As airline strike ends, students can take off

Clinton saves Thanksgiving Day for many After all of the calls from frantic mothers and inundated travel agents, students flying home for Thanksgiving on American Airlines can scrap their alternate plans for getting home. Yesterday, President Clinton announced that the strike, which threatened to paralyze the holiday operations of one of the nation's largest air carriers, was over. The striking union's 21,000 flight attendants agreed to go back to work and the airline pledged not to fire the employees. The compromise ended a frenetic period for students, many of whom had to make new arrangements to get home in time for turkey and cranberry sauce. College sophomore Sasha Trump said she knew people who "rescheduled their whole lives" because of the strike. Some of her friends left yesterday instead of waiting until tomorrow. Trump's mother had booked a flight on another carrier which was "outrageously expensive." But now that the strike is resolved, Trump will be able to return to her Florida home on schedule. "I knew I would get on a flight home somehow," she said. But as the strike progressed last week, it looked doubtful that Thanksgiving plans would progress smoothly. College sophomore Tara Troy said she was "stressed" about the strike prior to the announcement that other airlines would accept American tickets. She made new reservations on Northwest airlines which turned her first-class ticket into a 6:30 a.m. flight with a stopover in Detroit. And even after the strike ended, Troy was obligated to fly on Northwest. She said she didn't mind the change, however. "I can get home earlier now," the Chicago resident said. Many of American's flights have flown without passengers since they have not had the federally required number of flight attendants. The flight attendants had promised to strike for 11 days, costing the airline an estimated $39 million daily. Because of the strike, American officials said the carrier will post a loss for this quarter and for the year. American Chairman Robert L. Crandall told the Associated Press that the strike has "destroyed any possibility of the airline posting a profit." The Fort-Worth based company said it will return to a full schedule by the end of the week. The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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