Flights snarled at U.S. East Coast airports as controllers call in sick

[rooster59]

Flights snarled at U.S. East Coast airports as controllers call in sick

By Jonathan Allen and David Shepardson

 

Travelers wait in lines at LaGuardia Airport in New York City after hundreds of flights were grounded or delayed at New York-area airports as more air traffic controllers called in sick on Friday, in one of the most tangible signs yet of disruption from a 35-day partial shutdown of the U.S. government January 25, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Segar

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hundreds of flights were grounded or delayed at New York-area and Philadelphia airports on Friday as air traffic controllers called in sick hours before President Donald Trump announced an end to the 35-day partial shutdown of the U.S. government.

 

Trump said on Friday he had reached a deal with U.S. lawmakers for three weeks in stop-gap funding that would end the budget stalemate with Democrats.

 

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop for flights destined for New York's LaGuardia Airport on Friday morning before lifting it just over an hour later. Staff shortages also delayed flights at Newark Liberty International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport, according to the FAA.

 

Delays had impacted about a third of incoming flights to LaGuardia early on Friday, according to the FlightAware tracking service.

 

The White House had been briefed for weeks on aviation issues during the shutdown and Trump had gotten an update on Friday. Administration and congressional officials said they did not think Friday's flight disruptions was the deciding factor in ending the shutdown. But it was a mounting concern among administration officials.

 

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed or, as with some airport workers, required to work without pay, during the shutdown. Some federal agencies have reported much higher absence rates among workers who were working without paychecks.

 

John Hitt, a 51-year-old lawyer based in Boston, had expected to fly to Milwaukee via LaGuardia on Friday morning to visit his terminally ill aunt, but Delta Air Lines <DAL.N> told him his flight was delayed for at least two and a half hours.

 

"I've had to scratch the trip, eat the cost of a rental car cancellation and now I'm starting over to figure out when I could get there," Hitt said in a telephone interview. "With the uncertainty now created by the shutdown, it's making me hesitant to fly."

 

Delta said about 200 of its flights were delayed at LaGuardia and other Northeast airports.

 

Paul Rinardi, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said on Friday the association does not condone employees joining any coordinated activity that compromises safety, but that many controllers have reached "the breaking point."

 

Democrats in Congress also said that the system's safety would be jeopardized by a continuing shutdown. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday that the shutdown was "pushing our airspace to the breaking point."

 

FAA air traffic controllers guide the takeoff and landing of planes carrying around two million passengers daily, a job the FAA describes as having zero margin for error.

 

On Thursday, three major U.S. airlines - American Airlines Group Inc <AAL.O>, Southwest Airlines Co <LUV.N> and JetBlue Airways Corp <JBLU.O> - said the impact of the shutdown on their business had so far been limited but was nearing a tipping point.

 

Airlines for America, an industry trade group, praised the deal to reopen the government. "As we have seen over the past 35 days, the pressures and strains of a shutdown are not sustainable. The disruptions to passengers, commerce and the economy are not tolerable," the group said in a statement.

 

The financial fortunes of airlines are closely tied to the health of the economy. In addition, airlines with hubs in Washington have said they have been losing government business as a result of the shutdown.

 

Delta said on Friday it had decided to postpone the debut of its Airbus A220 due to delays in the FAA certification process, while Southwest said the shutdown was delaying its plan to launch service to Hawaii, which also requires FAA approval.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-26

[pegman]

No worries, everything getting back to normal. As expected Trump folded like a cheap suit. 

[ballpoint]

Just now, pegman said:

No worries, everything getting back to normal. As expected Trump folded like a cheap suit. 

Like a deck chair.  On the Titanic.  

[Katia]

No worries, the deal is just temporary... we'll be doing this again in three weeks.  ????

[Jingthing]

No worries, the deal is just temporary... we'll be doing this again in three weeks.  [emoji849]

No we won't.
Senate republicans are turning on off the rails "trump"

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Respectthailand]

Dreadful situation for passengers.

But all this is fairly and utterly the fault of dirty, duplicitous deceitful don.

[edwinchester]

Does this mean Trump convinced the Mexicans to pay for the wall?

[Jingthing]

38 minutes ago, edwinchester said:

Does this mean Trump convinced the Mexicans to pay for the wall?

No but you can be sure at his next scary MAWA hat rally he'll declare victory that his great wall is being built (much already built he will say/lie failing to mention it already existed before he was elected) and that Mexico is paying via USMCA. The thing is he'll always have his core base, 30 percent or so. Con men always have their marks. 

[bristolboy]

Here's a quote from Nancy Pelosi about Trump that I somehow missed:

'Earlier this month, she said Trump might be under the impression that furloughed workers “can just ask their father for more money.”'

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/01/nancy-pelosi-won-shutdown-trump.html

[Basil B]

To think lives are at stake as probably the most stressful job in aviation has jumped up several stress notches. 

 

Thankfully well are not talking about a major air crash where the air traffic controller is at fault because he was distracted worrying how he was going to feed his kids... 

 

What other civilized country shuts down because the Government can not approve a budget???

[Katia]

16 minutes ago, Basil B said:

What other civilized country shuts down because the Government can not approve a budget???

It's posturing, nothing more.  Shut down Agency A because there's a dispute for the budget about something completely different, no dispute about Agency A's budget and they're going to get their money but for this other little tiff, but they don't get to operate anyway as if they're not going to get their money at the end of the day.  It would be like your bank saying "Yes, you have money in your account, we're just not going to let you have it."  Even better if the reason for it is because the CEO stubbed his toe and isn't coming to work today and the bank just can't function without him.

 

Furlough a bunch of workers, decide to pay them anyway, but still don't let them go back to work for... what reason?  If they're getting back pay anyway, they're just like everyone who's at work without getting paid, so why make them stay home?

 

IOW, it's a game.  It's just one that the upper echelons of government play and the American public lose.

[Jingthing]

25 minutes ago, Basil B said:

...

 

What other civilized country shuts down because the Government can not approve a budget???

None.

I am hoping that there is bipartisan support to change the law so that it's never possible to shut down the U.S. government again but I'm not sure what it would take to change that. A constitutional amendment? 

[Basil B]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

None.

I am hoping that there is bipartisan support to change the law so that it's never possible to shut down the U.S. government again but I'm not sure what it would take to change that. A constitutional amendment? 

maybe a rolling budget that only changes with government approval.

[Katia]

Maybe they should have to approve all parts of the budget that aren't in dispute and only hold the ones that are.  I could see shutting down Agency A partially if it was their budget that was being argued about and there was a genuine worry that "Hey, our operating costs will be X amount this year, we might not get X amount, so we need to cut."  That would be the same as if you planned out your personal expenses and then found out you might have to take a pay cut and were like "okay, I need to curb the eating out and the guitar lessons because I might not have money for them." 

 

But if nobody has a problem with Agency A's budget, then give them their money.  I mean, the reason only part of the government is shut down is because some agencies' budgets happened to get approved before this whole fiasco went down, and others that came after got stuck in the loop.  I get it, shutting down totally-unrelated agencies and departments IS the bargaining chip, it's like in elementary school when the teacher is like "NOBODY gets recess until the mess made by this one person gets cleaned up!", but it's not any more fair than it was in elementary school.  Go through line by line: "Do we have a problem with this item?  No?  Then it's passed.  Agency A is funded.  What about this item?  No?  Great, Agency B is funded."  Etc.  Find another way to work things out than holding hostage money that has nothing to do with the argument at hand.

 

Also, as others have said-- make it so if people working in government don't get paid, neither does Congress, nor do they take breaks (it was a bunch of BS, this "well it's the holidays, they're not going to be at work."  Sorry, but you don't decide a bunch of people aren't getting paid and then YOU go on vacation.  Nope.  You're there every day until you fix it.  I don't care what time of year it is.  It'll ruin your holidays?  Good, then it'll be just like the people who had to cancel or rearrange *their* plans because they found out they weren't going to get a paycheck right at the time of year when people are spending money-- and expected to, to "keep up the economy"-- and traveling to visit family).  They haven't any incentive to get things done if it's only *other* people suffering for it.

[sirineou]

17 minutes ago, Katia said:

Maybe they should have to approve all parts of the budget that aren't in dispute and only hold the ones that are.

The only thing in dispute is trump's wall

[Katia]

1 minute ago, sirineou said:

The only thing in dispute is trump's wall

Yes, that was exactly my point.  I mean, I get it-- holding up other parts of the government are the only thing keeping this thing going, because if they had to argue only on the wall, they'd have a lot less teeth, but again, why should everyone else have to pay for that one little squabble?

[Basil B]

23 minutes ago, Katia said:

Maybe they should have to approve all parts of the budget that aren't in dispute and only hold the ones that are.

He was not disputing anything in the budget, it was what was not... $5.7 Billion down payment on his wall.

[Katia]

Just now, Basil B said:

He was not disputing anything in the budget, it was what was not... $5.7 Billion down payment on his wall.

Yes.  He wanted that to be in the budget, correct?  Therefore, the budget was in dispute.  So: give money to everything that nobody has a problem with, and address the part that there is a problem with, namely, the wall.  Again, these other agencies have nothing to do with The Wall (Pink Floyd needs to bring a copyright infringement suit), so give them their money, let them go on their merry way, and stop pulling them (and their employees and customers) into this.

[Basil B]

2 minutes ago, Katia said:

Yes.  He wanted that to be in the budget, correct?  Therefore, the budget was in dispute.  So: give money to everything that nobody has a problem with, and address the part that there is a problem with, namely, the wall.  Again, these other agencies have nothing to do with The Wall (Pink Floyd needs to bring a copyright infringement suit), so give them their money, let them go on their merry way, and stop pulling them (and their employees and customers) into this.

Correct but little boy is throwing a tantrum and wont sign off unless he gets his play thing.

[sirineou]

2 minutes ago, Katia said:

Yes, that was exactly my point.  I mean, I get it-- holding up other parts of the government are the only thing keeping this thing going, because if they had to argue only on the wall, they'd have a lot less teeth, but again, why should everyone else have to pay for that one little squabble?

Because trump is an Ahole who cares for no one but himself. This is all about him, and his inability to accept defeat and the country be damned.