April 3, 2008
ATA's Bankruptcy To Affect Southwest Customers
Indianapolis-based ATA Airlines filed for bankruptcy last night "after it lost a key military charter contract amid skyrocketing fuel prices." This prompted the now-defunct airline to stop all service today, stranding thousands of passengers. (An aside: ABC 7's Terry McSweeney just, like, freaked the fuck out about it on the 11 a.m. news. Seriously, he said "dreams are being taken away." His head is going to explode.)
The airline's downfall will also affect some Southwest Airlines' ticket holders. It seems that ATA has "a code-share agreement with [Southwest] for travel to Hawaii." But for all of you white sand and poi fans, fear not: Southwest claims that it will "rebook passengers who were scheduled to travel on ATA" or refund unused portions of the tickets.
This makes the second airline to come crashing down this week. Aloha Airlines wiped out earlier this week as well.
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This is just the beginning....
But Bush says were defiantly NOT
in a recession, so its going to be ok.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Io5RV86T5e0
My uncle was going to fly to Chicago today on an ATA flight. His wife was able to purchase a ticket for him early this morning on US Airways. Over at Consumerist.com, some posters have said that customers who purchased unused tickets with credit cards may be able to get a refund. Those who paid with cash or check will probably have to file a claim with the Bankruptcy Court.
http://www.bmcgroup.com/ataairlines.
Now if they can get American, United and Delta to go out of business all will be well in the universe.
But, RobinSF, I can't SWIM to Kauai. (There's a floating continent of plastic refuse somewhere out in the Pacific, between here and there. I would never make it around that thing.)
Yeah, NPR news this morning said people should contact their credit card companies for refunds!
Shibi: Take a boat, it'll be fun.
This sucks, another airline to Hawaii goes down the drain.
I wonder how many ticketed passengers who booked Aloha, then had to find another plane to get to Hawaii booked on ATA? You'd be double pissed off!
Sucks for Hawaii's economy.
On the bright side, there was some encouraging news about the private investors response to helping fund the high-speed rail system in California. If we can just pass the $10 billion (rounded up) bond in November ... at least we won't have to rely on planes to get us around our own state.
I would think Southwest's customers will be far more affected by the news on NPR today that Southwest hasn't been properly inspecting its planes, was faking inspections, etc., then hired a guy from the FAA, and tried to fire the whistleblower.
I came in mid-way through the story, but it made me choke on my waffles, that's for sure.
I have not dared fly on ATA since I went to Hawaii last time, a few years ago, and saw on the ATA departures board "All Flights Delayed Until Thursday So We Can Replace an Engine on our DC-10".
It was TUESDAY. I was on United, which is (or was) a Real Arline.
Well, at least there won't be any confusion of ATA vs. AirTrain Airways