Winging It

We did something mind-numbing last week, trying to round up all the fees airlines now charge for services that were once free.Read the column here.

In two airports, TSA is testing the idea of lanes for families with children, another effort to speed up the process. Read more here.

We report today on what the FAA says about the safety of the new departure procedures at PHL that are unpopular in parts of Delco. And US Airways had a good on-time record in January, leading the major airlines. Find that one here.

Southwest Airlines is under investigation related to safety inspections of some of the 737 jets in its fleet. Read more here. CNN has a separate story alleging more serious matters that can be found at this link.

Analysts are skeptical that Boeing can deliver its next-generation 787 Dreamliner jets on an already revised schedule. Read more about it here.

Here's what a congressional leader says. Monday's Road Warrior column will deal with the same topic. See yesterday's news here.

The Road Warrior column looks at the safety of flyng U.S. airlines. Find it here.

DOT secretary has officially set a cap on flights at Newark Liberty International Airport. PHL is not involved, DOT says, although it's been discussed. Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa) among others has called for DOT to study the issue. Read what DOT did today here.

Details are emerging of allegations that Southwest and the FAA were bending rules on aircraft inspections. Here is a story from Southwest's hometown paper.

Southwest Airlines has recognized as more serious allegations that it didn't do required inspections of some of its jets. Today, the airline said it grounded 41 planes -- about 8 percent of its fleet -- to make sure they had been properly inspected. Read about that here. Yesterday, the airline placed on paid leave three employees and said it would do a more thorough internal investigation of what went wrong. Read more on that in this link.

So, we planned our annual family spring vacation months ago. We bought five tickets through "Cheap Tickets" - Delta flights that would take us from Atlantic City, a change in Atlanta, on to Cancun. The adults arranged their vacation days (there aren't many, especially for our 24-year-old daughter who is in her first year on her job) and school holidays (no wiggle room there.) We booked a room in Atlantic City for the night before so we could get up early and make the flight.
Today, I get an email from Cheap Tickets, alleging that they had "been trying for some time to contact me" and that there had been a "significant change" in our reservations.
Significant? As in CANCELLED FLIGHT.

Southwest says it's completed the inspections of older 737s that it decided to do over and returned the planes to the fleet. The airline said it expects to operate its full schedule today, after canceling 8 percent of its schedule yesterday.. Let us know if you have anything to contribute to the coverage of this issue.

We reported today on how the probe of Southwest's maintenance and record-keeping is linked to concern about the FAA's oversight of the industry. Look for today's story here. Also, here is a report on the results of the inspections of jets Southwest carried out this week.

Major airlines put in a whopper of a fare increase this week. It's unclear how much of United's $50 roundtrip hike was matched, but analysts reported that at least five carriers are raising prices, for the fifth time this year. Read what we know here.

The Road Warrior today looks at some of the reasons PHL's delays are going down. Read more here.

Pilots for Delta and Northwest can't agree on how to integrate their seniory lists, likely spelling an end to merger talks between the airlines. Read more here.

PHL has a ground delay program in effect this morning, slowing arrivals, because of the weather. Look for conditions to improve little, or get worse, today with the big storm system moving from the Midwest to the East. For the most recent status on flights check out flightstats.com at the link in the right-hand column.

FAA says it will do more inspecting of all airline records for maintenance compliance in light of the fine for Southwest. Read more here.

The headline on this morning's story about Delta's plans for workforce cuts is wrong, but the rest of the story is right -- 2,000 jobs to be cut. US Airways also will trim more flights this year than previously announced. Read all about it here.

What's going on with United's inspections of its 747 jumbos? Is it a safety or a labor issue? Read what the airline, FAA and a unioin say here.

The Road Warrior column today looks at the monitoring of the FAA that needs to come along with the agency's responsibility to monitor maintenance of the airlines' fleets. Read our take on it here.

Here's a twist: the high price of aircraft fuel may help PHL get more use of is Runway 8-26, the 5,000-foot-long landing strip that was designed 15 years ago primarily for propeller-powered planes. The AP has an interesting story today about high fuel costs creating greater need -- at least in Europe -- for using turboprop planes in place of regional jets. Runway 8-26 has never been used much because by the time it was finally built, airlines were in a full rush to phase out turboprops, and it's not long enough for most RJs.

What can you say about this story? A gun belonging to a US Airways pilot somehow discharged during a Denver-Charlotte flight. Read a fairly detailed newspaper story about it here. On second thougtht, we're sure some of you will have something to say, so please do.

The Bush administration may be key to approving a big airline merger, if one or more occur. Read about the latest developments.

A federal appeals court in New York has thrown out a state law that attempted to establish a basic level of human comfort aboard airliners stranded for hours on the ground. You may recall the New York effort started after JetBlue left customers without enough food, water or clean toilets during a winter storm last year. That was a couple of months after American did the same thing in December 2006 in Austin, Tex. PHL passengers complained that they had been on US Airways flights stuck on the tarmac for hours one day last winter without common comforts. The court yesterday said New York's attempt to regulate in this area was trumped by federal law that governs airline service. Read more about that story here.

What the story doesn't mention: The U.S. District Court judge in Albany who had upheld the New York law based his ruling on the state's right to protect public health, a well-established legal principle. But unless the Supreme Court says otherwise, the appellate court's ruling now throws the issue back to Congress. Look for more coverage on this issue in coming weeks.

An update from yesterday: American and Delta both canceled flights this morning to check wiring on MD-80 jets. According to flightstats.com, PHL hasn't been affected much at all. Continue to check flightstats on this site for any updates, or with your carrier if you're flying one of them today. Read today's updated story here.

Information about US Airways' checks of the wings of its 757s will be in this story in print tomorrow. Here's what we know about that:

In another maintenance-related development, US Airways said it is conducting special inspections of its Boeing 757 jets for problems similar to one that led to a small wing panel falling off one plane that was enroute from Orlando to Philadelphia on Saturday. The inspections, which led to the airline canceling 13 flights on Monday and Tuesday, are separate from the checks all airlines have undertaken to make sure their fleets comply with Federal Aviation Admnistraton directives, US Airways spokesman Philip Gee said in an e-mail.

US Airways began inspections Saturday of 17 of the 45 757s with wings and other equipment similar to one involved in the incident. The 17-squre-inch panel struck the side of the plane but no one was injured and the plane landed safely at Philadelphia International Airport, Gee said. Three of the planes underwent minor repairs, he said. "Out of an abundance of caution, we're also inspecting other B757 airplanes during routine overnight inspections over the next few weeks," he said."We have no reason to believe that there are similar issues with those airplanes. These inspections are being done as a proactive measure."

David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways and before that Morris Air, can't stop seeking new airline ventures. This time he's leading a startup in Brazil, where he was born, the son of a foreign correspondent, and spent time as a young Mormon missionary. Read the full story here.

This is what the British might call an inauspicious start to British Airways' new Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow Airport, which has been plagued by a baggage-handling system that didn't work. Fortunately, both BA's PHL-Heathrow flights tonight were still scheduled to operate on time. Read more about it here.

The Road Warrior finds travelers taking FAA inspections and other reports in stride. Read the column here.

Addendum posted Tuesday: This column included some errors that we will correct for the print edition. Here's the correct information: The wing panel that tore off a US Airways B757 was 4-by-5 feet. And the bullet fired from a US Airways' pilots gun did penetrate the fuselage of the A319 jet, but rapid depressurization of the airplane did not occur nor would it have occurred from a bullet hole. We have updated the original entry on this blog March 25 about the gun discharge with a more complete story.

Aloha Airlines survived for six decades but has now shut down. Read more about it here.