Airline Back-up Creates Latest Travel Stink

The airline industry seems burdened with one unfavorable scenario after the other.

A day after United Airlines computers crashed, forcing hundreds of flight delays and stranded passengers, a story surfaced about an incident on a Continental Airlines flight that's just disgusting.

The plane apparently was experiencing lavatory problems on the flight from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, to Newark, N. J., so it made an overnight stop in Ireland to fix the problem.

It wasn't fixed.

When passengers disembarked in Newark they reported the lavatory backed up and spilled into the aisles during the Ireland-Newark leg of the flight. That's about seven hours. Yikes.

Now, I'm partial to Continental. It's my favorite airline. American may be more comfortable because of its extra leg room, but my experience has been that Continental is more family-friendly and has better customer service when I travel overseas.

But apparently Flight 1970 experienced a horrible breakdown in customer service, further damaging confidence among already fickle travelers. After that incident, significant marketing to reverse ill perceptions will be required, particularly for the passengers who were on that flight.

Continental apologized and said it would compensate passengers for their ordeal, but one passenger reportedly said he may never use the $500 he was offered.

That must have been some ordeal for someone to forego what would be a huge portion of the fare for a transatlantic flight.

The culprit for the lavatory backup turned out to be a latex glove. Now just why anyone would need latex gloves traveling on a plane? I'd say fingerprint and DNA test that sucker (it would work on CSI) and ban the culprit from ever traveling on an airline.

Contacts despite delays Last week, two members from the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Houston visited Oklahoma City. Their goal was to make contact with the media and others to share information about the role their office plays in global business. Taiwan has been pushing for the signing of a Taiwan-U.S. Free Trade Agreement to help strengthen the countries' economic ties.

Oklahoma is of interest to officials in the office since the state exports to Taiwan - mainly agricultural and dairy products - total more than $35 million.

But getting to Oklahoma City proved a bit tedious for T.K. Lee, director of the press division at the Taipei Economic and Cultural office in Houston, and Lishan Chang of the Houston office. They were stuck on board a Continental Airlines flight in Houston for nearly two hours because of an air-conditioning problem, Chang said.

Oh, the humidity!

Lee and Chang missed their original appointments but still succeeded in meeting the people they wanted to see. Their last appointment allowed only about a two-hour window to visit and get back across town to Will Rogers World Airport for a 6:20 p.m. flight to Houston.

Despite all the airline woes that travelers sometimes endure, the industry does have good news. Domestic fares are the lowest since 2004

It's about 2 percent cheaper than a year ago to fly. Now if they'll just come down a bit on that 10 percent bump in international fares I'd be really happy.

Business Editor Clytie Bunyan: 475-3284, [email protected]

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