Letter of the day: For Flight 188 passengers, will detour mean an NWA surprise?

Last update: October 23, 2009 - 7:24 PM

I was wondering if the passengers on NWA Flight 188 will receive an extra 150 frequent flier miles or will they get 300 extra miles for the round trip from over flying their destination.

CHRISTOPHER WALETSKI, HIBBING, MINN.

•••

I'm shocked that Northwest Airlines Flight 188 flew 150 miles past the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Wednesday night. It's pure baloney that the pilots were in a "heated discussion" and "lost situational awareness." A very anxious ground control must have attempted time after time to contact the pilots. The pilots must have been wearing earplugs -- and some darn good ones! Maybe alarm clocks that ground control can activate to wake up sleeping pilots should be installed in cabins. As a frequent passenger, I feel it's important to be aware of where I am and what's happening between destinations. In this case, I certainly would have noticed and asked one of the flight attendants why we hadn't started our downward pattern to the airport, especially when we were still flying at 30,000-plus feet at the scheduled landing time. Power naps under the stars, while at work at 30,000 feet -- now that's a new one!

DON HAUGO, BLOOMINGTON

••• I have a few questions about the Northwest flight that flew past Minneapolis on Wednesday: Why not scramble jets before an apparently out-of-control airplane flies over a large city?

ROY HALLANGER, MINNEAPOLIS

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