Flight Attendants Offer E-Mail Notice

Flight attendants at Northwest Airlines Corp. offered to send e-mail notices to travelers about their strike plans, although they may not get much warning.

Flight attendants are threatening random, unannounced strikes after 9:01 p.m. CDT on Friday unless Northwest agrees to negotiate a new contract. Northwest is scheduled to ask a judge in New York to block any job actions on Friday afternoon.

The flight attendant strike plan is called CHAOS, for create havoc around our system. Rather than a full-scale walkout, the plan calls for striking, say, every other gate at a certain airport, or for short-term walkouts.

Northwest has said it has contingency plans for a strike, but has also said a strike could force it to liquidate.

It's not clear, though, how much travelers will benefit from the e-mail notices. Association of Flight Attendants spokesman Rick Thornton said notices will only be sent when large walkouts are planned. For smaller job actions, such as striking an individual flight, the union doesn't want to tip its hand and give the airline a chance to line up other flight attendants.

'We will endeavor to provide as much notice as possible but cannot guarantee that the notice will prevent all disruptions to your travel plans,' the union's Web site said.

People who sign up for the notices are asked for their name, e-mail address, and which city they fly out of. The union doesn't know who's a passenger and who isn't, so the same notices will go to everyone. Thornton said the e-mail addresses would be used only for notices.

'It's not a propaganda site. It's not for the sake of pushing our agenda,' he said.

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