Union rep says Dallas flight restrictions unfair
By CHRIS JONES
>GAMING WIRE Las Vegas Review Journal - September 27, 2005
A union leader representing employees of Southern Nevada's busiest airline said a 26-year-old federal law restricting flights to and from Dallas' Love Field unfairly penalizes Southwest Airlines employees.
"We see this as a civil and labor rights issue. ... The Wright Amendment should have gone away a long time ago," Thom McDaniel, president of Transport Workers Union Local 556, said recently from Las Vegas, where he took part in the 775-attendee Transport Workers Union of America conference at the Rio.
McDaniel's criticism was directed at a 1979 law that makes it illegal to fly or advertise flights from Love Field to points beyond the four states bordering Texas, as well as Alabama, Kansas and Mississippi.
Drafted by Rep. Jim Wright, D-Texas, the amendment ostensibly encourages airlines in the region to use Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, an American Airlines stronghold. Southwest prefers Love Field, which is closer to downtown Dallas and offers aircraft faster turnaround times because of reduced traffic loads.
Before the Sept. 11 attacks, Southwest chose not to challenge the Wright Amendment because the company made money on short-haul routes permissible under the law's restrictions. As post-Sept. 11 security changes produced longer delays at airports, however, many consumers found it easier to drive between Dallas and nearby cities, severely damaging Southwest's business at Love Field.
The airline hopes Congress will repeal the Wright Amendment to allow it to better compete in the Dallas market using long-haul flights. Southwest says it cannot move its operations to Dallas/Fort Worth International because operating expenses and turnaround times would hurt its finances and on-time performance.
Reps. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, and Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, in May introduced the Right to Fly Act, which would immediately repeal the Wright Amendment. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., is among those on Capitol Hill who support the proposed change.
Others, including Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, and Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., are leading a push to close Love Field to commercial air traffic.
An airline spokeswoman said Southwest would institute Las Vegas-Dallas service from Love Field if the Wright Amendment is overturned. Using historic models based upon Southwest's past entries in new markets, the company estimated reduced fares would generate 83,009 new passengers per year on the route.
American contends Love Field is a Southwest monopoly. Repealing the Wright Amendment, Gerard Arpey, American's chairman and chief executive officer said, would force American and other carriers to also shift flights to Love. Such a disruption to the hub system favored by American is "bad news for us, for DFW, and for the North Texas community that enjoys the robust international schedule that our hub makes possible," Arpey said in a Sept. 15 written statement.
McDaniel's union represents approximately 14,000 Southwest employees nationwide, and its membership includes workers from both American and Southwest.
Officially, the union has maintained a neutral stance. But as a Southwest employee, McDaniel believes the Wright Amendment hurts workers he represents by depriving them of job opportunities and depressing travel and tourism in North Texas.
Southwest's flight operations began at Love Field in 1971. As the airline's oldest station -- an airport where flight crews begin or end shifts -- the 500 or so flight attendants stationed there have more collective seniority than those at any of Southwest's six other U.S. stations.
"Every other base has at least 1,000 workers," he said. "It's just too difficult to move about" from Love Field.
For example, a worker who resides in Dallas but is scheduled to work a flight between Las Vegas and Philadelphia would have to depart from Love Field to another airport in or adjacent to Texas. From there, they'd hop another flight to McCarran to officially begin their work day. A similar route would be used to return home after their workday ends.
However, a Houston-based worker assigned to the same Las Vegas-Philadelphia route, for example, could fly directly from Houston to Las Vegas to begin his or her shift. Several Southwest flight attendants this week said they'd rather live outside Dallas than add several hours to their workday commute.
Tourism and Travel Las Vegas Sun September 23, 2005
Unions careful not to get on wrong side of Wright issue
By Richard N. Velotta / Staff Writer
The more than 700 members of the Transport Workers Union that gathered at the Rio this week for its 22nd Constitutional Convention were a microcosm of the state of Texas.
Some of them are backers of an effort to repeal the Wright Amendment, a federal law that places limitations on flights from Dallas' Love Field. Others want to keep the law in place.
The TWU, one of the strong union voices for the nation's flight attendants, mechanics and ground crews, isn't taking sides on the Wright Amendment. The reason: the union represents workers from both Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, two polar opposites in the Wright fight.
"The union pretty much allows it to be an issue for the locals," said Thom McDaniel, president of TWU Local 556, which represents Southwest's flight attendants.
As a Southwest employee, McDaniel is squarely behind the airline's bid to repeal the Wright Amendment, a law that is important to Las Vegas because it prevents the largest airline serving McCarran International Airport from offering nonstop flights to its Love Field headquarters -- an airport serving a city that's one of Las Vegas' top five markets.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., thought so much of the free-market implications of the controversy that he introduced legislation to repeal the Wright Amendment.
Like the membership of the international union, the state of Texas and its lawmakers have lined up on opposing sides of the issue. The pro-repeal side calls it a "civil rights issue" while the pro-Wright side says its all in the economics.
As a result, it's American vs. Southwest, Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport vs. Love Field and www.keepdfwstrong vs. www.setlovefree.
"The law is so ridiculous," McDaniel said during a break in the convention. "The only reason we still have it is that it has been in place since 1979. Can you imagine the outcry in a place like Chicago if a law were passed saying that people couldn't fly anywhere but the states adjacent to Illinois?"
But Wright Amendment advocates say the law isn't tying Southwest's hands. Dallas-Fort Worth International, in fact, is spending $900,000 for advertising to try to get consumers to pressure Southwest executives into changing their minds on Wright.
DFW officials have offered Southwest free rent for a year and an estimated $22 million in incentives to move to their airport. The airport contends that Southwest could offer short-haul flights from Love Field and predominantly long-haul routes from DFW.
The airline has politely said, "No thanks," noting that splitting the airline's resources wouldn't be cost-effective and that even with all the incentives it would cost too much for Southwest to operate at DFW.
DFW is persistent. Kevin Cox, chief operating officer of the airport, was quoted in the Dallas Business Journal as saying "Southwest has changed their mind before." And he's hoping for such a change of heart on this issue.
McDaniel said it isn't clear when lawmakers would take up the Wright Amendment debate. With aid programs for hurricane victims, the war in Iraq and Supreme Court confirmations on the agenda, the Wright Amendment isn't likely to be climbing the priority list anytime soon.
But McDaniel said he has detected a thaw in Wright relationships and that compromise could be on the horizon.
Lawmakers are talking about removing some of the marketing restrictions that are part of the law and that hogtie Southwest.
For example, under the Wright Amendment, not only are flights between Love Field and most airports beyond the borders of the states surrounding Texas banned, but the airline can't sell tickets to Dallas on any of its connecting flights.
Las Vegas customers can't buy a ticket to Dallas through, say, Albuquerque because of "through ticketing restrictions." McDaniel said such a compromise could mitigate some of the economic damage that the Wright Amendment inflicts on the airline.
Southwest continues to keep its fight in the public eye, through the pro-repeal Internet website, in announcements on flights and in advertising. A colleague told me that while on a recent phone call to the airline that the message she heard while on hold advocated repeal of the amendment and visiting the web site.
"Ultimately, I think that every fair-minded congressman is going to see this as a free-market issue and come down on the side of the consumer," McDaniel said. "We want to make sure that Joe Lunchbox will continue to be able to fly."
Richard N. Velotta covers tourism for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4061 or by e-mail at velotta@lasvegassun.com.
