It’s been rumored for some time that US Airways would be reducing the number of first class seats available on the A321. This aircraft is part of the old US Airways fleet (not America West) and primarily flies transcons (cross country flights) from Philly, Pittsburgh, and Charlotte to the West.

Yesterday, it was basically confirmed by US Airways when they ordered new ones. Instead of the current 26 in First and 143 in Coach, they’re ordering the new ones with 16 in First and 167 in Coach. It’s safe to assume that all of the A321s will be reconfigured like these.

Needless to say, the frequent fliers are spitting venom over this one. Head to FlyerTalk and it sounds like these people just lost their first born.

The reality is that all of these frequent fliers want as many F seats as they can so that they can upgrade for free. For US Airways, they just want to get more revenue on the plane and the way to do that is add more coach seating. Leaving those planes with 16 F seats is still plenty, but it’s never going to be enough for people who live for the free upgrades. Personally, I’d save my wrath for those 757s that have only 8 F seats. Now that’s definitely out of proportion with the rest of the fleet.

Back at the beginning of this year, United and Trans States decided to try a little experiment. United had been performing well at San Antonio. In fact, as recently as a couple years ago they only flew to Denver and Chicago, but they added LAX, SFO, and Washington/Dulles with successful results.

Seeing the opportunity for more growth, United started investigating. Since they are notoriously risk averse over there, they found the ideal setup. Trans States agreed to operate the flights at their own risk with 50 seat jets, and they would be marketed as United Express flights. These flights would operate regionally to places like Albuquerque, New Orleans, Kansas City, and more.

This grand experiment began at the beginning of this year, and by the end of September, it’ll be over. San Antonio’s newspaper had an article about the end yesterday. Last flights are on September 20.

There are probably a million reasons why this failed, the chief one being not enough demand (duh). I’d also argue that there is no United loyalty down in Texas, so it was difficult to move people off Southwest, American, and Continental. Those 50 seaters aren’t exactly the most comfortable rides either, even though they went nonstop.

I don’t know for sure, but I’d bet a lack of marketing commitment on United’s part played a role as well. It’s not easy to start a ton of service in thin markets in a city where nobody really knows you. This must have been barely a blip on United’s marketing radar screen.

On Monday, both Travelocity and Expedia announced that they’re going to be the first travel sites to save the world. Awwww, how sweeet.

Seriously, that’s very nice of them.

What they’re really doing is partnering with two different types of programs that are dedicated to reducing carbon emissions. Expedia has partnered with a company called TerraPass (TP) while Travelocity is working with The Conservation Fund on their Go Zero (GZ) project. For these companies, having Expedia and Travelocity partner with them just enhances their visibility. If you really like these programs, you can easily buy your travel anywhere and then pay TP or GZ directly for the same exact thing.

To sum up what these guys do, they both have the same basic goal of offsetting carbon emissions. In other words, when you take a flight, they say you are responsible for a certain portion of emissions that the plane is spewing forth. This program enables you to pay a nominal fee to fund a project to counter the pollution you’re said to be creating.

If we’re talking about who really should be paying for this, I’d say the stronger argument is to get the airlines and aircraft manufacturers to pony up here. It’s not like people have a choice if they’re going long distances, but let’s get beyond that. This specific product is aimed at the person who really does care about this, regardless of whether it’s ultimately their responsibility or not. It enables them to do something about it by helping reduce emissions.

It’s definitely a feel-good idea, and it works for me. I like the idea of being able to offset carbon production, especially since it’s not mandatory. If you care, you now have the option. Actually, you have at least two options, so let’s look at both of them.

Basic Premise
TP takes your money and funds projects to reduce emissions. For example, you could be funding wind-created electricity or a methane cultivation plan at a dairy farm. They also purchase emissions credits and retire them so that companies cannot purchase them to increase the amount of pollution they are allowed to produce. GZ, on the other hand, uses your money to plant trees which in turn absorb carbon dioxide.

Advantage: TerraPass

I like tangible results, and TP definitely offers that. The GZ program is too fluffy for me personally.

Company Structure
TP is a for-profit company while GZ is a non-profit. That means your purchases from GZ are tax deductible while the ones from TP are not.

Advantage: Go Zero

Duh. People will probably see this as more of a charitable donation, so I would expect people to be more accepting of a non-profit organization.

Types of Passes and Cost
TP ties this directly with the length of the flight. That means that on Expedia you can buy a TerraPass at one of three levels. For short haul flights (up to 2,200 miles roundtrip), you can buy a $5.99 pass per person. Cross-country flights (up to 6,500 miles roundtrip) will cost you $16.99 per person. Finally, international flights (up to 13,000 miles roundtrip) are $29.99 per person.

There’s something fishy here though. According to the site, “Expedia believes so strongly in supporting the environment and sustainable tourism, we are offering TerraPass to you at our cost.” Well, if you go to TP’s site, you can find a pass for up to 6,000 miles roundtrip at a mere $9.95. I’m not sure if TP is overcharging Expedia or if Expedia is overcharging us.

Update on 8/31 (245p): I did neglect to mention that with Expedia, you get a decal at the lowest level and a luggage tag for the two higher levels. That at least partially explains the cost difference. So if you really like luggage tags, then stick with Expedia. Otherwise, just do it on your own. (See comments below for more info.)

Meanwhile, Travelocity only gives you the opportunity to buy for entire trips. You won’t even be asked if you’re only buying a flight. They offer a $10 pass for air, one night’s hotel, and a rental car for one person; a $25 pass for air, 4 nights hotel, and a rental car for two people; or a $40 pass for air, 4 nights hotel, and a rental car for four people. If you go to the GZ site directly, you can calculate your personal output for the whole year and just pay for it all at the same time.

Advantage: TerraPass

It’s much easier to tie this directly to your flight. When you include the whole vacation package it gets confusing. What if there are two people staying 2 nights but no rental car? The harder you make it to use, the less likely people will be to use it.

Integration
TP and GZ are both sold as a part of the purchase process. TP will show up any time someone purchases a flight like this:

GZ only shows up if you purchase a vacation package. They also have a clunky interface as you can see. . . . It shows up as an activity, so you have to choose your “Dates & Times.”

Advantage: TerraPass

It’s easier to find on the page and the different amounts are explained right there. The same can’t be said for GZ.

As I said before, I really like this idea personally. As an airline dork, I’m bummed that they use such generic metrics though. For example, let’s say you’re on one of Northwest’s gas-guzzling DC-9s vs. a United 777 for a flight of the same distance (it could happen). You’d be polluting far less on the 777, so you should get to pay less. Practically though, I do understand how that it’s probably way too specific for most of the traveling public.

For more info on TerraPass

For more info on GoZero

A little bit of love for our friends north of the border . . .

Canada’s Globe and Mail is reporting that Westjet is looking to join the oneworld alliance anchored by American and British Airways. This is a pretty interesting move.

First things first. I’m neither a fan of oneworld nor of WestJet. For oneworld, it’s not that I don’t like the airlines in the alliance or the benefits involved. No. It’s that they are one of the many targets in my crusade against improper capitalization (or lack thereof). That’s the same exact reason WestJet has incurred my wrath. They have a great product, but that capital “J” just stares at me menacingly. This could be a match made in heaven.

With that off my chest, let’s talk about the actual news here.

Oneworld has lacked a Canadian partner since Air Canada swallowed up Canadian several years ago. With Air Canada in Star, there aren’t too many other options for a partner up north. It’s not a huge aviation market, but there is certainly a big hole without a Canadian partner. So for oneWORLD, going after wESTjET is a no-brainer.

On the westjet side, it’s a little more confusing. There is most certainly a great deal of traffic that can be routed to the airline through a global alliance. Also, the frequent flier program instantly becomes more attractive as a loyalty tool for Canadians who are looking for a solid alternative to Air Canada. But there are costs involved with joining an alliance, and that has generally kept low cost carriers out of them. The only low cost carrier in an alliance is US Airways, and they joined before they became a low cost carrier. Most LCCs have found that the increased costs and complexity of joining an alliance aren’t worth it.

So is WESTJET straying the wrong way or is this a great new idea? My initial thought is that it might work. If they really want to compete with AC, this is the way to do it. I’m just not sure that’s what their goal should be.

German supermarket Lidl will be running a promotion with Air Berlin at all their UK stores. For the week beginning September 5, customers will be able to buy £19 vouchers that can be turned in for a one way ticket on Air Berlin.

It’s a pretty interesting promotion, I think. According to The Guardian, there is a code on each voucher, and you can just enter it on the website or over the phone and it acts as the form of payment for the flight. It of course depends upon availability of the low fares on that flight, but I think everyone expects that.

They’ve tried this type of promotion with complete success before, so I wonder if it’s a matter of time before it becomes permanent.

It’s a great competitive advantage. The legacy carriers have fare structures that are too complicated for handing out free one way tickets. That’s why you see gift cards becoming popular over here. You can go to any Vons/Safeway/Dominick’s and many other places and buy a gift card for a variety of airlines.

But it’s not much fun to give someone a credit toward a flight. It’s a lot cooler if you can give someone two vouchers and say, “Here’s your trip to Spain.” Only low cost carriers with simple pricing structures can pull off something like that.

This morning, Ryanair announced (it’s a .doc) they’ve teamed up with OnAir to offer inflight mobile phone usage starting next summer.

Bummer.

I’m a big fan of inflight internet, because, well, it’s quiet, and it keeps people entertained. Even inflight text/SMS messaging is great. I have no problems with that. But when you mix cell phones and loud engine noise, you end up with worse noise pollution than that with which you started.

I take the train from LA to San Diego about once a month, and people on trains use cell phones all the time. Some people are polite, but many others just sprawl out and act like they’re in their own homes. They’re loud, they use foul language, and you learn far more about someone than you ever wanted to know.

I’ve heard people talking about illnesses they have, trying to hook up with girls, and fighting with their mothers among other things. I don’t want to hear about it, so please keep it to yourselves. As if that weren’t bad enough, you know that with engine noise, people will be screaming as if the person on the other end is deaf.

This one can be filed in the “Ways to Make Flying Even More Painful” cabinet.

You know if I break out some of the Coug’s lyrics, it must involve a trip to Indiana. This was just a short trip to visit my girlfriend’s parents, and amazingly it was my first flight in three months. That means it was my first trip under the new liquid ban, and I personally am not a fan. Sure, the planes boarded more quickly and there were plenty of empty overhead bins, but our bag didn’t bother showing up until the next day. Grrr. More details below.

The America West/US Airways experience was very good overall. One flight was delayed due to late arriving flight attendants and a ridiculously long, out-of-the way route, but they handled the delay well. Total cost was $277.20 per person booked a month or so in advance.

The trip started with an early wakeup call on Friday. We were scheduled out of LAX, but I looked online to find that our flight was delayed 2 hours and we would misconnect in PHX. They also notified us by cell phone. I called reservations to find out that the wingtip flight (another flight leaving at the same time) was also fully booked and that they couldn’t get us to IND until 1a that night. Um, no. So, I suggested that they check LGB instead, and sure enough there were seats. This made it much easier since my girlfriend lives just a few minutes away.

---

August 25, 2006
US Airways/America West #2870 Lv Long Beach (LGB) 655a Arr Phoenix (PHX) 820a
LGB: Gate 21, Runway 30, Dept 5m Early
PHX: Gate B5, Runway 7R, Arr 10m Early
Aircraft: N911FJ, Bombardier CRJ-900, America West colors, ~95% Full
Flight Time: 51m
Seat: 15C, Coach

We headed over and parked in the long term lot near the soon to be vacant Douglas, er, Boeing plant. The shuttles over there are great because they pick you up right at your car and take you on the couple minute ride to the terminal.

We checked in online the day before, but once they changed our flight, the online check-in didn’t work again so we went to the ticket counter. There were a couple people in line ahead of us (and no elite line that I saw), and soon we were at the counter. My girlfriend checked a bag and I threw my toiletries in there as well. Without the liquid ban, we both would have carried on.

Security was empty, and I had no issues getting through. We sat down in a very crowded boarding area and waited. Boarding was on time, and they had random TSA checks for which I was of course chosen. That took no time and we hopped on board to find that we were in the
non-reclining exit row. I couldn’t complain since we just switched that morning - at least it was a short flight.

It was my favorite kind of flight. We took off into the marine layer, slicing through until seeing the brilliant morning sun turning the mountains golden. Then we headed east in deep blue skies, had a drink service, and then landed straight in to the east.

We had a little time to kill, so we slowly wandered over to our gate (only one concourse over). PHX has done a great job of “localizing” the airport. All the stores now sell local tchotchkes, and they seemed to be packed. Lots of southwestern and Native American things are for sale. I was surprised to see someone selling lotion though - that can’t do well anymore.

It was time to board, so we picked up some See’s Candies for her parents and then went to the gate.

---

August 25, 2006
US Airways/America West #460 Lv Phoenix (PHX) 931a Arr Indianapolis (IND) 403p
PHX: Gate A10, Runway 7L, Dept 39m Late
IND: Gate D6, Runway 23R, Arr 59m Late
Aircraft: N604AW, Airbus A320, America West colors, ~85% Full
Flight Time: 3h12m
Seat: 11A, Coach

The plane was there, but two of the three flight attendants were on a late inbound flight from Portland. This meant, according to the agent, that our scheduled 931a departure time was to slip to 1008a. The flight attendants fortunately landed at the gate next door, so it was a quick walk for them, and we started boarding soon after. I asked the one flight attendant who was already in PHX, and she said that they didn’t have any reserves in the airport that day to get everyone boarded before the real flight attendants for our flight showed up. Bummer.

They did show up as promised, and everyone boarded. I tried to board with my silver status, but the agent barked at me and said he was only boarding first class, not elites. I told him that I thought I heard him call for elites and he, again with a raised voice, said that was the gate next to us, and I had to wait. Then, as if it were “Meet the Parents,” the guy stood there boarding nobody and finally called for elites. And just to top it off, he flagged me for the random TSA search. Punk.

This time the TSA agent said I was lucky they weren’t confiscating chocolate (remember the See’s). I made the comment that it’s a good thing I didn’t get the chocolate with liquid centers, and then I realized I should just shut up. I think for a brief second she thought about going through them herself. My girlfriend wasn’t so lucky. She had gotten a salad and had to throw away the dressing.

We got onboard and sat down in our exit row seats. There was plenty of legroom, and even though there was no armrest on the window side of the seat, they did have a handle/armrest on the door which worked well. I like the cloth seat covers they have, but my girlfriend pointed out that they aren’t wearing well. Look at the picture on the left and you’ll see how they’re coming apart at the seems. This was consistent on all of the seats we saw around us.

Anyway, the crew got the cabin buttoned up quickly and they kept to their word - we left only two minutes later than expected. The captain came on and said to expect a 3:27 flying time, a good 45 minutes longer than usual because of a long route we had to take to avoid storms. Well, we must have found a shortcut because it only took 3:12, but click on the flight time above to see our route. We went over El Paso and barely clipped Oklahoma at all before heading north over Arkansas.

The flight itself was uneventful. It was mostly smooth until we found ourselves in some high clouds toward the end. The service was great. There was one dedicated beverage service as well as one dedicated buy on board service. Toward the end, there was a combined service which offered just water or coffee in addition to the buy on board. The flight attendants were very friendly and professional. Inflight movie was Goal! - pretty good.

After landing, we taxied for 37 hours (as you always do in IND), but I was pleased to see them making some good progress on the new terminal. That should help to reduce taxi times significantly. It was cool to see an ATA L1011 parked in the hangar. Ah I love that plane. And the Thunderbirds were parked at IND as well since they were performing at the Mt Comfort air show over the weekend.

We got off the plane and went down to the hell that is baggage claim. That’s a very tiny claim area, and there are so many more people checking bags now that it was jammed 4 and 5 deep at each carousel. It took roughly 30 minutes for the first bag to roll out from the time the seat belt sign went off. As the crowd continued to thin, we realized that we were in trouble and our bag wasn’t going to show up. There were probably about 6 to 10 others with the same problem, but I anticipated it and was first in line at the baggage office.

This experience really epitomizes the US Airways/America West merger for me. I found
myself dealing with an America West employee. She was very nice, quite sympathetic, and helped us quickly and competently. The other two people in the office were US Airways employees. They were older, had a scowl on their faces, and were quite abrupt and unfriendly when dealing with the customers. Yes, this will be an interesting integration.

Our agent said that the bag wasn’t in the system yet, but that she expected it would show up on the next flight - the one that would arrive at 1a. If it somehow got there before 10p, they’d send it over that night. Otherwise they’d send in the morning and we could keep track online with a tracking code she gave us.

Sure enough, it showed up that night on the late flight, and it was delivered the next day at 2p. It certainly wasn’t ideal, but it was as expected and it didn’t hurt our plans much.

---

August 27, 2006
US Airways/America West #463 Lv Indianapolis (IND) 539p Arr Phoenix (PHX) 625p
IND: Gate D6, Runway 23R, Dept 5m Early
PHX: Gate A25, Runway 25L, Arr 10m Early
Aircraft: N605AW, Airbus A320, New US Airways colors, ~95% Full
Flight Time: 3h15m
Seat: 11A, Coach

After an all-too-short weekend, it was time to head home. We checked in online and then drove to the airport. There was only one person ahead of us in line, so it didn’t take long to drop our bag off. The security line was a bit longer, but it still only took 5 minutes. This was my first experience with the puffer machine. It seems like they just pull people out of line to go through as soon as the person before was finished - no profiling here. It’s definitely a non-invasive type of test and I was glad to do it. Then of course, I had to put my shoes through the screening and walk through the regular metal detector.

We were there a bit early, so my girlfriend got a massage (nice feature of the IND airport) and I wandered the very short concourse which appears to be just United and US Airways. We headed over to board and found they were already halfway done filling up the plane in the new US Airways colors. (It looks really good.) There were people lined up at the TSA screening area, so we waited. Then we realized that it was random and we didn’t have to wait, so we boarded and took our seats, again in the exit row.

The captain advised that there was weather on the climb out (which we could see out the window), so there would be some light turbulence at first. Then we could expect a smooth ride and he’d turn the seatbelt sign off at cruise altitude.

Well, he was right about one thing. There was light turbulence on the way up. But then we got above it and . . . . Well, he never came on the PA again and he never turned off the seatbelt sign the entire flight even though it was smooth. In the end, everybody just ignored it which is certainly very bad were we to actually encounter some real turbulence.

I headed to the bathroom in the middle of the flight (I think Mission Impossible 3 made me sick), and the flight attendant glared at me. I apologized for getting up while the seatbelt sign was on, but I couldn’t wait. She just said, “Oh I don’t care. I don’t know why it’s still on anyway.” She then turned away and went back to reading her newspaper. When I asked for water after coming out of the lav, another flight attendant looked as if I had asked him to move a mountain for me and then he told me to step out of the galley into the now overcrowded aisle if I wanted water.

So with that, I headed back to my seat and parked it for the duration. Even with all the weather we were dodging, we ended up with a pretty direct route. In fact this flight was a mere 3 minutes longer than the outbound. Very strange considering you go with the wind on the way out and against it on the way back.

The approach was kind of a crazy one. We came up from the south over Tempe and turned west right over ASU. Then we cut north again and back west to line up with the runway all while descending very quickly. I’m guessing ATC had room for us if we could get in there, and sure enough, our pilots did a good job. It definitely was an interesting ride, especially when combined with the thermals bouncing us around. I can’t say I remember seeing the PHX runways out my
window that late into an approach before.

---

August 27, 2006
US Airways/America West #2726 Lv Phoenix (PHX) 738p Arr Long Beach (LGB)) 902p
PHX: Gate B21, Runway 25R, Dept 6m Early
LGB: Gate 21, Runway 30, Arr 17m Early
Aircraft: N942LR, Bombardier CRJ-900, America West colors, 100% Full
Flight Time: 57m
Seat: 16A, Coach

We stepped off the plane about as far from our connecting gate as is humanly possible, so it took us a good amount of time to wander over there to the high B gates. We got to the gate and then parked it. We were both very tired, but I felt the need to walk around and see what was going on. The British Airways flight was leaving a couple gates down from us and there didn’t seem to be a lot of people waiting to board. I wonder how the loads have been holding up for them overall since the plot was foiled.

When I got back to the gate, the agent was requesting volunteers to stay overnight and fly out first thing in the morning. At first, I jumped at the opportunity. But then I remembered how tired we were and how we both had to work in the morning. When I found out the offer was for a capacity controlled ticket anywhere in the continental US, I decided to pass. Those free tickets are almost impossible to use – a friend has one expiring soon, because she could never find availability – but if it were a dollar voucher I would have reconsidered.

We boarded and took our now standard exit row seats. It was a beautiful sunset and we departed straight to the west. I could see the lights of Yuma and Imperial on the left before San Diego and Orange County came into view. We then descended and cut up the coast around Huntington Beach. We had great views of Bolsa Chica, Seal Beach, Long Beach, and Palos Verdes in the distance before touching down nice and early.

We had to wait about 20 minutes before bags started coming out, but we had no problems with the bag showing up this time and soon we were on our way out of there.

New York’s LaGuardia airport is not a big place. At least, it’s not big enough to handle all the demand that’s out there.

You may remember a few years ago when the FAA decided to eliminate the slot restrictions at the airport. It led to an unprecedented overcapacity problem that had delays well over an hour even in the best of weather. That led to slots being reinstated so that no more than 75 flights per hour could be scheduled.

Now, the FAA still isn’t happy. They know there’s a ton of demand, yet airlines are squatting on slots by using regional jets for flights. There could be other airlines ready to fly larger planes, but once an airline owns a slot, it’s theirs to use as they like, as long as they do in fact use it.

So the latest idea is to use “operating authorizations,” or what I like to call Airline Steroids.

Basically, the FAA would hand out something like slots but if you fill them up with a bunch of regional jets, the FAA can take them away and give them to someone who is going to use bigger planes. The idea is that the bottleneck at LaGuardia isn’t the number of people you can fit in the terminals, it’s the number of planes you can fit on the runways. So, if you can increase the number of people on each plane, you’re able to better serve the demand that’s out there.

Look for this to happen at the beginning of next year if it happens at all.

Raise your hand if you’ve heard of MAXjet. Then raise your hand again if you can tell me why airlines can’t just use normal capitalization rules in their names.

If you live in New York, Washington, or London, there’s a good chance you know of them. Otherwise, well, maybe not. mAxJeT is one of the new business-class only airlines that started up in the last year. They fly 767s with a product that won’t rival British Airways’ business class, but it certainly beats flying coach. With fares comparable to full coach, they’ve started to build a nice little niche for themselves. Flights currently run between London/Stansted and both Washington/Dulles and New York/JFK.

Today, maxJET announced that on November 2, they will begin twice weekly flights between London/Stansted and Las Vegas. Now at first glance this looks like a very odd route for an all-business class airline. Flying only twice a week is not a business schedule, so who is going to pay for it?

I think it has to be the casinos.

MAXJET has scheduled flights on Thursdays and Mondays - that’s a perfect long weekend for a UK gambler. The casinos can fly their high rollers out in style, make obscene amounts of money off them, and then send them home. With only 102 seats per flight, it doesn’t take much to make that route work.

If there is actually a contract with a casino, this seems like a great move for MaxjET.

Who remembers the American 767 that had an engine explode during maintenance at LAX back in June?

If not, click here for some refresher photos taken by the LA Fire Department. It was pretty nasty. Really, they’re lucky that it happened in maintenance, because an uncontained engine failure like that could have potentially brought a plane down.

Well, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released its safety recommendation after reviewing the accident, and there are some pretty big changes in store if the FAA goes along.

The engine involved was a CF6-80. I’ll spare you the technical jargon (though you can see it here in the full report), but in short there was a fracture that started with a small dent in one of the blades. This caused the uncontained failure. You can see a piece of the problem section sticking out here:

There have been problems with this engine type before. Most notably on a US Airways 767 that had an uncontained failure during maintenance and an Air New Zealand 767 that had one in flight (they made it back safely). So, GE suggested airlines make modifications and the FAA required further inspections earlier in the decade. The NTSB thinks it’s not enough.

The NTSB does not have the ability to force airlines to do anything - that’s the FAA’s job. So, the NTSB makes recommendations and hopes the FAA implements them.

In today’s report, the NTSB’s biggest recommendations are:

• Any CF6-80 that has more than 3,000 cycles (one cycle = one takeoff and landing) and hasn’t been modified or inspected under the special FAA and GE recommendations should be inspected immediately
• Any CF6-80 that hasn’t been modified but has been inspected under the FAA recommendations should be reinspected immediately if it’s been more than 3,000 cycles since the inspection
• A design review of the engine should be completed which could result in an engine redesign if serious problems are found

This engine has been in service for several years in one form or another, and it’s a very popular engine. It powers some A300, A310, A330, 747, 767, and MD-11 aircraft. Most airplanes offer more than one engine choice, and the airline gets to pick.

American uses CF6 engines on its 767s and A300s. US Airways uses the CF6 on the 767 but not the A330. Delta has CF6 engines on some of its 767s. Continental uses CF6 engines on its 767s as well. United doesn’t have CF6 engines on any of its aircraft.

Hopefully the FAA will take the NTSB’s recommendations and require airlines to follow through on this work.