The article below from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight ------------\ SIDEWAYS IS THE BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR! Critics in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston agree... SIDEWAYS is the BEST PICTURE of the year. The award-winning film from Alexander Payne has also earned 7 GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Screenplay. SIDEWAYS stars Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen. SIDEWAYS is now playing in select theaters. Watch the trailer at: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/sideways/index_nyt.html \----------------------------------------------------------/ Postal Service Links Delivery Delays to Airlines December 29, 2004 By ERIC DASH For thousands of airline passengers, it took days for their bags to be delivered after a shortage of baggage handlers at US Airways, a computer problem at Comair and snowstorms disrupted holiday travel. Now, the Postal Service says the same problems delayed the delivery of thousands of letters and packages. More than 100,000 pounds of mail, enough to fill at least 22 of its delivery vans, was delayed over the weekend, the post office said yesterday, and it pointed to the airlines as a reason for the holdup. Much of the mail involved, the post office said, was part of its priority service, in which customers pay an additional fee for delivery in two to three days; the delivery, however, is not guaranteed. The post office said the fact that it had a large backlog and that it was concentrated in Cincinnati and Atlanta, which are hubs for Delta Air Lines and its Comair unit, might suggest that the air carriers contributed to the delay. A spokesman for the Postal Service, Gerald McKiernan, said the post office was starting an investigation to determine what role, if any, the airline delays played in the late mail delivery. Delta and Comair disputed any notion that their disruptions caused delays in mail delivery. Mr. McKiernan said: "We have had our share of problems, principally with US Airways, Comair and Delta. We are very disturbed by it - especially at the holiday time when you really don't want to disappoint people. "I am not going to suggest that one incident is going to change our relationship, but it is always under review and we have to maintain good standards." The postal problems came to light after the federal government announced on Monday that it would investigate the disruption of air travel over the weekend that left thousands of passengers stranded or scrambling to make other plans. The secretary of transportation, Norman Y. Mineta, asked his agency for an expedited review as part of a larger examination of customer service practices. An agency spokesman said it was too early to say if the agency would look at mail-related problems. A Comair spokesman, Nick Miller, cited bad weather as a cause of the problems and not the airline's computer malfunction. "I am not aware of any specific disruptions related to the situation we had," he said. A Delta spokeswoman, Benet Wilson, said that the post office approached Delta on Friday night, before any Comair flights were canceled, and said that it would not put mail on flights out of Cincinnati during the snowstorms. She said she was not aware of problems in Atlanta. Amy Kudwa, a US Airways spokeswoman, acknowledged that there were "disruptions to its mail service, though no more than any other carrier." Ms. Kudwa said that once US Airways became aware of the baggage problems in Philadelphia, it worked with the postal service to reroute mail. Mr. McKiernan said that customers should receive their mail today, but that no refunds would be given, because delivery was not guaranteed. FedEx and United Parcel Service also reported a backlog because of weather-related delays at their main hubs in the Midwest. About 20 percent of the domestic mail is delivered by commercial carriers. While the bulk of it is taken by private cargo planes, which generally carry larger packages and items the postal service marks for its Express "guaranteed" delivery, consumer airlines, like US Airways and Delta, bid for contracts to carry letters and smaller parcels alongside their passengers' bags. The fees they receive are typically a small fraction of total revenues, but airline industry experts say that it is still cash for carriers struggling to survive. US Airways, for example, received about $2.4 million for transporting about 15.2 million pounds of mail in the fourth quarter of 2003, according to data supplied by Back Aviation, an airline consultancy based in New Haven. But analysts said the mail problems could be one more headache for airlines. "It's one more customer that may be upset with these carriers," said Robert W. Mann Jr., an airline consultant in Port Washington, N.Y. "Of course, it is one very big customer: that is to say, the U.S. government." US Airways and Comair both said yesterday that they were working to resume normal operations. Comair, a regional carrier owned by Delta, said that it would resume a regular schedule of 1,160 flights today. The airline's computerized flight-crew assignment system crashed on Friday, grounding about 2,900 flights over the last four days. US Airways said that staffing levels had returned to normal and that it expected no cancellations. More than 350 flights were halted over the weekend when a large number of baggage handlers in Philadelphia and flight attendants elsewhere called in sick. Union officials said there was no organized effort by workers, but the disruptions caused more than 10,000 bags to be mishandled. US Airways said that almost all of its passengers would have their luggage soon after the last of 21 planes and trucks took luggage to hubs in Charlotte, N.C., and Pittsburgh for sorting yesterday. Still, the dispute between US Airways and its workers continues as the airline attempts to emerge from bankruptcy protection for the second time in three years. US Airways says that the "irresponsible actions of a few" caused an "operational meltdown" last weekend; its flight attendants and baggage handlers say the company's failure to anticipate the sick-out was the latest in a series of management blunders. "This is something that we foresaw months ago and brought to the attention of management, and they failed to act on it," said Joseph Tiberi, a spokesman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents 8,200 baggage handlers and mechanics at US Airways. There was also an indication yesterday that some union officials were upset with their members. The president of the flight attendants' union at US Airways, Perry Hayes, said in a note posted on the union's Web site that the staff shortages that triggered the cancellation last weekend threatened the company's future. "Sadly, the employees who took this action may ultimately cause the failure of the airline," Mr. Hayes's note said. Mr. Tiberi declined to make any assessment of the eventual result. "I can't tell you what effect it may have down the road," he said. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/29/business/29air.html?ex=1105338129&ei=1&en=21244206cea69fad --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! 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