PETALING JAYA, Malaysia – The body of MCA scholar Goh Siow Chong, who died in the United States, has yet to arrive home as it is being held in Japan following misplaced documents.

MCA Youth chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said the body, which was supposed to arrive in KL International Airport at 4.30am yesterday, was currently in a Delta Airlines warehouse at Narita Airport pending proper documentation.

“The authorities in Japan are waiting for the documentation from Delta Airlines before the body can be released to MASkargo to be brought here. Delta Airlines had booked the next flight from Narita at 10.30am to arrive here at 4.45pm but Customs clearance was not given. Hence, that flight was also missed,” he said.

Dr Wee added that MASkargo officials were currently negotiating with the Japanese authorities to expedite the process of bringing Goh’s body back to Malaysia.

Goh, also known as Manford, was on a scholarship for a PhD in neuroscience from the Rutgers University in New Jersey when he died of brain cancer on Aug 17.

He had received a scholarship under the MCA Youth campaign some eight years ago to study Form 4 and 5 in MRSM Bakri.

Goh’s father had travelled to the United States upon hearing of his son’s death and returned to Kuala Lumpur two days ago.

Speaking to The Star, Dr Wee expressed his disappointment that no one had been informed of the documentation problem, including Goh’s family.

Goh’s mother, a fruit seller, and his sister had travelled from Malacca to KLIA to receive the body, waiting in vain until about 7.30am. Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Idris Haron’s special secretary was also at the airport.

MONTGOMERY, AL (WAFF) –

190 people arrived safely in Atlanta Sunday night after an unexpected emergency layover in Montgomery.

A Delta official said that Flight 534 was en route from Cancun, Mexico to Atlanta, Georgia when a fluorescent light failed, and the pilots noticed a “smoky odor” shortly afterward. The official said the pilots re-routed to Montgomery, and a safe emergency landing was performed.

Officials said there were 190 people on board at the time, including 184 customers and six crew members. Montgomery Regional does not have a customs department, and due to it being an international flight, passengers were evacuated to a secure area without connection to the rest of the airport. 

No injuries were been reported. Another plane was flown into Montgomery for the passengers, and the flight landed in Atlanta at 8:07 p.m. local time, some four hours after their first plane was originally due. 

Copyright 2013 WAFF. All rights reserved.

Authorities confirm a Delta Air Lines plane en route from Cancun to Atlanta made an emergency landing at Montgomery Regional Airport on Sunday afternoon. 

The plane, Delta Flight 534, was carrying 184 passengers and six crew members. 

Delta officials report one of the pilots noticed a smoky odor produced from a failed fluorescent light in the plane. The flight was immediately re-routed to Montgomery Regional as a precaution.

Montgomery Regional does not handle international flights, and passengers have been moved to a secure location while they wait for a second plane from Atlanta. 

 No injuries have been reported. 

Copyright 2013 WSFA 12 News.  All rights reserved

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Delta Air Lines has issued an urgent warning about the impact of ObamaCare, claiming the law’s implementation will contribute to a roughly $100 million increase in health care costs next year alone. 

The astonishing figure was included in a letter from Delta executive Robert Kight to officials in the Obama administration. The website RedState.com was the first to obtain and publish the letter earlier this week. 

A representative with Delta confirmed the authenticity of the letter to FoxNews.com. 

“Like many large companies, Delta faces significantly increased healthcare costs in 2014 and beyond,” the company said in a statement on Friday. “Delta will absorb the vast majority of those increased costs so that we can continue providing a high value, high quality health plan. Consistent with our culture, Delta will always keep the best interests of our people in mind in connection with the healthcare and other benefits we provide.” 

In the original letter, Kight disputes the notion that the law — the biggest parts of which take effect at the start of 2014 — will mean “business as usual” for big employers. A combination of factors, he claimed, will “mean that the cost of providing health care to our employees will increase by nearly $100,000,000 next year.” 

Part of that is normal medical inflation and the phase-out of an assistance program tied to the health care law. But a large chunk of it, the exec claimed, comes from various fees and costs associated with the implementation of the health care law. 

One of the costly items pertains to an annual fee of $63 per “covered participant” next year. The company estimates this means a more than $10 million expense in 2014. The catch for Delta is that, because many of their employees insure through Delta, the fee meant to help subsidize the health care law’s coverage amounts to a “direct subsidy” from the company that provides “zero direct benefit to our participants,” Kight said. 

Another added cost comes from the requirement to cover children and young adults on parents’ plans until they’re 26 years old. Kight reports that the change led to 8,000 more people being added to their rolls, at an annual cost of $14 million. 

Further, the individual mandate — or the requirement on individuals to obtain health insurance — is expected to drive more people into the company plan and drive up their costs by another $14 million. 

The letter, which was dated June 13, is among the latest warnings to emerge about the looming costs to businesses from the health care law. 

The administration and other supporters of the law argue that it will expand coverage to millions, and use subsidies to help those in need purchase insurance. 

But in the process, employers claim they are being forced to change or downsize policies, and reduce worker hours. The latter change is being made because a provision in the law, eventually, will mandate insurance coverage for employees working 30 or more hours — some are trimming their staff to avoid crossing that threshold. 

Inside Higher Ed reported on Friday that Southern Illinois University was the latest to move in that direction, reportedly by limiting the workload of graduate assistants. 

Other employers like UPS this week announced that they were planning to end coverage of workers’ spouses in part over concern about ObamaCare-tied costs.

Microsoft and ATT are teaming up with Delta Airlines to provide flight attendants with Windows Phone 8 devices to use on board flights. The phones will handle a slew of responsibilities, including handling credit cards and make in-flight purchases. The phones will also handle passenger manifestos, frequent flyer info, connecting gate updates, and flight attendant scheduling updates.

Over 19,000 of Delta’s flight attendants will be equipped with Nokia Lumia 820 handsets running Windows Phone 8. The phones will also come equipped with credit card readers in order to process credit cards when buying food on board or upgrading seats during a flight. The phone will essentially be an all-in-one device for flight attendants.

A few airlines around the world already use phones and tablets for in-flight use, including American Airlines, where both flight attendants and pilots will be equipped with iPads in order to cut down on the amount of booklets needed to bring on board.

However, this is certainly the first time we’re hearing about a major airline picking Windows Phone as the platform of choice for flight attendants to use. ATT will be providing the wireless communications necessary to process information on the Windows Phone handsets.

Delta says that the upgrade should be able to give flight attendants the opportunity to enable passengers with more “personalized service,” but we wouldn’t be surprised if the phones were used to play a little bit of Angry Birds during some downtime; we certainly can’t blame them.

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Microsoft finally has something it must have craved for ages: a colossal, ultra-recognisable brand, enterprise user of its Windows Phone platform. But the announcement about the buy uses the most optimistic number possible to describe the sale.

The buyer is Delta airlines, which has let it be known that as August 26th its flight attendants will be whipping out Nokia Lumia 820s to take orders for in-flight purchases.

Just how many is hard to say: the canned statements from Delta and Microsoft both say the airline’s “global team of more than 19,000 flight attendants” will use the handsets.

That number has been taken by some to mean Delta has bought 19,000 phones.

Closer reading of the Technet blog on the matter, plus the post to theOfficial Microsoft Blog and the Windows Phone Blog all mention the 19,000 flight attendants but not the number of handsets sold.

The Reg would love nothing more than to spend a day looking at Delta’s list of its fleet , figuring out the carrying capacity of the 700-plus planes it operates and then using part 121.391 from Title 14 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (colossal PDF) and its insistence that airlines must have “two flight attendants plus one additional flight attendant for each unit (or part of a unit) of 50 passenger seats above a seating capacity of 100 passengers” to figure out how many flight attendants Delta needs to operate.

If we were generous we’d say half of the 19,000 attendants are on duty each day and need a Lumia, for 9,500 phones sold. A little more real-world thinking means we could assume that only 18,000 attendants show to work each day thanks to holidays and illness, giving us a need for 8,000 phones. If we factor in that flight attendants often work part time, a very helpful work pattern for an industry with insane scheduling requirements, we might assume that perhaps only 6,000 show up on any given day.

Windows Phone 8 in Delta livery, with credit card widget on top

Whatever the number of flight attendants to whom Delta needs to deliver a Lumia each day, it’s still an impressive sale for Microsoft and Nokia even if the 19,000 headline number is not realistic.

The news gets better for Redmond when one considers that its Dynamics ERP software sits behind the in-flight ordering app that will run on the smartmobes. Publicity pics released of the rig depict a credit card reader of some sort atop the Lumias, so Microsoft can now tell retailers it can hang with the cool kids like Square chasing the tablets-at-point-of-sale crowd. ®

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Credit: Microsoft

Delta Airlines’ announcement that it will equip flight attendants with Windows Phone devices could be a sign of rising enterprise interest in Windows mobiles, according to a Telsyte analyst.

Delta announced today that its more than 19,000 flight attendants will start using Windows Phone 8 devices to streamline on-board purchasing. The attendants will use Nokia Lumia 820 smartphones. The app that will be used by attendants was developed by Avanade and will operate over WiFi and ATT’s 4G LTE network.

Delta flight attendants will use the smartphones to quickly process credit card transactions in the air for on-board purchases including seat upgrades. The will soon use the devices to read coupons displayed on a customer’s mobile device.

“Delta’s 19,000 in-flight professionals are there for the safety and comfort of our customers, and equipping them with innovative solutions means they can better meet our customers’ needs on board every flight,” said Delta senior vice president, Joanne Smith. “This is yet another way we’re investing in technology to improve the customer experience.”

Telsyte analyst Rodney Gedda said the announcement shows that Windows is “getting more attention in the business space.”

In Australia, about 22 per cent of enterprises developing mobile apps intend to use Windows Phone, Gedda said. “From our research, we know that the intention is there among CIOs to use Windows Phone devices.”

“Even though the [Windows Phone] penetration rate isn’t as high as BlackBerry or iOS and Android, the intention to be supported is there.”

Gedda noted that Delta has not gone exclusive Windows for mobile. The airline developed its consumer Fly Delta app for iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows. “Delta is a big enough company to use these point solutions as it needs to.”

Microsoft has the advantage of already being in front of CIOs’ eyes in areas besides mobile, said Gedda. “Microsoft is still the dominant business PC operating system, so there’s certainly interest in using its Windows Phone platform as well.”

Microsoft has “existing relationships with enterprises [and] it’s a very competitive company that doesn’t take no for answer.”

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ATLANTA (TheStreet) — Delta (DAL) is the biggest competitor to US Airways (LCC), which makes it seem all the more illogical that a merger between the two was proposed in 2006.

But does Delta benefit from the potential failure of a merger between US Airways and American (AAMRQ) that would significantly strengthen the two partners?

Investors don’t seem to think so. Since the Justice Department announced on Aug. 13 that it would oppose an all-but-done merger of US Airways and American, Delta stock has fallen 9%. On Tuesday, shares rose 6 cents to close at $19.19.

Some analysts are recommending Delta, based on the widespread belief that it is the best-managed U.S. airline and that it will, in fact, benefit if the merger is not approved. But that hope is balanced against the possibility that Delta could be harmed by a weakened airline industry in which American rapidly adds capacity while also having to slash fares to attract passengers.

JP Morgan analyst Jamie Baker takes the negative view. Following the DOJ’s announcement, Baker downgraded Delta from overweight to neutral and reduced his price target to $22 from $25.

“We can’t sit idly by without adjusting targets and ratings,” Baker wrote. “While near-term earnings are unaffected, in our view, longer-term risk is higher.” He said “the broader industry thesis has been compromised (not ruined but comprised)” and the risk of investor flight now exists.

In contrast, Avondale Partners analyst Fred Lowrance said the DOJ lawsuit created “an opportunity for those investors who have been patiently waiting for a pull-back” in airline shares. “We do not expect airline management teams to suddenly throw years of hard work on an obviously successful business transition out the window,” he said.

Lowrance said Delta is his top pick, not only because US Airways is a primary competitor but also because he does not assume that standalone American and US Airways will suddenly begin to increase capacity.

“We had always assumed that this merger would make the new American more competitive in places like New York and Charlotte, challenging DAL in Atlanta,” Lowrance wrote in a recent report. “Secondly, we believe the knee-jerk assumption that a standalone American or US Airways would suddenly throw capacity discipline out the window and begin growing for market share’s sake is completely unfounded.”

In fact, in a report issued Monday, Buckingham Research analyst Dan McKenzie noted that over the weekend American trimmed 446,000 seats from its November through January schedule, meaning fourth-quarter capacity will rise just 1.4%. McKenzie said the reductions primarily involve flights from Chicago to LaGuardia, Dallas and Miami. “We’re not drawing conclusions from a week’s worth of data, but if AMR is ultimately forced to exit Ch. 11 standalone (we assign a 50/50 probability), creditors likely require AMR to rethink growth and capex as a standalone carrier,” McKenzie said.

He said American’s planned growth is based almost entirely on international flying (Dallas-Seoul, Chicago-Dusseldorf and Miami-London). At this point, he added, American appears “to be one of the more rational actors in the industry.” US Airways, meanwhile, has been a leader in the industry’s disciplined capacity reduction, starting with the 2005 merger between US Airways and America West.

One big problem for Delta, United (UAL) and American is that the Middle East carriers Emirates, Qatar and Etihad, which have the backing of their governments, are expanding rapidly. They are ratcheting up non-stop service to the U.S., buying new airplanes, often at a
lower cost
than what U.S. carriers pay due to government policy, and expanding the range of cities served from their hubs, enabling them to offer bargain fares to more and more international destinations. Over the long term, they are real competitors when U.S. carriers bid for corporate international travel, and Delta and United would not benefit from having a weak sister American offering desperation packages to corporate clients to compete with them.

“As it stands now, if the merger does not go through, American will be two-thirds the size of Delta and United and be forced to compete in an increasingly competitive industry, especially as more international airlines fly to cities in the US,” wrote Cowen Co. analyst Helane Becker in a report on Tuesday.

She said Delta and United “clearly stand to benefit from a smaller American Airlines,” and will likely continue to strengthen their hubs in Atlanta and New York for the former and Chicago and Newark for the latter. She has outperform ratings on both.

As for the 2006 merger with Delta, during a press conference after announcing the DOJ’s opposition to the US Airways/American merger, Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer was asked about previous airline mergers the DOJ had opposed. In his response, Baer noted: “We were looking seriously at the hostile bid for Delta when that got abandoned [so] it’s not the first time.”

Given DOJ’s opposition to previous airline mergers and now to the American merger, it seems clear that the agency would also have opposed the Delta merger — especially since it is the only one that actually appeared to be anti-competitive.

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— Written by Ted Reed in Charlotte, N.C.

To contact the writer of this article, click here: Ted Reed

After getting her flight info, one Delta passenger noticed an odd message in her confirmation code: the letters spelled the word GONER. Yikes!