Winging It

We're back from a couple of weeks away from the blogosphere, and ready to hear from you again.

First off, NPR News Morning Edition (WHYY 90.1 FM) will run a four-part series on airline travel tomorrow through Friday, with PHL as the focus. The series will start with a profile of a family traveling from PHL to Orlando, and follow it with closer looks at airport security, air-traffic control on the PHL-Orlando route and the effect of low-fare competition at PHL. Aviation director Charles J. Isdell will be interviewed Friday in the last segment. Give it a listen and tell us what you think.

The ongoing track work on the Philadelphia-Harrisburg Keystone line means some schedule changes for both Keystone and SEPTA R5 Paoli-Thornburg trains, starting next week and continuing until early November. You can find revised scheules at www.amtrak.com and at www.septa.org.

Flight delays in June hit a 13-year high, the U.S. Transportation Department reported today. Read the AP story here. Below you will find PHL information that will be combined with the AP story in print tomorrow morning:

At Philadelphia International Airport, 59 percent of flights arrived on time and 61 percent departed on time in June. Philadelphia was ranked No. 28 among the nation's 32 largest airports for arrivals, and No. 31 out of 32 for departures. Among major carriers here, American Airlines had the poorest on-time arrival record, in June with flights landing within 15 minutes of their schedule 46 percent of the time. Northwest Airlines flights arrived on time 50 percent of the time, and US Airways, the airport's largest carrier with more than 60 percent of the traffic, had an on-time arrival rate of 52 percent. Others were Southwest Airlines, 73 percent on time; AirTran Airways, 69 percent; United Airlines, 61 percent; and Continental Airlines, 64 percent.

Nationwide, US Airways led the major airlines in lost or damaged bags for the month, with 10.6 reports filed for every 1,000 passengers. American was second, with 8.9 reports per 1,000 passengers. AirTran had the best record among the large carriers, with a rate of 4.4 per 1,000. US Airways also had the highest rate of complaints per 100,000 passengers filed with the Department of Transportation, at 3.43. The national average for all airlines was 1.35 complaints per 100,000 passengers.

The airport's bond ratings have been raised, helping spur a number of projects, including adding gates in A-West and redesigning the F Terminal. Read a little here and more tomorrow online or in print.

Southwest is testing a new procedure at San Antonio International Airport that let's passengers board flights in the order in which they check in. The experiment is aimed at cutting down on the way passengers now start forming the A, B or C lines long before they actually board, creating severe traffic jams in the gate area. Seats are still unreserved -- that's something Southwest is still looking at changing. The airline hasn't made any announcements about the test we can find, but the San Antonio Express-News had a story about it this morning. Read all about it here.

US Airways has uncovered an alleged scam of its payroll system at PHL. Read the details in this morning's story here.

Last week brought important developments at the airport, and we report on a recent road trip. Read all about it here

The months-long effort by AirTran Airways to buy Midest Airlines has come to an end, with AirTran giving up and Midwest announcing it will be sold to a private equity firm that will enable to continue as a standalone carrier. Read the AP story here.

If you missed our page one story in print today about PHL's long-term plan for upgading Terminal F, find it here.

AirTran Airways wants to buy Midwest Airlines in the worst way. AirTran made yet another offer late yesterday, raising its price just above one from a private equity group. Read the latest here.

The FAA called airline industry officials together to discuss improving safety margins while airplanes are on the ground, taxiing and preparing for takeoff. Read more in an AP story.

This could be one of those days travelers fear the most, when the weather maps online and on every TV station show big green blobs in some parts of the country and out to sea. Tropical depression Erin moved ashore on the Texas Gulf Coast, causing heavy rain and airline delays in much of the eastern and central part of the state. Thunderstorms are forecast for PHL and other areas of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, and we know what that means. Monitor the PHL.org Website for delays in and out. Even better information, continually updated, is available at www.flightstats.com.

Is the saga over? Midwest Airlines, the little carrier with the good service reputation, says it is. Read today's story here

This column comes from the heart -- your heart, that is. We've rounded up what you've been telling us recently about PHL and its airlines. Read all about it here.

A Taiwanese airline exploded on landing in Japan, but all aboard apparently escaped uninjured. See live video of the explosion and passengers escaping, and read details here

The powerful Caribbean hurricane has prompted airlines to issue notices to passengers who have tickets to many destinations that they may make some changes without penalty. If you were planning to visit the tropics in the next few days, check out the notices being posted on the airlines' Websites to see what individual carriers' rules are. Links can be found in the lower right-hand column of this page.

Hurricane Dean slammed the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico early today and at the moment is a category 2 storm. Travel to Mexico, obviously, will be affected for days. Airlines that serve the Caribbean are returning to normal operations, so check with your carrier if you're planning to travel to the region.

If it's a Tuesday in August in the Northeast, this must mean flight delays. Arrivals and departures at PHL as well as LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark are all jammed up because of low ceilings and traffic, according to the FAA.gov Website. Flightstats.com reports roughly two out of three arrivals and departures running seriously late at PHL, so plan accordingly. Best of luck!

PHL has been under FAA ground-delay restrictions today that have contributed to about a quarter of all flights being late, either leaving the gate or taking off after pushback. UPDATE: From noon to 3 p.m., about half of arrivals were late.

Yesterday, more than three-quarters of flights were delayed, according to flightstats.com, so let's count our blessings. As many of you know, weather and air traffic have largely been responsible this month for the unusually high number of late arrivals and departures.

Most business travelers don't have to fly over the Labor Day weekend and should be glad about it. The Air Transport Association, the airlines' trade group, forecast today that 15.7 million passengers will fly between Wednesday, Aug. 29 and Wednesday, Sept. 5, a 2.6 percent increase over the same period last year. Just when you thought it couldn't get more jam-packed out there!

The association also took the opportunity to remind you that while weather is responsible for most flight delays, a modernized air-traffic control system "would enable safe operations under weather conditions that today result in gridlock." That last statement is part of the airlines' lobbying effort to get Congress to change the formula for paying for the air-traffic control system. Now, the airlines say, passengers pay a disproportionate share and general aviation, particularly corporate aircfraft, should pay more. Corporate and general aviation lobbyists say just the opposite: the funding mechanism used now is fair and should be kept. So far Congress has supported the latter group, but the debate is far from over, so stand by for further developments.

What a summer it's been for flight delays. Once again, airlines serving PHL have been able to operate less than half of their flights on time today because of the usual culprits: air traffic and the weather. For a change, several eastern and midwestrn airports in addition to PHL and those in the New York area are experiencing delays of 15 minutes or more. Check out a weather map online and you will see nasty weather in places across the eastern two-thirds of the nation.

We urge you to show patience with airline and airport employees on days like this one. Most of them dislike delays as much as you do.

We did a long version of that paragraph from last week's Road Warrior column, about thefts from bags. Find this morning's report at the Road Warrior link and let us know what your experience has been -- with baggage service, or any other airport or airline topic..

Amtrak says its computers are fixed and its issuing tickets electronically again. Let us know if you experience any problems. Read about the problems over the weekend here.

The investigation into a fire last week on a China Airlines 737 prompted the FAA to issue an unusual emergency order today, requiring airlines to inspect newer models of the plane. More details are in this AP story.

The FAA is talking up its next-generation air-traffic control plans -- ready for use in about six years. Read on to see whether all believe it will solve the congestion and flight-delay problem. The Washington Post's story can be found here.

In the category of little-known facts (outside the travel industry), the end is near for the paper airline ticket. The International Air Transport Association, which runs a worldwide billing and settlement system for travel agents, says it's placed its last order for paper tickets. Already, 84 percent of all tickets are electronic and travel agents have been given until May 31, 2008, to issue the last of those old-fashioned, multi-part paper tickets. The settlement system issues more than 400 million tickets annually. The last order for paper tickets was for 16.5 million, placed with seven specialized printers, IATA said.

A New Jersey assemblyman wants an air-travelers bill of rights for state residents. Read more in an AP story about it.

The FAA has ordered airlines to step up the pace of their inspections of fasteners in the wings of 737 jets, suspects in an explosion last week on a China Airlines plane. Read the latest here

A new TSA inspection rule has Sikhs concerned they're being unfairly targeted at security checkpoints. Read more in an AP story.

At the start of a long weekend, when most Road Warriors will be off the road for a change, the good news about gasoline prices continues. Read details in this story based on AAA's daily survey. Have a good weekend, and we'll see you on Tuesday.