This was a baldfaced lie.The airline had not begun training replacement workers. There was a small group of flight attendant supervisors, no more than 100 at best, who were qualified by the FAA to work the next day. The airline was bluffing. The hope was that we would blink. We didnt. The next day the strike took hold.Thousands of flight attendants around the system walked off airplanes or refused to report for work. The airline was effectively shut down. But passengers were told otherwise. Airline spokespersons appeared on television, lying to the public once again. This time, they claimed most flights were operating normally.As an airport picket coordinator, I had access to a hotel control room set up by our pilots. The room resembled a military operation: A guard checked identification cards at the door; grimfaced flight attendants buzzed in and out; pilots made radio contact with nearly all departing flights.I listened attentively while the radio transmissions flew. For two hours, nearly every departing pilot claimed to be flying an empty airplane. There were no flight attendants, and therefore no passengers. Later that afternoon, however, I watched a local news report. An airline spokesperson claimed that some of the very same flights had taken off with a full load of passengers.The lie was the aviation equivalent of I have never had sexual relations with that woman.As is the case with politicians embroiled in a scandal, airlines often get away with their transgressions. The boys in the executive suite may not always be veracious, but they understand the industrys most important truth: Passengers have extremely short memories.Once this particular labor dispute is settled, United will no doubt offer discount fares to lure back alienated passengers. A New YorkLos Angeles roundtrip will suddenly drop to $119. Youll be able to fly from Denver to Chicago for less than the price of a nosebleed seat at a Bulls game. Like a jilted lover begging to come back, the very same passenger who was cussing about cancellations in May will be whispering plans into a United reservationists ear.It happened at my airline and it will happen at United. As is the case with airline management, passengers always succumb to the bottom line.

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