A rash of safety concerns at carriers like Alaska Airlines and American Airlines, compounded by manufacturing problems at Boeing and other woes, have left customers uncertain about the future of air travel.
In the latest in a series of seemingly never-ending complications, Alaska Airlines asked the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to issue a ground advisory Wednesday after a software update caused widespread technical issues.
‘This morning we experienced an issue while performing an upgrade to the system that calculates our weight and balance,’ the airline said in a statement to DailyMail.com.
‘A ground stop for all Alaska and Horizon flights was instituted at approximately 7:30am PT. The issue was mitigated and the ground stop for Alaska and Horizon flights expired at 8:30am PT.’
Travelers took to social media to complain, with some vowing to switch to other airlines and others lamenting that they were waiting on the tarmac for up to an hour after the advisory expired.
The ground advisory came amid dual hearings in the Senate about the safety culture at Boeing, which provides 231 of the 314 planes in Alaska’s fleet.
Earlier this year, the airline was forced to cancel thousands of flights after a door plug on a 737 Max 9 blew off shortly after liftoff from Portland International Airport.
The manufacturer was forced to shell out $160 million earlier this month to cover losses Alaska had suffered.
Speaking before a committee on Wednesday, a Boeing whistleblower claimed he had received threats including a nail through his car tire for speaking out against his beleaguered employer.
Sam Salehpour, a quality engineer, claimed he was targeted after raising concerns about the quality of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner jets.
‘I have even been subjected to threats of violence from my supervisor after I attempted to discuss the problems in a meeting in April 9 2023,’ Salehpour said.
‘After the meeting, my supervisor said to me, “I would have killed anyone who said what you said if it was from some other group, I would tear them apart.”
The engineer said he filed an ethics complaint, but no action was taken, ‘and I continue to report to a supervisor who has threatened me with bodily injury for speaking out.’
Salehpour asserted that higher-ups at the company had barred him from key meetings and sidelined him from his job duties as a means of retaliation.
He also provided the committee with a photo of a large nail that was allegedly planted in his car tire.
‘That was about a one month old tire,’ he explained. ‘The nail was inserted in there, I believe it happened at work.’
Senator Roger Marshall asked if he believed the damaged tire and threats constituted efforts by the company to silence him.
‘I think the retaliation was somebody calling me on my personal phone time after time. This is my personal phone,’ Salehpour said.
‘My boss was calling me there for forty minutes, he berated me and chewed me out. I have a work phone that he could use but he called me on my personal phone.
‘After the threats, and after this, it really scares me – believe me. But I am at peace.’
The panel also heard from Ed Pierson, a former manager at Boeing and executive director of the Foundation for Aviation Safety.
Pierson claimed the door plug incident on the Alaska Airlines flight was being subjected to a ‘cover-up.’
‘Last Wednesday, the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) Chair reiterated to Congress that Boeing has said there are no records documenting the work associated with the removal of the Alaska Airlines door,’ Pierson said.
‘In my opinion, this is a criminal cover-up. Records do exist documenting in detail the hectic work done on the Alaska Airlines airplane and Boeing’s corporate leaders know it too.’
Pierson said he had personal knowledge of the documentation ‘because I personally passed it to the FBI.’
The hearing came a month after another Boeing whistleblower, John Barnett, was found dead in his truck in South Carolina.
Barnett filed a lawsuit against the company 2021, alleging a litany of safety concerns. He had just delivered a deposition to Boeing’s lawyers the week before his death.
Employees at several airlines have begun to speak out over renewed safety concerns. Over the weekend, a union representing American Airlines pilots sounded caution over a ‘significant spike’ in safety problems at the airline.
The Allied Pilots Association, which represents 15,000 of the carrier’s pilots, listed a series of ‘problematic trends’ it had observed at the airline.
‘APA has been tracking a significant spike in safety- and maintenance-related problems in our operation,’ the APA’s safety committee wrote in an April 13 memo.
This included tools being left in wheel wells and more time passing between routine aircraft inspections.
The committee beseeched pilots to remain vigilant.
‘Just because it’s legal doesn’t make it safe,’ the memo read. ‘Be mindful of the hazards while operating on the ramps and taxiways in congested airports staffed with inexperienced controllers and ground personnel.’
In addition to qualms about safety, some passengers have sounded the alarm about the rising cost to fly.
JetBlue faced criticism earlier this month after becoming the first major U.S. carrier to introduce dynamic pricing for checked baggage fees.
The airline’s baggage prices already depend on when passengers pay for their luggage, but will now also depend on the time of year they travel.
A passenger traveling on a standard domestic ticket during an ‘off peak’ period who pays for one bag more than 24 hours before the flight will pay $35 under the new rules.
During a ‘peak’ period, like President’s Week, Thanksgiving and winter holidays, a traveler will have to pay $50 to check one bag.
For two bags on an international flight, the new rules mean travelers could end up paying as much as $120 to check their baggage within 24 hours of the flight’s departure.
Although the carrier said the new pricing would apply strictly to busier-than-usual periods like holidays and spring and summer travel seasons, experts warn ‘peak season’ could mean up to 40 percent of the year.
A spokesperson for JetBlue told DailyMail.com that the cost of transporting bags had gone up significantly due to increased wages and higher fuel costs since the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘While we don’t like increasing fees, we are making these adjustments to help get our company back to profitability and cover the increased costs,’ the spokesperson said.
