Travel Experts - Help Me With This NWA MESS...

MJS

DIS Veteran
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Nov 12, 1999
Messages
688
What would you do???

We are booked to fly on Northwest Airlines from Minneapolis to Orlando on 3/1, the day after the pilots end their vote to strike. It is unclear what is going to happen next week with the pilots and NWA, as I am sure many of you know. The media here is saying a lot depends upon the judge's decision on Friday. What should we do?

We booked our flight about a year ago, and it was a good deal at the time. We are really looking forward to our trip. We are DVC members, and are staying for 10 days in a 2 bedroom villa, so there is the possibility of losing a lot of points because we cannot get back to WDW in the next couple of months. Also, we have annual passes that expire 3/30/06, not to mention a ressie at Cindy's for our little princess on 3/2/06. :sad:

What would you do? Should we just switch airlines now and "eat" the cost? I assume that if the pilots strike, getting a flight out of Minneapolis on 3/1 will be a nightmare, not to mention trying to getting home (for some reason, getting stuck in FL and missing the MN winter doesn't bother me that much ;) )

Thanks for your help!
 
Load SW DING. If it comes up book a backup reservation 3/1 late enough so you can drive to Chicago. You're too close and without a DING fare you'll be paying $255 each way.

With SW you'll get a full credit, which anyone else can use. My guess is the court won't let them strike but your vacation plans can't be changed.
 
Thanks for the advice. Driving to Chicago is an option, but driving 6+ hours in winter weather could be a nightmare! :scared:
 
Just an opinion here, but I don't feel like you will have to worry about this. The pilots know that the airline is done if they strike. Instead of fighting for better pay, they will be fighting each other for jobs at other airlines.....

I wish you the best. At this point, I think I wait and see what is happening. Hopefully things work out..... I wouldn't have the cash to just eat the NWA flights, so I would just sit tight and wait for things to work out positively.

Have a good one!

Duds
 

I actually agree with Dudspizza. I don't think the pilots will vote to strike. Union leadership for NW tried this same stunt with the Flight Attendants a few months ago. Union leadership wanted a strike, the average FA wants to put food on the table. Pilots are the same way.

My theory is that if the pilots strike, the airline will announce that due to bankruptcy they are shutting down. That will then trigger the bankruptcy law which requires that other airlines honor tickets on a standby basis.

Also, airlines will "help" each other out. IF there is a strike GO to the airport and hopefully the agents will write you over to another airline..
 
I am still trying to figure out this whole mess, if they do decide to strike the only option for us here is to fly with United, we are not going to be driving 8 or more hours to Minneapolis just to try and find another airlne to take us to Orlando, so my question is do we head to our local airport and have them try to figure out what to do or should we just go ahead and try to book with United? If there is a strike does NWA refund our money for our tickets? I am talking ab out over 800.00 for two tickets so this will be a lot of money to lose plus the fact it would be another 1200-1500 for us to fly United, that again is only two tickets, I am so upset by this whole mess, it wouldn't be so bad if we lived in an area that offerred us more airline options but this is just not the case. I talked to my AAA TA and she really wasn't much help either, she even mentioned that we would lose some of the money on our package since we would be cancelling at such a late date and I don't want to have to cancel, I have been planning this trip for two years and I really need this trip. Sorry to carry on but this has so much put a damper on our trip planning, I am even afraid to start packing anything, even though our trip is less then two weeks away.
 
/
Maybe I am optimistic, but I really think things will be fine.

I am currently sitting on reservations with Delta using NWA FF miles for May. Delta's situation is a mirror of what is happening at NWA. I have zero concerns about it. I have worried more about my flight times being moved or making sure my seats are still there. I have not thought twice about the airlines issues.

I think things will be fine with the NWA situation, but that is just my opinion and gut feeling. Hang in there.

Duds
 
vfb2girls said:
I am still trying to figure out this whole mess, if they do decide to strike the only option for us here is to fly with United, we are not going to be driving 8 or more hours to Minneapolis just to try and find another airlne to take us to Orlando, so my question is do we head to our local airport and have them try to figure out what to do or should we just go ahead and try to book with United? If there is a strike does NWA refund our money for our tickets? I am talking ab out over 800.00 for two tickets so this will be a lot of money to lose plus the fact it would be another 1200-1500 for us to fly United, that again is only two tickets, I am so upset by this whole mess, it wouldn't be so bad if we lived in an area that offerred us more airline options but this is just not the case. I talked to my AAA TA and she really wasn't much help either, she even mentioned that we would lose some of the money on our package since we would be cancelling at such a late date and I don't want to have to cancel, I have been planning this trip for two years and I really need this trip. Sorry to carry on but this has so much put a damper on our trip planning, I am even afraid to start packing anything, even though our trip is less then two weeks away.

Is the ticket you are buying on United FULLY refundable? If so, you can buy it as a back up and then just cancel if the strike comes. (Make VERY sure it's a Y fare with NO restrictions)

NW will NOT automatically refund you your money. What they would want to do is write you over to another airline under thier interline agreements. So no matter what you will need to go to the airport and deal with NW (you can also call or have your TA deal with them.. My experience with AAA TAs is that they are of little to no use in situations like this and the phone lines will be packed.) If you have the fully refundable United tickets what you can first try is getting NW to write you over to NW and then cancel your full fare tickets. If they won't write you over, you can then try for a refund. Either way it will probably not be fun. However, it sounds like you are flying from a smaller airport. The advantate there is that there will be fewer people trying to make changes then if you were in MSP or Detroit.
 
Our MPLS paper today reports that they are making headway with their negotiations and it is looking less likely like a strike.
 
Thanks for all the great comments and support!

The article in the Star Tribune today, as well as the major news story on local TV here in Minneapolis is about NWA. They have resolved one issue involving regional jet flying, but are still apart on the biggies like $$$, etc. It looks like the judge in NY may be faced tomorrow with a big decision...
 
Can they strike immediately? I thought by federal law there was a 30 day cooling off period.
 
I don't think they will strike either. Like duds said they will all be out of jobs and fighting one another for jobs at other airlines.
 
Well, we leave 3/1 on NWA from Bismarck (Hi, vfb2girls!) using FF miles. Me, DD and DS will be meeting DH who will already be there at a conference. I'm still planning to leave and from what I've been reading, I'm not too worried about getting home on 3/9. After that, though, I'm not sure what I will do about planning another trip.

Hopefully, they can resolve this or I may never be able to fly my whole family out of Bismarck again without NWA!!! Unless, of course, Allegiant decides to make the trip to Orlando. We've been hearing rumors...
 
OK. Over on www.flyertalk.com there is some man posting (I guess it's a man) who went to some rally.

Lots of junke in his post... but what might be imporatant to some of you was that the union pretty much admits that the "strike" vote in a negiation tool. If they get the vote, they plan to negoiate for another month before they actually strike.... So for those early March flights right now things don't look too bad.. (Of course this person also says "Flight Attendants won't cross a picket line" Yeah.. those are the SAME FAs that walk daily right over the mechanics lines. So....)
 
Today will be an interesting day in this mess...

My understanding from the media here in the Twin Cities is that in this situation there is not a "cooling off" period, and the pilots could walk as soon as 2/28, after their vote is counted. The other thing that some lawyers on the news said is that they may stage a major work slowdown. Additionally, there are the ground workers and flight attendants who are voting now through the first week in March to strike.

NWA is THE major carrier here, and the other airlines do not have the capacity in and out of here (again, according to the media) to make up for a strike/shutdown now.

I would not want to be that judge.
 
Here is today's Star Tribune article:

"Pilots union leaders and negotiators from Northwest Airlines will gather in a New York courtroom today with no deal in hand, but the prospects for an agreement have improved.
"We could get a deal fairly quickly," Mark McClain, chairman of the Northwest pilots union, said in an interview Thursday. "We're closer now than we were last week."

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper had set today as the deadline for Northwest to reach new contracts with its pilots and flight attendants unions.

The pilots and management both reported this week that they have made substantial progress on preserving pilot jobs, and that could prompt Gropper to give the parties a second extension to complete a deal.

That action could provide some measure of relief to consumers booking travel in March and beyond. The pilots are scheduled to announce results of a strike authorization vote on Tuesday. While no strike date has been set, pilots have been adamant about walking out rather than working under terms imposed by a judge. Northwest has said it would ask a judge to block a strike.

Northwest has asked Gropper to void existing contracts for both its pilots and flight attendants unions, but he has prodded the unions and the company to negotiate new deals.

The flight attendants and Northwest management had a long negotiating session that began on Wednesday and ended in the early-morning hours Thursday.

"We are making slow and steady progress, and hope that we will have a tentative agreement to present to the bankruptcy court" today, said Douglas Moe, vice president for the Professional Flight Attendants Association (PFAA).

At the end of the day, Gropper would rather not "force a contractual rewrite down anyone's throats," said George Singer, a bankruptcy attorney with Lindquist & Vennum in Minneapolis.

While both sides in the pilot talks have expressed some optimism, a negotiated pilots agreement remains far from a given.

Northwest CEO Doug Steenland reiterated Wednesday that the airline needs to secure $1.4 billion in total labor concessions as quickly as possible. The pilots agreed to $250 million in annual concessions in 2004, and now Northwest wants $358 million more in cutbacks from the pilots.

Northwest's operating losses have averaged about $2.6 million a day through the first 11 weeks of its bankruptcy. "We are not in a position where negotiations can go on forever," Steenland said.

On Thursday, McClain said that "there is only so far that we will go" in making concessions. But he, too, stressed the gains since last week, including an agreement on a framework to expand regional flying and still keep pilot jobs at Northwest.

McClain, chairman of the Northwest branch of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), said that both sides can now focus on pay cuts, work-rule changes and other economic issues.

While Northwest wants $358 million in annual concessions in this bargaining round, McClain said that the parties still are about $100 million apart on a final package.

The company still is pushing to pay pilots 75 percent of their wages for sick days, which McClain characterized as "one of the silliest things they've ever done."

The union is pressing Northwest to grant pilots stock when the airline emerges from bankruptcy.

McClain likened the dance between the company and union negotiators to Japanese sumo wrestling. "They circle each other on the mat for about a minute, and all of a sudden they jump at each other," he said. "We're circling each other."

In January, Northwest presented its case to Gropper for rejecting its existing labor contracts, which would allow the carrier to impose new pay rates and work rules on pilots and flight attendants. But Gropper directed both sides to focus on forging deals, saying negotiated agreements would give Northwest a greater chance of succeeding when it exits from bankruptcy.

Today, Gropper will get a status report on how the parties have done. "The judge is getting a sense of where everyone is at and how to break down the walls and the barriers to a negotiated resolution, if that is at all possible," Singer said.

Although the unions and Northwest have been meeting almost daily since early January, they've done so against a backdrop of strike threats. In an interview Wednesday, Steenland declined to comment on whether Northwest is losing any significant amount of business because of the uncertainty over a strike.

Union and airline negotiators packed up their computers and paperwork on Thursday and flew to New York to get ready for their session with Judge Gropper.

It was unclear Thursday night whether the flight attendants and management would reach a deal before entering Gropper's courtroom today.

Hours before they flew to New York, the flight attendant negotiators made one more attempt "to offer management reasonable solutions to reach a consensual agreement," the union said Thursday.

On Wednesday afternoon, Steenland said he thought the differences with the flight attendants union were "narrowing" "
 
A friend of friend (sorry, it's as close as I can get) who is a pilot for NWA says things look at least hopeful. One of their two main concerns - job security - seems to have been addressed. Now it's the money problem. I've got my fingers crossed. In Minnesota we are left with few choices but to fly NW. There are a lot of anxious people here. Thanks for the Star Trib update - I was going to go there next! Now I can hang out on the boards a bit and try to just plan and forget aout the stirke. :thumbsup2
 
So with my understanding then we will find out today what is going on with the strike? I do not want to be purchasing any other tickets right now since I just checked with United and they are at 900.00 a person so that is out of the question, we can not afford to pay that kind of money for airfare when we have already spent so much on this trip. I am trying to keep a very hopeful attitude and just want to put this whole mess to rest right now, I would like to start packing my suitcase! And hello to you Cameo, sure hope we get to fly out of this cold weather to someplace a little more warmer!
 














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