Travel Rearranged as Strike Deadline Nears

Wary travelers rearranged their plans Thursday as Northwest Airlines and its pilots worked to avert a weekend strike that threatened to shut down the airline.

With weeks of warning leading up to the pilots’ strike deadline of 9 p.m. PDT tonight, most passengers, particularly those traveling out of Northwest’s hub cities of Detroit and Minneapolis, had already made other arrangements, and Northwest airports hubs were eerily quiet.

Northwest and its pilots were negotiating issues of pay, job security, retirement and work rules. Both sides are under a self-imposed news blackout on the status of the talks.

“We’re still not characterizing them in any way,” airline spokeswoman Marta Laughlin said. “We’re still hopeful we can reach an agreement.”

Northwest has already canceled 400 flights today and Saturday that were to have carried 25,000 passengers. Several major airlines, including Trans World Airlines and Delta Air Lines, have agreed to accept Northwest tickets today and Saturday in the event of a strike.