Airline strike hinders students

When Randy Soben left Los Angeles last week for the University, she had a full day ahead of her.

The LSA first-year student spent approximately 15 hours in airports and airplanes, a result of a recent pilot strike at Northwest Airlines, which has forced the company to cancel all of its domestic and international flights.

The strike has meant headaches for some students returning to school from other states. Northwest operates about three quarters of the flights in and out of Detroit Metro Airport.

Soben was forced to fly through Delta Airlines, following a travel route that led her to the West Coast, East Coast and the Midwest all in one day.

"It was just another level of stress added on," Soben said. "This is my first year and I had so many other things to think about."

The pilots took to the picket line on Aug. 29 and there is no indication when the strike will end. Federal mediators told negotiators from Northwest Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Association to take off Sunday and yesterday after talks had failed to yield a meeting between the two parties. Talks will resume today.

A statement released by the National Mediation Board said, "given the differences that now exist between the parties on substance, the National Mediation Board has asked the parties to reconsider their respective positions and alternatives."

Eric Allmendinger, an LSA first-year student, drove 10 hours from New Jersey when he couldn't get a flight to Detroit.

"Ten hours in the car really bites the big one," Allmendinger said.

Most students weren't adversely affected by the strike because the majority of students live close enough to the University to drive. International students did not experience problems since many were required to be at the University for an orientation before the strike began.

"The only thing we heard was from two handfuls of students, who wanted to move in early to get a plane before the strike," said Alan Levy, director of housing public affairs. "Most students arrived by car."

But while most people managed to find ways to campus, many of those paths took them far out of their way.

When her Northwest flight was canceled, Hsiao-Ling Shen, an LSA first-year student, had to book a reservation on Continental Airlines. She and her parents went from Denver to Houston to Detroit. A flight that would have taken two hours direct lasted six hours.

"Unfortunately, all the flights back from Detroit were booked," Shen said. "My parents had to take a taxi to Toledo, Ohio to go back" home.

Shen's parents went from Toledo to Atlanta, with several stops in between, and then on to Denver.

Though most students were able to book flights through other airlines, they were faced with sky-high prices. The airlines that picked up the flight load of Northwest were faced with such high demand that they could demand full fare.

"I had to switch from Northwest to (Trans World Airline)," said Evan Reiss, an LSA first-year student from New York. "It was like an additional 800 bucks. We couldn't drive, so we had to fly."

As Northwest continues to cancel flights, travel agents are picking up the slack.

"We've gotten much busier because people are booking with other airlines," said Christa Weddle, a travel consultant at Boersma Travel in the Michigan Union.

- The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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