A recently surfaced video of passengers evacuating an American Airlines flight at Denver International Airport has sparked concerns of people prioritizing luggage over safety and disregarding evacuation procedures.

“3023’s aborting on the runway. … Fire on the left side,” the American Airlines pilot can be heard saying in an air traffic control recording obtained by Denver7.

Video shared by Denver7 of the evacuation shows passengers sliding down the rubber slide, many holding their carry-on bags and several struggling to balance their luggage with their children.

“In the unlikely event of an evacuation, leave all carry-ons behind and follow the lights quickly and safely to the nearest exit,” American Airlines officials state in the airline’s safety briefing played at the beginning of each flight.

The video, which shows passengers violating those safety instructions, led to backlash online.

One passenger told Denver7 that everyone on the plane was told not to grab anything. When people continued to collect their bags, it derailed the evacuation process.

Part of the plane’s landing gear caught on fire during its departure from Denver International Airport on Saturday, according to Denver7’s reporting.

The Miami-bound American Airlines flight 3023 reported a “maintenance issue” with an airplane tire about 2:45 p.m. and aborted takeoff, airline and federal officials said.

Only one of the 173 passengers and six crew members onboard the Boeing 737 MAX 8 was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Airport officials said Saturday that five others were evaluated on scene but not taken to the hospital.

After hearing a loud “boom,” the plane “started to violently shake and we were drifting to the left side of the runway,” Shay Armistead, a 17-year-old from Minturn, Colorado, told The Associated Press in an interview.

Armistead and her teammates on a ski racing team were on their way from Colorado to Chile when it happened.

“I started grabbing my friend’s hands, I was like ‘Oh my God,’ and then they slammed on the brakes, and we all like went forward and they finally brought the plane to a stop,” she said. “It was just terrifying.”

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Alaska Airlines has resumed flights after the failure of a critical piece of hardware forced the airline to ground all its planes for approximately three hours, but the effects will linger into Monday, the company announced.

The carrier issued a system-wide ground stop for Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air flights around 8 p.m. Pacific time Sunday. The stop was lifted at 11 p.m., the Seattle-based company said in a social media post. More than 150 flights have been canceled since Sunday evening. The FlightAware tracking site reported 84 cancellations and nearly 150 delays Monday.

“We appreciate the patience of our guests whose travel plans have been disrupted. We’re working to get them to their destinations as quickly as we can,” the airline said in a statement.

A closer look at the cause

The airline said “a critical piece of multi-redundant hardware at our data centers, manufactured by a third-party, experienced an unexpected failure.” That affected several of the airlines key systems, but hacking was not involved, and the airline said the incident was not related to any other events like the attack involving Microsoft’s servers over the weekend or the recent cybersecurity event at its Hawaiian Airlines subsidiary in June.

The airline also said it is working with its vendor to replace the hardware at the data center.

Alaska Airlines led all airlines in cancellations Monday, according to FlightAware. Many of the cancellations were at the airline’s major hub of Seattle, but it also canceled flights at airports all over the country.

The Federal Aviation Administration website had confirmed a ground stop for all Alaska Airlines mainline and Horizon aircraft, referring to an Alaska Airlines subsidiary. But the FAA referred all questions to the airline Monday.

History of outages

There has been a history of computer problems disrupting flights in the industry, though most of the time the disruptions are only temporary. Airlines have large, layered technology systems, and crew-tracking programs are often among the oldest systems. They also rely on other systems to check in passengers and make pre-flight calculations about aircraft weight and balance. But some of the most widespread problems are often related to computer systems the airlines themselves don’t control.

Nearly every major U.S. airline had to cancel hundreds — if not thousands — of flights last year after a major internet outage that was blamed on a software update that cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike sent to Microsoft computers of its corporate customers, including many airlines.

The FAA caused all U.S. departures to be halted briefly in January 2023 when a system used to alert pilots to safety hazards failed. That was the first nationwide ground stop since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The agency blamed a contractor that it said accidentally deleted files while synchronizing the alert system and its backup.

One of the biggest individual airline tech problems was the December 2022 debacle that caused Southwest Airlines to cancel nearly 17,000 flights over a 15-day stretch. After a federal investigation of Southwest’s compliance with consumer-protection rules, the airline agreed to pay a $35 million fine as part of a $140 million settlement with the Transportation Department.

Southwest’s breakdown started during a winter storm, but the airline’s recovery took unusually long because of problems with a crew-scheduling system.

The air traffic controllers that direct flights in and out of the nation’s airports also rely on outdated technology that the Trump administration has proposed overhauling after a series of high-profile failures and crashes this year, especially at Newark Liberty International Airport. Congress included $12.5 billion for those upgrades in Trump’s overall budget bill, but officials have described that as only a down payment on the project.

Alaska Airlines in focus

The National Transportation Board last month credited the crew of Alaska Airlines flight 1282 with the survival of passengers when a door plug panel flew off the plane shortly after takeoff on Jan. 5, 2024, leaving a hole that sucked objects out of the cabin.

In September, Alaska Airlines said it grounded its flights in Seattle briefly due to “significant disruptions” from an unspecified technology problem that was resolved within hours.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop for DIA flights on Wednesday afternoon because of the storm, which was lifted as of 5:30 p.m.

There were 1,100 flight delays and 70 canceled flights as of 2:50 p.m., according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.

Flights headed to several East Coast airports are delayed by a range of 20 minutes to nearly 2 hours, including Logan International Airport in Boston; Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.; and Kennedy International Airport in New York City, according to the FAA.

Southwest Airlines had 369 delayed and 26 canceled flights, while United reported 327 delayed and nine canceled flights. SkyWest had 200 delays and 21 flight cancellations.

A severe thunderstorm is causing gusty winds up to 60 mph across metro Denver, National Weather Service forecasters said.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

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For the first time in almost 20 years, travelers may no longer be required to take off their shoes during security screenings at U.S. airports.

The Transportation Security Administration is looking to abandon the additional security step that has for years bedeviled anyone passing through U.S airports, according to media reports.

If implemented, it would put an end to a security screening mandate put in place almost 20 years ago, several years after “shoe bomber” Richard Reid’s failed attempt to take down a flight from Paris to Miami in late 2001.

The travel newsletter Gate Access was first to report that the security screening change is coming. ABC News reported on an internal memo sent to TSA officers last week that states the new policy allows travelers to keep their shoes on during standard screenings at many U.S. airports, beginning Sunday. That would expand to all airports shortly.

The plan is for the change to occur at all U.S. airports soon, the memo said.

Travelers have previously been able to skirt the extra security requirement if they participate in the TSA PreCheck program, which costs around $80 for five years. The program allows airline passengers to get through the screening process without removing shoes, belts or light jackets.

All passengers between the ages of 12 and 75 are required to remove their shoes, which are scanned along with carry on luggage.

The TSA has not officially confirmed the reported security screening change yet.

“TSA and DHS are always exploring new and innovative ways to enhance passenger experience and our strong security posture,” a TSA spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. “Any potential updates to our security process will be issued through official channels.”

The TSA began in 2001 when President George W. Bush signed legislation for its creation two months after the 9/11 attacks. The agency included federal airport screeners that replaced the private companies airlines had used to handle security.

Over the years the TSA has continued to look for ways to enhance its security measures, including testing facial recognition technology and implementing Real ID requirements.

One of the most prominent friction points for travelers is the TSA at screening checkpoints. Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy asked the public in an April social media post what would make travel more seamless.

The following day, Duffy posted on X that, “It’s very clear that TSA is the #1 travel complaint. That falls under the Department of Homeland Security. I’ll discuss this with @Sec_Noem.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will host a press conference Tuesday evening at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to announce a new TSA policy “that will make screening easier for passengers, improve traveler satisfaction, and reduce wait times,” her agency said.

Trump fired TSA Administrator David Pekoske in January in the middle of a second five-year term, though he was appointed by Trump during his first term in the White House. Pekoske was reappointed by President Joe Biden.

No reason was given for Pekoske’s departure. The administrator position remains vacant, according to the TSA website.

In Denver, United’s fastest-growing hub, the quarterback has undergone a new training regime just in time for this weekend’s big game. United, the dominant carrier at DIA, finished the first phase of a $10 million redesign of its operations center about two weeks ago. The upgrade is the facility’s first since the airport opened in 1995 and the first of seven center makeovers United plans across the company.

“It’s a huge upgrade for us and it was long overdue,” said Jonna McGrath, vice president of United’s airport operations in Denver.

“We think that it will help us as we continue to grow and make sure (employees) are able to get their jobs done in the most efficient, comfortable manner,” McGrath added.

The space is a kind of nerve center for the airline where “zone managers” monitor everything from what’s happening at each of United’s 90 gates across two concourses to tracking flight arrivals and departures, baggage loading and unloading and weather. The center operates 24/7 and the goal is to get passengers to where they’re going, said Colin Whatley, director of United’s station operations center.

Employees can track the activity at their desk and also look at five, 75-inch screens on the wall.

“I’m thankful that we have it for the busy holiday weekend and that we’re all in one location,” Whatley said. “We’re going to carry well over 60,000 customers a day for the next week just here in Denver.”

Whatley recommended arriving early for flights and using United’s mobile app, which features a countdown to connecting flights and customized directions to  gates with estimated walk times.

Airport officials have said more than 900,000 passengers could pass through security at DIA through July 7. United expects to see approximately 6 million passengers systemwide June 27-July 7, spokesman Russell Carlton said.

The number of people traveling by air nationwide this Fourth of July holiday could be a record, with 5.84 million people expected to be on flights, AAA said, That would be an increase of 1.4% from last year’s holiday week.

“We’ve been planning for the July Fourth weekend for six months,” Whatley said.

The team in the operations center “locks into making sure” people get to their destinations during the big holiday rushes, Whatley said.

The center is tucked behind the scenes, along with several United offices. The redesigned operational space is 5,050 square feet, close to the previous size. Adding office suites and an emergency operations center, expected to be completed by October, the entire facility will be 7,800 square feet.

Whatley said work on the upgrade began four years ago. Goals included making the operation more efficient. The number of work stations increased to 66 from 45. And the work stations, at $5,000 a pop, were designed with input from company ergonomic and corporate safety teams. Instead of having to monitor six screens, employees can pull up different sites on one large, curved screen.

Employees can also track activity on five, 75-inch screens on the wall.

The desks can be adjusted so people can stand or sit. They include an individual overhead light and built-in heaters and fans. Walls in the center were built with materials that absorb sound. Whatley said designers discussed what kind of lighting to install in the space.

“There’s actually a right amount of yellow and blue light that prevents employees from feeling fatigued or exhausted,” Whatley said. “It comes down to the employees. They’re the ones who day in and day out are helping get these flights out and getting the customers on the planes.”

United is logging roughly 560 departures a day in Denver. Members of the operations center’s team represent the airline’s different departments and functions, including pilots, flight attendants, customer service, ramp service, technical operations and maintenance. SkyWest, a regional carrier operating under the United Express brand, has a seat in the center.

Carlton said the operations center serves as a central communication point, with employees funneling information to their respective areas of oversight.

“The employees communicate in a variety of methods, from phone calls to radio to real-time group chats. It’s all part of the nuanced orchestra taking place behind the scenes to run the airline day in and day out,” Carlton said.

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After visiting Europe again in March, she no longer feels the same way.

The Colorado Springs resident and her husband spent a week in Barcelona, Spain, where they planned to hike the mountain of Montserrat and visit the famed Santa Maria de Montserrat abbey to light holy candles for her granddaughter and her home country, she said.

A Latina who’s fluent in Spanish, Meehan sparked several conversations with people she met along the journey. Her taxi driver noticed the couple was American and compared the U.S. to his motherland, which is a dictatorship, Meehan said. “You’ll get used to it,” he told her.

Once at the abbey, Meehan realized she hadn’t purchased an advance ticket, so she faced a lengthy queue. She said she pleaded her case to a guard. “I’m from America, and I need to light a holy candle because of Trump,” she told him. At that, the guard escorted her past the line. “He said, ‘And light a big candle. Your country’s in trouble,'” Meehan added.

Colorado travelers like Meehan believe they are facing complications and negative interactions abroad due to President Donald Trump’s approach to foreign affairs. In just four months, he has proposed seizing control of Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada; sparked a global trade war through his inconsistent use of tariffs, with a focus specifically on China; and deported migrants to at least eight countries in Central and South America.

Some are concerned about how they’ll be received as Americans by government officials, locals and even other tourists, while others have already noticed tension on trips abroad this year.

Erin Morris, 45, is a U.S. citizen who has resided in Denver for seven years. She lived abroad in her youth, then spent a decade in Costa Rica. But while she has felt some unease in the past, those experiences are “nothing like this,” Morris said. “This is totally different.”

And they came from an unexpected place: Canadians traveling in Mexico. “There are a ton of Canadian ex-pats where we were, and they are really upset and very vocal,” she said. “I’ve never interacted with Canadians who are angry before.”

Morris said they seethed about Trump’s tariffs and his jabs at Canada. “The sentiment was mostly: they feel like they’ve been a good ally and a good friend to the U.S., and that they don’t deserve to be treated like that,” Morris said.

Jill Collins, 42, has traveled to 73 countries, globe-trotting as far as Kazakhstan and Georgia. In March and April, the Denverite visited Hong Kong, China and Japan with her husband.

He is a New Zealand citizen, while Collins holds both Austrian and American passports. “We intentionally traveled under my Austrian passport for this trip because of that rhetoric” by Trump, Collins said. “If I didn’t have another passport, maybe I wouldn’t have gone to China this trip.”

At the airport, Chinese customs officers had travelers hold their passports above their heads. Collins believes that happened so officers could easily see which countries people hailed from. Afterward, “the only people they pulled aside were people with U.S. passports,” Collins said.

After discussing the experience on a tour, Collins said her guide confirmed that the few Americans coming to China are being held at the airport with no explanation for extended periods of time.

In other conversations with hotel staff and tour guides, “they actually seem to feel a little bit sorry for us,” Collins said. “They make comments like, ‘It’s affecting us, too, and we’re in it with you.’ ”

Denver resident Danya Strait, 37, fielded frantic questions about the U.S. from foreigners when she spent a couple weeks in Berlin, Germany, earlier this year for a work trip.

“It definitely felt a little bit like 2016 and ’17 or going way back to the early 2000s when Bush was in office, and we kind of felt like we had to tell people we’re Canadian, not American,” Strait said.

The discourse with her foreign colleagues “was a lot of like, what is even happening in your country right now?” Strait said. “Questions around: Do you guys think you might want to, like, live abroad and not be there anymore?”

The experience overseas gave her some pause. She wonders whether criticisms of the federal government will impact her passage through U.S. Customs and Border Protection ports of entry. Strait also fears whether her access to other countries will eventually be limited as a U.S. citizen.

“I’m just nervous that other countries are gonna stop letting us in, especially if there becomes a greater exodus in people wanting to leave the U.S. altogether,” she said.

Travel agent Celine Kirk, 29, said she’s “seeing a lot of fear in the consumer,” and has been taking extra steps to prepare her clients for how to travel under Trump.

For instance, in China, Kirk recommends embodying the “quiet tourist” archetype: speaking less loudly, not being on the phone constantly and respecting local cultures.

While that is good advice for travel at any time, Kirk said it’s especially important under the current administration. That’s compared to former President Barack Obama’s two terms when “very friendly” tourism policies existed between China and the U.S., Kirk added. Then, “it was a little more comfortable than during the previous and current Trump administration,” she said.

Kirk’s Arvada-based company, Trek It Travel Agency, helps people book everything from $500 weekend trips to a $60,000 cruise along the Panama Canal. That one has left some clients with concerns after the Trump administration’s talk of controlling the Central American waterway.

She’s also seeing an uptick in would-be travelers apprehensive about visiting Mexico due to the recent focus on the U.S.-Mexico border. “The biggest thing is perceived safety,” Kirk said. “People see news about the border and think it is a reflection of the whole country and have a hard time separating the border from heavily tourist-reliant areas like Los Cabos and Cancún.”

Those Mexican cities, as well as islands in the Caribbean, are hospitality hotspots, so Kirk doesn’t think travelers should expect much of a difference in how they’re received. But in countries with economies that aren’t as reliant on tourism, she advises visitors to be more mindful.

“When we talk about going overseas, I think the location is going to be heavily dependent on the way that Americans are viewed,” Kirk said.

As for Meehan and her trip to Spain, she recalls noticing a group of young German men at an airport who were watching CNN. “As soon as Trump got on there — oh, my God — they started screaming and hollering at the TV,” she said.

“But this is what Trump did,” Meehan added. “This is what he did, and our standing in the world is different now.”

A fuel leak and several improperly installed parts were found inside the engine of an American Airlines plane that caught fire after the plane landed in Denver in March, according to a report released Thursday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said one part inside the right engine of the Boeing 737-800 was loose and had been installed in the wrong direction and that fuel was leaking from the fitting of another part that was also fastened incorrectly.

The preliminary findings don’t identify the cause of the fire because the NTSB won’t reach that conclusion until after it completes its investigation likely sometime next year.

But former NTSB and FAA investigator Jeff Guzzetti said the problems investigators found in the engine appear to be the source of the fuel that caught fire.

“To me, it looks like improper maintenance in the right engine leading to a fuel leak,” Guzzetti said after reading the NTSB report.

Photos and videos posted online showed billowing smoke and passengers standing on the plane’s wing after it taxied to a gate at Denver International Airport. Twelve people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

The plane carried 172 passengers and six crew. The NTSB said gate workers extinguished the fire within a minute even before firefighters arrived and doused lingering hot spots on the plane.

American Airlines said in a statement that “the safety of our customers and team members is our top priority, and we are cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation.”

Pictures included in the NTSB report show streaks on the outside of the engine from the leaking fuel, and airport video showed a trail of fluid leaking from under the right engine as the airplane taxied to the gate.

Guzzetti said he believes those streaks were probably made while the plane was flying. After it landed, he said, the fuel likely pooled inside the engine and caught fire.

The American Airlines flight had left Colorado Springs Airport and was bound for Dallas-Fort Worth when it diverted to Denver on March 13 after the crew reported high engine vibrations. The plane’s right engine caught fire after it arrived at the gate.

Passengers started yelling “fire” and “smoke” shortly after the plane pulled up to the gate, and flight attendants saw smoke beginning to fill the cabin, according to the NTSB report.

The flight attendants tried calling the flight crew and knocking on the cockpit door, but got no answer. So the report said the flight attendants initiated the evacuation.

Passengers were able to use the jetway at the front left door and the escape slide at the right rear door as well as the left over-wing doors to evacuate. But the left rear door wouldn’t open, and maintenance personnel discovered afterward that the escape slide had jammed in the door.

The faulty slide was sent to the manufacturer for further investigation.

The country has seen a recent spate of aviation disasters and close calls stoking fears about air travel even though flying remains a very safe mode of transportation.

I’m benefitting from their hard work: A fried artichoke sits on the plate in front of me (next to an Aperol Spritz, naturally). It’s shaped almost like a flattened dahlia, with its charred, golden-brown edges crisp and curling. It’s early May and nearing the end of artichoke, or carciofi as they’re called in Italian, season.

At Il Giardino Romano restaurant, I’ve stumbled across one of Rome’s most traditional dishes: carciofi alla giudia, or Jewish-style artichokes, so called because they were first served by Italian Jews — a community that was forcibly relocated to a ghetto near the River Tiber in the mid-1500s.

It’s the same area I’m sitting in now.

Like much of Rome, the neighborhood is a juxtaposition of time periods. From the restaurant, one can look at the ruins of Portico d’Ottavia, which were once a public meeting space before evolving into a fish market and a church. A 10-minute walk takes you to the imposing Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, with its towering columns and grandiose sculptures.

Rome does this. It surprises you. One minute, you’re shopping for a leather bag, the next, you round a corner and are suddenly confronted with Trajan’s Forum, the last of the Imperial forums to be constructed in ancient Rome.

These spontaneous encounters are part of the beauty of the Eternal City, a place that’s easier than ever for Denverites to visit: In May, United Airlines launched a nonstop flight between Denver International Airport and Rome. The airport’s first direct route to Italy is offered daily between May 1 and September 24. “These are our peak travel months,” said Jonna McGrath, United’s vice president of airport operations in Denver. “There’s always a chance it goes year-round. It depends on what the demand is.” (Full disclosure: United hosted my flight.)

Rome is known to be a relatively safe city (though tourists should be careful about pickpockets around popular sites) and easy to get around. In other words, it’s an ideal destination for solo female travelers like me, one of the fastest-growing travel segments.

The travel company Virtuoso reported that “wander women” make up 71% of solo travelers, while Hilton’s 2025 trends report found that close to half of respondents said they often travel by themselves (a group the hotel chain refers to as “MeMooners”). The solo travel market is anticipated to grow by 9.1% between 2023 and 2030.

As the most populated city in Italy and one of the largest, Rome is known for its “beautiful chaos.” The streets buzz with people and cars and motorbikes and buses. There are endless neighborhoods, restaurants and sites to explore. Lone travelers can benefit from having at least one destination in mind — a venue that can serve as a launching point before allowing curiosity, and Rome’s maze of streets and alleyways, to take the lead.

Start, for instance, with a dose a fresh air following your overnight flight.

Villa Borghese is considered the city’s “green lung” and is situated close to the luxurious InterContinental Rome Ambasciatori Palace hotel. The 197-acre park and its gardens were first developed in 1606. (The Galleria Borghese houses one of the city’s most esteemed art collections; reserve tickets well in advance of your visit.) From there, take a leisurely, mile-long stroll to some of the key tourist attractions: the Spanish Steps, which burst in hues of pink and white when azaleas decorate them in the spring; the Trevi Fountain (visit early in the morning to avoid the lengthy line of people waiting to toss a coin in the turquoise water); and the Pantheon.

Save the Colosseum, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, and the Roman Forum for another day, when you take ample time to explore the blocks-long complex. (It’s worth booking guided tickets in advance to get the most out of the experience.) A visit in late afternoon offers a view unlike any other: As golden hour approaches, the Colosseum is set ablaze with the last of the sunlight, as if the ball of fire has been purposefully hung to light this one singular feature.

Reward yourself — and give your feet a break — at Fatamorgana’s Monti location, where dozens of gelato flavors await. Or stop at whichever trattoria, enoteca (wine bars) or bar (where you’ll also find coffee) appeals as you walk. Rome is particularly well-known for its pizza; if an option topped with anchovies and zucchini blossoms (fiori di zucca) is available, order it. The city also specializes in two kinds of pasta, carbonara and Amatriciana.

There are enough crowded tourist locales to fill an entire visit to Rome, but it’s worth going off the beaten path, too. A short bus ride from the historic center takes you to Trastevere, a residential neighborhood of cobblestone streets and local restaurants that’s considered by some to be the true heart of Rome.

Walking 20 minutes uphill from the bustling Piazza di Santa Maria takes you to Gianicolo Hill (also known as Janiculum Hill). The overlook, sometimes considered Rome’s eighth hill, is the site of a significant battle in the fight for Italy’s unification back in 1849 (hence the many sculptures that line the area, including a massive bronze monument to one of the country’s forefathers, Giuseppe Garibaldi, at the top), but it’s as well-loved for the views it affords over the Eternal City.

If you’re lucky, a busker will be playing music, inviting a few moments of calm amid the chaos.

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It’s the last day to book a flight on Southwest Airlines without being hit with a fee to check bags after the airline abandoned a decades-long luggage policy that executives once described as key to differentiating the budget carrier from its rivals.

The airline announced the change in March, saying at the time that the the new policy would start with flights booked on Wednesday.

Southwest said Tuesday that it will be charging $35 for a first checked bag and $45 for a second checked bag. Weight and size limits will apply for bags.

Southwest had built years of advertising campaigns around its policy of letting passengers check up to two bags for free. Under its new policy, people who haven’t either reached the upper tiers of its Rapid Rewards loyalty program, bought a business class ticket or hold the airline’s credit card will have to pay for checked bags.

Southwest will continue to offer two free checked bags to Rapid Rewards A-List preferred members and customers traveling on Business Select fares, and one free checked bag to A-List members and other select customers. Passengers with Rapid Rewards credit cards will receive a credit for one checked bag.

People who don’t qualify for those categories will get charged to check bags. The airline said in March that it also would roll out a new, basic fare on its lowest priced tickets when the change takes effect.

The airline estimated in September that charging bag fees would bring in about $1.5 billion a year but cost the airline $1.8 billion in lost business from customers who chose to fly Southwest because of its generous baggage allowance.

Another policy that will take effect on Wednesday is Southwest requiring passengers to keep their portable chargers in plain sight while using them because of concerns about the growing number of lithium-ion battery fires.

These aren’t the only changes at Southwest. The Dallas airline previously announced that it was leaving behind another Southwest tradition, the open-boarding system it has used for more than 50 years. Southwest expects to begin operating flights with passengers in assigned seats next year.

The airline also said last year that it would charge customers extra for more legroom and offer red-eye flights.

Southwest has struggled recently and is under pressure from activist investors to boost profits and revenue. The airline reached a truce in October with hedge fund Elliott Investment Management to avoid a proxy fight, but Elliott won several seats on the company’s board.

The airline announced in February that it was eliminating 1,750 jobs, or 15% of its corporate workforce, in the first major layoffs in the company’s 53-year history.

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. rose 3% at the opening bell Tuesday along with other carriers in an up day for the sector.

“I fully understand why people might be anxious. My friends and family call me with the same type of questions,” Morgan said.

Pilots, however, aren’t nervous, Morgan said. The 30-year United pilot and managing director of the airline’s Denver-based flight training center said a loss of communication with air traffic control is one of the first things pilots learn to handle.

“It’s something that’s embedded in our pilots’ DNA from a very, very early time,” Morgan said.

The nation’s air traffic control system and the Federal Aviation Administration are under scrutiny after a series of brief communication outages at Newark Liberty International Airport. The latest outage was Monday at the Philadelphia air traffic control center, which oversees flights at the New Jersey airport.

Pilots lost communication for about 90 seconds May 12 with the control center that handles Denver International Airport. Air traffic controllers used another frequency to talk to pilots, FAA officials said.

Messages were left with the FAA about an update to its investigation of the Denver-area incident.

While authorities and airlines haven’t reported any serious safety risks related to the outages, the incidents have spawned flight delays and cancellations. The outages have highlighted ongoing problems with aging and outdated equipment as well as staffing shortages.

Democratic members of Colorado’s congressional delegation asked Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau to immediately address the infrastructure and staffing problems at air traffic control centers. They said FAA employees let go as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s wide-scale federal staff reductions should be reinstated.

“While we are fortunate that our pilots safely managed this potentially catastrophic situation in Denver, this incident is part of an unacceptable pattern that many airports across the country are experiencing,” Colorado Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet and Reps. Joe Neguse and Diana DeGette wrote in a letter Tuesday.

The communication lapses are not as much of a safety issue as evidence of the need for systemwide improvements and modernization, said Chad Kendall, associate professor of aviation and aerospace science at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

“We have not come into the 21st Century and kept pace with technological improvements,” Kendall said. “These are government-run facilities, but the buck has been passed from one administration to another for many, many years.”

Kendall said both planes and air traffic control centers have redundant systems that serve as backups if a primary component fails. But he said the communication outage at the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center in Longmont, which handles traffic at DIA and surrounding states, was unusual because two ground transmitters went down simultaneously.

Kendall, a pilot for 30 years, said the good news is that pilots and air traffic controllers train throughout their careers for such contingencies. “There are thousands of professional air traffic controllers and pilots operating thousands of flights each day very safely.”

‘Layers of redundancy’

“Traffic!” “Traffic!”

The warning on board the Boeing 787 let Capt. Morgan know that a plane was uncomfortably close, about 600 feet above the plane he was piloting. The vertical buffer should be at least 1,000 feet.

Lucky for Morgan, Capt. Toby Lopez, serving as first officer, Capt. Brian Boeding and passengers, the close encounter was provided by one of the high-tech flight simulators at United’s Flight Training Center in northeast Denver.

“If this were real life, we would not be here,” Morgan said. “We would have gone down 500 feet and we would’ve gotten away from that.”

Morgan and Lopez could see the plane out the windshield and on the screen that’s part of the “traffic collision avoidance system.” Pilots can zoom out if they’re flying longer distances or zoom in the closer they get to an airport.

The “multiple layers of redundancy,” provide backups to backups, Morgan said. “If we should ever get down to where we have only one system remaining, we would land the plane in almost every situation.”

In the case of communication lapses like those experienced in Newark and Denver, pilots would switch to the last frequency the transmitter was on. They also monitor an emergency radio frequency that’s always in the background.

“Perhaps the most important part of this is that we have a fully independent system on the airplane where we can see the other air traffic around us,” Morgan said. “We know where they are, how far away, what direction they’re moving, whether they are above or below us and whether they’re climbing or descending.”

Morgan has put in at least 17,000 hours of flying over his career and has lost communication with air traffic control just once. However infrequent, dealing with the scenario is a basic part of flight training and United’s policies and procedures.

“Right from the very beginning,” Morgan said, “it’s something that we’re familiar with, something that we’re constantly thinking about.”

United trains all its roughly 18,000 pilots at the center in Denver. Newly hired pilots spend a couple of months at the 23-acre campus. Pilots who will fly a new kind of aircraft or move up to captain will be in training for a month. And all United pilots spend two to four days every nine months at the center.

The training center, which underwent a $145 million expansion in 2024, can handle about 600 pilots a day. About 1,600 of United’s 10,500 Denver-based employees work at the training center.

Transportation Secretary Duffy has proposed a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the country’s air traffic control system, including plans to upgrade the radio systems used to communicate with pilots and upgrade facilities.

“I’m excited about the leadership role the FAA is taking in this case,” Morgan said. “It will make us better, make us more efficient. From a safety perspective, I have no concerns because we’ve been operating this way successfully for a long time.”

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