Question: Airlines offering to send planes to evac those stranded

[SammyWinstonJack]

in NO, now. Why didn't they do this before Katrina made landfall? I heard they refused to fly planes into NO last Sunday because they didn't want to bring in planes with empty seats. Didn't Gov. Blanco ask them for help in that evac effort? Is that right?

[iamjoy]

1. More Complicated Than That

it is very expensive for an airline to fly an empty plane and certainly not too many were going INTO New Orleans last weekend.

But, other factors are at work.

I don't think any of these private companies realized how abysmal the government response would be, they kept waiting for the government to do something

Airports ususally open a few days after a hurricane and people start coming in and out. Not the case in NOLA. But, meanwhile, there are tourists and business travelers stranded there because they were supposed to fly home Monday, Tuesday, etc but couldn't get a flight out last weekend. Since I'm not a lawyer but have worked in the travel business, I think if the airport is operating, the airlines sort of have an obligation to get their passengers out as soon as feasible and safe.

Airlines that used NOLA as a hub have been having to reroute, no easy task logistically speaking (but nothing compared to everything else happening). Those planes aren't earning them any money sitting empty. So at this point, maybe they figure what the heck, might as well help people.

The crazy thing about Katrina, is - I bet it isn't just poor people suffering. It could be one of us if we were solidly middle class. You decide to take the kids to New Orleans the week before school starts. You fly into the city and plan to fly back Sunday night. Then, the storm is approaching. You try to get an earlier flight, they are all sold out. Your flight cancelled. So, you are stuck. You don't have a rental car and at this point, those are all gone too (if only you'd thought of driving out of there this morning instead of hoping to catch a plane). The hotel allows you to stay, maybe they charge you for the extra room nights, maybe not, that is irrelevant at this point. The hotel is nice at first, but with teh city flooded, no power and no running water, soon the conditions are only marginally better than we read about at the Superdome.

We should tell this to any rich RW who acts like this doesn't matter 'cos it is only the poor or that people should have left.

[babylonsister]

2. I posted this earlier today:

Add'l info about airlines last Saturday:
The gov. of NOLA may have used too broad a brush to condemn all the airlines; sorry, no link as I'm not a subscriber.

WSJ article blasts DL for stranding MSY customers

An article in Friday's edition of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) looked at the airlines that departed from MSY the day before Hurricane Katrina hit and asked "Where was Delta?"

On Saturday, Delta Air Lines (DL) canceled all of its flights scheduled the Sunday before Katrina made landfall; however, other airlines, including CO, kept flying as long as the weather would permit. DL said its decision to cancel its Sunday schedule was based on the safety of its customers. "As it turns out," the article said, "conditions were OK to operate well into Sunday.

The Sunday before Katrina slammed into the central Gulf Coast, American Airlines operated a full schedule until 1 p.m. CO's last flight departed MSY at 4:30 p.m.; CO flew 10 of its 12 scheduled flights that day. Southwest's latest flight was set to depart at 3 p.m. but was delayed until 6 p.m.

"The contrast between what American, Continental and Southwest did Sunday and what Delta did is startling," the article said. "Airlines have to be safe, but they also have to be mindful of their obligation as public transportation. In this case, they were the lifeboat for many customers, and some of the lifeboats didn't show up."

[applegrove]

3. The President can order Commercial Jets to where ever he wants

in a crisis.