More Things Your Flight Attendant Won’t Tell You
Flight attendants reveal their pet peeves and share travel etiquette tips.
By Michelle Crouch
1. Do not poke or grab me. I mean it. No one likes to be poked, but it’s even worse on the plane because you’re sitting down and we’re not, so it’s usually in a very personal area. You would never grab a waitress if you wanted ketchup or a fork, would you?
2. We’re not just being lazy. Our rules really say we aren’t allowed to lift your luggage into the overhead bin for you, though we can “assist.”
3. Is it that difficult to say hello and goodbye? We say it 300 times on every flight, and only about 40 people respond.
4. I don’t care if you want to be in the mile-high club, keep your clothes on. Who decided the mile-high club was something that everyone wants to do anyway? It’s cramped and dirty in those bathrooms.
5. If you hear us paging for a doctor or see us running around with oxygen, defibrillators and first aid kits, that’s not the right time to ask for a blanket or a Diet Coke.
6. The only place you are allowed to pee on the airplane is in the lavatory. Period.
7. Don’t ask us if it’s okay to use the lavatories on the ground. The answer is always yes. Do you think what goes into the toilet just dumps out onto the tarmac?
8. You really expect me to take your soggy Kleenex? Or your kid’s fully loaded diaper? I’ll be right back with gloves.
9. Sure, I don’t mind waiting while you scour the seatback pocket and the floor for candy wrappers and other garbage, then place them in my bag one by one. I only have 150 other passengers to serve.
10. I’m sorry it’s taking forever to get you a wheelchair, but that’s one thing you can’t blame the airline for. The wheelchair service is subcontracted to the cities we fly into, and it’s obviously not a top priority for many of them.
What Your Flight Attendant Won’t Tell You
By Michelle Crouch
1. Want to start off on the wrong foot with me?
Put your carry-on in a full overhead bin, leave it sticking out six inches, then take your seat at the window and wait for someone else (me!) to come along and solve the physics problem you just created.
2. Yes, passengers are incredibly rude...
but stealing a beer, cursing out passengers, and jumping out of a plane is not the way to handle it. You disarm an unruly passenger by introducing yourself, asking his name, and saying something like ‘I’ve been incredibly nice to you for three hours. Why are you treating me like this?’ Generally that gets the other passengers on your side—and sometimes they’ll even applaud.
3. We don't have a boyfriend in every city.
And our median age these days is 44.
4. An all-too-common scenario?
I hand you a cup of coffee and say, ‘Cream and sugar?’ You say, ‘What?’ I say, ‘Cream and sugar?’ You say, ‘What?’ Come on, people. What do you think we’re going to ask after we’ve handed you coffee? Your favorite color?
5. If you’re traveling with a small child and you keep hearing bells, bells, and more bells,
please look to see if it’s your child playing with the flight attendant call bell.
6. The lavatory door is not rocket science.
Just push.
7. If you have a baby, bring diapers.
If you’re diabetic, bring syringes. If you have high blood pressure, don’t forget your medication. That way, I’m not trying to make a diaper out of a sanitary pad and a pillowcase or asking over the intercom if someone has a spare inhaler.
8. Just in case you hadn’t noticed, there are other people on the airplane besides you.
So don’t clip your toenails, snore with wild abandon, or do any type of personal business under a blanket!
9. If you’re traveling overseas, do yourself a favor and bring a pen.
You would not believe how many people travel without one, and you need one to fill out the immigration forms. I carry some, but I can’t carry 200.
10. Passengers are always coming up to me and tattling on each other.
‘Can you tell him to put his seat up?’ ‘She won’t share the armrest.’ What am I, a preschool teacher?
11. I hate working flights to destinations like Vail and West Palm Beach.
The passengers all think they’re in first class even if they’re not. They don’t do what we ask. And the overhead bins are full of their mink coats.
12. Do you really have to go to the bathroom right now, while we’re wrestling a 250-pound food cart down the aisle?
You can’t wait 90 seconds for us to pass?
13. Is it that difficult to say hello and goodbye?
We say it 300 times on every flight, and only about 40 people respond
How NOT to Act When Flying
Published: Friday, 25 May 2012
1:11 PM ET By: Darren Booth
It seems like every week there's a news story about an airliner being diverted. Or someone being booted off a flight, due to questionable passenger behavior.
This week's examples include a US Airways [LCC 12.22 0.06 (+0.49%) ] jet that was diverted to Bangor, Maine because a passenger claimed she had a surgically implanted device. She handed a flight attendant a note, written in French, seeking help and stated that she had an object in her body that was out of her control, according to reports.
The other example was a woman being told she couldn't fly due to her "offensive attire." The T-shirt she was wearing read, "If I wanted the government in my womb, I’d f--- a senator." The expletive was fully spelled out and pro-choice, political sentiment aside, American Airlines denied her boarding. American's contract of carriage allowed them to refuse transport of the passenger since she was, “clothed in a manner that would cause discomfort or offense to other passengers.”
A little common sense goes a long way. But it seems many people need a reminder of how NOT to act on a plane. Here are a few tips.
Do NOT get drunk. This type of passenger makes the news most often, it seems, as it's the easiest way to make a fool of yourself. While having a cocktail before your flight may relax you, remember you're about board a flight and have a hundred or so other people around you. Flying should not be considered a party scene.
Do NOT curse at flight attendants. Being belligerent will get you no where and often can get you a one-way ticket off the airplane. I boarded a flight once where a passenger told the flight attendant to "F- off" when being asked to change seats. The captain decided the passenger wasn't fit to fly and booted her off the flight.
Do NOT allow your kids to act out. Traveling with children can be stressful for parents, but it's important to ensure their actions aren't causing discomfort to fellow passengers. Kicking seatbacks or climbing over seats should probably be restricted.
Do NOT attempt to get into the cockpit. As I type this there is breaking news a passenger aboard an American Airlines flight bound for Miami attempted to gain access to the flight deck. This is a sure fire way you'll find yourself in zip-tie handcuffs until authorities cart you away after landing.
Do NOT wear offensive clothing. I'm all for free speech, but there's a time and place for making a statement. Save it for a rally — airports and airplanes are not appropriate places to wear clothing with expletives written on them.
Do NOT mention the 'B-word'. No, I'm not talking about a female cow, but rather the b-o-m-b word. It has no place in conversation in this post-9/11 world.
Finally, if you're approached by authorities for any reason when flying, simply remain calm and answer their questions. I was stopped by two Federal Air Marshals last month for a totally harmless reason, but politely answered their questions and was on my way.
AMR bankruptcy: Analysts see US Airways merger as American's next step
By JOHN STANCAVAGE Tulsa World Business Editor
Published: 5/20/2012 2:38 AM
Last Modified: 5/21/2012 6:42 PM
American Airlines steadfastly resisted filing bankruptcy for a decade before finally succumbing last November. Is a merger the next inevitable step for the fiercely independent airline?
Several industry analysts think so, but leaders at parent AMR Corp. are sticking with a wait-and-see outlook.
Undoubtedly, financial officers at many airlines are running the numbers to see what a combination with their particular carrier would produce.
The possible merger partner that has received the most attention so far is US Airways, mainly because its CEO, Doug Parker, won't stop talking about American.
In a move that some observers call unprecedented, Parker already has cozied up to American's three major unions, offering a rough version of what a contract with his airline would look like. The terms are attractive enough that American's pilots, flight attendants and mechanics have said they'd support joining with US Airways.
"Doug Parker wants to conquer the world," said Bob Herbst, founder of AirlineFinancials.com. "Right now he wants American Airlines. All his comments in the press are because he wants everyone to know he's ready to make a deal."
Herbst, who was a commercial airline pilot for 35 years, said he guesses there's a 95 percent chance US Airways will merge with American.
Other combinations have been rumored, but Herbst discounts them.
"Due to the size of United and Delta, there is no way the (government) would approve either of those airlines becoming larger with American assets," he said.
American, meanwhile, was the nation's No. 1 airline until 2007. But declining fortunes and consolidation in the industry changed that.
"Fresh out of their own bankruptcies, Delta and Northwest Airlines merged in October 2008, creating the largest airline in the world," Herbst explained. "Not to be left behind, in September 2010, United and Continental Airlines merged to become the biggest."
Suddenly, American was the third-largest airline.
A merger with US Airways would put American back on top, the consultant said.
"Without merging, both American and US Airways will face major challenges moving forward as they attempt to compete against Delta Air Lines and the merged United/Continental Airlines," he said.
'Makes the most sense'
Sterne Agee analyst Jeffrey Kauffman said he thinks US Airways has a "reasonable chance" of merging with American.
Seth Kaplan of Aviation Weekly said American's stand-alone business plan appears workable, although its smaller size could pose some issues.
"Some of American's projections may be a little too rosy, but then you could say the same about US Airways' plan," Kaplan said.
Mergers are complex, the Aviation Weekly analyst said, and can take years to gel. Along the way, there can be a "cost creep," he said.
"A merger between American and US Airways would not be perfect," Kaplan said. "But the question really is: Would it be better for the two airlines to do it or not? And the answer is that it would be better do it."
US Airways seems not to be too worried that it will have to update contracts with its existing union members, who are among the worst compensated in the industry. AirlineFinancials.com calculates it will cost US Airways about $600 million to bring its labor up to parity with American's.
Other bidders may emerge, Kauffman said, but US Airways' chances of being the successful bidder are helped considerably by its tentative agreements with American's unions, he said.
"A deal with US Airways is what makes the most sense for creditors," another analyst, Hunter Keay of Wolfe Trahan & Co., told Bloomberg News.
"It's always struck me as odd that AMR was completely unwilling to listen to US Airways because the offer is probably compelling and US Airways is a motivated buyer."
'On our own terms'
AMR seems determined to complete its bankruptcy before discussing deals.
Kevin Cox, vice president of state and community affairs for American, said in a February interview with the Tulsa World that American wants to present a single business plan to the court and emerge as a "strong independent" carrier.
If a merger offer appeared at that time and was attractive, "we would be able to do it on our own terms," Cox said.
In recent weeks, AMR has softened its position slightly, saying that it would be willing to explore strategic options - including a merger - in response to requests from the unsecured creditors committee.
The committee would have a key role in the process. American currently has until late September to present its reorganization plan to the court. For any other proposal to be considered before then, a majority of the unsecured creditors would have to petition the judge, who would have to approve bringing the option forward for consideration.
Herbst said there's a big reason AMR's top leaders don't want to entertain a deal while still in bankruptcy.
"If AMR does the merger during bankruptcy, it means a monumentally smaller payout to executives," he said.
Herbst also contends a combination would be costlier in general after bankruptcy because the acquirer would have to deal with the stock that had been created, new debt and airplane leases.
American Airlines officials scoff at the idea that CEO Thomas Horton and his team are being driven by personal greed, and say Herbst's analysis is off base. The top leaders have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of creditors while in court and later must answer to shareholders, according to this argument.
Forecast for Tulsa workers
What would a merger with US Airways look like for Tulsa?
American employs about 7,000 in Tulsa, including 5,000 mechanics and related groups. The airline's estimate was 2,100 mechanics cut in Tulsa, plus several hundred other employees.
Officials decreased the number of mechanics targeted by about 1,000 in a "final, best offer" that was rejected last week by the Transport Workers Union.
US Airways, in contrast, projects it would cut 450 jobs at the local maintenance center and do what it could to protect pay.
Perhaps the key issue is the long-term outlook. Would US Airways stick with a system that keeps maintenance heavily in-house? Would Tulsa continue to be a key asset? And what would happen at the next contract negotiation, with no ticking clock on a deal or other incentive to "win over" the union?
Herbst said American Airlines employees must decide which vision of the future allows the airline to make the most revenue. The more profitable American is, the greater success unions should have in arguing for their share.
Many of American's union members still look back wistfully at their pay and benefits prior to a concessionary contract signed in 2003. But in those headier days, American was No. 1 in the industry, and just as important, controlled the high-profit business travel market.
"American could charge premium prices in those days," Herbst said.
The airline's passenger fare yield premium started to deteriorate in the first half of 2010, according to figures from AirlineFinancials.com.
A merger with US Airways might not only help American attract more business travel, but also the combo's sheer size would be formidable, the analyst said.
"Combining the revenues of American and US Airways would move the merged carriers to the top of the largest airline in the world list," Herbst said.
"History shows a long list of once-great airlines that failed. Each of those had one thing in common. They all failed to remain competitive. American and US Airways must merge to remain long-term competitive."
Advantages of an American Airlines-US Airways merger
Analysis by AirlineFinancials.com
$500 million to $700 million: Annual reduction in US Airways' core costs
$350 million to $450 million: Annual premium/business revenue increase.
10 percent to 20 percent: fuel expense reduction from newer jets currently on order for both airlines,
$1.8 billion to $2.5 billion: Total cost saving synergies within 12 months of merger.
Analysis by AirlineFinancials.com
Want to Sit With Your Family on an Airplane? That'll Be $25, Please
By Davis MacMillan May 24, 2012 12:58 PM 0 0
Back in February, we took note Florida-based carrier Spirit Airlines (SAVE), who saw themselves as a “poster child for extra fees.” CEO Ben Baldanza claimed to be proud of his company’s high fees and to view them as an issue of consumer choice.
Of course, lately, Spirit’s fees have gone from irritating to controversial.
First, the company refused to refund a dying veteran’s airfare, as they do not give refunds. After a week’s worth of protest, Baldanza agreed to pay for the man’s ticket himself, and gave a $5000 donation to the Wounded Warriors charity.
In another strong PR move, the company announced the prospect of $200 fees round-trip for a single carry-on bag.
However, far from distancing themselves from Spirit’s fee-obsessed business model, many air carriers are imitating it. Right now, travelers without frequent flyer status could be asked to pay as much as $25 to avoid getting a middle seat.
According to The Week, passengers on American Airlines (AMR), Delta (DAL), Frontier (FRNT), and US Airways (LCC) can all pay extra to guarantee a window or aisle seat. Spirit passengers pay between $5 and $15 for any seat assignment.
Customers can still get a window or aisle seat without paying in advance, but their chances are lower. This makes things especially difficult for families traveling together, who have to pay in advance to make sure they share a row.
Those looking to get a window or aisle seat without paying can wait until frequent fliers are bumped up to first class but they may wind up with nothing. The frequent fliers, by the way, have a vastly larger number of seats open to them when they purchase tickets. In general, airlines reserve a good number of seats for their regular customers.
Obviously, consumers are upset. The trouble is, there’s not a huge amount they can do as higher fees become the norm among airlines. On their end, airlines are looking to increase their bottom lines in the face of rising fuel costs and other expenses.
So what’s the solution? Drive. Or at least plan ahead.
American Airlines to explore merger options
By Soyoung Kim and Kyle Peterson
May 11 (Reuters) - AMR Corp, parent of American Airlines, bowed to pressure on Friday from its unsecured creditors, including its largest labor unions, and said it would explore merger options while it is still in bankruptcy.
AMR, which has been in Chapter 11 since November, had long said it intended to reorganize as a stand-alone carrier, shrugging off interest expressed by rival US Airways Group Inc .
The carrier, however, has faced mounting pressure from vocal members of its creditors committee who believe a better future for AMR can be secured by merging with US Airways.
In reversing its stance, AMR said it wanted to assure stakeholders that it would pursue the best possible outcome for the airline.
"To be clear, American has committed to work in collaboration with the (creditors) committee to develop only potential consolidation scenarios and this agreement does not in any way suggest that a transaction of any kind or with any particular party will be pursued," Beverly Goulet, AMR's chief restructuring officer, said in a statement.
US Airways has been courting AMR creditors, especially disgruntled labor unions that say an AMR/US Airways tie-up would create a stronger carrier and save more jobs than AMR's stand-alone plan.
"We look forward to engaging in the AMR process to demonstrate the significant advantages of our plan to maximize value for all constituents," US Airways said in a statement.
US Airways said in April that a merger with AMR would generate at least $1.2 billion a year in new value beyond the benefit that could be passed to employees of the combined carrier. AMR has said its stand-alone plan would generate $3 billion in new revenue and savings by 2017.
AMR's chief executive, Tom Horton, had said the airline was focused solely on its bankruptcy, calling those who would attempt to acquire the company in bankruptcy "opportunists." But he never ruled out taking a merger partner after bankruptcy.
Other potential suitors also have considered a deal with AMR, including Delta Air Lines and private equity firm TPG Capital, sources have told Reuters.
Robert Mann, an airline consultant and former AMR executive, said AMR's new openness to mergers could flush out more potential partners.
"I think it was already headed there anyway," he said. "It's a recognition of the inevitable that there would be some sort of transaction."
CREDITOR REVOLT
American's three labor unions, which are part of AMR's nine-member creditor committee, have said a merger with US Airways would create a stronger airline and save more jobs than AMR's stand-alone plan. US Airways has not made a bid for AMR, which has a court-granted right to reorganize without intrusion by outsiders. That right extends to September.
"The important point is that both the debtors and the committee are in alignment that it is incumbent on them to explore strategic alternatives on a collaborative basis as part of this chapter 11 case," Jack Butler, creditors committee counsel, said in a statement.
Unions representing pilots and flight attendants at American Airlines on Friday again denounced the company's stand-alone business plan, calling on the managers to explore merger options with rival US Airways.
The workers staged rallies in New York and Fort Worth, Texas, where AMR is based, to declare "no confidence" in the company's ability to produce a viable business plan.
The protests came as the two sides prepared to spar in court on Monday over AMR's request to void the labor contracts it has with the unions. The airline and its unions are on a two-week hiatus from their court battle over that request.
"US Airways management's plans for merging the two carriers call for preserving and enhancing the American Airlines brand, retaining our Fort Worth home and saving thousands of jobs that will be eliminated under AMR management's stand-alone plan," David Bates, president of the Allied Pilots Association (APA), said in a statement.
The airline, which has about 74,000 full-time and part-time workers, has said it must cut 13,000 union jobs.
The carrier won steep concessions from labor in 2003 as it dodged bankruptcy at the time. AMR had been locked in fruitless labor talks with unions for years before filing for bankruptcy.
The APA, which has been negotiating with management this week, has yet to reach a deal. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants also said it has had talks with management.
Meanwhile, the Transport Workers Union, which represents 26,000 ground workers, dispatchers and other groups, is voting on AMR contract proposals for its seven work groups.
The deals do not have the endorsement of union leaders, but if they are ratified, they would cut the number of TWU-represented jobs targeted for elimination to 6,400. That compares with 9,000 jobs AMR said it would cut if it voids the worker's current deal and imposes new terms.
Merger hangover continues to pain United
April 17, 2012: 11:46 AM ET
A battle is brewing in Houston between United Continental Holdings and Southwest Airlines. Consumers hoping to fly south of the border may end up the victors.
By Cyrus Sanati
FORTUNE -- United Continental Holdings is learning the hard way that it isn't wise to mess with Texas. The recently merged airline's decision to choose Chicago as its corporate headquarters over Continental's hometown of Houston appears to have resulted in a big loss of political capital with the city and its airport authority. The move could end up hitting United's bottom line hard as rival Southwest Airlines targets Houston to be its first international hub.
There are a lot of unintended consequences when it comes to merging two companies, especially two major international airlines. When Chicago-based United (UAL) announced its merger with Houston-based Continental at the end of 2010, the decision to move the newly combined airline's headquarters up to Chicago wasn't given much thought. United had struck what it had said was a sweetheart tax and rental deal with Chicago city officials a year earlier to keep the airline's headquarters in the Windy City in the event of a merger with a rival airline. Houston, apparently, never had a chance.
The loss of Houston as Continental's headquarters meant moving most of its major corporate functions to Chicago. Continental's then chief executive, Jeff Smisek, not even a year into the job, became the combined airline's chief executive. Smisek was quick to make the move out of Houston but the mood at Continental's headquarters in downtown Houston was somber, as much of the staff did not want to move to Chicago.
Continental has always enjoyed a very good relationship with the city of Houston. The airline's chief executives were tight with the city's mayors and the airline got basically whatever it wanted – both big and small. When the airline's logo on its downtown headquarters violated a city ordinance that banned corporate advertising on skyscrapers, Houston's city council quickly voted to change the law, allowing Continental's blue logo to fly high. The city let Continental build itself a whole new terminal at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport last decade and is contributing a third of the $1 billion needed to build out another terminal for the airline, which is currently under construction.
The strong relationship helped the airline flourish. Eventually, Continental controlled around 80% of the air traffic in and out of Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport, which is located on the north side of town. This total domination in air traffic gave Continental strong pricing power that has padded its bottom lines for years. Its only real competition in the city was with Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, but it operated out of Houston's smaller airport, Hobby, located 30 miles southeast of Intercontinental, and was limited to only short-haul domestic flights.
Perhaps most importantly, Continental dominated Houston's international market. The vast majority of these flights were jumps into Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and the Northern part of South America. Eventually, Continental controlled 97% of the short to medium-haul international air traffic out of Houston. Its position as the main feeder airline into the city's only international airport allowed it to have a virtual monopoly on all international air traffic going to and from the city.
Gordon Bethune, former CEO of Continental, recently said that while he was chief executive, he had a sort-of gentleman's agreement with the mayors of Houston that Intercontinental would be the city's only international gateway and that Hobby, which was the hub for Southwest Airlines, would only be a domestic airport. In return, Continental would continue to be a good corporate citizen and work to improve air traffic at the big airport.
But all that intangible political capital was trashed when the airline merged with United. The loss of the Continental name was bad enough for the city, but the loss of the headquarters was a big blow to its ego. While Houston is still United's largest hub with over 17,000 employees living and working in the city, the loss of the C-suite appears to have been an unforgivable sin.
Southwest Airlines (LUV) is hoping to cash in on United throwing away its golden goose. It has brazenly asked Houston's airport authority to pay nearly $100 million to upgrade Hobby to receive international flights. The upgrade would allow Southwest to use Hobby to launch truly competitive international air service to the same locations where Continental has held an almost near-monopoly in non-stop service for years. This would, invariably, force Continental to lower prices on competing routes or to even pull out of some them completely if Southwest is able to put enough pressure on its margins.
This possible Southwest expansion also has larger implications for the airline industry. Southwest inherited international air service to a few destinations south of the border and to the Caribbean when it acquired AirTran in 2010. It has just started to put plans in motion to expand international service - under the Airtran banner, for now - launching routes to Mexico from Orange County, CA and San Antonio, TX. But unlike those locations, Houston is a major hub for Southwest and is seen as a major gateway to Latin America. If Hobby does go international, Southwest will be able to fill its Latin America-bound planes with passengers from any of the 36 domestic destinations it already serves through Hobby.
United is understandably upset about Southwest's attempt to move in on its cash cow. Southwest could target 85% of United's international routes out of Houston if the city signs off on the expansion at Hobby. United says that a Southwest expansion could force it to lay off hundreds of workers and could force it to end its support for the $1 billion expansion at Intercontinental that is already underway. The airline would also discontinue plans to introduce air service to four new international destinations and would not add to additional frequencies in existing markets in Houston over the next three years, a United spokesperson told Fortune.
Southwest believes United is overreacting and says that competition would be good for Houston. It would only have five gates dedicated to international service at Hobby- with expansion up to nine if all goes well. United currently serves 54 destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean and South America, with 103 daily departures. With five gates, Southwest claims that it could offer just 25 international flights out of Hobby per day, a quarter of that of United.
But it could still do damage if those flights were targeted at Continental's biggest money makers, which it surely would. It its defense, Southwest has launched a website dedicated to its struggle to "free" Hobby Airport. The airline plays up its Texan roots and makes it a point to say that it is competing against "Chicago-based United-Continental Airlines," and not the beloved Houston-based Continental.
Last week, Houston's airport authority recommended that the city council approve the Southwest expansion, saying that it would add millions to the local economy and would create, not decrease, jobs in the Houston area. United has struck back saying that the Airport authority's study was flawed. The city council is expected to vote on the matter in May. It looks like, for now, that Southwest is going to get their wish. Meanwhile, United executives are left wondering how different things would have played out if they had just chose to stay in Texas.
Cracks in the Cover-Up
Helen Davey
Psychoanalyst and psychotherapist
Posted: 04/13/2012 11:29 am
The recent very public emotional meltdown of a JetBlue pilot -- just weeks after an American Airlines flight attendant broke down in front of passengers waiting for take-off -- has many people wondering about the psychological health of pilots and flight attendants. What is going on with the employees in our airline industry?
As a former Pan Am flight attendant for 20 years, and now a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst for 25 more, I've been writing at length to sound the alarm about the decline of the American airline industry. In particular, I've discussed the traumatic emotional consequences to employees due to the massive changes they've had to endure.
In addition to ensuring the safety of passengers, pilots and flight attendants understand that their major role is to create the illusion of the flight crew's emotional invincibility. In other words, they reinforce the denial of death. This is what I mean by the words "cover-up." On board every aircraft are passengers who wonder how in the world this huge machine can actually fly. Moreover, they depend upon the comfort of knowing they have a fearless and confident crew taking care of them. Not always an easy task for the flight crew.
Having been a flight attendant, I know how psychologically stressful that job can be. Even in the glory days of American aviation, when all employees got to share in the largesse of the industry's perks, the emotional demands of the work could be grueling. Maintaining an outward persona of friendliness, calm, and utter fearlessness for countless hours on end can be very difficult indeed.
Pilots have a particular problem in this arena, especially when it comes to seeking help. Due to antiquated 1940's FAA standards, it's very difficult, if not impossible, to get help for psychological distress. For example, given that statistics show that at least 10% of the population suffers depression at some time in their life -- and I think that number is vastly underestimated -- then what are pilots to do?
In 2010, four anti-depressants were approved by the FAA for pilot use, but he or she must be grounded for at least six months (usually a year), and subjected to constant re-evaluation for the rest of his or her career. I understand the flying public doesn't want to hear or think about this, but restrictive and sometimes punitive measures discourage pilots from seeking the help they need, even for "talk therapy." This creates an atmosphere of shame about needing emotional help, and is paralleled by the shame that so often accompanies combat-related trauma.
Despite the herculean efforts by EAP programs in unions and airlines to get proper help for vulnerable crew members before their behavior explodes into headlines, some people slip through the cracks. I personally would much rather put my life in the hands of a pilot who has received proper psychological treatment than one who suffers silently but has a "clean" record.
A salient factor that has been left out of media reports and pundit observations about the pilot and flight attendant incidents, is that what they have in common was that both employees began ranting about terrorism. In fact, the flight attendant screamed about having a friend killed in the 9/11 terrorist hijacking of an American Airlines plane, as well as about the recent bankruptcy of her company.
When you see airline crews walking across the terminal with their suitcase on wheels, just know that they are also carrying another kind of baggage. There is always the possibility of a hijacking, a bomb on the plane, or unruly and violent passengers on board. Most people who go about their daily lives and work don't have to be hyper-vigilant about terrorists. They have not had friends or colleagues murdered by political/religious extremists. They don't have to imagine ways in which they can protect their own lives and those who depend upon them in the air. Nor are they plagued by nightmares about getting stuck on another continent with no way to get home.
The "cover-up" of their vulnerability by pilots and flight attendants with a facade of emotional invincibility used to be all about the reality of occasional airline catastrophes, but it has now been extended to the nightmare of worldwide terrorism that is often aimed at airlines. Cracks in the "cover-up" are beginning to show.
There are many reasons for that, and one only has to look at the strained relationships between airline management and employees to understand what's happening. Not only are employees feeling attacked from the outside, but they are feeling equally attacked from the inside by their own companies as well. The executive hierarchy of airlines has changed dramatically, and we are long past the glory days of aviation when men like Juan Trippe led the way, and airline employees were all imbued with a passion for flying.
Long-promised wages, benefits, and pensions are being slashed, and flight attendants are increasingly on the front lines of an angry and disgruntled public with no tools to offer the public for passenger comfort. Mergers and takeovers and bankruptcies are forcing airline employees to adapt to a new and unfamiliar workforce in which many feel like the ugly, unwanted step-siblings in a blended family.
And on top of all these issues, there have always been expectable hardships for airline personnel that come with the job, requiring a stable, flexible person who is physically strong. Passengers take this for granted.
Working conditions have worsened to the point that along with emotional invincibility, physical invincibility is being demanded as well. Extremely long workdays, constant time changes, irregular schedules, and the feeling that their companies don't have their backs, are wearing down the employees to an extent I have not seen before. After all, no human being ever "gets used to" jet lag, exhaustion, sleepless nights, or the feeling of not being valued.
As I've mentioned in previous posts, similar things are happening to employees in other venerable old companies and industries in the past few years. In the wake of the recent economic turmoil, traditional emphasis on pride in one's company and loyalty to it is being replaced by concern only for profit. This has had a shattering impact on the emotional lives of many people.
And nowhere is this more apparent than in the current state of the airline industry. As long as it stays in denial about this massive undermining from within, we're going to see more cracks in the cover-up. Another airline employee succumbing to the pressure, captured on tape and broadcast tonight on your evening news!
Snake Crawls Over Pilot In Australian Cargo Plane While in the Air
(AP) CANBERRA, Australia - An Australian pilot said he was forced to make a harrowing landing reminiscent of a Hollywood thriller after a snake popped out from behind his dashboard and slithered across his leg during a solo cargo flight.
Braden Blennerhassett, unsure whether the snake was venomous, said Thursday that his heart raced as he tried to keep his hands still while maneuvering the plane back to the northern city of Darwin. The snake popped its head out from behind the instrument panel several times, Blennerhassett said, and then the ordeal worsened when the animal crawled across his leg during the approach to the airport.
"I've seen it on a movie once, but never in an airplane," Blennerhassett told Australian Broadcasting Corp., referring to the 2006 movie "Snakes on a Plane," in which deadly snakes are deliberately released in an airliner as part of a murder plot.
The 26-year-old Air Frontier pilot was alone in a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron G58 and had just left Darwin airport on a cargo run to a remote Outback Aboriginal settlement when he saw the snake on Tuesday.
Air Frontier director Geoff Hunt described Blennerhassett as a "cool character" who radioed air traffic control to report: "I'm going to have to return to Darwin. I've got a snake on board the plane."
But Blennerhassett admits he was shaken, telling Nine Network television that his blood pressure and heart rate were "a bit elevated."
"You're trying to be as still as you possibly can and when you've got your hands on the power levers," he told ABC. "You're kind of worried about the snake taking that as a threat and biting you."
"As the plane was landing, the snake was crawling down my leg, which was frightening," he told Nine.
Once the plane had landed, a firefighter spotted the snake but authorities were not immediately able to catch it, Air Frontier official Michael Ellen said. A trap baited with a mouse failed to catch the snake by Thursday, and the plane remained grounded.
Wildlife ranger Sally Heaton said the snake was suspected to be a golden tree snake, a non-venomous species that can grow up to 1.5 meters (5 feet).
Blennerhassett was back in the air Thursday and could not be immediately contacted for comment.
Hunt said he was not aware of a snake being found in a plane before in Australia, but that he had heard of a young chicken being found alive under the floor of a plane and of an escaped juvenile crocodile crawling under a pilot's rudder pedal.
JetBlue still upbeat, but not darling it once was
* Service defined by close connection with customers
* Higher costs, investor questions pose challenges
* Pilot incident adds to JetBlue headlines
* Travel system wound tight; surveillance cameras on planes
By John Crawley and Patricia Kranz
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, April 5 (Reuters) - JetBlue's emergency response team barely had time to locate the Incident Operations Center at their new headquarters in Long Island City, Queens when they were summoned there to handle an emergency on March 27, a day after they moved in.
JetBlue pilot Clayton Osbon was behaving erratically on Flight 191 from New York to Las Vegas, running through the cabin screaming about religion and terrorists. Passengers tackled him in the galley. The plane had to be diverted to Amarillo, Texas, where a co-pilot guided it to a safe landing.
As the airline's emergency response team gathered around a 24-seat conference table, the shades were lowered to darken the room. Soon, all eyes shifted to the main wall, where the company's Twitter feed was projected in large letters.
"That's how we got a lot of the early customer responses and their experiences," said JetBlue spokeswoman Jenny Dervin. "As customer stories started coming in, we knew it was far more than just a medical emergency."
Close connections with customers and a willingness to embrace popular technology is vintage JetBlue. It was the first airline to equip its entire fleet with seatback TV screens. Flight attendants pass out food during a delay; some even offer massages.
Into its second decade, however, JetBlue is not the darling it once was, with passengers or with Wall Street. Previously known for being inventive, contrarian and taking customer service to a new level, JetBlue has more recently made headlines for long delays that caused passengers to be stranded for hours.
While last week's pilot meltdown was viewed as a rare incident that could happen on any airline, it could chip away at JetBlue's reputation even though the carrier still maintains a relatively high level of customer service.
JetBlue loses few bags. Nor does it cancel many flights or oversell seats, government figures show. But its planes are older and require more work, competitors have shaped up, and the business is as tough as ever, with soaring fuel costs, higher fares, crowded markets and a weak economy.
"I think in many respects they've matured and part of the maturation process is when you're a ten-year-old company, you have ten-year-old company costs. You're not growing as rapidly as you used to," said Robert Mann, an industry consultant and former airline executive.
Jet Blue shares were trading at under $5 this week, far below their peak of about $30 in October 2003 after adjusting for stock splits.
JetBlue is well managed and financially healthy, experts say, with a market value of roughly $1.4 billion. The airline captures about 5 percent of the U.S. market by revenue through 750 daily flights to 70 cities on 172 Airbus and Embraer jets.
But JetBlue is now facing head winds that will further test its strategic vision, employee morale and its service culture.
For starters, JetBlue's big overseas shareholder, Lufthansa , floated notes last week that give investors the option of a cash payout or JetBlue stock in 2017. The $311 million offering signaled possible willingness by Lufthansa to cut its nearly 16 percent stake in its New York partner, depressing JetBlue's stock. JetBlue posted higher-than-expected profit of $23 million for the fourth quarter of 2011. But rivals who used to lose tens of millions of dollars each quarter have made money, too. JetBlue's stock trades at roughly 9.4 times projected 2012 earnings, while multiples for other major carriers range from 12.4 for Southwest Airlines, to 5.1 at United Continental to 3.9 for US Airways.
A leading airline analyst, Dahlman Rose & Co's Helane Becker, has a "sell" rating on shares of JetBlue, one of only two airlines with that recommendation from her. The other had been Pinnacle Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy on Monday.
Becker says JetBlue has a respectable balance sheet and good management, and she believes the company has potential to do better. Bu t for now, she is sticking with early first-quarter analysis that noted competitive pressures JetBlue faces from Delta Air Lines at New York's John F. Kennedy airport.
Becker also said maintenance requirements on JetBlue's aging fleet would likely affect earnings growth this year.
JetBlue said it is sticking to its growth strategy despite heightened competition. "I am respectful of healthy competition, but I also believe there are plenty of customers in this industry," said JetBlue's chief administrative officer, Jim Hnat. "If you do it right you can win customer loyalty based upon brand and experience."
UPSTART, SETBACKS
JetBlue was founded in 1998 by David Neeleman, a frenetic former executive of Southwest Airlines, which succeeded with a simple operating philosophy and low fares. At JetBlue, Neeleman stressed better travel through informality and customer service for its core leisure markets.
JetBlue was aggressively marketed, costs were kept low, and it grew fast - a new plane every 10 days from 2000 to 2005. Unions, a force in the airline business, were not part of the mix. Neeleman wanted a team-based culture.
JetBlue went public in April 2002 and won the affections of Wall Street, with the company's shares more than doubling in their first year and a half on the Nasdaq.
Planes were new, and routes were direct and not always contested. JetBlue made money while much of the industry collapsed into insolvency. Attempts by rivals to mimic it with spinoffs failed. JetBlue was a "giant slayer."
Then its operational shortcomings caught up with it.
A 2007 Valentine's Day ice storm in New York led to nearly 1,200 flight cancellations over several days and stranded passengers on planes with no food, water and overflowing toilets. A humbled Neeleman lost his job.
JetBlue was again in the news in August 2010 when a flight attendant, upset after an altercation with a passenger, bolted from a plane by deploying and sliding down an inflatable chute.
Then in October 2011, five JetBlue planes sat on a snowy tarmac in Hartford for hours, dredging up difficult memories for the company of Neeleman's downfall.
Explanations vary as to why JetBlue makes unwanted headlines - three times now in less than two years. Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue's chief people officer, said geography plays a role.
"The Northeast market is highly congested and highly competitive," she said. "And the concentration of our network is Northeast and South focused, so if you get something like a Hurricane Irene, that can have a pretty strong impact on our operations."
JetBlue's huge Twitter following also plays a role, Geraghty said. "If there's a hiccup, it gets played out in the media far more than other airlines'," she said.
CHALLENGE FOR WORKERS
Two of the events, including last week's emergency landing, involved the emotional health of workers during a stressful time for the airline industry.
"In the last year or two, passengers and crew members are acting as if they're under a lot of stress," Mann said. "There's nothing about JetBlue, but it suggests to me that the entire transportation system is just wound a little too tight."
JetBlue noted that it is the only airline that has video surveillance inside some of its planes (Airbus A320s). Cameras were installed primarily to keep tabs on passenger behavior (or misbehavior). But when Osbon left the cockpit last week, those cameras proved invaluable for another reason - the copilot was able to see the tumult in the cabin and galley on a video display without leaving the cockpit, and make the pivotal decision to lock the cockpit door.
The cabin surveillance system is a huge asset," said JetBlue Captain David Scott, who until recently was chairman of the airline's pilot values committee.
Hnat said JetBlue's growing pains were "natural" and helped it refocus. He characterizes its current state as a "growing-up phase" during which JetBlue will still seek to shake things up but not merge with another airline or change its culture.
Gary Chaison, a labor expert at Clark University, believes non-union employees at JetBlue must feel more pressure with profits shrinking, airline bankruptcies again making headlines, and more industry consolidation still possible.
"I think the workers are operating under some stress because they know the corporate culture says they are a joint partner in the company. They enjoy a special status, but I think they see it as not going to last forever," Chaison said.
JetBlue's Scott said pilots feel more secure after negotiating a new deal with management last November that built new safeguards into every pilot's contract with management.
"The biggest fear of a pilot is to be furloughed or let go," Scott said. "We're scared of a sale." One of the new provisions gives JetBlue pilots a voice in managing the seniority lists if the company is bought or merged. "It was a big deal," he said.
In the past, JetBlue grew just by adding new destinations. That's become tougher now. Former Continental Airlines Chief Executive Gordon Bethune said many attractive markets are already pretty full, and JetBlue's biggest rivals are in better shape and much tougher competitively than they were a decade ago.
Tere is no place to put an airplane where they don't have competition. It's harder to grow," he said.
Beyond Mile-High Grub: Can Airline Food Be Tasty?
Jim Wilson/The New York Times
The catering of a jet in Houston. To lure high-paying customers, airlines are upgrading meals in their upper-class cabins, despite many logistical challenges.
At low elevations, the 10,000 or so taste buds in the human mouth work pretty much as nature intended. With an assist from the nose — the sense of smell plays a big role in taste — the familiar quartet of sweet, bitter, sour and salty registers as usual. Tomato juice tastes like tomato juice, turkey Florentine like turkey Florentine.
But step aboard a modern airliner, and the sense of taste loses its bearings. This isn’t simply because much airline food is unappetizing, although that doesn’t help. No, the bigger issue is science — science that airlines now want to turn to their advantage as they vie for lucrative business- and first-class travelers.
Even before a plane takes off, the atmosphere inside the cabin dries out the nose. As the plane ascends, the change in air pressure numbs about a third of the taste buds. And as the plane reaches a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet, cabin humidity levels are kept low by design, to reduce the risk of fuselage corrosion. Soon, the nose no longer knows. Taste buds are M.I.A. Cotton mouth sets in.
All of which helps explain why, for instance, a lot of tomato juice is consumed on airliners: it tastes far less acidic up in the air than it does down on the ground. It also helps explain why airlines tend to salt and spice food heavily and serve wines that are full-bodied fruit bombs. Without all that extra kick, the food would taste bland. Above the Atlantic, even a decent light Chablis would taste like lemon juice.
“Subtlety is not well served at altitude,” says Andrea Robinson, a sommelier who has selected wines for Delta Air Lines since 2008.
The science of airline food, which Delta, Lufthansa and other airlines have studied assiduously for years, has opened a new front in the battle for passengers in the upper-class cabins. Until recently, airline food seemed in terminal decline — another victim of widespread cost cuts in this long-troubled industry. Industry experts trace the problem back to 1987, when American Airlines removed a single olive from its salads to save a little money.
Anyone who has flown coach in recent years knows what happened next. Catering budgets were cut drastically. Free meals disappeared from cattle class. It might seem hard to believe, but flight attendants once whisked racks of lamb down the aisles on silver trays. Today, they hawk chips and soda.
But after years of belt-tightening, airline executives are investing again to attract business passengers willing to pay a premium for tickets, and food is a big part of that effort. This includes devising new menus and even hiring celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay, of “Hell’s Kitchen” fame, to consult. The motivation is obvious: business and first class account for about a third of all airline seats but generate a majority of the revenue. Keeping high-end customers is crucial to the bottom line.
THE industry can’t afford missteps. Airlines suffered mightily as travelers pulled back after the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks. In the decade that followed, domestic carriers lost a combined $60 billion as competition intensified and fuel prices rose. For many carriers, bankruptcy was the only option. American Airlines was the most recent major airline to do so, last November.
After so much turbulence, airlines are trying to chart a more profitable course through mergers and a renewed focus on business and first class. Many have installed flat-bed seats on some domestic flights, fancier entertainment systems and Wi-Fi.
But in the kitchen, science is still working against airlines. To crack the taste code, Lufthansa, the German airline, went as far as enlisting the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics, a research institute near Munich. Among other things, the airline wanted to know why passengers ordered as much tomato juice as beer — about 423,000 gallons of each annually. The answer was that for many passengers, tomato juice apparently has a different taste in different atmospheric conditions.
“We put a lot of effort in designing perfect meals for our clients, but when we tried them ourselves in the air, the meals would taste like airline food,” says Ingo Buelow, who is in charge of food and beverages at Lufthansa. “We were puzzled.”
So are many other people.
“Ice cream is about the only thing I can think of that tastes good on a plane,” says Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. “Airlines have a problem with food on board. The packaging, freezing, drying and storage are hard on flavor at any altitude, let alone 30,000 feet.”
The journey from recipe book to industrial kitchen to a plane in midflight is fraught with peril. It’s not just a culinary feat — it’s also a logistical nightmare. The $13-billion-a-year airline catering industry serves millions of meals daily worldwide. It must maintain supply chains, standards and quality under a variety of local conditions.
“The cooking is the easy part,” says Corey Roberts, a chef based in New York with LSG Sky Chefs, the biggest catering company. “What we have to worry about is the logistics of getting the correct meal on the correct flight, on the right trays, into the right galley, at the right time. It’s a logistical puzzle of juggling all these meals, every day, for hundreds of flights.”
Catering facilities are part restaurants, part industrial production halls where thousands of workers grill, fry, bake, simmer, boil, poach, beat and braise. Food safety standards require all meals to be cooked first on the ground. After that, they are blast-chilled and refrigerated until they can be stacked on carts and loaded on planes.
Our chefs are like portrait painters,” says Peter Wilander at Delta. “They can get pretty creative. But we need to translate that into painting by numbers.”
In 2010, LSG Sky Chefs produced 460 million meals for 300 airlines in 200 flight kitchens in 50 countries. GateGourmet, the No. 2 caterer, served 9,700 daily flights in 28 countries.
Once all the food is aboard, airlines face another hurdle: planes don’t have full kitchens. For safety, open-flame grills and ovens aren’t allowed on commercial aircraft. Flight attendants can’t touch food the way a restaurant chef might in order to prepare a dish. Galley space is cramped, and there’s little time to get creative with presentation.
So attendants must contend with convection ovens that blow hot, dry air over the food. Newer planes have steam ovens, which are better because they help keep food moist. Either way, meals can only be reheated, not cooked, on board.
“Getting any food to taste good on a plane is an elusive goal,” says Steve Gundrum, who runs a company that develops new products for the food industry.
STILL, there was a time not so long ago when airline food could seem very special. Mr. Gundrum recalls, for example, that he had his best airline meal aboard a British Airways Concorde 25 years ago. It was grouse cooked in a wine reduction, accompanied by little roasted potatoes.
Today, airlines want to recreate some of those glory days in their upper-class cabins, with American carriers — trying to bounce back from years of financial cutbacks — aiming to catch up with foreign rivals’ international service.
And some of those foreign carriers have been raising the stakes. The menu at Air France, for instance, includes Basque shrimp and turmeric-scented pasta with lemon grass. The dishes were created by the chef Joël Robuchon, who has collected a total of 27 Michelin stars in his career. The airline’s roster of chefs also includes Guy Martin, the chef at le Grand Véfour, and Jacques Le Divellec, who runs a restaurant that bears his name in Paris.
Air France isn’t alone in reaching out to celebrity chefs. Lufthansa teams with chefs from the luxury hotel chain Mandarin Oriental to prepare meals for its flights between the United States and Germany. Singapore Airlines, meanwhile, has published a book of in-flight recipes from 10 chefs, including Mr. Ramsay. Its business- and first-class passengers can pick their meals from an online menu 24 hours before takeoff. The airline offers a braised soy-flavored duck with yam rice — a specialty from Singapore — or a seafood thermidor with buttered asparagus, slow-roasted vine-ripened tomatoes and saffron rice.
Korean Air owns a farm where it raises beef and organic grains and vegetables for its in-flight meals, including bibimbap, a Korean classic of rice, sautéed vegetables and chili paste that the airline serves in coach. The farm has more than 1,600 head of cattle and more than 5,000 chickens destined for meals in first class.
And the catering business of Emirates Airlines, in Dubai, handles 90,000 meals a day and bakes its own bread, crumble cake and pecan pie. It also prepares nearly 130 different kinds of menus daily. It offers Japanese and Italian dishes, for instance, and has 12 regional Indian cuisines. Eighteen workers spend their days just making elaborate flower designs out of fruit.
American carriers, while elevating their international food service, have generally shunned such refinements on domestic flights. But Peter Wilander, managing director of onboard services at Delta, wants to bring some glamour back.
Last year, Delta hired Michael Chiarello, a celebrity chef from Napa Valley, to come up with new menus for business-class passengers flying on transcontinental routes — New York to Los Angeles and New York to San Francisco. It was not the first time that Delta had worked with a renowned chef. The airline has served meals created by Michelle Bernstein, a Miami chef, since 2006 in its international business class.
“Our chefs are like portrait painters,” Mr. Wilander says. “They can get pretty creative. But we need to translate that into painting by numbers.” That process began last May, when Mr. Chiarello met with executives and catering chefs from Delta at a boxy industrial kitchen on the edge of the San Francisco airport to demonstrate some of his recipes. Among the dozens of dishes he tried were an artichoke and white-bean spread, short ribs with polenta, and a small lasagna of eggplant and goat cheese.
“I am known for making good food, and airlines generally are not,” says Mr. Chiarello, who is also the author of a half-dozen cookbooks, the host for a show on the Food Network, and a former contestant on “Top Chef Masters” and “The Next Iron Chef.” “I probably have a lot more to lose than to gain doing this.”
Huddled around him, white-toqued chefs from Delta and its catering partners weighed each ingredient on a small electronic scale, took scrupulous notes and pictures and tried to calculate how much it would cost to recreate each dish a thousand times a day.
It took Mr. Chiarello six months to come up with the menu. He tested recipes, picked seasonal ingredients, considered textures and colors and looked at ways to present his meals on a small airline tray. Then Delta’s corporate chefs had to learn his way of cooking and serving. Bean counters — the financial kind — priced each item. Executives and frequent fliers were drafted to taste his creations.
There were a lot of questions. How should cherry tomatoes be sliced? (The answer: Leave them whole.) What side should a chicken fillet be grilled on? (Skin first.) How many slices of prosciutto can be used as appetizers? (Two large ones, rather than three, struck the balance between taste and price.)
FOR airlines like Delta, these are not trivial matters. A decision a few years ago to shave one ounce from its steaks, for example, saved the airline $250,000 a year. And every step of kitchen labor increases costs when so many meals are prepared daily. An entrée accounts for about 60 percent of a meal’s cost, according to Delta, while appetizers account for 17 percent, salads 10 percent and desserts 7 percent.
Delta also calculated that by removing a single strawberry from salads served in first class on domestic routes, it would save $210,000 a year. The company hands out 61 million bags of peanuts every year, and about the same number of pretzels. A one-cent increase in peanut prices increases Delta’s costs by $610,000 a year.
Others are catching on. United Airlines said in February that it would upgrade its service to first- and business-class passengers and would change the way it prepares meals “to improve the quality and taste.” It also said it would start offering a new ice cream sundae option with a choice of six toppings on international flights. On domestic flights, premium passengers will get new snacks, including warm cookies.
At Bottega, his high-end restaurant in Yountville, Calif., Mr. Chiarello specializes in modern Italian flavors, with a focus on fresh ingredients and an obsessive attention to detail in the kitchen and in the dining room. His staff is meticulously trained and has an intimate understanding of the dishes and wines served. And Mr. Chiarello is the undisputed boss of his kitchen.
Translating that in an airline setting is arduous. Delta sent some of its flight attendants based in New York to Mr. Chiarello’s Napa restaurant, and organized Webcasts so others could hear him talk about his food. It also introduced new silverware and trays in time for his new three-course meals.
Delta hopes that passengers will come back if they have a good meal. But for chefs like Mr. Chiarello, airline cooking will always pose challenges.
“If I put a sauce on a plate at my restaurant, I bark at the waiters to hold the plate straight so it doesn’t spill,” he says. “But you can’t bark at the pilot to fly the plane straight, right?”
10 best domestic, foreign airports for flier freebies
By Gary Stoller, USA TODAYUpdated 5h 56m a
North Carolina's Charlotte Douglas airport, frequent business traveler Kathryn Alice likes the rocking chairs, occasional free concerts and the grand piano where "passersby are welcome to sit down and tickle the ivories."
Alice, a vice president in the publishing industry in Los Angeles, says airports need to increase free services and activities for families traveling with children and other fliers.
"Perks like free Wi-Fi and aid to overburdened travelers ease the pain of travel, and small comforts go a long way toward making the traveler feel cared for," Alice says.
"Anything that gives travelers a taste of the local culture or a personal greeting upon arrival adds to the favorable experience of an airport and the city or country where it's located."
Though a growing number of airports provide free Wi-Fi, airports and their retail tenants are looking to make a dollar off a captive audience of travelers.
Freebies are scarce, but, when provided, they can make a lasting impression.
Frequent flier Murray Cook, whose company builds and designs sports fields, will never forget the freebies at Cuba's Havana airport.
"Once you arrive, you are taken to a waiting area where they bring you rum, Cokes and, if you like, a cigar," says Cook of Roanoke, Va.
Travelers may not find another airport with complimentary items such as those in Havana, but they can take advantage of other unique freebies at airports worldwide.
At USA TODAY's request, travel publisher Frommers.com went on the prowl to find the 10 best freebies at U.S. and foreign airports.
Here is what Frommers.com found:
U.S. airports
•Chicago O'Hare: Children's play area. Plenty of airports have play areas, but the one called "Kids on the Fly" in Terminal 2 is more than 2,000 square feet, airport-themed and designed by the Chicago Children's Museum. The area has a play helicopter, play airplane, play check-in counter and a collection of giant Legos for making towers.
•Fort Wayne, Ind.: Cookies. This cheerful little airport draws passengers away from Indianapolis and Detroit by being easy to navigate and quick to get in and out of — and by offering free cookies. Volunteer hospitality hosts welcome passengers with a fresh-baked cookie.
•Honolulu: Outdoor gardens. The airport makes the most of its paradise location with beautiful Chinese, Japanese and Hawaiian gardens. In the Chinese garden, there is a statue of Hawaii-born Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Republic of China. The serene Japanese garden has great benches to relax on, and the Hawaiian garden has tranquil lagoons, bubbling springs and cascading waterfalls. Go at night when the luau torches are lit, casting a magical hue over the garden.
•Los Angeles: Shoe shine. Five shoe-shine stands offer free service with a smile in Terminals 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Tips are accepted, so be generous if you get a good shine.
•New York JFK: iPads. Delta has installed 200 iPads at restaurants near the gate areas of Terminals 2 and 3. You can use them to order food, surf the Web, check e-mail, stream videos or check the weather at your destination.
•New York LaGuardia: Newspapers and magazines. Before a Delta Shuttle flight at the Marine Air Terminal, stock up on reading matter, including New York newspapers and such
•Reno-Tahoe: Local phone calls. Spent your last dime on slots? That's not a problem if you have a friend in the area. Local calls are free at several airport phones; Wi-Fi is free, too.
•San Francisco: Yoga room. The nation's only airport yoga room is just past security in Terminal 2. There are chairs, mats and mirrors to practice your poses.
•St. Louis: Coloring books and crayons. Kids can pick up a set of crayons and an airport-theme coloring book with pictures of behind-the-scenes airport activities. Keep an eye out for historic, 1930s-era aircraft hanging from the ceiling near the security checkpoint, too.
•Washington Dulles: Aviation museum. A 50-cent bus ride can bring you to an incredible free museum a few miles south of Dulles in Chantilly, Va. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center blows other little airport museums out of the water. It has giant hangars stuffed with such items as an SR-71 Blackbird, the space shuttle Enterprise and the Enola Gay.
Foreign airports
•Amsterdam: Library. Schiphol airport is big for layovers, and the Dutch are big on reading. The library is a showcase for Dutch culture, with Dutch literature, Dutch music and its own Twitter feed. Nine of 25 seats have iPads.
•Copenhagen: Strollers. Changing planes with a baby is a pain if you've been forced to check your stroller. Parents going through Copenhagen can take advantage of the airport's free strollers, which can be left at a departure gate.
•Hong Kong: Video games. PlayStation gaming systems are scattered throughout the terminals — in the arrivals and departures halls and past security on the north and south concourses.
•London Heathrow: Coloring books and crayons. Customer service agents at several counters throughout the airport hand out airport-theme coloring books, crayons and stickers.
•Munich: Showers and coffee. Taking a shower can be a real boon if you've just gotten off an overnight flight and need to be alert. Even if you can't face up to the shower, there's free coffee at various stations throughout Munich's Terminal 2.
•Seoul Incheon: Culture. The airport is filled with cultural attractions — a museum of Korean history and culture, a stall where you can dress in traditional Korean clothes and get your picture taken, and a stall where you can join a class making Korean handicrafts.
•Singapore: Movies. Terminal 3's movie theater screens big-name Hollywood flicks such as X-Men: First Class 24 hours a day. If you want to stream your own movies, there's free Wi-Fi throughout the airport, as well as 500 free Internet kiosks.
•Taipei Taoyuan: City tours. The Taiwan Tourism Bureau offers free morning and afternoon tours of Taipei from the airport. The morning tour visits an ancient temple and a pottery-making center; the afternoon tour visits another temple, Taiwan's tallest skyscraper and the home of Taiwan's president.
•Tallinn, Estonia: Skype calls. In April 2011, the first free Skype video chat booth popped up at Tallinn's airport, and you can use it to make unlimited, free video calls worldwide. If the line is too long, you can send an e-mail from 14 free Internet kiosks or hook up your laptop through the airport's free Wi-Fi.
•Toronto City Airport: Passenger lounge. The hub of Porter Airlines, this airport on an island that's a brief ferry ride from downtown is delightful, but it's made even more special by Porter's lounge. Regardless of ticket price, everyone flying on the airline gets free coffee, tea, soft drinks, snacks, Wi-Fi and comfy chairs.
So Long Continental
United absorbs much of Continental this weekend
This weekend, United Airlines makes changes that mean most of Continental fades away
By Joshua Freed, AP Airlines Writer
Associated Press – 33 minutes
The last Continental flight takes off on Friday, and the airline that was once one of the nation's biggest will all but disappear into United Airlines.
United and Continental merged in 2010, but until this Saturday, passengers almost could have missed it. The big change occurs early Saturday when United combines passenger reservation data from both airlines into one massive computer system. That means one frequent-flier program and one website. Tickets will be issued under United's name only.
The switch is a huge undertaking that has its risks. Any hiccups could mean delays throughout the airline's system. That's why United conducted four dress rehearsals with executives staying overnight at headquarters to make sure things went well.
Here are the changes:
CONTINENTAL'S LAST FLIGHT
Continental flight 1267 is scheduled to depart from Phoenix at 11:59 p.m. PST on Friday. It's set to arrive in Cleveland as United 1267 Saturday morning.
The airline will stop using Continental's "CO" code. That means no more Continental Airlines tickets, or flights — even though the Continental name is still painted on some planes.
AT THE AIRPORT
The names of both airlines have been on signs at gates at its 10 hubs. By Saturday, it's aiming to take down the "Continental" signs at all 372 airports it serves.
Until now, each airline issued its own tickets, and passengers had to use separate ticket counters. Now, it will no longer matter which ticket counter travelers go to. Gate agents should be able to book travelers on flights across the combined airline, which will be a big improvement any time a blizzard or thunderstorm snarls travel.
The change will also mean that airline workers can send planes from either airline to any of their gates. Previously, gate computers had been connected to separate reservation systems and they couldn't handle planes from the other airline.
FREQUENT FLIERS
The systems are combining under the name of United's MileagePlus frequent-flier program. Travelers who have accounts at both airlines will essentially be credited for their Continental OnePass miles in their combined MileagePlus account. But their MileagePlus account numbers will be those from OnePass.
As for passwords, PIN numbers and addresses — some of those will transfer and some won't. United has emailed frequent fliers about the details.
WEBSITE
United.com becomes the website for the combined airline. But its look and feel is the old Continental.com. Passengers will be able to use it to check in, regardless of which airline issued their ticket.
The websites are set to go dark at 2 a.m. EST Saturday. United is aiming to have the switch done in time for travelers to check in for 6 a.m. EST flights. The airline says travelers who check in on the old United.com for Saturday flights should see their check-in transfer over to the new system.
WHAT CAN GO WRONG
Plenty. There's a reason United held those dress rehearsals. Five years ago, US Airways Group's reservations system merger with America West went haywire. Hundreds of check-in kiosks didn't work, forcing passengers to use ticket counters. The snafu delayed flights around the US Airways system for days.
Virgin America's switch to a new reservation system in October caused problems that lingered for months.
"This transition is extremely complex and there is a strong likelihood for significant flight delays and cancellations," the head of the Air Line Pilots Association's United unit in San Francisco warned pilots in an email.
Jay Pierce, the head of the ALPA unit at Continental, said in an interview that the airline "actually has done a fairly decent job of advising all the employees that there's a potential for disruptions and possible problems." The company has asked employees not to use their discounted travel benefit over the weekend, to help keep volume low, he said.
The airline moves an average of 264,000 passengers per day. It picked a Saturday for the switch because traffic is as much as 15 percent lighter than on weekdays. It further reduced the number of United flights because those are the flights that are switching to Continental computers.
"We have tested an incredible amount of scenarios across the enterprise and I feel very, very comfortable we will be able to service customers better starting this weekend," said Martin Hand, United's senior vice president for passenger experience.
BEHIND THE SCENES
United must still schedule flight crews from each airline separately because it doesn't yet have union contracts to cover the combined groups. US Airways has been operating that way since its 2005 America West merger.
Pilots from both United and Continental have already been using the "United" radio handle with air traffic controllers, and flight attendants have been announcing flights onboard as United flights, even if passengers walked past a "Continental" sign to get on the plane.
The parent company's name, United Continental Holdings Inc., stays the same.
