US Airways and Caribbean Star Airlines Form Dividend Miles Partnership > > > US Airways announced today that Dividend Miles members can now earn and redeem miles on flights > operated by Caribbean Star Airlines, a member of the GoCaribbean network, effective immediately. > > Dividend Miles members traveling on Caribbean Star now can earn actual miles or a minimum of 500 > miles, whichever is greater. Caribbean Star serves thirteen destinations in the Caribbean, > including new Dividend Miles destinations of Anguilla, Dominica, Guyana, St. Vincent, Tobago, > Tortola and Trinidad. Caribbean Star also serves Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, St. Kitts, St. > Lucia and St. Maarten. > > > > Commercial airline repairs questioned > > The Federal Aviation Administration does not adequately oversee the growing number of outside > contractors repairing commercial airplanes, the Transportation Department's inspector general > said Thursday. > > At 18 of 21 facilities checked by government investigators, contract mechanics used incorrect > aircraft parts and improperly calibrated tools and had outdated manuals. "The vulnerabilities > all relate to a lack of effective FAA oversight that needs to be improved," the report said. > > FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said the agency agrees with the findings. However, she stressed > the report does not say passengers are in any danger. "There's no data to support a safety > issue," she said. > > Air Midwest, operating as US Airways Express, used an outside contractor to maintain the > commuter plane that crashed on takeoff at North Carolina's Charlotte-Douglas International > Airport in January, killing all 21 aboard. > > > > Pilots union removes leader > > US Airways' unionized Pittsburgh pilots have voted 319-150 to remove pilot Tim Baker as local > union leader and representative to the Air Line Pilots Association's master executive council. > > > Many pilots were angry that Baker was one of nine executive council members who in March > approved an agreement with US Airways to terminate the pilots' pension plan and replace it with > a defined contribution plan, similar to a 401(k). The move could slash some pilots' retirement > benefits by a third, on top of $565 million in annual wage-and-benefit concessions they already > have granted. > > What particularly enraged some members of the local -- Pittsburgh Council 94 -- was that they > thought they had a promise from Baker that the rank in file would be permitted to vote on > whether to terminate the pension plan. Though there had been precedent for that, it did not > happen because of a vote of the Master Executive Council, the governing board of the union. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com