Honolulu Airport buzzes
through Northwest strike;
other airlines load up

Flight attendants plan a rally;
Clinton may yet order a timeout

By Star-Bulletin staff

The 4-day-old strike by Northwest Airlines pilots has not hampered the operations of Honolulu Airport.

Airport officials have closed one runway during the day, but that was for scheduled electrical work and the runway will be reopened on Wednesday, said Marilyn Kali, state department of transportation spokeswoman.

Northwest was allowed to park two idle 747 and four DC-10 aircraft on a taxiway as long they did not interfere with airport operations, Kali added.

White House officials have said that if the strike lasts until Labor Day, President Clinton may reconsider his decision not to intervene and order a 60-day "cooling off" period. That is what he did last year when a strike by American Airlines pilots was only four minutes old.

Airlines connecting Hawaii to the mainland were running full today as passengers who lost their seats on strikebound Northwest Airlines scrambled for the few available seats.

But Northwest and local officials of other airlines said the rebooking was going fairly well and there are still some seats available, at least until the Labor Day holiday weekend.

"We had a few seats left over the weekend, and the Northwest people are just topping the airplanes off," said Norm Reeder, United Airlines managing director-Hawaii.

Things got better once the weekend was over, he said. "We have seats available this week. We're encouraging Northwest people to come over and stand by," Reeder said.

Hawaiian Airlines flights were full through the weekend, said a spokesman, Keoni Wagner. "They're essentially full. There are a small number of seats here and there which we are filling with Northwest passengers."

But Wagner said Hawaiian's Honolulu-West Coast flights were fully booked before the strike because of the normal end-of-summer business.

As Northwest announced that all its flights will remain canceled through Wednesday, the airline was footing the bill for hundreds of passengers who were put up in Waikiki hotels.

Meanwhile, the Teamsters Union unit representing the 487 Northwest flight attendants based in Hawaii, said it has planned a rally at Northwest's operations center at Honolulu Airport for 9:30 a.m. Friday.

The flight attendants plan to set off alarm clocks simultaneously with their counterparts across the nation. The union said it will be a "wake-up call" that attendants also have not won a new contract.

Despite attempts to get Northwest passengers on other airlines, some travelers have been stranded in Hawaii.

"Oh, it's terrible, a real heartbreaker, just awful," sarcastically chimed Northwest passengers Steven Rexrode, Corinna Swank and Daniel Grove, all from Pennsylvania. They came to Honolulu last week for a union convention of the American Federation of State and County Municipal Employees.

"We support them," Rexrode said seriously. "They feel their company isn't being fair with them, and that's the way it is."

Northwest pilots continued to picket for job security outside Honolulu Airport yesterday.

"We'd rather be flying than picketing, but Northwest has forced us to strike," said Bob Adomi, chair of the Northwest pilots union's strike committee in Honolulu. "We don't want to cause any harm to the people of Hawaii. We want to negotiate with Northwest to resolve this issue."

The pilots' main issue regards job security by limiting nonunion pilots, said Steve Flanagan, legislative affairs chairman for Northwest. The company wants to increase usage, which threatens its pilots' jobs, he said.

Except for waiting in lines at the airport, passengers didn't seem bothered by the strike, said Steven Shelemi, manager of customer service for Northwest.

In addition to hotel and meal vouchers, passengers received phone cards.

"We've had very few complaints, and many happy people glad to be stuck in Hawaii," he said. "In fact, the reaction to the strike has been much nicer than to a canceled flight."

All Northwest passengers flying to Japan were rerouted on different Asian airlines with no overnight delays, Shelemi said.

"I support the pilots. It's only fair," said Vivian Whittaker, a tourist from Romulus, Mich. "They bailed out the company, and then the company refused to acknowledge them their raises. The strike couldn't be helped."

Northwest will post flight cancellations on its Web site at http://www.nwa.com.

Passengers for flights more than 14 days from now can call 1-800-225-2525 later this week.

Passengers arranging tickets through a travel agency should contact their travel agent.