The Friedman Files

1:14pm

It’s an angrier crowd than when this happened two weeks ago.   Travellers have a lot of questions for the airline execs.  They want to know why these inspections/cancellations are happening AGAIN for the same issue.  Hoping to get some answers at a 1:30pm news conference at AA Headquarters.  We are there now waiting for the newser to start.

We saw a lot of tired faces at Terminal C.  Many passengers spent the night and some think they may be stranded another night.  

850 Total cancellartions.  DFW is the city hit hardest with 208 cancellations.   Here are some of the other cities heavily impacted:  138 at Chicago O’Hare, 33 at LaGuardia, 28 at St. Louis, and 20 in Austin.

MD-80’s account for about half of American’s fleet right now the airline has only about 30 of those planes in service.  Now the big question at DFW….will afternoon storms make this situation even worse?  Grab a cot…it could be a long night!

American Airlines pilots have a new “motivational” video on their union website.

  http://www.alliedpilots.org/Public/PublicRelations/Motivational/trust_feb1_Stream.mov

It’s set to the lyrics of The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” - refering apparently to the last contract the pilots agreed to.  The video includes a shot of a kid holding a picket sign that reads “Arpey Stole My College Fund”.

Today the union representing the flight attendants said it will call on AA executives to resign if they don’t forgo this year’s bonuses. 

Welcome to spring, 2008 at the world’s largest airline.  The rhetoric will only build as both unions move deeper into their contract battles.

We all know the economy is rough right now.  And, we can understand the desire to make a quick buck.  But, this may be the most un-cool recession beating strategy ever. 

As we reported on NBC5 News at 6 today…

http://video.nbc5i.com/player/?id=235657 

…thieves have been stealing parts of Ft. Worth’s roadside flood warning system and apparently selling the metal parts for profit.  When the control boxes are taken off the signs — the lights won’t come on to warn drivers of rising water ahead.  That’s a big problem in a city that’s had a number of deaths in flash flooding, some at the very locations where these signs stand.  Clearly this bunch of bad guys deserve a long stay in the County’s own version of the Holiday Inn.  The city is now considering surveillance cameras to catch them.

Some viewers wrote to us asking why the city doesn’t move the control boxes that are being stolen higher up the pole.  Good idea, but even that wouldn’t do much to deter this dasterdly group.  In some cases they’ve actually reached the very top of the poles – and stolen the solar panels that power the control units.  It would take a long ladder or some sort of bucket truck to do that, which makes you think these guys are operating at times of day when they’re less likely to be seen.

Any other ideas for catching this crew of bandits?  Thoughts on what should be done with them when they’re caught?  Send ‘em our way.  Hopefully someone will see them in the act and call police before someone unwittingly drives down a flooded street.  They’re stealing from all of us — and it may take a community to stop them.