Strike-Hit United Drops 70 of 77 Flights Out of L.A. : Thousands Stranded Nationwide
A strike by more than 5,000 United Airlines pilots today stranded thousands of passengers and forced the nation’s largest carrier to halt service at 89 airports and severely curtail flights at 50 others.
At Los Angeles International Airport, a United spokesman said only seven of his airline’s scheduled 77 departures were actually going out today, and all were filled to capacity.
United said it would attempt to keep planes flying with 240 supervisors. It said it had about 500 replacement pilots on hand, who are trained but not yet hired and who would be ready to fly in four days.
But few flights were scheduled today and even fewer took off. According to the union, which said it monitored flights from every airport nationwide, only 19 flights had taken off by 11 a.m.
Long, Slow Lines
At LAX today, there were long, slow-moving lines at the United Airlines ticket counters, but nearly everyone seemed calm and understanding. At any given moment there were an estimated 500 waiting in queues at United counters.
Some, like Jeff Tarlowe, had been waiting in line three hours trying to get United to get him on another airline that would take him “anywhere near Livingston, N.J.”
“This has inconvenienced me a lot,” said Tarlowe, 21, who had just finished taking finals at Pomona College. “I’m not in the best of shape right now. I called (United) last night and they gave me the runaround, said to come in this morning.”
When he arrived, he learned his flight to Newark had been canceled. But, he added: “I’m not blaming anybody.”
‘Zero-Value’ Tickets
Angela Ledington-Fischer and her husband, Nicholas Fischer, said they had bought tickets for Alaska at a discount last November, tried to get a Western Airlines flight and were told that their United tickets had “zero value” on the alternate flight--but not before their luggage had been accepted and sent on by Western to Seattle.
Federally mediated talks between the company and the Air Line Pilots Assn.--which represents 5,300 United pilots--stalled over United’s proposal to start new pilots at lower salaries and slow their raises. The union says the two-tiered system would create animosity among pilots and jeopardize safety. United says it cannot otherwise remain competitive.
United wanted to start new pilots at $21,600 a year, instead of the current $22,452, and to slow their raises. Captains with 20 years’ flying experience make up to $152,000 a year and the airline has said the new system would enable it to compete with airlines who pay their top-scale pilots $75,000 a year.
No Contract Since ’84
After five straight days of bargaining in Boston, talks broke off early today with no new talks scheduled. The pilots had worked without a contract since April, 1984.
The ruling council of the Assn. of Flight Attendants, which represents United’s 10,000 attendants, decided to honor the picket line shortly after the strike began, said spokeswoman M. J. Brenne in Washington, D.C.
But Linda Erf, United manager of employee communications, said “As far as we know, they’re all reporting for work.”
“Operations initially are scheduled to serve 50 airports, and we will temporarily discontinue service at 89,” including eight of 10 foreign airports, United spokesman Chuck Novak said.
Other airlines said they were working with United to meet the expected increased demand for service. But airports and telephone reservation lines were jammed at many airports as passengers scrambled to make alternate arrangements.
