Upgrades and Downgrades — April 10, 2008 — Flight groundings, celeb upgrades, and pilot gunfire explained
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Upgraded: Overreaction
Downgraded: Everyone
Turn on the news, you’ll see reports of American Airlines canceling more flights. At last count, they’ve canceled over 2500 flights, costing millions of dollars, and pissing off hundreds of thousands of customers. Their MD-80s weren’t properly repaired last week, when the FAA grounded them the first time (umm, why weren’t they properly repaired, exactly?). But really, was this mayhem necessary? The FAA previously gave the airline 18 months to fix this wiring. Sure, it should have been done, and done right. But if the FAA felt the airline could take 18 months to fix things, it can’t be that big a deal. So why ground every single MD-80 in the AA fleet? Punitive, sure, but who is punished? Hundreds of thousands of passengers, in addition to the airline itself. (At least the airline is rebooking passengers where possible, but flights are already full, so where can passengers really go?) Seems like a more orderly plan could have been developed.
Upgraded: Delta-Northwest merger odds
Delta’s pilots have agreed to a deal that could pave the way for the Delta-Northwest merger, previously on the skids. We’ll see. (Thanks to Dr. Vino!)
Upgraded: Them. Not you
Hundreds of thousands of people are stranded in airports, waiting to get out on the next flight. If you’re feeling bitter, you may not want to read about how airlines treat VIP passengers. Not elite frequent flyers. Celebrities. (Thanks to reader J!)
Upgraded: Explanations for the accidental discharge of a pilot’s pistol
Downgraded: The TSA
Still wondering how a US Airways pilot might have fired a weapon mid-flight? Here’s a plausible explanation, in video (or vlog) form. (Enjoy the guy’s amazing Chicago accent, as a bonus.) The post suggests that TSA’s policy — requiring an awkward padlock that can pull the trigger if conditions are right — is to blame. I’m still opposed to guns in the cockpit, but the argument against this particular lock system makes sense. Locks: good. This lock: maybe not. Better training of pilots would help, too, methinks. (Thanks to reader Dave!)
Downgraded: Checked baggage weight
In the U.S., airlines are waging a war against the second checked bag. Across the Pacific, Australian baggage handlers are threatening to refuse to move bags weighing more than 20kg (44 lbs.) Until now, 32kg (70 lbs.) were considered legal weight, and those numbers still appear in the Qantas contract. Most U.S. airlines have a 50 lb. cutoff before overweight charges kick in. But this is different: It’s not about fees, it’s about willingness to transport bags over a given weight, period. Bottom line: As always, pack light! (Thanks to reader Rob!)
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April 10th, 2008 at 10:44 pm |
So why haven’t we seen an official explanation of what happened on that US Air flight? Can’t be *that* hard to investigate this incident, now can it?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:54 am |
Seems like they’d grow brains and just start teaching their flight crew Krav Maga as on El Al.
Oh, and as for the Anniston story, it just smacks of customer discrimination, which I do believe is illegal. It’s not entirely unlike if the airline were to decide to pass over black people when offering water.
April 12th, 2008 at 3:39 pm |
Speaking of growing brains….
El Al has never had a hijacking not because its pilots study Krava Maga (and I’m not sure they do that), but because its passenger screening is incredibly effective. El Al is not afraid to be politically incorrect - they profile, they discriminate and as a result they have air tight secruity.
The TSA is ineffective and mostly for show. Until the TSA gets its act together, US pilots will need to be able to defend their passengers with firearms.
April 12th, 2008 at 4:03 pm |
You can blather all you want about whether the MD-80s are safe to fly, but it was Joe Brancatelli, as usual, who got to the heart of the matter. He alone cuts through the poo on both sides:
http://joe.biztravelife.com/joe.html
April 12th, 2008 at 10:01 pm |
“All El Al pilots are veterans of the Israeli air force and are trained in handling weapons and in hand-to-hand combat.”
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/09/26/rec.el.al.security/
Grow a brain and google it if in doubt.
From this quote, it’s reasonable to infer that an Israeli airline would employ an Israeli martial art which wastes no time on the touchy-feely stuff and gets straight down to the pragmatics, e.g. defense against armed men, confronting multiple attackers.
As for profiling, I’ve seen some real unintelligent ideas bounced around like this “micro-expressions” BS. Nobody has a right to try and read my mind. Better to intimidate would-be hijackers than piss off innocent passengers.
April 13th, 2008 at 4:20 am |
F.O. Mann, how about elaborating for us, because that guy’s website won’t let me view since I’m not a poster there.
April 13th, 2008 at 4:29 pm |
@ F.O. Mann –
Who is “blathering” about if the MD-80s are safe to fly? Mark’s post suggests the planes were reasonably safe, since the FAA gave AA 18 months to fix things previously. So what’s your beef? Or is your name really “Joe Brancatelli”?
And like From the Mind of J says, show me the quote from the illustrious Joe. I’m not paying a subscription fee for the privilege of seeing what the hell you’re talking about.
April 14th, 2008 at 6:01 pm |
I think each traveler should have to stand on the scale along with his luggage, and pay according to the total.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:10 am |
El Al has never had a hijacking? Not quite correct:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Al#Hijacking
As for the pilot shooting a hole into the US Airways aircraft, looks like he’ll soon be looking for a new occupation.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/17/pilot.gun/index.html