Flight Line
I’m sitting at SeaTac waiting for my flight to Minneapolis, then on to Milwaukee for the week. My reservation, made 3 - 4 weeks ago, is on Northwest, whose mechanics went on strike Friday night. The airline so far says it will continue flying, and, other than some pickets by the skycap kiosk, everything about my day has been normal so far, although I see my inbound plane will be 40 minutes late. My brothers helpfully forwarded an article about a Northwest plane from Seattle that blew 4 tires upon landing in Detroit. I’m thinking that things will be fairly normal in the first few days, but that delays and cancellations will be more likely as maintenance backlogs build up and aircraft are taken out of service, perhaps as early as my return trip Friday night. I also have a Northwest reservation over Labor Day weekend, when I’m flying to Columbus to visit with family and take part in my Ohio State Marching Band reunion at the game against Miami (Ohio).
I feel badly for anyone involved in the airline business - unions, management, passengers. Both Northwest and Delta seem likely to declare bankruptcy before the new bankruptcy law takes effect in October, and I’m not optimistic about being able to use my large stash of frequent flyer miles. I’d sorta been saving them for something big - like Australia.
