Today in the Sky reports that Northwest has reached a deal to sell seven of its DC-10s to ATA Airlines. Northwest has replaced its DC-10s in favor of more efficient aircraft and is looking at slowly doing the same with its fleet of DC9s. ATA is likely to use them for its charter operations, most…
We opted not to report on the Fake Boarding Pass Website created by Indiana University student Christopher Soghoian. Soghoian’s website could generate Northwest Boarding Passes close enough to pass a visual inspection, but not a machine inspection. While Soghoian created the site to call attention to security issues originally raised by Bruce Schneier and other…
Today, one of the busiest days of the years, Fox News 9 Minneapolis reports that the Northwest baggage handlers at Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport brought their carts together at Gate F7 and sat down on the job, upset about being outsourced. The stoppage lasted about thirty minutes before they returned to work. Slowdowns are expected in…
Northwest announced today that customers may now print their boarding passes at international fax machines after checking in for flights over the Internet, in addition to the domestic faxing added in July 2005. We have never taken advantage of this service, preferring to print our boarding passes directly to our printers. It is a valuable…
In several press releases issued over the last day, the various airlines have weighed in on the benefits of their proposed China routes. We briefly touched on the issue in a previous post. United Airlines commented in their press release that a Washington-Beijing service would link the two capitals, and would be the first China…
Today, Northwest and Delta both announced expansion plans. As the Associated Press notes in regards to Northwest, airline consultant Alan Sbarra said that expansion fits with a policy now popular amoung US carriers of “avoiding competition by going to Europe.” The push to offer more international service could possibly increase competiton and thus lower fares…
Today, as Delta announced its international expansion, Northwest announced its first major expansion since bankruptcy. Since the two carriers declared bankruptcy at the same time, Northwest seems to like to announce things the same day Delta does. Delta has had an aggressive international expansion plan since bankruptcy. Northwest, however, has engaged in very little in…
We recently wrote on the subject of Northwest’s aircraft purchase. We are pleased to announce that Northwest has begun its order with 72 jets. Northwest has ordered 36 Embraer 175s to be flown by their new subsidiary, Compass Airlines as well as an additional order for 36 Bombardier CRJ-900 jets to be flown by a…
The Associated Press reports that Northwest Airlines is expected to make a large order for regional jets in the next few weeks. Not only has it launched its new subsidiary, Compass Airlines, for its regional flying, it needs to replace 105 ancient DC-9 aircraft. The DC-9 began service in 1965, and evolved design-wise into the…
Last Friday, the Association of Flight Attendants(AFA) appealed the decision that blocked their threatened strike. The Judge said that the union had not exhausted all options for coming to an agreement with the airline. Reuters reported today that the AFA has asked to be released from formal mediation. If the National Mediation Board ceases to…
Compass Airlines, a new subsidiary of Northwest, plans to launch service in October by flying a 50-seat regional jet from Minnaeapolis to Washington Dulles Airport, as the Star Tribune reports. That plane and route was previously operated by Mesaba Airlines. While Compass is a subsidiary, it will be paid in the same manner as Mesaba…
We were recently prompted to think about issues of health and relaxation and wondered what had happened to Jetblue’s attempt to improve our inflight experience. In this press release from 2002, Jetblue announced the launching of their Airplane Yoga program. A special card, available in PDF format here, would be available in the seatback pocket…
Northwest has recommited itself to Indianapolis as a focus city, or hublet with its latest announcement of service expansion in a press release on Thursday. Northwest announced for one it is expanding its service to New York’s LaGuardia Airport. When it began this service with its regional partner, Pinnacle Airlines, Indy’s hometown airline, ATA, was…
Yesterday, Northwest Airlines reported a net income of 101 million dollars for July. The Minneapolis-St.Paul Business Journal notes that the carrier stated it “can and will” negotiate a labor agreement with its flight attendants, despite the fact that the concessions imposed on the flight attendants results in millions in savings management insisted are essential for…
The Star-Tribune reported that the Northwest Flight Attendants union has told the federal judge who postponed their planned strike that Northwest has little incentive to negotiate. No negotations are planned, and there is no reason to believe there will be any before the judge issues his final ruling on the matter. Mollie Reiley, the president…
As we reported earlier, the Federal Judge deciding on the case of the Northwest Airlines Flight Attendants and their right to strike blocked them from going on strike today. He has issued an injunction, stating that a delay was necessary so that the legal issues under the Federal Railway Act could be explored further. We…
In the tradition of the major news networks, we present our coverage of the Northwest Strike… Late Wednesday night, the U.S. Department of Justice sought to block a threatened strike, maintaining it would violate the Railway Labor Act, which does not allow strikes without both sides of the conflict being released from mediation. The Association…
We reported yesterday that the Dutch were holding twelve passengers from a Northwest Airlines flight to Mumbai. No evidence could be found that they were anything but difficult passengers. It appears they were merely rowdy. It is a lesson to us all…stay in your seat when the fasten seatbelt sign is on, remain quiet, keep…
For those of you interested in our recent story about outsourcing at Northwest Airlines, here is a copy of the booklet that Northwest Airlines supplied to its soon to be outsourced ground workers. Here you will find some interesting commentary on the subject. In further followup news, the Memphis Business Journal reports here that as…
Ground crews for Northwest Airlines were recently given a booklet by their employer, “Restructuring Q&A and Employee Support.” It contains information on their likely outsourcing as well as 101 Money-Saving tips. Tip #46: “Don’t be shy about pulling something you like out of the garbage.” Others include asking doctors for free drug samples, getting hand-me-downs…