem is not going away any time soon," it says. "The current European-wide system to decide on airspace closures is not working. We welcome the operational refinements made by the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) in their theoretical model but we are still basically relying on one-dimensional information to make decisions on a four-dimensional problem."

The statement quotes the IATA director, Giovanni Bisignani: "The result is the unnecessary closure of airspace. Safety is always our number-one priority. But we must make decisions based on facts, not on uncorroborated theoretical models."

For those who want to see the full text, rather than some truncated paraphrase, here is the remainder of the statement from IATA:

***

Bisignani noted some successful exceptions which provide examples to follow. “France has been able to safely keep its airspace open by enhancing the VAAC data with operational expertise to more precisely determine safe fly zones. Today, the UK Civil Aviation, working with the UK NATS (the air navigation service provider), announced another step forward by working with airlines and manufacturers to more accurately define tolerance levels while taking into account special operational procedures. Both are examples for other European governments to follow,” said Bisignani.

Bisignani called for (1) more robust data collection and analysis (2) a change in the decision making process and (3) urgency in addressing the issues.

"Numbers show that the current system is flawed. Over 200,000 flights have operated in European airspace identified by the VAAC as having the potential presence of ash. Not one aircraft has reported significant ash presence and this is verified by post-flight aircraft and engine inspections. We must back the theory with facts gathered by aircraft to test ash concentration. France and the UK are showing that this is possible. If European civil aviation does not have the resources, it should look to borrow the test aircraft from other countries or military sources," said Bisignani [who added]:

"We have lost confidence in the ability of Europe’s governments to make effective and consistent decisions. Using the same data, different countries have come to different conclusions on opening or closing airspace.

“Ultimately the industry needs a decision-making process for ash clouds similar to the one used for all other operational disruptions. Every day airlines make decisions whether to fly or not to fly in various weather conditions. Airlines collate the information available and make informed decisions placing safety first and with full access to all the latest weather reporting. Why should volcanic ash be any different?

"In the U.S., which has a lot of experience with volcanic activity, the government identifies a no-fly zone where ash concentration is the highest. For all other areas, it is the responsibility of the airline to decide to fly or not based on the various data sources available. “The U.S. has well-established, safe and effective procedures for tracking the hazards of volcanic ash. In recent years, the industry had no recorded safety incidents from volcanic activity in US airspace. Europe has a lot to learn.

"Volcanic ash is a new challenge for European aviation. We can understand that systems need to be developed to cope. But what is absolutely inexcusable is the failure of Europe’s governments to act urgently and collectively to provide real leadership in a crisis. We have vast amounts of data from over 200,000 safe flights ready for analysis to support an urgent review of the current processes. The UK is finally moving in the right direction. But what about the other affected European governments? The next transport ministers meeting is scheduled for June 24. What kind of leadership waits more than a month to make crisis decisions? European businesses are dependent on air travel and passengers certainly cannot wait that long for initiatives like the UK’s to be implemented continent-wide."

Bisignani said he is traveling to Montreal for urgent meetings with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). "IATA and ICAO have been working intensely on this issue since the crisis first struck in April. IATA is strongly supporting the ICAO task force which is reviewing ash tolerance thresholds with operators and manufacturers. The responsibility of manufacturers is critical in providing performance information to back decisions," he said.

Tomorrow Bisignani will meet Roberto Kobeh-Gonzales, President of the ICAO Council and Raymond Benjamin, ICAO Secretary-General.

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British Airways Strike Blocked by Court

A strike that was to have begun Tuesday at British Airways was blocked today by a British court, which ruled against the flight attendants union planning the action.

The court objected to technicalities in the strike vote, which set a series of four five-day strikes starting this week.

It is expected that the union will eventually take a new strike vote to overcome the court's objections, but there is no indication yet of when.

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Big Jump in Premium Air-Traffic As Business Travel Picks Up

The number of passengers flying in first-class or business-class seats rose 10.8 percent in March compared with March 2009, the International Air Transport Association reported today.

"In fact, the number of people traveling on premium seats was expanding at a very strong annualized rate of 25 percent in the first quarter," said IATA, the trade group for world airlines.

That's more than two times the growth rate for coach-class travel.

Of course, those comparisons are to a very poor year in 2009. Premium travel is still about 15 percent below pre-recession levels, IATA said.

Still, the acceleration in demand is exceeding forecasts.

Growth in all segments is being driven by a rebound in business travel. "As business confidence and world trade have turned up sharply, business travelers have returned," IATA said.

But they aren't paying the kinds of premium fares they used to pay. It's apparent to me that this "new normal" we keep hearing about includes a structural change in premium-class fares, which I think are going to settle in at about an average of 30 percent or more below levels of three years ago.

Airlines, like hotels, have simply lost pricing-power ground at the top levels.

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Heathrow, Other Big UK Airports Reopen

Heathrow, Gatwick and other airports in Britain reopened at 7 a.m. London time after being closed all night by volcanic ash in the skies.

Here's the current update from the British air traffic control system company NATS.

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Much of UK Airspace Closes Again, Including Heathrow and Gatwick; Another BA Strike Looms This Week

[UPDATE 4.25 pm PDT: Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports are closing at 1 a.m. local time on Monday, and will remain shut at least till 7 a.m. Stansted and Luton remained open. Manchester and Birmingham reopened. Schiphol Amsterdam is closed till at least 2 p.m. Monday.]

The latest no-fly zone created by volcanic ash from Iceland was extended from Northern Ireland to the west coast of England and into Scotland today. According to the London Times today, airports in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds Bradford, East Midlands and Glasgow-Prestwick "have all been forced to close." [UPDATE: As noted above, Manchester later reopened while Heathrow, Gatwick and London City closed].

These new developments come as British Airways faces a five-day strike this week by flight attendants, who have said they will be off the job starting Tuesday. The strike action plans for four separate increments of five-day-long strikes starting Tuesday.

Here's the British Airways customer notice on the expected strike disruptions.

As to the new airspace closings, Richard Branson, for one, is hopping mad at what he sees as another overreaction by the privatized companies that operate British airspace and national weather services. Branson, the Virgin Atlantic president and founder, said that closing Manchester was "beyond a joke," and that there was no evidence that aircraft could not continue to fly safely, according to British news reports.

Who knows? But have a look at the current NATS bulletin to see how private corporations can blithely obfuscate information that the public needs. I thought these people spoke English.

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As Britain Weighs More Airspace Closings, Are Volcanic Ash Disruptions in Skies of Europe the 'New Normal'?

Heads-up for anyone bound to or from Britain in the next few days.

The British government says that UK airspace may be subject to more closings starting tomorrow, thanks to the ash cloud from continuing volcanic eruption in Iceland.

Flights at both Heathrow and Gatwick airports would be affected, possibly through Tuesday, says the Department of Transport.

However, according to this report in the London Times, the agency says that the situation is "fluid" and forecasts could change.

[UPDATE: Here's a better story in today's Telegraph, WHICH REPORTS:

"The prediction of closures from Sunday until Tuesday morning is based on continuing volcanic activity in Iceland and prevailing weather conditions.

The Department of Transport said: `Within this time frame, different parts of UK airspace – including airspace in the South East – are likely to be closed at different times.'"]

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Lonely Planet

The big story in travel is that it's picking up robustly. Finally.

The rebound follows some grim times -- as this photo of top travel editors gathered for a lunch at the Plaza Hotel in New York earlier this year inadvertently underscored.

The photo appears in Travel Weekly, the very lively weekly trade publication for travel agents. Travel Weekly had invited leading editors in the travel-media biz to a roundtable lunch to discuss the state of the industry, including "emerging trends, destinations and global travelers."

Thank God the emerging trends are looking better since that event -- and hopefully for the Plaza as well.

At the roundtable, according to this article in Travel Weekly last month, were "the chief editors of Afar, Budget Travel, Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic Traveler and Travel + Leisure and the travel editor of USA Today," who all "convened in New York earlier this year for the fifth annual Travel Weekly Consumer Travel Editors Roundtable."

Added Travel Weekly, "The event was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza Hotel, which recently completed a three-year, $450 million restoration. Lunch was provided by Plaza partner CPS Events' Liz Neumark."

OK then. Onward and upward!

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Hotel Industry Recovery Continuing With Luxury Hotels Leading the Way

[Above: Revenue per available room for the week ended May 8, pct. increase over corresponding week in 2009. Chart by Smith Travel Research]

As business travel picks up, U.S. hotels are starting to recover from the worst slump in hotel industry history.

For the week ended May 8, the overall domestic hotel industry reported a 5.6 percent gain, compared with the corresponding week in 2009, in revenue per available room. RevPAR is the standard measurement of a hotel's operating performance.

The data are from Smith Travel Research.

As has been the case for over a month, the luxury hotel segment far outperformed the rest of the industry, as travelers are feeling a little less anxious about high-end spending.

Luxury hotels reported a 14.6 percent increase in RevPAR for the week and an 11.8 percent increase in occupancy. (Overall, the hotel industry reported a 5.6 percent increase in occupancy).

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Anchors Aweigh and the Goatf*** in the Gulf

Hey, no disrespect to the United States Coast Guard, which does a heckuva job patrolling for drunks in speedboats and rescuing those in peril on the ... um, still waters.

But somebody please tell me, as I am watching grandly uniformed Coast Guard officers testify about the Goatf*** in the Gulf: What are all those splendid ribbons on their chests for?

I mean, the Coast Guard is a branch of the Homeland Security Department, not a military outfit per se. So are these combat ribbons? Are they merit badges for rope-tying and seamanship? I really want to know.

It probably wouldn't have occurred to me to be so rude as to pose the question -- if these grandees didn't have so many ribbons festooned across their chests. I mean, the last time I saw the genuine war hero General Petraeus on the TV I counted eight rows of ribbons on his chest, many of them representing medals for valor in mortal combat.

Shown above: Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry, who was all over the TV in the initial stages of the Goatf*** in the Gulf, seems to have six rows of ribbons. Coast Guard Capt. Verne Gifford (above, left), who has been all over the TV lately, seems to be sporting seven.

Just askin' ... As I say, no disrespect to the Coast Guard, but maybe they should consider toning down the comic-opera regalia till this catastrophe settles down.

OK, I spent four years in the Navy, so I do get to repeat the joke:

Why do Coast Guard officers all have to be over six feet tall? So they can walk to shore if their boat sinks, of course.

I kid, I kid.

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Airline Crash in Libya Kills 103

An Afriqiyah Airways A330-200 crashed in Libya, killing 103 on board during landing at Tripoli. A 10 year old boy survived.

Here is the Wikipedia entry on Afriqiyah Airways, which is based in Libya.

Here is the Afriqiyah Airways notice on the crash.

This is the second fatal crash of an Airbus A330-200 within a year. Last June, an Air France A330 bound from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed in the Atlantic, killing 228.

It's great that a child survived today's crash -- but news accounts that focus on the "miracle" of the survivor (how I hate that word, having once survived an air crash that killed 154) and not on the central catastrophe represent the continuing trivialization of journalism that has been wrought by cable news, it seems to me.

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