Winging It

American Airlines said today that the rising cost of fuel had prompted it to raise fares by $10 each way on domestic flights. Watch to see if other carriers will match, but these days, most of these kind of across-the-board increases are sticking. Demand is still good, airlines are not adding new flights in any significant way and jet-fuel prices are soaring -- all adding up to the airlines trying to sustain the profits they've been reporting this year.

Here is an update on a story posted last week about NASA's pilot safety issue reporting system. At a congressioinal hearing yesterday, it was revealed that three years ago, pilots on a Denver bound Airbus jet both fell asleep while at the controls. Read about that in a Denver TV report. More background on NASA's pilots study, and the space agency's initial refusal to make it public, can be found in an AP story here

For those who stop here first on their way to philly.com, a report on US Airways and the competition was in print today.

The Road Warrior column in print today uipdates the big topic of last week: Taking a passenger transport vehicle to or from a US Airways international flight. Read more here.

We've been getting a great response to Monday's column (find the link to it below this one on this page) asking for your thoughts about what you like about PHL. Whatever you like or don't like, please keep your comments coming. Several more from those who sent e-mails in response to the print version of the column will be posted as comments later today, as we have time. Thanks as always for keeping the conversation going.

The saga continues: US Airways says it won't fly Philadelphia-Beijing if the airport lets Delta move to Terminal A-East. Find our front-page story here. Let us know what you think by commenting.

We had a busy day yesterday. In addition to a story about new Southwest service at PHL, we teamed up with Inquirer Washington correspondent Steve Goldstein for an update on the continuing saga over how to use PHL gates and US Airways' vow to give up plans for a China route if Delta moves to Terminal A-East. A furious Sen. Arlen Specter gave US Airways CEO Doug Parker a piece of his mind about the airline's threat.

Southwest Airlines gave us a heads up yesterday about three new routes it's planning to start in March from PHL. The new cities are Austin, San Antonio and St. Louis. The once-a-day flights to the two Texas cities would be the only nonstops from PHL. Southwest also is changing its boarding procedures, automatically putting travelers who choose to pay $10 to $30 per flight segment in the "A" boarding group. Its most frequent travelers also will get the same perk. Read more here.

Don't be surprised if other airlines follow United's lead and add a fuel surcharge of $10 per roundtrip to their fares. United made its move on the surcharge this morning, citing record oil prices. Every $1 increase in a barrel of crude costs United another $65 millon a year, the airline said. Since most airlines reduced their labor costs after 9/11, through bankruptcy or labor negotiation or by imposing cuts on employees, fuel has become the carrier's largest expense category.

We expand on last week's big story about the dispute between PHL officials and US Airways over gate usage. Find today's story here.

We've been pleased recently to see how you've responded to this blog and to the stories posted on it. Look here for today's column also for some of your feedback on what you look for in a good hotel, a belated response to what we promised a few weeks ago we would do.

If you travel frequently on business we know where you will probably be next week. At home, avoiding the madness that the Thanksgiving weekend brings. The Air Transport Association trade group expects a 4 percent increase in passengers in the 12 days from this weekend through the holiday period. Read more about the forecast here.

US Airways says the mayor-elect asked it to hold off on withdrawing from the PHL-Beijing route it has been awarded. Read more here.

Delta and United are reported to be in merger talks. It's very preliminary, but maybe this is the solution to that dispute over gates at PHL. Delta is set to move tonight into Terminal A-East gates that US Airways wants for its international operations. Perhaps Delta and United will combine and move into Terminal D together (just kidding!) Seriously, don't look for any quick action on this. Airline mergers need a close examination by federal regulators and can take time to sort out, especially if there are routes where competition will be reduced.

The President is expected to announce steps today to ease air-traffic congestion and reduce delays. Here's what we know so far in an AP story. And we will be looking for more information about how PHLwill be affected.

Two stories in print and online today about efforts to make the Thanksgiving travel crunch more bearable. What the White House said can be found here.. And What US Airways says it's doing at PHL and other airports can be found at this link.

The Road Warrior column today adds to the abundance of the season, meaning an abundance of advice about coping with holiday congestion while traveling. Find it here.

Before I had kids, I got around. Not that way. I mean really traveled. Some strange places, too. Hitchiking across the Sahara. Rattletrap planes in Madagascar. Long, long third-class train rides in China. Big trips on small money. Which meant a lot of discomfort. That’s the trade-off when you’re young. You usually have more time than cash. So if a flight is canceled (or it takes 9 days for a truck to come through Agadez, heading for Tamanrasset), you just wait. At 54, with a lot of college tuition yet to pay, I can’t say I have much of either. But I do value time with the family more than anything. So when I was asked to test out US Airways and see what it’s like to trust your body and bags to the airline before Thanksgiving, I hesitated.

The last time I flew US Airways was during the disastrous icy rainstorm in March. My family was stranded, along with tens of thousands of other unhappy campers. Communication was awful. There wasn’t anyone to translate for foreign visitors. You couldn't even get water once you were told to leave the secure area and reschedule your flight. We did come across a couple of wonderful, helpful, ingenious staffers eventually, who went out of their way to help us get to where we were going. The hard working employees of US Airways take the hit when their colleagues (and bosses) don't do their jobs well.

True, you can’t control the weather. And you can’t control the fact that on Thanksgiving, masses of humans take plane trips. But you can plan for it. I don’t know how anyone, given the challenges airlines face these days, keeps these companies going. (Trust me, having a disorganized mind like mine at the helm would crash and burn the business faster than a flock of seagulls in the jet intake.)

But we have come to depend on these services. And this week, especially, US Airways, Philadelphia's major player, has a big responsibility.

I have 20 people – people I love – coming to my house for dinner on Thursday. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It was my father’s favorite holiday. He died 20 years ago and, not to get too creepy about this, he makes his presence known this time of year. If only because I inherited my love of pureed rutabagas from him, and no one else in the family except me and the dog will eat it. My kids help me cook (everything but the rutabagas) the day before. The night before. The morning of. It’s major in our house. And the people who are coming are people we don’t see very often. In fact, only once a year. The third Thursday in November.

But flying across the country and back in 26 hours, hoping to get back in one piece, with my luggage, in time to brine the bird, was too good an invitation to turn down. Given the shameless sentimentality of the moment, I am going to visit my best friend from high school. I haven’t seen her since 1981 at our 10th year reunion. It took some research to find her. Carin and her husband Mike live on Bainbridge Island near Seattle.

If all goes well, I’ll be meeting her on Tuesday afternoon. I’ll be flying back home Tuesday night. Along the way, I’ll stop in US Airways' hubs. My husband is the kind of guy who bets against the Eagles and comes home with sad, but honestly-won $20 bills all the time. Guess what he’s betting on this week?

The biggest travel week of the year really started last weekend but PHL travelers had a dose of cold rain and snow just to the north of us in the mix this morning. That slowed down operations. You can see how many flights were delayed -- about half at certain times of the day -- by looking in the right-hand column of this page for "Flight Information," our service powered by www.flightstats.com. Day or night, you can check on the status of any airport, airline or flight

And we were flying Saturday, so we can attest that the holiday rush has started -- not a seat to be found on our flight and many others. You will probably encounter some flights with empty seats today and early tomorrow, but not many in the 48 hours after that,

There's an aura of calm before the storm at 5:15 a.m. at gate B11 at Philly International. It started building slowly, and by the time I got to check-in, there were small lines of people and situations where little delays would make all the difference. You could see that once the crowd filled the terminal buiding, those small delays would multiply exponentially,

I went to the auto-check-in kiosk but the screen didn't work. The woman next to me couldn't get hers to work either. But she banged on its and it finally worked. She had an overweght bag and had to check it in, but the person at the counter pushed a wrong button and it led to 15-minute wait. It was a small snag with big implications. Most of the people working for US Airways were nice, and they were trying. One traveler was impatient. She thought she was being charged an extra $100 for something that was optional, and she went to the woman managing the line, who kind of snapped, "Just say you don’t want to pay!" The traveler laughed.

It liks a petri dish here, waiting for some primordial thing to grow. I asked a woman at the counter if my bags would arrive in Phoenix, and she said, 'Oh yes, I’m very confident they will." I laughed. 'That's nice, but what are you going to do, run down to baggage chute to make sure!'

I suppose here is where I should explain a little more. I'm taking this trip from Philadelphia to Phoenix to Seattle on the day before Thanksgiving on US Airways, to test anything and everything with the airline and the travel system. I've packed some nicely wrapped decoy gifts in my checked baggage to see if they survive the trip without being stolen, as some have on this airline. I'm returning on the red-eye tonight from Seattle to Charlotte and back to Philadelphia, blogging all the way and hopefully arriving tomorrow with time to file a story for the paper and get home to cook a holiday meal -- okay, finish cooking the meal my daughters have already started -- for 20 people at my house.

Even as I came to the airport this morning, this experiment was put in perspective. I arrived by cab, my driver was Nigerian. That gives you some perspective. He said his country was a mess and he would never go back to Lagos. I’m sure whatever we may go through here is nothing compared to Lagos.

On the plane now, I see a guy and his son sitting ahead of me. The kid is wearing a Santa Claus hat. I ask him if he's nervous for the plane trip, and the kid says: "No ma'am, I’m just excited." There's a family behind me, and I ask them if they're headed somewhere for the holiday. The woman smiled broadly. "No, we’re going to Maui on vacation." Wish I was.

- M.D.

By this time of day, just before the Thanksgiving deluge, they may already be flled, but the airport got 720 more economy parking spots this morning. Read more here.

Imagine my surprise, and frustration, when I flipped open my laptop in Terminal B at Philly International intending to file something about my trip, only to discover no WiFi signal. Nothing. A blank little box under the words "No network found." I even walked around the area around Gate B11 to increase my odds. Still nothing. What's up with that? Here's hoping other airports do better.

- M.D.

I don’t know if this is a good omen or not, but my seatmate on the flght from Philly to Phoenix is named Tierney. The fellow who owns The Inquirer is is Brian with same last name. No relation.

John T. is one dedicated dad. He’s divorced. His ex lives with their 13-year-old son in Arizona. Every year he flies out AZ to take out his son to a restaurant for a Thanksgiving dinner. He’s sleeping now so I’ll write quietly.

He says he lives in the Poconos. He says US Air has been good, pretty much. The small puddle jumpers are the problem. He’s never missed dinner with his son. Still, he's traveling a day earlier than usual to make it less tense.

We’ve above Albuquerque now. The pilot says we’re about to bumps over the hills. It's 10:45 a.m. We left on time. looks like we’ll arrive on time. Already I’m beating the "Best Life" writer at this. I'll explain in the next post.

I realized at 4:30 this morning, when I was home washing my face, that I have unwittingly hedged my bets. The purpose of this journey is to see what it's like to be in the thick of pre-Thanksgiving travel. So why am I traveling two days before turkey day? Because I’m chicken.

When my friends and family heard about my plan to flyu to Seattle, returning tomorrow using connecting flights, they were worried. "Will you get back by Thursday?"

Of course I will.

My return flight leaves tonight from Seattle, landing very early tomorrow in Charlotte. Plenty of time to ge back home to Philadelphia. I had passed, however, on connections in Chicago, notoriuos for capturing passengers and holding them hostage until the a) precipitation ceases, b) sky-traffic jams clear, and/or c) stars align.

Too risky.

And also, however unscientific this experiment may be, I wanted to try to remove confusing variables and to focus on US Airways' performance as much as possible. So going through their main hubs seemed a cleaner test. I opted for a redeye flight, rather than staying overnight in Seattle and trying to get back during the day. With connections, most flghts would have brought me back to Philadelphia in the late afternoon. If things went badly, I would have -- at best -- missed the newspaper’s Wednesday deadline for a Thursday story. Or worse, the 5 p.m. deadline when I have to pick up my turkey from the farmers' market. Or worst, spent tomorrow night crumbled in a corner of some airport sweaty, achey, with my laptop for a pillow.

My colleague, Dan Rubin, handed me a magazine before I left – Best Life, subtitlted "What Matters to Men." In it, there's an article about air travel, "Delayed and Confused" by Peter Greenberg. He begins by saying he has taken 110 flights in the past year, 11 of which arrived on time.

Oooh. Don’t ask this guy to pick your lottery number. But his advice, you have to admit, must be based on vast experience. And he suggeted, to minimuze agony, travel at the crack at dawn.

Done. Now let’s see how it goes.

- M.D.

I’m loving the fight attendant, Victoria Black.

I got up to use the restroom while she was about to hand out headphones for the movie, the latest Harry Potter. I told her I’d lke one but my $5 was back at my seat. "No problem, sweetheart. Where are you sitting?" When I got back, there were my headphones.

Not that everbody wanted to hear it, but Victoria was delivering bad news kindly. A woman in front of me was asking for ketchup for her own sandwich, the one she brought with her on the plane. Here's the exchange.

Victoria: (Smiling) "We're not a restaurant, doll."

Passenger: (Muffled protest.)

Victoria: "No, we don't have condiments."

Passenger: (More muffles, some kind of request.)

Victoria: "I can fill up your cup as many times as you like, but you cannot have the bottle." Then turning to the passenger's seatmates with a laugh and smile: "She like that all the time, causing trouble?"

Everybody: Laughter.

Victoria: (Turning back to the thirsty, ketchup-less passenger) "Is that your water bottle, darling? I can fill it up. Work for you, doll?"

Passenger: (Happily) "Yes, thanks!"

You go, doll.

This is Victoria's 14th year with US Airways, the first time she isn't working on Thanksgiving. She said she'll spend it with her sister in D.C. and will be flying there tomorrow from L.A. I asked, "What are the chances that the fight will be delayed?" Victoria laughed and said: "In all fairness to my company, depending on weather, probably pretty high."

Victoria went back to check a woman who was not feeling well and got the pilot to turn up the cabin temperature. She told a kid to wear his retainer so he won't need braces. She noted that there are advantages to working holidays: passengers give you things. Today, some woman came on the flight with eight hoagies -- and handed all of them out to other people.

- M.D.

Here's an explanation why our colleague Melissa Dribben couldn't get wireless Internet service this morning in PHL's B Terminal. This is from the phl.org Web site, under FAQ:

"The Airport offers wireless Internet access from more than 40 access points in the secure areas of every terminal. A fee is required for wireless access. There are several purchase options available to customers, including a 24-hour connection for $7.95 or a monthly unlimited option for $39.95."

There are airports in this country and abroad with free wi-fi access. We are searching for a comprehensive list -- otherwise travelers know only if an airport is advertising or promoting the service. Those that don't probably do as PHL does, making you hunt for the information on their public sites. If any of you knows where to find a complete list online, please send it to us. We will find the information eventually but it may take until after this nutso week and weekend. Thanks in advance for your contributions.

Finally, got WiFi service here in Phoenix in this terminal. Pretty busy. I happened to mention to Victoria Black, the US Airways flight attendant on my Philly-Phoenix flight, that my laptop computer could not find a WiFi signal at PHL.

And she said: "Terminal B"?

Yep.

US Airways says it will start flying PHL-London Heathrow on March 29. The airline now uses London Gatwick, which to some travelers is considered less desireable than Heathrow, a better airport for making other international connections. The flight will be scheduled late going east, a 10:45 p.m. departure, with a noon return from London. The service will more directly compete with British Airways two daily roundtrips between PHL and LHR.

The story from Wednesday's paper is at this link.

Isn't e-mail wonderful? Just like that, we received a reply to our post about free wireless access. Thanks to Jason Kurth for providing this link with all the answers about U.S. airports: www.travelpost.com

We're about an hour from Seattle. The flight from Phoenix left the gate on time, but a backup kept us on the ground for about 20 minutes. Still, we'll be arriving on schedule, the pilot just said.

The flight attendants look tired. They're very sweet, though. The only problem on this flight is that the mini-monitors that descend every few rows so you can watch the movie are not all working. That would be the one in front of my seat. The pilot explained that the FAA requires that flight attendants give the emergency exit information live and in person if the monitors are not all up and running. He didn't say anything about the problem that presents if you're desperate to see the film. Good thing it's just Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, again.
Glad I didn't buy the headphones on this leg of the trip.

See you in Seattle.

Actually arrived in Seattle a bit early, even after leaving late. Give US Airways credit on that one.

Now a word about the bags (that's Seattle baggage claim in the photo).

Losing luggage on vacation is like catching the flu from a seat-mate, who kept sneezing and not covering his mouth as he spewed virus all over the Skymall catalogue page where you were wondering if there is anyone on Earth who actually would blow $129 on the Eastern Dragon Ring from the Captain Jack Sparrow collection. (And how creepy is that $229 tracking key that gives you a GPS reading on where your spouse is driving?) Like the lost-luggage department, the sneezer apologizes every time he inflicts his misery on you, but the wheels are inexorably in motion. You arrive alive and can still have a good time, but you're going to feel annoyed, look like hell and have to make an effort not to sink into why me? self-pity. It's only a very small comfort that there's a good chance that a lot of others on the plane are suffering along with you.

I obviously don't need luggage for this trip. But I had to make this interesting. So I packed two bags and put wrapped fake gifts in both. The gifts (expired toiletries from the back of the bathroom shelf) are there because I recently heard on a Today show segment that wrapped gifts have a way of getting "lost" en route. Inside one box, I wrote "thief" on a scrap of paper. The first bag is my husband's old, very decrepit bag that he has dragged, literally, around the world. It has some sentimental value, true, but it's like the old pink t-shirt he wore until the holes got big enough to aerate his entire shoulder blade. The time has come. And it might as well be sacrificed to a good cause.

To be honest, I don't think anyone would mess with that bag. It looks too pathetic for any sticky fingered baggage handler to want to search the contents for a robin's egg blue box containing something carated.

The second bag is the one I bought at Wal-Mart when UPS lost my daughter's duffel bag on the way to camp in upstate New York a few years ago and she needed us to bring her underwear and socks on visiting day. Somehow, there is a karmic justice in putting that one back in play.

This has to be one of the easiest trips I've taken. Bags arrived. Nothing missing. Taxi to the city was more expensive than in Philadelphia - and the rail connection is not up and running yet. At least that's what I'm told.
My friend Carin was waiting for me at the public library - a wild glass building with soaring ceilings and neon yellow escalators. A few homeless folks - who seem to need glasses - were reading newspapers near the in-library coffee shop.
I recognized my friend immediately - she looks just like her mother. It was one of those time warp moments.
Met her husband, Mike and had dinner at Purple, a hip place, up the hill from the ferries.
Caught up on half a lifetime in three hours.
Saw the original Starbucks. Bought some Alaskan smoked salmon for Thanksgiving appetizers.
Now I'm back in the Seattle airport about to rebord. And getting very tired.

The flight tonight is oversold. I have to run to make sure I don't miss it.
First this: Janeen Mellick, the US Airways operations agent with the airline 23 years, says this holiday weekend is much lighter than usual.
Her theory: People don't want to spend both Christmas and Thanksgiving with the in-laws, and if they're going to make just one trip - they'll go for five days. So the airport was much busier over the weekend.
Note: "I have wonderful in-laws," she says.
The media, she thinks, has made holiday travel seem like such a nightmare that, "when things go smoothly, people are surprised and delighted.
Yep.
And on CNN - the holiday travel report has L.A. freeway traffic moving at 8 mph, and a 3 hour backup on the roads near Baltimore.
more tomorrow a.m.

So I get to my seat on the red-eye last night. I have been awake now for about 20 hours, running on four hours sleep, and there's a balding, scruffy bearded man in my seat.
The flight attendant couldn't be nicer.
"Oh! I'm so sorry. Double seated. Wait right here."
He gets on the phone to reservations. Moves the bearded one to first class and gives me my seat.
I'm a little disappointed.
I always think of that scene in Jerry Maguire where Renee Zelwegger tells her son, "It used to be better food, now it's a better life." (or something like that.)
Turns out, the word has spread about this adventure through the US Air staff. They knew I was coming. They had moved me to a seat up front in the plane instead of the one way in the back, where it's a little more cramped, and I would be able to hear flight attendant gossip.
But hey, this isn't as if I'm a restaurant critic and they've going to cook up a special meal. There's only so much you can do to make flying overnight in a crowded plane, originally designed to hold 169 passengers, now holding 183.
I sat next to a Florida 24-year-old who moved to Seattle in June with her black-mouthed cur (the same breed as Old Yeller?) and started a new job. She's coming home to Ft. Myers to see her family for the first time since she left. And she, like most people I've come across so far, has had a fine, smooth trip.
She picked the flight because it was the cheapest. The wierd choice is that people who travel first class don't get much for the money. On most flights, they get their wine in plastic glasses. The food is better, but still not scrumptious. Plastic forks, paper napkins. Yo hon diner style at Striped Bass prices. One of the US Airways veterans I've met over the past two days told me about the days of linens, hot towels, warmed nuts in a ramekin, fine wines.
Now, the attendant says, "You get a bigger seat, free drinks and a meal. There's no WOW factor."
Still, I wouldn't mind trying it.

I've just met the Naumoffs. Matthew and Monica and their two children, Anna, 9, Matthew, 10. And the well-traveled, well-loved Bertha, 8. (She's the one with the stuffing coming out of her neck) are all going to Chicago for Thanksgiving.
"We breezed through everything," says Monica.
The kids had to bring their passports because the airline said that since Matthew the dad and Matthew the son have the same name it might cause a problem checking in electronically and having passports would help.
At the curbside check-in, where US Airways now charges $2 a bag, people are not tipping the attendants much anymore, Monica says. So her husband slipped the guy a $20.
"He was REALLY appreciative, grabbed our bags and slapped priority stickers on them."
Nice start to a long day for everyone involved.
Except Bertha. She's looking like she could use some new threads.

Okay. So I'm cruising along here. The line at Starbucks is too long to be bothered with, so I think I'll finish this entry and then go brush my teeth. I'm just about finished when the computer goes black. Turns out that in the special section US Airways has set aside for business travelers who need to plug in their laptops, the chairs are very comfortable, but the electrical outlets DON'T WORK.

My battery has died.

Now I'm sitting on the floor near a wall outlet where a fellow business traveler told me the socket is functioning.

Note to Charlotte Airport: damn.

Over the past two days, I have spoken to a source. Not exactly deep throat. More like a soft palate.
This US Airways person says that instead of becoming a low-cost airline, US Airways is becoming a cheap-a... airline. Rhymes with alas.
Th