Tag: Delta Airlines

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Fun Stuff News of the Weird

News of the Weird: Week of 11/16/23

News You Can Use

Back off that accelerator if you’re driving through Coffee City, Texas, about three hours north of Houston. Why? The town, with about 250 residents, has 50 full- and part-time police officers, KHOU-TV reported on Aug. 30. The town’s budget reveals that it collected more than $1 million in court fines in 2022, which were the result of more than 5,100 citations the officers wrote. And there’s a tantalizing twist: Most of Coffee City’s officers had been suspended, demoted, terminated, or discharged from previous law enforcement jobs, for reasons including excessive force, public drunkenness, and association with known criminals. “I’ve never seen anything like that in my professional career, and I’ve seen a lot,” said Greg Fremin, a retired Houston Police Department captain. But Coffee City’s police chief, JohnJay Portillo, disagrees: “There’s more to just what’s on paper,” he said. “I try to look at the good in everybody and I believe everybody deserves an opportunity.” Even so, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement has an open investigation into the tiny community’s big law presence. [KHOU, 8/30/2023]

The Passing Parade

Lee Meyer of Neligh, Nebraska, altered his Ford sedan a few years back, cutting out half the roof and the passenger-side door and adding a farm gate, so that he could drive his Watusi bull in the Kolach Days Parade in Verdigre. (A Watusi bull, for you non-Nebraskans, has large, long horns, similar to a Texas Longhorn.) The bull, Howdy Doody, hitched another ride with Meyer on Aug. 30 on U.S. 275, but the Norfolk police weren’t having it, People reported: “The officer performed a traffic stop and addressed some traffic violations that were occurring with that particular situation,” Capt. Chad Reiman said. “I don’t know why he was doing it that day. I can honestly say that I haven’t seen anything like that before.” Meyer was asked to leave the city and return home with Howdy Doody. [People, 8/31/2023]

Don’t Mind Them

• In Fairfax County, Virginia, on Aug. 22, a man entered a 7-Eleven store and displayed a knife, which was the least interesting part of the robbery, Fox5DC-TV reported. The man, who was described as Hispanic, was wearing a black cowboy hat upon which perched two parrots. Another parrot was riding on the man’s shoulder. The suspect escaped in a blue SUV with an undisclosed amount of money, police said. [Fox5DC, 8/24/2023]

• And in northern England, an unnamed driver was issued a traffic offense report by police after he was observed motoring along the M62 with an African gray parrot on his shoulder, The Guardian reported on Aug. 30. “Animals should be in suitable carriers/restraints so that they don’t interfere with your ability to drive safely,” police posted on X. [Guardian, 8/30/2023]

Walk of Shame

“It’s just a biohazard issue,” the pilot told air traffic control. And indeed, the Delta Airlines Airbus A350 was forced to return to Atlanta after two hours in the air on Sept. 1 after a passenger suffered an “onboard medical emergency”: uncontrollable diarrhea that left the entire length of the aisle covered in fecal matter. The Guardian reported that passengers said the flight crew did everything they could to clean up the mess, including spraying it with scented disinfectant. But that merely made the cabin “smell of vanilla s–t,” one traveler said. Back in Atlanta, passengers, including the afflicted traveler, waited eight hours for the plane to be cleaned up and the aisle carpet to be replaced, then reboarded and were on their way to Barcelona — again. [Guardian, 9/6/2023]

Bright Idea

A 38-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman have been arrested in the central Shanxi province of China, China Daily reported, for digging a shortcut through the Great Wall of China. Local police were alerted to the damage on Aug. 24 and followed tracks from an excavator back to the suspects, who explained that they needed the shortcut to get back and forth to their construction jobs. The Great Wall is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has reportedly been “damaged beyond repair.” The two were charged with destroying a cultural relic. [China Daily, 9/4/2023]

NEWS OF THE WEIRD
© 2023 Andrews McMeel Syndication.
Reprinted with permission.
All rights reserved.

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News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall 1421

Awkward Files

Social media-sharing reorganizes old-school media content in ways that aren’t always ideal. Photos might be unrelated or randomly cropped, and, as in this case, a reporter’s opening sentences may be repurposed as an awkward subhead. Commercial Appeal scribe David Waters penned a lovely story about retiring educator Rita Grivich. The column’s sharable form was slugged “She teaches deaf students and she’s Italian.”

Neverending Elvis

It’s true what they say. Elvis is everywhere. He’s most recently been connected to the Panama Papers, a monumental document leak detailing attorney/client information related to hundreds of thousands of offshore shell companies. Of course, it’s not the real Elvis who’s been taking care of shady business but one of his many impersonators. In addition to performing Elvis tributes in his $3,500 jumpsuit, New Zealand-based entrepreneur Darryl Jensen drove a taxi and operated businesses related to “energy therapies” and “interactive soul healing.” Two bankruptcies later, the man who would be king was more than $200,000 in debt. His home was listed as the registered address for Basil Al Jarah of Iraq, who’s been described as the bagman in an oil industry bribery and corruption scandal.

Nipped

Is Delta Airlines flight attendant Rachel Trevor the not-very-smart Robin Hood of airplane bottle liquor sales? The 28-year-old Memphis woman was arrested for stealing approximately 1,500 itty-bitty bottles of booze from Delta and selling them on Craigslist for a buck a piece. The liquor has been given an in-flight value of $12,000.

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News News Blog

Construction Is Underway For Airport Modernization

Demolition of the south end of Concourse A at Memphis International Airport is underway. The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority’s (MSCAA) modernization plan involves removing the south ends of the A and C concourses to allow planes to better access to all the gates on Concourse B. All airline operations are being consolidated into the B concourse. 

This image shows the airport as it looks now with the southern ends of the A and C concourses blocking two-way traffic.

With the airport’s current design, planes only have one-way access to and from the courtyard areas of the B concourse because the south ends of the A and C concourses are in the way. This wasn’t a problem when Delta Airlines had their hub at the airport because they could better coordinate when their own planes were coming or going. Now with multiple airlines taking up more space at Memphis International Airport, it’s harder to coordinate entry and exit traffic. Demolishing the south ends of the A and C concourses will create a larger taxiway, allowing planes to come and go at the same time.

The rest of the A and C concourses will be left intact, and only the southern ends are being removed. The MSCAA will retain 20 gates for future expansion.

The current phase of construction on Concourse A should be completed by early December 2015. While construction is ongoing, gates 1, 3, 5, 7, and 27 to 41 on the west side of the B concourse will be closed. Demolition to remove Concourse C’s southern end should begin in late summer 2015. By late 2015, all airlines and concessions are expected to be operating in the B concourse. 

The $114 million concourse modernization plan, which will take between and five and seven years to complete, also includes the addition of moving walkways, expansion of boarding areas and added passenger seating, raised ceilings, and increased natural lighting. 

This image demonstrates how removing the south ends of the A and C concourses will free up taxiway space for incoming and outgoing planes.

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Editorial Opinion

Taking Flight at MEM Again?

Along with the weather and whichever public official is judged most feckless or misguided in a given time-frame (the honor rotates), there is no target more susceptible to local misgivings these days than Memphis International Airport.

Sometimes it’s actually the former main proprietor, Delta, which famously (or infamously) shuttered its hub and pulled dozens of flights out of Memphis, that accounts for traveler malaise; sometimes it’s the fact that the big, new-ish parking facility obscures the long-cherished view of the MIA terminal; sometimes it’s something as simple as the fact that the number of fast-food outlets has shrunk, especially in the airport’s pre-boarding areas where people are used to dropping off their kinfolk.

And sometimes it’s the fact that, as has been widely reported, the facility is about to be downsized, with plans to demolish the airport’s A and C terminals — one of which used to be Delta’s bailiwick, the other of which is still bearing a good deal of traffic.

All of that is the bad news. So, you ask: What’s the good news? Well, to listen to Scott Brockman, the Airport Authority’s executive director since January, there’s a bunch of it, beginning with the fact that, along with the demolition of terminals A and C, the B terminal is about to undergo some impressive expansion and modernization, giving it not only a more spacious look and feel but a sense of being up-to-date, which the 50-year-old airport facility has heretofore lacked.

Best of all, the improvements-to-come, which will cost an estimated $114 million, can be accomplished without incurring any additional debt, says Brockman, who points out that the Airport Authority has a $691 million balance, has reduced its debt load by $300 million in the past decade, and maintains A-level grades with the top three rating services. And that aforementioned ground-transportation facility has upped revenues from parking four-fold.

The areas administered by the Airport Authority (including the FedEx property and DeWitt Spain and Charles Baker airport) still account for one job in four in these parts, Brockman noted in a luncheon talk to members of the Rotary Club of Memphis on Tuesday. And the Memphis facility handles more cargo on a daily basis than any other site besides Hong Kong. Locally originating passenger flights are actually up, not down, in recent months, and new nonstops have been added to Denver, Chicago, Houston Dallas, and Baltimore — not to mention Philadelphia, which Brockman said could become a connecting point to rival Atlanta.

For the record, these are the airlines that provide daily passenger service from Memphis: American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, United, U.S. Airways, and Seaport. (Even Delta has upped its service somewhat lately, adding non-stops to Cancun on a seasonal basis.) Of these, Frontier and Southwest are the newcomers, and, as one might expect of newbies, they are determined to demonstrate their competitiveness to the traveling public.

We’re willing to take Brockman at his word when he talks of the Airport Authority’s “relentless pursuit of frequent, affordable air service,” but only time will tell. Still, if the former hapless University of Memphis football Tigers seem finally ready to soar again, then so, surely, can Memphis International Airport.

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Opinion

Thoughts on Maxine Smith, Harahan Bridge, Grizzlies, and Desegregation

Willie Herenton and Maxine Smith

  • Willie Herenton and Maxine Smith

In the aftermath of the obits and tributes to Maxine Smith, this old story came back to me. Mrs. Smith and the NAACP opposed Plan Z — the busing plan for 40,000 students in 1972. They wanted 60,000 students bused and unsuccessfully sued to overrule Plan Z, which they called “a grotesque distortion of the law.” Two dozen schools were left out of the plan because there was no hope that white students would go to them. Fear went both ways. Louis Lucas, one of the NAACP lawyers, told me several black parents complained to him that marijuana and other drugs were more prevalent at white schools than black schools.

Mrs. Smith went on the school board when it was majority white and majority male. The Memphis School System was majority black and trending moreso. One of the things I liked about her as NAACP secretary was that she worked out of a small office in a small building on Vance Avenue in a poor part of town. When I needed some historic photographs for a Memphis magazine story, she got up and dug them out of a file cabinet herself and gave them to me at no charge. We would have paid.

Desegregation was hard, even where it wasn’t violent. But there was a just goal that blacks and white rallied to. The age cutoff for people who remember separate “white” and “colored” public facilities and restaurants is about 50 now. Resegregation is harder in another way. Nobody has an answer. Nobody. There are no leaders because there are no followers who want to be led to a common goal, which is the definition of leadership.

Mayor A C Wharton suggested naming one of the parks for Maxine and Vasco Smith. That came up Monday at the meeting of the parks renaming committee. “Naming a park after her would not do her justice,” said Harold Collins, who suggested a school or school administration building might be more suitable down the road. Doug Cupples, who voted on the other side from Collins on the Confederate names, agreed it would be “premature” to name a park for the Smiths.

The pedestrian and bicycle path on the Harahan Bridge will be 10 feet wide or 12 feet wide, depending on how much planners want to pinch the budget. As an occasional bike rider, I say width matters on a path to be shared by bikes going fast and pedestrians with small children going slow. It is the main thing. Get the main thing right and spring for the extra bucks. The Greenline is 10 feet wide but there are shoulders on both sides most of the way. There will be no margin of error on the bridge path, just fences.

The bridge path from one side of the river to the other will be one mile long. One mile is about the distance from the eastern approach to the A. W. Willis Jr. Bridge to Mud Island to the entrance to Mud Island River Park. Try walking or biking it, there and back, some time on a 95-degree summer afternoon.

I watched the Grizzlies on television with friends in Michigan last weekend. They couldn’t believe that Marc Gasol was a good but hardly great player at a small private high school, Lausanne, and didn’t play college ball.

A year ago I flew Delta to Detroit for $415 round trip. This year it was $260 for the same itinerary. Go figure. And can someone explain why car rentals are so cheap? I got a car for three days for $51, tax included, and a month ago my gang and I got an even better car in Richmond, Va. for $11 a day.

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Reason To Smile?

CREDIT: Danziger

When editors of the next edition of this or that dictionary are searching for something to illustrate the word “irrepressible,” they need look no further than Jack Sammons, the newly named chairman of the Memphis-

Shelby County Airport Authority, who downplays his other considerable skills by referring to himself as a “salesman.”

But no Willy Loman is he. Sammons, a versatile businessman/entrepreneur and longtime member of the Memphis City Council, not only has the brightest Cheshire cat smile in our corner of the Western world, he has the most unquenchable optimism.

And therefore, when Sammons took his sales pitch on the future good prospects of the airport to a Memphis Rotary Club luncheon this week, he made no effort to ignore the airport’s “awesome challenges,” which he laid on the table as problems to be solved. Some of these problems transcend our local sphere. Sammons said the airline industry itself has diminished by 16 percent since September 10, 2001, the day before the attacks on New York’s World Trade Center transformed the nation’s commercial and personal habits.

That same number — 16 — also describes the number of airline hubs that have gone out of existence since 1990. We all know about the ongoing mergers, such as Northwest’s absorption by Delta, which has drastically downsized its inherited Memphis hub operation to a nominal presence.

Sammons offered a bit of good news on this latter point, saying he talked with Delta’s CEO last week and was assured that “no more Draconian cuts” are in the offing. For what it’s worth, Sammons also got himself invited to serve on the airline’s “Customer Advisory Board.” Hopefully, he will lobby forcefully on behalf of Memphians who have seen their available flights reduced while rates have continued to rise.

Sammons said he has also been engaging with officials of Southwest Airlines, the low-cost carrier that has become a national phenomenon among airlines and which, at long last, is due to initiate new service in Memphis during the coming year through its AirTran acquisition.

Sammons said he pushed for more flights and was told, “The more you take, the more you’ll get.” To Sammons, that meant advising his audience to join Southwest’s Rapid Rewards program to demonstrate a strong local commitment.

Unsurprisingly, Sammons touted the inestimable value of FedEx to Memphis’ air operations, in ways ranging from its contribution to landing fees to the company’s transformation of Memphis into “the Bethlehem of cargo aviation.” He also cited the value to the airport of the new, multi-decker parking garage, which Sammons considers a potential cash cow.

There’s big-picture stuff, and there’s good housekeeping to be taken care of. On the latter score, Sammons promised to pursue such improvements as internal rental-car decks, internet availability everywhere on the property, and more people-friendly attitudes everywhere — including, he assured the Rotarians, on the part of TSA inspectors.

It’s good that Sammons is smiling. Now, if he can only get the air-traveling public hereabouts to do the same, we’ll truly have something.

Categories
Opinion

Southwest/Air Tran Adding Four Flights from Memphis

Southwest-Airlines-logo-300x225.jpg

Southwest Airlines, through its Air Tran subsidiary, is adding four flights out of Memphis starting in August, the Memphis Shelby County Airport Authority announced Monday.

The news is certainly welcome in the sense that it reverses the trend of declining passenger service at Memphis International Airport. Jack Sammons, the new chairman of the Airport Authority, called it “a home run.” But when you do a little comparative pricing, it looks more like a single. More on that follows, but first the basics of the announcement:

In a national release by Southwest, the company detailed four new Memphis flights to three new AirTran routes; twice a day between Memphis and Chicago Midway, and once daily service between Memphis and Orlando, and Memphis and Baltimore/Washington. The new flights will begin service on August 11, 2013, and are in addition to the current five daily non-stops on AirTran between Memphis and Atlanta. The new service is available for booking immediately for flights on or after August 11.

“We are very excited that Southwest has decided to add three new city pairs for Memphis to fly under its AirTran subsidiary. Many years of relationship building with Southwest are paying off,” said Larry Cox, President and CEO of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority. “This service addition reinforces the message given to Memphians last September by Southwest Executive Vice President Ron Ricks when he stated ‘We’re here. We’re here to stay … You’ve got to be patient with us, and things will not happen overnight.’”

“We are excited and grateful that Southwest Airlines has decided to include MEM in their network. This news is a home run for travelers in our region hungry for affordable flight options,” added recently elected Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority Chairman Jack Sammons. “Southwest management has informed me that they will add additional flights this year based on how well these initial flights perform. As one Southwest executive remarked in our meeting last week, ‘The more flights we take, the more we get.’ It’s a new era in aviation in America and certainly a new era for our airport. Your Airport Authority will continue to be relentless in our efforts to make Memphis the airport of choice for the traveling public.”

Now for a little number crunching. I could book a flight to Chicago Midway on August 15th, a Thursday, with a return to Memphis on August 18th, a Sunday, for as low as $253 on Air Tran. But there is only one non-stop flight on each of those days. Otherwise, you go through Atlanta, and the trip takes approximately four to six hours each way and the fare goes to $276 or $316. Still not a bad deal if you have the time, but you are dealing with one of the biggest and busiest airports in the world — Atlanta — and a secondary Chicago airport on the east side of the city which makes it more or less convenient depending on your destination. The business fare on Air Tran is $823 round trip.

For travel on the same dates, Delta has several nonstops for a round-trip price of $253. The first-class/business fare is $1,181. For travel in March — five months before the new Air Tran service begins — you can book a weekend Thursday-Sunday trip to Chicago O’Hare on either Delta or United non-stop for $396 today.

As always, when and how you travel — short notice, business or pleasure, flexibility — makes a huge difference in the cost, duration, and convenience of air travel in the age of booking through Kayak, which makes everyone a travel agent. Again, this looks like a small piece of good news but it’s only a home run if you are playing in a Little League park with a 200-foot fence.

UPDATE: After doing a little more checking, I see there are two, not one, daily non-stops in the service to Chicago that begins in August. My bad. But one of them, be warned, leaves Memphis at 5:35 a.m. As for the new flights to Orlando, Memphis to central and southwest Florida is already well served. There is service to Orlando, Tampa, Sarasota, and Fort Myers for under $350 round trip in February and March, most of it through Atlanta. And if money is more important than time to you, Amtrak offers a $99 fare (each way) from Memphis to Chicago that puts you in the heart of the Windy City.

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Letter From The Editor Opinion

Letter from the Editor: The 12 Days of Josh

I’m not a swami, but here are some things I can predict with confidence …

Every year about this time, an article will appear chronicling the cost of the items in the song “The 12 Days of Christmas.” This year’s total, according to PNC Wealth Management, is $107,300. That seems a little high to me. I’m pretty sure, for example, they could have gone down to Brooks Road and gotten a better deal than the $6,294 they spent on “nine ladies dancing.” But I digress.

I can also predict that the basketball Tigers will underperform in the early season, and everyone in town will start doubting Josh Pastner’s ability to coach and/or motivate his highly rated players. To which, I say, chill out. Look at the big picture: He’s an amazing recruiter, he’s averaged 25 wins a year, he’s 34 years old, with a young family. And, yes, it’s weird that he doesn’t drink or cuss, but so what?

I remember being 34 with a young family. I had a nice editing and writing job at a national magazine. When my boss suddenly resigned, I was made managing editor. It was a great opportunity for me, but recalling the stress of those first couple years in management still gives me nightmares. I didn’t know how to hire or fire or motivate; I made a lot of mistakes. And I drank and cussed. A lot. But eventually I learned what was important and what to let slide. I learned that hiring talented people and letting them perform was better than trying to do it all yourself. Give Pastner a little more time. I predict he’ll get there (though I can’t promise I won’t cuss at him now and then).

I also predict that Delta Airlines will continue screwing over Memphis by raising airfares, then cutting flights, then citing a “lack of demand” as a reason to cut more flights. Just as predictably, each time this happens, airport chief Larry Cox and the rest of the Airport Authority board will hum along to Delta’s tune, adding that “market forces” are responsible.

Delta is “doing” Memphis an enormous economic disservice. They have broken promise after promise and are abandoning the city piecemeal. I wish Memphians worried as much about the performance of the Airport Authority as they do about Josh Pastner’s coaching skills, but that probably won’t happen.

If it will help, just imagine the increase in cost of “The 12 Days of Christmas” over the past few years if “nine flights from Memphis” was a line in that stupid song.

Bruce VanWyngarden

brucev@memphisflyer.com

Categories
Opinion

The Mariachi Band Was a Bad Omen for Aerotropolis

mariachi-band.jpg

Memphis as America’s Aerotropolis can’t catch a break.

The latest news is Delta Airlines’ decision to halt the Memphis to Amsterdam direct service via KLM from September 2012 to May 2013 and make it seasonal after that. The story was first reported by The Commercial Appeal and the Memphis Business Journal.

Delta has been steadily cutting back service in Memphis even as the airport expands and modernizes. The Ground Transportation Center, a $89 million project announced by the airport authority in 2010, is scheduled for completion this year. A new $72 million tower opened last year in November.

In an interview for MBQ magazine, International Paper CEO John Faraci told me the trend is troubling for the Fortune 500 company that employs more than 2000 people in the Memphis area.

“Yes it is a problem. Especially on the international side. On direct flights from Memphis to anywhere we are impacted because we’re a global company. Memphis not being the hub it once was, it’s more difficult for us. We can deal with it. We have our own fleet of planes. But the more nonstops, the better off you are.”

Getting in and out of the airport has never been easier for those who fly. The problem is the highest average fares in the country, the declining number of North American direct connections, and now the Amsterdam news, which leaves Toronto as the only real claim to international status.

It seems like every time someone tries to drum up some good news about the airport it backfires. University of Memphis Athletic Director R. C. Johnson was widely mocked when he said “Memphis has a great airport” as a strange rejoiner to the firing of football coach Tommy West in 2009.

In 2010, Delta and the Memphis Shelby County Airport Authority celebrated the 15th anniversary of the Amsterdam flight in this announcement that only highlights the pain of the latest announcement.

“America’s Aerotropolis” is the theme of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority promotion of the airport. There was a world conference in Memphis in 2011. But the conference had to compete with some discouraging news.

In January of 2011, city officials and the chamber of commerce called a news conference to announce service to Mexico City and then it was promptly canceled. The new service, which only operated on Saturday, lasted exactly four flights. Bad idea all around. It is never a good idea for people in business attire to put on a topper any larger than a baseball hat or a hardhat. A sombrero photo would have lived in infamy.

Categories
Opinion

Behind the “Highest Air Fares” in Memphis

delta_jet_photo.jpg

Memphis gets tagged with some bad publicity on dubious merits from time to time, but our reputation for high air fares has been earned fair and square.

As has been widely reported, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics ranks Memphis number one among 100 U.S. airports, with an average fare of $476.22, in the most recent quarterly report. But behind the numbers there are . . . a lot more numbers showing basically the same thing.

Dave Smallen, the media contact for the Bureau, compiled stats on fares for every quarter for the last 16 years. Memphis has been 7-32 percent higher than the national average each quarter. There were two quarters in 2000 when Memphis veered close to the national average, but since then the gap has grown to a comfortable double-digit margin.

Memphis passenger traffic is dominated by Delta, as reported in a Flyer story in November. The second-highest average fares are in Cincinnati, which is also a Delta hub.

Average plane ticket prices are up 30 percent since 2000 and up 9 percent since one year ago.

Memphis ranks 65th in passenger origination and destinations, while Cincinnati is 58th.