US Air Blamed in Travel Foul-Up

Poor planning and poor labor relations at US Airways helped lead to delays and cancellations that inconvenienced a half-million holiday travelers in December, according to a federal investigation released Wednesday.

By contrast, the report by Transportation Department Inspector General Kenneth Mead determined that holiday delays and cancellations at Comair, a Delta Air Lines-owned regional carrier, were largely beyond the airline’s control.

The report was critical of the way US Airways Group Inc. handled the shortages of fleet service employees and flight attendants, particularly in Philadelphia. Though managers knew of the impending staffing problem -- and tried to mitigate the situation by paying other employees overtime -- their “plans ultimately did not work,” the report concluded.

At one point, US Airways managers “began invoking mandatory overtime, but most employees either refused to work additional hours or went home sick,” according to the report.

Still, contrary to the carrier’s claims that flight attendants placed an unusually high number of sick calls, the government found the absentee rate was no higher than the year before.

“The real problem was the inadequate level of available flight attendants to cover for sick calls or other absences,” investigators concluded, blaming the problem on staffing reductions made to cut costs.

The report found that more than 500,000 passengers were inconvenienced and 72,000 claims were filed for lost, stolen or damaged luggage.

Comair stranded 269,000 travelers and mishandled 11,000 bags, mostly in Cincinnati, the report said. Investigators determined Comair’s poor performance probably couldn’t have been prevented because it stemmed from severe weather and computer problems.

A computer system used to schedule crews automatically shut down after reaching a monthly transaction limit neither the carrier nor the system manufacturer knew about. The monthly limit was reached because the weather prompted so many scheduling changes.

Comair spokesman Nick Miller said the company has addressed its computer problems with a temporary fix, apologized to customers for the inconvenience and had taken steps to prevent a recurrence.

In a statement, US Airways said, “We trust that DOT officials recognize both our regret over the situation as well as the many initiatives we have taken to improve service to our customers.”