The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, December 4, 1985 - Page 3
Fare cut results disappointing
CHICAGO (AP) - The heavily
promoted Thanksgiving holiday fare
discounts offered by major airlines
did not boost ridership as much as
they had hoped, spokesman for some
of the airlines said yesterday.
"The results were less than over-
whelming," said Joe Hopkins,
spokesman for United Airlines, the
nation's largest.
AMERICAN Airlines, which laun-
ched a price war for the holiday
weekend when it offered discounts of
up to 85 percent, also did not carry as
many passengers as expected, accor-
ding to American spokesman Joe
Stroup.
Travelers who took advantage of
the discounts had to fly on
Thanksgiving Day and make return
flights by Saturday night.
Stroup said American filled 69 per-
cent of its seats during the three-day
promotion, short of the 80 percent the
carrier was expecting. The airline
normally flies with about 40 percent
occupancy on those days.
HOPKINS said United had expected
about 70 percent of its seats to be filled
but sold only 58 percent.
Both spokesmen said they were
pleased with the program overall, but
neither airline has offered major
discounts for the Christmas travel
period.
"Our advance bookings are quite
strong. We have no plans to offer
anything comparable to the reduced
fares we had at Thanksgiving,"
Hopkins said.
STROUP would not say if American
has any plans for the Christmas
period.
"If we have anything to announce
we will do it at the proper time. We
have no comment on that right now,"
Stroup said.
Delta Air Lines is offering reduced
fares for three days at Christmas,
following a positive response on
Thanksgiving, said spokesman Jim
Ewing by telephone from Atlanta.
"WE'RE VERY happy with the way
it turned out," Ewing said.
"Usually nobody is going to travel
on Thanksgiving but we filled seats
that would have been empty."
Ewing said Delta's bookings were
about 50 percent of capacity out of
Atlanta on Thanksgiving Day, an in-
crease of 55 percent over last year.
EASTERN Airlines offered the
Daily Photo by DEAN RANDAZZO
MSA tables fee proposal
Lone arranger
Mike Deangelo makes last-minute changes in his winter schedule before his CRISP appointment yesterday.
Back-ups due to computer failures Monday made scenes like this a rarity in Angell Hall.
roes m rftdisaster anniversary
BHOPAL, India (AP) - A general
1 strike paralyzed this central Indian
city yesterday and thousands of angry
protesters filled the streets on the
second day of - demonstrations
marking the first anniversary of the
Union Carbide gas leak that killed
more than 2,000 people.
Hundreds of effigies of the
American chemical company's
chairman were set ablaze last night.
MARCHES and rallies were con-
ducted in at least five other Indian
cities, including New Delhi and
Calcutta, commemorating the leak of
methyl isocyanate gas that killed
more than 2,000 people in Bhopal -
most of them slum dwellers - and in-
jured 300,000 others.
About 4,000 demonstrators swar-
med outside the Union Carbide
pesticide plant in Bhopal, demanding
that the plant be permanently closed
before another disaster occurs. More.
than 1,000 riot police guarded the
plant.
"Our struggle will be alive as long
as we have life in our bodies and sen-
sation in our toes," Abid Rizvi, a tex-
tile union leader, told protesters out-
side the plant. Many in the crowd
were crying.
SECURITY was tightened at all
Union Carbide plants in India.
Children and adults thronged
streets throughout Bhopal and set fire
to hundreds of small and large effigies
of Union Carbide chairman Warren
Anderson.
"Down with killer Carbide, drown
Anderson in chemicals," they
shouted.
Protest leaders said they planned to
burn one effigy for each victim in the
Dec. 2-3, 1984, industrial disaster, the
world's worst.
Government offices, schools, shops,
and markets in Bhopal were closed
yesterday in memory of the victims.
Motorscooter rickshaws and mini-
buses, the principal means of tran-
sportation in the city of 900,000, stayed
off the roads.
Black flags flew over homes in most
of the slums around the Bhopal plant
while the victims marked the an-
niversary as a "black day."
No violence was reported in any of
the demonstrations.
The United News of India, quoting
official sources, said three more slum
dwellers who lived near the plant died
yesterday of gas-related injuries.
Doctors at the city's main hospital
could not confirm the report but said
thousands of victims still suffered
respiratory problems.
One year ago more than 40 tons of
deadly methyl isocyanate leaked
from a storage tank and turned into a
deadly cloud of gas. The fumes
smothered residents of shantytowns
near the plant and felled thousands of
people as they fled in panic.
The Madhya Pradesh state gover-
nment says it counted 1,754 corpses,
but officials do not dispute death tolls
of 2,000 to 2,500.
Demonstrators also demanded a
boycott of Union Carbide products
and more compensation for the in-
jured.
"As long as this multinational com-
pany continues to humiliate us, we
will not sit quiet but will fight for our
rights and due compensation," Rizvi
said outside the gates of the Bhopal
plant.
Union Carbide has said its offers of
assistance have been turned down.
(Continued from Page 1)
thusiastic" about the computer
program.
Although he admitted that in-
creased computer access "will not be
uniformly useful to all students in the
beginning," he predicted that studen-
ts would gradually begin to take ad-
vantage of computer services,
primarily in writing papers for
classes.
RESIDENTIAL college senior
Maya Bernstein, a computer center
employee who attended the MSA
meeting, said she thinks "it's short-
sighted and naive to think there's not
going to be a use for every student in
computers." Her main concern with
the fee, she said, was securing student
input into future computer policies.
MSA members have said the ad-
ministration did not solicit student in-
put before presenting the proposal to
the regents, and Van Houweling
agreed last night that he regretted
this lack of input.
"I think it's terribly important that
students be involved in how we spend
this fee," he said, reiterating that the
all-student Computer Policy Advisory
Board - whose chairman will serve
on the University's Computer Policy
Committee - will be formed by next
term.
MSA VICE President Phillip Cole
raised the concern that minority and
less affluent students who "count the
dollars and cents of going to this
University" may choose other
schools, thereby worsening the
University's already low minority
enrollment.
Van Houweling said he "didn't want
to make the University more expen-
sive than it already is," and he then
pledged to help poor students secure
additional financial aid to make up for
having to pay the fee.
Despite these concerns, Van
Houweling said the University will not
put a ceiling or time limit on the fee,
and may even increase the fee in the
future.
"THIS IS really just a three year
start. From then on, we haven't made
any prior determination where it will
go. It may grow, or get smaller,"
Van Houweling said.
MSA members thanked Van
Houweling for attending the meeting,
even if they disagreed with his defen-
se of the fee.
"It was very nice to see anybody
from the administration show up at an
MSA meeting," said Kurt Muncheow,
chairman of the Budget Priorities
Committee.
Legislative Relations Chairman
Steve Heyman, however, said "it was
the right kind of input but at the wrong
time" because student opinions
should have been solicited before the
regent's imposition of the fee.
Assembly members will review
their concerns about the fee in the
next week and agreed to take some
kind of stand at next week's meeting.
discounts but does not en-
thusiastically support them, said
spokeswoman Paula Musto.
"We were satisfied with the turnout,
but there is no question that extreme
discounts hurt the bottom line finan-
cially," Musto said.
"We didn't initiate the discounts,
and I guess maybe we attracted some
passengers, but we are afraid we may
be disappointing people in the future V
these fares aren't available," she
said. She said bookings were up about
30 percent on Thanksgiving Day.
Eastern is offering smaller discoun-
ts at Christmas, but most of those
seats are gone, Musto said.
"The holiday fares were useful in
stimulating additional business but
we don't derive very much revenue
from those flights," United
spokesman Hopkins said.
American's Stroup said American
viewed the program as a success even
though it did not live up to expec-
tations.
"We think we may have broken
even financially. At least we didn't
have the heavy losses that we usually
have on Thanksgiving. We would
strongly consider doing it again."
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rHIAPPENI NGS7
Highlight
Strategies Against Poverty's Wednesday lecture series presents today
Mauricio Gaborit, just back from teaching at a university in Honduras.
Gaborit will speak on the "Challenge of Poverty in Latin America," at
12:15 p.m. in room 4070 of the Frieze Building.
Films
Alternative Action - La Operacion, 7:30 p.m., Natural Science Bldg.
Performances
Ann Arbor Recreation Department Jr. Theatre- Civic Chorus Concert
7:30 p.m.
Ark - Open mike night, hootenany, 8 p.m., 637 S. Main.
School of Music - Recital, piano, Sharon Kleinhuizen, 8 p.m., Recital
Hall.
Speakers
Electrical and Computer Science - Robert Haralick, "Structure from
Optical Flow in Time Varying Images," 5 p.m., 2076 E. Engineering Bldg.
Engineering - Leslie Hocking, "Damping of Waves at a Vertical
Wall," 4 p.m., room 2305, Brown Laboratory.
Germanic Languages and Literature - Manfred Karnick, "Die
Grossere Hoffnung," 8 p.m., W. Conf. room, Rackham.
Michigan Business Women - Terry White, "Stress Management," 4
p.m., Michigan room.
Physiology - Louis G. D'Alecy, "Exacerbation of Ilchemic Tissue
Damage by Hyperglycemia," 4 p.m., room 7745, Med. Sci. II.
Russian and East European Studies - Brown bag lecture, Donna
Winkelman, "Non Academic Career Planning and Placement Oppor-
tunities for CREES Students," Commons room, Lane Hall.
Statistics - Herman K. Van Dijk, "Posterior Analysis of Econometric
Models Using Monte Carlo Methods," 3:30 p.m., room 1443, Mason Hall.
Women in the Arts - Betty Woodman, 7:30 p.m., Chrysler Aud.
Meetings
Dissertation Support Group - 1:30 p.m., room 3100, Union.
Ensian Yearbook - 7 p.m., Student Publications Bldg.
Michigan Gay Union - 9 p.m., 802 Monroe.
Science Fiction Club - Stilyagi Air Corps, 8:15, League.
Student Counceling Services - Adult children of alcoholic parents,
10:30a.m.
Miscellaneous
Guild House Campus Ministry - Beans and rice dinner, 6 p.m., 802
Monroe.
HRD - Workshop, "Talking to Your Employees," 8:30 a.m.
Lord of Light Lutheran Church - Worship, 7:30 p.m., 801 S. Forest.
THIS YEAR, SHE CAN EXPECT
A LITTLE MORE
UNDER THE MISIMEOE.
/ f
Ilk 1\
9*
CI
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