A man on a flight from LaGuardia to Tampa St Pete was subdued by passengers in first class as he attempted to gain access to the cockpit of a Delta Air Lines flight. He has been taken into custody, but this is a great example of how a 9/11 would have a hard time occurring. No one will stand still for someone creating an inflight incident.

A man who tried to force his way into the cockpit of a Tampa-bound Delta Air Lines jet was undergoing mental evaluation on Friday, Tampa International Airport officials said.
Passengers said the man ran up the aisle toward the cockpit door just before the flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport was about to land in Tampa on Thursday night.
Passengers in the first-class section of the plane tackled and subdued the man, who was turned over to police after the McDonnell Douglas MD-88 landed. Airport spokesman Lewis Miller told a local television station that the man was unarmed and that his intentions were unclear.
Cockpit doors on all U.S. airliners have been locked since the September 11 hijackings.

US News Article | Reuters.com.

In one of the  funnier stories to emerge from the saga that is Delta Airlines and its bankruptcy is the story coming today out of ALPA offices. ALPA is the union that represents the Delta pilots. They will not be firing on all cylinders over the next few days as they are in the midst of a strike.

Strike you ask? Sure, but this time ALPA is not striking anyone, but is being struck by its clerical union workers. With the paycuts across the industry, the union is in fierce negotiations with its clerical union raising health care costs and lowering pay raises.

“The irony isn’t lost on us,” said Pete Janhunen, a spokesman in ALPA’s national office. “We’re a union, but we’re also an employer.”
Representatives of the Union of ALPA Professionals and Administrative Employees, Unit 2, could not be reached for comment.
Janhunen said ALPA’s Washington headquarters, along with local ALPA offices for pilots at Delta, Atlantic Southeast Airlines and numerous other carriers are affected. Union lawyers and other professionals are working from other locations on “core” issues such as Delta’s bankruptcy proceedings, he said.
ALPA’s clerical workers rejected a three-year deal with “modest” pay raises but higher health care costs, according to Janhunen. The 62,000-member ALPA has had to tighten its belt after its dues declined about 20 percent during the industry’s hard times in recent years, he noted, adding that ALPA can’t afford to budge much from the rejected pact.via ajc.com.

ALPA Website

As many of us noticed, the threat of the strike by the pilots cost the airline millions of dollars per week. The end result of all this posturing, more damage to the airline and not much difference to the long term future.

Delta, which filed for bankruptcy protection in September, previously agreed to $1 billion in annual concessions, including a 32.5% wage cut, in a five-year deal in 2004. It then sought an additional $325 million in cuts from its nearly 6,000 pilots, who threatened to strike as an April 15 deadline for an agreement approached.
“Even the threat of a pilot strike was costing Delta millions of dollars per week in lost sales, as concerned passengers and shippers booked flights on other airlines,” Delta said in its filing, adding to its argument that the court should accept the pilot agreement. via USATODAY.com

As Delta Air Lines prepares to exit bankruptcy they are working hard to change the focus of the airline to more of an international carrier. They are looking to increase international revenue to 35 percent from the present 20 percent, and they are hoping that successful growth in the Caribbean will help them achieve these goals.

In the last three months, Delta has begun more nonstop services, including flights to San Pedro Sula and Roatan, Honduras from Atlanta. Among other new routes are Atlanta to Santo Domingo and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and new service to Antigua and Barbados. New flights to the Puerto Rican cities of Aguadilla and Ponce, and Kingston, Jamaica are also planned for June, said James Sarvis, director of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Delta’s goal is to increase international revenue from 20 percent of revenue to 35 percent by September, and to rank second in Latin America — excluding Mexico — and the Caribbean by the end of this year, Whitehurst said.
At the same time, Delta has cut domestic capacity by 15 percent and converted wide-body aircraft for international use, mostly to Europe, where it also aggressively expanding its service. It expects to be the world’s largest carrier between the United States and Europe this summer.
The moves come as Delta cuts 7,000 to 9,000 jobs and trims costs in an effort to emerge from bankruptcy next year as a much leaner, lower-cost carrier.
At the same time, it is trying to change from a ”frankly stodgy” culture to ”innovative and stylish,” Whitehurst said.
As it pushes into Latin America, the airline is adding Spanish language check-in kiosks, making Spanish announcements on flights and ensuring that every flight to Latin America has Spanish speakers aboard, Whitehurst said.

MiamiHerald.com .

The airline industry reported that it filled up more than 80 percent of available seats in April, 2006. Yet the airline industry continues to lose money hand over fist.  That is what happens when you sell a 10 dollar steak for 5 dollars.

The competition in the airline industry on price is killing it. Until the airlines figure out this lesson that competition does not mean destruction the industry will continue to be in turmoil.

And the early results from April, which indicate that more than 80% of U.S. airlines’ seats were filled with paying passengers, portend a record-setting — and uncomfortably crowded — summer travel season ahead.

Seven airlines that have reported for April all show fuller planes. No. 4 Northwest ran fullest: 84.9%. No. 1 American filled 81.7% of its seats. And No. 5 Continental filled 82.9%. No. 3 Delta, despite a public battle with pilots over cost cuts that included threats of a strike or shutdown in mid-April, filled 77.6% of its seats. Even discounters Southwest and AirTran, which normally record load factors lower than the big network carriers, came close to filling 80% of their April seats.

For all of 2005, the domestic airline industry filled 77.6% of its seats, according to the Air Transport Association. The April numbers are good news for an industry that has lost more than $40 billion over the last five years. Better yet for the industry, travelers have been paying on average about 13% more for their tickets than last summer. via USATODAY.com

Today is the introduction of the new uniform for Delta Front Line employees. The flight attendants, gate agents, ticket agents, and Crown Room employees are all sporting the new uniforms.

Talking with many of these employees, the new uniforms are being warmly received after the blue themed uniforms they have been wearing the last few years. The previous uniforms were fairly non descript while the new Delta uniforms have a fashion forward focus that is much more glamorous.  For a work force that has gone through the bankruptcy and fear of strikes the new uniforms are a positive addition.

The stylish new uniforms feature splashes of gold and platinum along with the airline’s trademark navy blue and red.
Delta commissioned Tyler in 2004 to give its current uniforms a fashion overhaul. The struggling carrier views the uniforms as a way to boost morale among employees and customers after it filed for bankruptcy protection in September and has imposed pay cuts on most employees.
Company officials would not disclose the price tag for Tyler’s makeover, but research and development for new uniforms typically breaks down to about $1,000 per employee.
The outfits were designed for employees who deal directly with customers, including flight attendants< gate agents, ticket agents and workers in its Crown Room Club airport lounges.
“Richard’s collection is truly runway-ready,” said Joanne Smith, Delta’s marketing vice president. “We hope our customers will enjoy our new look just as much as we do.”  via USATODAY.com

Delta Airlines having come to an tentative accord with its Pilots union now is continuing its re-alignment of flights by increasing those coming out of the New York Metropolitan region. Delta is using this period under bankruptcy to redefine the airline into more of a longer haul and potentially higher margin carrier while reducing costs to the level of the low cost airlines.

On June 10, Delta plans to launch Saturday-only nonstop flights from close-in LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to Las Vegas (LAS) and Los Angeles International (LAX). A Boeing 757, Flight 1663, will leave LaGuardia at 9:00am on Saturdays and get to the gate at Las Vegas McCarran International at 11:30am. The return flight, DL 1662, departs Las Vegas at 12:30pm and gets back to New York LaGuardia at 8:20 pm.
The LaGuardia to Los Angeles flight, DL 1643, departs New York at 8:45am and arrives at Los Angeles at 11:40am, just in time for lunch. It too is a narrowbody 757. The return circuit is DL 1644, which pushes back from the gate at Los Angeles at 12:35pm, and arrives at New York LaGuardia at 9:05pm.
Out on Long Island, at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Delta’s prime East Coast international launchpad, Delta Connection plans to operate two daily nonstops to Burlington, Vermont (BTV) from July 5. Canadair Regional Jets will make the trip.
When all of Delta’s new activity out of New York is totaled up, the carrier will offer travelers more than 260 peak daily flights from LaGuardia and JFK to some 81 destinations. Via Cheap Flights.

Delta management and it’s pilots union ALPA have reached a last minute tentative agreement to avoid a company ending strike just hours ago. The details of the agreement have not been announced and the 5,930 pilots will have to affirm it.

The deal reached by negotiators will first be presented to the union’s Master Executive Council next week, according to a memo to pilots from Lee Moak, chairman of the council. If the council approves the deal it would be sent out for a ratification vote, which typically takes several weeks.
“We will not hurry,” said Moak. “We will proceed in an unrushed, methodical manner.”
Delta confirmed that negotiators reached a deal but, like the union, didn’t disclose details of the agreement that had been hammered out during a marathon series of meetings in Washington and New York.
“We are going to respect the [union leadership’s] review process,” Delta financial chief Ed Bastian said in a written statement. “We have worked hard together as a team to forge an agreement that is good for Delta and all of its constituents.”
Delta, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in September, said the agreement is also subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. via ajc.com.

A Delta Flight from Las Vegas to New York had a hex placed on it by a 50 year old passenger, Svetlana Yankovsky, who then slapped a flight attendant as she took away her bottle of wine. Yankovsky then proceeded to place a hex on  all of the passengers and plane saying the plane would crash and every one on the flight would have their children and grandchildren die early Tuesday.

 The flight deviated to Denver and Yankovsky was taken into custody. 

One flight attendant told an FBI agent that Yankovsky was drinking from a bottle of wine while the plane was taxiing at the Las Vegas airport, according to court documents. After the flight attendant took away the bottle, Yankovsky allegedly demanded her “red water” back and began singing, chanting and touching other passengers.

The plane still was climbing after takeoff when two passengers asked flight attendants to “do something” about Yankovsky, court documents said.
But when flight attendants tried to calm Yankovsky down, she allegedly told them, “Not good, plane crash, all die.” “Yankovsky continued her erratic behavior by ‘hexing’ the aircraft, the crew, and the other passengers,” an FBI agent’s affidavit said. “Yankovsky was singing and chanting in the aircraft and saying that everyone was going to die, their children would die, and their grandchildren would die.”

It said the plane’s four flight attendants gathered in the rear of the plane to discuss how to handle Yankovsky, and considered using the restraints that were on board and asking other passengers to help them subdue the woman. They got out the restraints, but were afraid to use them, the affidavit said.

When flight attendant Sandra McKibben approached Yankovsky and tried to quiet her, Yankovsky slapped her in the face, it said. “Yankovsky continued her erratic behavior throughout the rest of the flight until removed by Denver police officers,” the affidavit said. via the  Rocky Mountain News