NWA strike
 

we're leaving for london in 16 days. we bought our tickets months ago, through northwest airlines. the nwa mechanics went on strike 2 days ago, and now i'm worried to death that this is somehow going to ruin my travel plans.

the official line that nwa is taking is that the replacement mechanics can carry the load and keep everything on schedule, and that travelers have nothing to worry about.

any opinions/guesses as to whether they're right or not?

worried in louisville,
pixielily

Hi Pixielily,

I live in Minneapolis, one of NWA's hubs. Out of 178 flights yesterday, approx 30 were delayed, and 4 were cancelled.

The mechanics say that this will worsen as the days go on, NWA states the opposite. Only time will tell.

Perhaps someone here with more experience in dealing with strikes will comment, but I have heard that they try very much to either continue with the flight you booked our get you on another one.

I suggest an early arrival at the airport, perhaps a call the nWA previous to that...

Best of luck %%- Tiff

Please do not worry. You will be safe and will leave for your trip. NWA has known about this strike for 2 years and has been training replacement workers for that entire time. You will not even notice a hiccup. There is a glut of airplane mechanics who want to work. I am a platinum NWA flier and think that the mechanics have underestimated the company. The flight attendants and pilots have done their share but the mechanics don't want to chip in.

I agree with the others' take here. The AMFA union has overplayed their hand and Northwest can't afford to continue "business as usual" with them. It may be that there were more problems in the month leading up to the strike than there will be during the course of it.

jay, that's a nice thought, but I wonder if the several hundred people who were scheduled on those 4 cancelled flights out of Minneapolis alone yesterday would agree that "you won't even notice a hiccup".

I'm taking a friend to the Ft. Myers airport tomorrow for a flight to Detroit on NWA. He's hoping it's OK.
By the way, I checked on the two flights from RSW to DTW for today. This morning's flight was cancelled completely. This afternoon's flight is delayed for "required crew rest". I'm curious if there were enough seats on the afternoon flight to accompany the people who got cancelled on this morning's flight. I think they'd also think this is more than a hiccup.

Cancelled flights happen all of the time. I do about 250k miles per year and stuff happens. Are these flights that would have been cancelled anyway? My guess is that they were. Also 4 flights out of the many that did leave on time may even be normal.

"Are these flights that would have been cancelled anyway? My guess is that they were."


Huh? There are two flights per day on Northwest from Ft. Myers to Detroit. Are you suggesting that "normally" one of those is cancelled ? How often, every day? Once a week? No, not really.

The strike started yesterday, one flight was cancelled today and the other is delayed. It IS because of the strike. If you choose to believe the strike isn't affecting anything, go ahead and keep your head in the sand. I KNOW otherwise.

And yes, I do know that sometimes things happen. But when YOUR flight is cancelled and there is no alternative on the day a strike starts, and there's no plane sitting there to take off, it's pretty clear that the strike is part of the problem. OK?

Oh and by the way, the official reason for this morning's flight being cancelled was "due to aircraft maintenance" -- but of course I'm sure you'll say that happens all the time too, so the fact that the mechanics are on strike has nothing to do with the fact THIS flight was cancelled.

Chill out. I believe i am right as do you. 4 cancelled flights out of the maybe 200 that left. You wouldnt be a machinist would you?

Oy Patrick, take a chill pill! Jay, don't let Patrick get to you.

Ye4s Patrick that is normal. Can I also assume that when my flight to Indianapolis on NWA delayed due to "aircraft maintainence" that the machinists were not doing their jobs properly? Your position sounds like many of the machinists that have been interviewed on the picket lines. Just scare tactics.

I apologize. It was totally silly of me to think that a machinist strike of an entire airline could possibly affect a single thing with the running of the airline.

You are no doubt right. They probably do cancel that morning flight due to mechanical problems at least five or six days a week.

I jumped to a conclusion that the strike meant anything at all.

4 flights out of 200 is 2%, that's fairly high for cancellation. For example, Continental Airlines' "flight completion" factor in the past two years have been around 99.6%, or 0.4% of flights cancelled.

But of course, the NW data is only based on one day, and there can be lots of other factors - including just pure chance - contributing to the 4 cancelled flights. I don't think it's statistically significant.

It is VERY "statistically significant" when one of those flights that was "cancelled" was yours!

NWA claims that "During the first day of the new operating plan, NWA completed more than 98 percent of its scheduled flights."

Doesn't say how many were on time, but we all know that many are not on time without the strike.

Still, I am happy that my trip to northern Michigan this weekend is on Midwest Airlines, not NWA.

Keith

We're still on hold here in Florida trying to figure out what's happening today. The last flight into Ft. Myers last night from Detroit was a couple hours late (which causes problems with crew rest for morning departures on time) just as it was the night before. The incoming flight this morning is delayed and has still not left Detroit, so we don't know how long it will be before it arrives in Ft. Myers to return to Detroit -- my friend's flight will obviously not be going off until the plane comes in, so we don't yet have a clue as to what the departure time might be. At least this morning's flight (the one cancelled yesterday) did take off today and not REAL late, so maybe that's a good sign.

All I can say if all the Northwest delays here in Ft. Myers are indeed NORMAL and not related to the strike, I've learned that Northwest is NOT a dependable airline I'd want to use. Seven out of the eight flights between Detroit and Ft. Myers in the past two days have either been cancelled or late, but I'll accept that this is NORMAL for Northwest if some of you insist it is.

Well, it's now after 11 AM and the 9:32 plane from Detroit has still not taken off, so we don't know when my friend's supposed 1:22 PM flight from Ft. Myers might be. Meanwhile they say the delay is due to "servicing the airplane" -- not that that has anything to do with the cleaners as well as the mechanics being on strike -- probably just another NORMAL delay for Northwest.

A further update. Doug insisted we go ahead and take him to the airport when they said his flight would depart at 2:30 instead of the original 1:22. According to the website, the plane did come in from Detroit about an hour and a half late (due to "servicing of aircraft"). But as I write this at 4:50, he is still sitting in Ft. Myers waiting for his flight which is now "delayed due to unscheduled maintenance". He's hoping to get to Detroit yet tonight.

All i know is they better get their s@#$ together before my trip to Italy in Ocober

:O

Let me apologize for not having anything to contribute to the actual subject of your post.. but to try to entice you to become part of the <i>Ohio River Valley</i> (IN-KY-OH) &quot;in crowd&quot; - - see

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34465251

and

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34598144

and keep your eyes open for Part <i>Trois</i> in 2006 (in Brown County, Indiana?)

David?

Best wishes,

Rex Bickers
Floyds Knobs, Indiana

p.s. if you don't envision yourself becoming addicted here, in a regular fashion - - send me an e-mail, and I'll be sure you get included on notifications for the 2006 GTG.

Hi, pixielily - I'll throw my thoughts in here.
I live in Richmond VA so don't get to use NW much, but am heavy ff on other airlines (business mostly, then pleasure).
First of all, I would think that 16 days is a good bit of time - sure, i'm typically an optimist, but the mechanics and NW are - I'm certain - working awfully hard to meet somewhere on this. Regardless of bluster, both sides know this is not the time to try to bring down/lose an airline.
Secondly, when I fly from richmond, I am connecting at a hub, and will assume here that you are also. When I am flying overseas (just back 3 weeks ago from Paris - sigh...) I **always** book my flight from Richmond to &quot;the hub&quot; with a long layover - I don't take the 1st flight that will get me there, I leave at least one flight with the same airline available to get me to my overseas flight.
In my experience, given what's going on, if you call NW and assuming that there is an earlier flight, they should let you change to that flight at no fee charge (I've had to make such changes with Delta, USAir, and United over the years - if there's a story, they're typically very accommodating.) That way, at least you're at the hub, and eventually that plane will leave for London, even if delayed.
Hope this helps - enjoy the trip!

OKAY!! I am minorly freaking out!!!
We leave on September 1st @1:47 out of Orlando and land in Detroit @4:25. Leave Detroit (I HOPE!!) @5:35 to head to Frankfurt. This morning I got an automated call from NWA asking me to verify only the leg from Detroit to Frankfurt by pushing #1. I find this odd that it was only the Detroit portion that they wanted confirmed. This added to my anxiety over this strike. I am keeping my fingers crossed that within 10 days this gets all worked out!! This I am not familiar with but I am hoping they can all come to some sort of an agreement soon. :)

Hi mabern, go onto to NWA website for flight status. www.nwa.com And also, call them. I can understand your concern. Best wishes.

Hi Pixielily, I hope everything goes well with your travels to London. My DH and I are supposed to fly out on NWA tomorrow (for our long weekend in Idaho, well actually we arrive in Spokane, WA to be specific, I'll update you when I return).


Hi Patrick ~ I was thinking about your friend last night and today trying to get back to Detroit, if you see this and have time could you give me an update... I hope he made it there last night. Thx, Tiff

There is no question, but that strikes hurt everyone. Passengers, strikers,the airline,the airport workers and on and on. That said I have to say that it seems as if NWA isn't having as many problems as one might expect. I volunteer at Travelers Assistance in MSP, where 90% of flights are NWA. Last evening the airport was quite normal. There were a couple of cancellations and a few delays...some serious, but most of the flights were on time and operating as usual. Good advice..try to fly early in the day and don't book close connections.

mabem2.....Do not be concerned...Read: Normal Procedure for an airline to &quot;firm&quot; an international flight.It is not a red flag.Frequently, an airline will do this in the event they have an inordinate amount of unticketed passengers on a flight.Yes, I know...when you buy online, you either purchase or you dont.Not so with travel agents.And each airline is different.Bottom line: dont worry.

Ah yes, Doug made it to Detroit. His flight was a little over 3 and a half hours late taking off and landing. Fortunately he didn't have any connections to make.

And despite my &quot;whining&quot; I too compliment Northwest on keeping this all to a minimum. Although I still find it hard to believe that the strike has caused virtually &quot;no hiccups&quot; as was suggested. And today the flights between Ft. Myers and Detroit seem to be pretty much on schedule, so they have apparently worked things out better.

As Intrepid says, the statistic is significant when it is YOUR flight that is cancelled. And I still think it is ridiculous to think that an entire airline can run as smoothly as usual on a day when they suddenly have several thousand new, temporary employees on hand.

Thanks Patrick.

Glad Doug made it home.

LoveItaly: THX for the tip. I thought that I would wait until Monday to call in order to be able to get reliable info, thought 10 days was too early??? Also, when I logged onto the website it says the info is unavailable, again maybe to early? I guess I will see!!

BeachBoi: Since I have never flown NWA before (great time to pick to fly them now HUH!!) this may be the way the confirm, just found it strange that it was only the Detroit portion.

News reports say that they are keeping up with things, so I am keeping my fingers crossed!!! :)

THX for listening Fodorites!!
- Michelle

topping... for pixielily...

leaving in less than 48 hours...so far, it still looks like it's a go! :)

pixielily, have a beautiful trip!!! And give us a trip report when you get back home and settled in. My best wishes to to you for joyous days with no worries.