Delta strike fear causing travelers to avoid airline

<p>When Kay Rudd flew in Thursday for a business meeting, she didn't use her regular airline _ Delta Air Lines Inc. _ even though she could have caught a Delta plane from an airport just 33 miles from her home.</p><p>Instead, she drove 72 miles out of her way to the Raleigh-Durham International Airport to fly on competitor AirTran Airways.</p><p>"I wouldn't even consider flying Delta or booking anything toward Delta, even though I live near" the Piedmont-Triad International Airport outside Greensboro, N.C., Rudd said after she picked up her rolling suitcase from the AirTran baggage claim at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. "I mainly fly Delta."</p><p>Fear of a strike by pilots of the country's third largest carrier prompted the Reidsville, N.C.-based credit manager and other passengers interviewed Thursday at the Atlanta airport to avoid the Atlanta-based airline. Although they said they are typically loyal to Delta, they thought a strike would interfere with their travel plans.</p><p>"I wouldn't buy another ticket from Delta because they would not be able to get where I had to go" in the case of a strike, said Michele Malloy, a retired General Motors worker from Atlanta who was waiting for relatives to arrive at the Atlanta airport. "It's a shame, because that's the only airline I fly."</p><p>Delta pilots, angered by management's effort to throw out their contract and impose deep pay cuts, voted by a wide margin Tuesday to authorize a strike. Leaders of the Delta pilots union gave their chairman the right to order a strike at any time after April 17.</p><p>Delta officials have said a strike would put the company out of business. Any strike would likely prompt a court challenge by the company, which would almost certainly seek a restraining order.</p><p>Freddie Harris of Atlanta and his family just arrived from a trip to West Palm Beach, Fla., to visit friends. Although his family typically flies standby because his wife's father was a longtime avionics worker for Delta, Harris said a Delta strike would force them to fly other airlines.</p><p>Meanwhile, about 30 Delta pilots marched in an informational picket line Thursday morning at the Delta Airlines departure terminal at Los Angeles International Airport.</p><p>Jeffrey Lawrence, a computer programmer from La Plata, Md., said he expects the strike fears will affect the airline. But he said it wouldn't affect him _ he's given up planes altogether.</p><p>"I prefer riding the train," Lawrence said. "Ever since 9/11, my desire to fly planes has gone out the window."</p><p>____</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cdd108)</p>

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