Given the recent strike/walkout on BA and the potential of NWA on Aug. 20th, I'm curious to know how the process would occur. I'm asking because I have a flight scheduled at 11:50 PM on the 19th from LAS to IND, then from IND to DCA via Pinnacle/NW Airlink.

I read that if a strike were to happen, it would most likely be at midnight the 20th, or 1AM. Either time, does this mean that if it happens, I'm pretty much gonna sit at LAS airport like the folks at LHR? Or would I actually be able to get on the 11:50 PM flight, only to be stopped at IND (or is Pinnacle/NW Airlink not affected?)

What happens to those flights already in the air as the clock goes past midnight? Do they land at the destination airports and then stand down?

Never really paid attention to the logistics/process of a strike, till I'm looking at a potential one in the face

Just because a union strikes doesn't mean that the aircraft stop flying. Sure there might be some canceled flights, but with what NW has hired and probably more ready to be hired I really don't see the entire schedule coming down.

NW Airlink shouldn't be affected since they are seperate from NW. They have their own pilots,crews,mechs,etc. So unless they are covered by the same contract the mechanics at NW they should still be working. This doesn't mean they might show some support but I don't see them being as nearly affected as NW mainline.

Also remember it's not the pilots/FAs/GAs that are striking it's the mechanics. Again doesn't mean they might not show support and you have some decide to kink things up, but otherwise they'll be working.

AS long as the plane is ok to fly the flights should run. The issue is if it has a mechanical issue that needs to be fixed, it will take a long time wihtout as many mechanics around.

Assuming the flight attendants don't honor the strike.... Then you aren't going anywhere.

Carol....that's why NWA is training both Mechanics and FA's......the FA's union recently lost a federal lawsuit where they were challenging NWA's authority to make them train replacement FA's .....I believe there will be some hiccups if a strike occurs....but it won't ground the airline as it did in the 90's

It all depends on whether NW will *really* continue to fly during the strike -- the first tip off may be cancellation of late afternoon -- evening flights on Aug 19 so that all of their planes will be at hubs and not the end of spokes -- if there out of operation for a few weeks -- as happened in 1998 -- they'll be where they can be easily worked on.

Thus flights to places like DTW, MEM or MSP are probably OK.

Bob H

fly early if you are really worried....standby for free (or $25) is your schedule is flexible....

Thanks for the thoughts and ideas of what may/can happen. As NOLAnwGOLD and others have mentioned, flying an earlier flight is a possibility using the FlyNow program. I noticed on NWA's site, as well as mentioned in another thread that certain flights are no longer coming up. There doesn't seem to be any flights after a certain time on Friday (or maybe my search on NWA isn't specific enough).

So the question is this:
If I hop on an earlier flight from LAS to DTW or MSP (9PM), instead of IND; would I stand a better chance of connecting to DCA from DTW/MSP or just risk going on a possible late/cancelled flight @ 11:50PM to IND, and hope NW Airlink will not be affected by the possible strike when I get to IND. The logic is that NWA would probably home base the planes overnight and have more available the next day (faulty logic?).

I know this is kind of like Chicken Little running around saying the sky is falling, but for those who are interested in entertaining me running around squawking, please enlighten Chicken Little and his first possible strike related flight

MOVED TO NEW THREAD

this is a pretty helpful bunch, but i think your post might get lost since it's hidden. do yourself a favor and repost your question as its own individual post.

dont have much else to add though. sorry!