Friday, February 14, 1997

Mere threat of a strike has hit some businesses

By PATRICIA LAMIELL AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - American Airlines' pilots haven't struck yet, but the telephone at Caribe Travel in New York hasn't been ringing much since last Saturday.

"The business is almost dead," said Nila Rodriguez, who runs the agency and mostly books flights to the Dominican Republic. "I sell almost all American Airlines."

American has the biggest share of traffic from the United States to the Dominican Republic. Rodriguez's clientele, concerned that a strike might kill plans to get there or back, are putting off or canceling travel.

Caribe Travel is one of the many businesses that have felt the effect of a potential strike - before the pilots even go out.

Hearing that American canceled all Friday flights to most of Europe, Japan, the Caribbean, Central and South America, business and leisure travelers were scrambling Thursday to get reservations with other airlines. Businesses that rely on shipments by American were also busy making alternate plans.

The U.S. Postal Service, which moves 2 percent of its mail on American planes and is American's biggest freight customer, is shifting mail to other airlines. In some instances, it is moving mail by rail and truck, said spokesman Roy Betts.

Thinking about giving a beautiful bird of paradise flower for Valentine's Day? Think again. American flights from Colombia, where much of those flowers come from, have been suspended. The strike threat has also affected shipments of salmon from Chile.

Pete Anderson, manager of Dallas Flower Market who uses American for some Miami and California shipments, said he transferred some roses to other airlines so there wouldn't be any problems during the busy Valentine's Day period. But it caused a 12-hour delay in delivery.

Judith's Fine Food International in San Juan, which imports up to 15,000 pounds of perishable foods a week for cruise ships, made standby arrangements with other, more expensive air carriers, said vice president John Lohner. None of them offered the rates or frequent flights that American does, he said.

"We have containers coming in today, so we're all right for this weekend," Lohner said. "On Monday, we're in trouble."

In 1996, American's freight shipments accounted for about $700 million in revenues, or about 5 percent of the total, said spokeswoman Laura Mayo.

American hauls raw materials and pharmaceuticals from Puerto Rico and Asian-made semiconductors to American factories on the island. Texas Instruments in Dallas depends on daily shipments which have already been disrupted.

"I know anecdotally that people have been shifting their plans," said Michael Allen, chief operating officer at BACK Associates, Inc., aviation consultants in Stamford, Conn., "particularly on international operations where there's going to be a potential of American Air planes being stranded."

The biggest impact, however, was to the tourist industry, where typical travelers have less scheduling leeway and less money to deal with delayed trips home.

American and its American Eagle subsidiary handle 70 percent of all passenger traffic in the Caribbean, together carrying 6.3 million passengers through its San Juan hub last year.

In San Juan, tourists eager to get seats on flights to the United States before the midnight Friday strike deadline lined up at airport ticket counters. Some weren't too happy.

"I'm furious. I have to go back - for my house, my family, my job," said Joey Arroyo, a New York City dock worker who was supposed to fly home Monday but was at San Juan's airport Thursday to try to book a seat. He said he'd lose his job if he wasn't back at work Tuesday morning.

In the U.S. Virgin Islands, Gov. Roy Schneider laid out plans to charter private aircraft to replace American and American Eagle, which currently bring three out of every four passengers to the islands.

Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, director general of tourism for the Bahamas, said the Bahamian Hotel Association had agreed to honor deposits at another time or fully refund them, and to cut their lowest rates in half for people stranded by the strike.

The strike threats so far haven't prompted cancellations, but they have boosted double-booking, which will result in lost revenues. Airlines "get bookings and count on the money, and of course it's not there," Vanderpool-Wallace said.

Some travelers are just sweating - a lot.

Tina Gillenwater, was set to fly from Baltimore to Cancun on Friday morning on British West Indian Airlines. But she is scheduled to return via American on Feb. 21.

"If American goes on strike, I suppose I'll be stranded," said the Washington, D.C., legal assistant, "although I can think of worse places than Cancun to be stranded."