AUTHORITY GRANTED: US Airways announced today that it has received government approval to begin seasonal service between Ft. Lauderdale and Bermuda. The service will begin on June 14 and the airline will use the Airbus A319. The service will continue through August 30, 2003. NEWS FROM THE NTSB: The NTSB released their 9th update on its investigation into the crash of American Airlines flight 587, an Airbus A300-600 in Bell Harbor, New York on November 12, 2001. The brief report can be found at: http://www.ntsb.gov/Pressrel/2003/030319.htm NEWS FROM THE DOT: The Department of Transportation has assessed a civil penalty of $550,000. against US Airways for violating federal regulations requiring wheelchair service for passengers with disabilities. The DOT's settlement order will allow US Airways to use $400,000 of the penalty to improve its service for disabled passengers (whatever the heck that means) and the balance, $150,000 will be treated as an unsecured claim. Also, the DOT has given final approval to the proposed alliance between Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines. In a statement, the three airlines said, "While Continental, Delta and Northwest will continue to operate independently and compete vigorously with each other for customers, the alliance will enable each carrier to access a greater number of customers and, in this weak economic environment, will preserve service to small communities and those communities' access to broad route networks." IN A SEAT BACK POCKET NEAR YOU: The April issue of US Airways' in-flight magazine, Attaché, is also available online at: www.attachemag.com NOT YOUR COMMON COLD: Man, this SARS dilemma is something else, isn't it? SCARS is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and I've got two websites for you to do some homework: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/ http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/ AIR TRAVEL CONSUMER REPORT: The Department of Transportation has recently released their ATCR reflecting statistics for the month of February, 2003. The DOT has also added several airlines to the list, which now totals 17. I originally thought about keeping the list as it had been for my readers because, quite simply, nobody really cares about the on-time percentage for Skywest Airlines or Express Jet, whoever they are. However, I'll reserve judgment and see how my readers feel about the list. Meanwhile, for this newsletter, I'll report the entire list, as it is reported in the DOT's ATCR. ON-TIME for FEBRUARY 2003: 1- Skywest Airlines ..... 85.4% 2- United Airlines ..... 84.3 3- Southwest Airlines ..... 80.1 4- American Airlines ..... 79.6 5- Alaska Airlines ..... 78.0 6- Northwest Airlines ..... 78.0 7- Continental Airlines ..... 77.8 8- Delta Air Lines ..... 77.3 9- AirTran Airways ..... 73.0 10- ExpressJet Airlines ..... 72.7 11- America West Airlines ..... 72.2 12- American Eagle Airlines ..... 71.6 13- JetBlue Airways ..... 71.5 14- US Airways .....71.4 15- ATA Airlines ..... 70.1 16- Atlantic Southeast Airlines ..... 69.3 17- Atlantic Coast Airlines ..... 56.9 (I'd keep that number under my hat) US AIRWAYS ON-TIME PERCENTAGE FOR THEIR HUBS: 1- PIT ..... 79.2% 2- CLT ..... 74.4 3- PHL ..... 69.5 OVERALL NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS BY CARRIER: (worst to best) 17- Atlantic Coast cancelled 2,447 flights, representing 10.6% of their operations. 16- American Eagle cancelled 2,500 flights, representing 7.6% of their operations. 15- US Airways cancelled 1,940 flights, representing 6.0% of their operations. 14- Atlantic Southeast cancelled 1,106 flights, representing 5.1% of their operations. 13- ExpressJet cancelled 1,074 flights, representing 4.6% of their operations. 12- American cancelled 2,529 flights, representing 4.3% of their operations. 11- AirTran cancelled 430 flights, representing 4.0% of their operations. 10- Alaska cancelled 421 flights, representing 3.7% of their operations. 9- JetBlue cancelled 174 flights, representing 3.6% of their operations. 8- ATA cancelled 171 flights, representing 3.5% of their operations. 7- Delta cancelled 1,731 flights, representing 3.3% of their operations. 6- Continental cancelled 727 flights, representing 3.1% of their operations. 5- Northwest cancelled 1,193 flights, representing 3.0% of their operations. 4- America West cancelled 382 flights, representing 2.6% of their operations. 3- Southwest cancelled 1,676 flights, representing 2.3% of their operations. 2- United cancelled 934 flights, representing 2.2% of their operations. 1- Skywest cancelled 541 flights, representing 1.6% of their operations. MISHANDLED BAGGAGE REPORTS: (best to worst, per 1,000 passengers) 1- Alaska Airlines ..... 2.01 2- Continental Airlines ..... 3.38 3- AirTran Airways ..... 3.52 4- Southwest Airlines ..... 3.73 5- JetBlue Airways ..... 3.89 6- US Airways ..... 4.09 7- Northwest Airlines ..... 4.19 8- America West Airlines ..... 4.31 9- Delta Air Lines ..... 4.56 10- United Airlines ..... 4.80 11- ExpressJet Airlines ..... 4.82 12- American Airlines ..... 4.99 13- ATA Airlines ..... 5.04 14- Skywest Airlines ..... 9.43 15- Atlantic Coast Airlines ..... 11.17 16- American Eagle Airlines ..... 14.21 17- Atlantic Southeast Airlines ..... 18.34 CONSUMER COMPLAINTS: (best to worst - per 100,000 enplanements) 1- ExpressJet Airlines ..... 0.00 2- JetBlue Airways ..... 0.00 3- Atlantic Coast Airlines ..... 0.17 4- Southwest Airlines ..... 0.21 5- Skywest Airlines ..... 0.24 6- American Eagle Airlines ..... 0.62 7- United Airlines ..... 0.64 8- American Airlines ..... 0.72 9- Atlantic Southeast Airlines ..... 0.76 10- Alaska Airlines ..... 0.78 11- AirTran Airways ..... 0.79 12- US Airways ..... 0.84 13- Delta Air Lines ..... 0.86 14- ATA Airlines ..... 0.88 15- Continental Airlines ..... 0.99 16- Northwest Airlines ..... 1.10 17- America West Airlines ..... 1.25 SERVING TIME: The Massachusetts man who slapped a US Airways flight attendant last year has been sentenced to a year in prison by a federal Judge. William W. Thrasher, 27, an engineer from Boston, pleaded guilty to a federal charge of interfering with a flight attendant and was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay restitution totaling $19,413 to cover the medical costs incurred by the flight attendant he hit. The Judge could have sentenced Mr. Thrasher to 27 months in prison but decided not to since Mr. Thrasher has been participating in an alcohol-treatment program. NOT TOO HAPPY: The executives over in Allegheny County (PA), that oversee the Pittsburgh International Airport, are not too pleased with Dave Siegel and Company. Read the article by clicking on: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03091/170541.stm THE US AIRWAYS FLEET: Airbus A330 -- 9 owned, 0 leased Boeing 767 -- 7 owned, 4 leased Boeing 757 -- 21 owned, 11 leased Airbus A321 -- 20 owned, 8 leased Airbus A320 -- 11 owned, 13 leased Boeing 737-400 -- 18 owned, 25 leased Boeing 737-300 -- 11 owned, 56 leased Airbus A319 -- 22 owned, 44 leased Average age of all aircraft is 8.9 years owned 119 leased 161 total: 280 aircraft This month, if they haven't already done so, US Airways is returning (1) Boeing 767, (1) Boeing 757 and (1) Boeing 737-400 and will add (2) Boeing 737-400s to maintain a minimum fleet count of 279. (we'll see how long that 279 count lasts). DID YOU KNOW? ... that US Airways has officially cancelled their previous common stock and the details are now being hammered out regarding the issuance of the new stock. The last time that US Airways paid dividends on its common stock was in 1990. Source: US Airways 10-K annual report. DILEMMA: It seems that the Association of Flight Attendants is confused about the new sick policy that the company will be implementing by recently stating, "It is baffling to AFA that the company is planning to implement something which we do not believe they actually understand themselves. AFA will file an MEC grievance on this issue and it will have to be resolved in arbitration." Let me tell you what is really "baffling" here: it is baffling that thousands of flight attendants at US Airways are continuing to pay monthly union dues to a union that is absolutely powerless. AFA leaders talk tough but they're really like dogs with no teeth ... nobody's afraid of the bite. At some point, I suspect that my fellow US Airways flight attendants will realize that they'd be better off not being represented by this union, like the Delta flight attendants, and realize that AFA has been neutered ... or spayed, depending on your point of view by Dr. Siegel, DVM. At least one AFA representative, the resident idiot in Pittsburgh, spends most of her time in chat rooms on an aviation website that is rampant with rumors and innuendo, according to a company source. It's time for a change and certainly time to decertify AFA. If the company is going to get what they have to get, one way or another, and the union is powerless to stop them, what good is the union? STRESS BUSTER: Spring is upon us and here's a little stress buster for you: http://www.fhmus.com/images/reporter/slacker/miniputt.swf --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - File online, calculators, forms, and more