The Continuing Decline of Alaska Airlines

We've all heard about Alaska Airlines's shoddy on-time ratings and their labor disputes. And we've all heard about the outsourced baggage handler who drove the cart into the plane but neglected to report doing so, thus causing a hole to burst in the plane at altitude, forcing an emergency landing. If that isn't enough to turn your airfare dollars elsewhere, this morning brought two new bad-news-for-Alaska stories to the Seattle Times.

The airline faces a half-million dollar fine from the FAA for safety violations--specifically, that a plane flew without emergency lighting for two months, and then, here's the kicker: post-repair, the lighting was still broken, but no one noticed and the plane flew for two more weeks. Safety considerations aside, it breaks our heart to think of the flight attendants valiantly lying to passengers by pointing out that "emergency lighting will be illuminated in an emergency."

But even worse for Alaska in this dog-crazy town, a woman shipping her border collie watched from the terminal as a baggage handler hoisted the dog's crate above his head and chucked the poor pup into the cargo hold. The dog was fine, but the lady was not, and she called the press. Considering that people love their pets and flying your pet is inherently dangerous, it's not surprising that an owner would watch the situation like a hawk. When the word gets out that you are mean to dogs, you either have antisocial tendencies or you need a new PR team, or, perhaps, both.

Seattlest has formulated a two-point plan for beleaguered Alaska Airlines: 1/Tell the Menzies Aviation subcontractors to shape up or ship out. 2/Fire the PR department.