Okay, I have a confession to make. I’m sitting here working on my laptop so I can watch the Suns-Spurs game.

Ahem. Yeah, not looking too good right now.

I’m going to go ahead and post this week’s issue. But yes, please disregard any typos you may find, as we’re still cleaning it up.

Subscribers can access this week’s issue here.

What some companies will do in an attempt to stave off a merger.

This afternoon Midwest Airlines announced that it has entered into a codeshare agreement with….(drum roll please) Northwest Airlines.

According to the airline’s press release:

“The new partnership will greatly expand the networks of both carriers by adding 250 city pairs and more than 1,000 new flight options for customers. Passengers can book their entire flight on a single ticket, with all segments earning mileage credit in either the Midwest Miles or Northwest WorldPerks frequent flyer programs.

Northwest routes that will include the Midwest Airlines “YX” code are destinations beyond Northwest’s hubs at Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Memphis throughout the United States and Canada. Midwest will also place its code on Northwest flights from Indianapolis, a Northwest focus city. Additionally, Midwest’s code will appear on a number of Northwest-operated flights to Hawaii and Alaska.

Routes operated by Midwest Airlines that will carry the “NW” Northwest code are flights that connect at Midwest’s Milwaukee and Kansas City hubs, as well as Omaha — a Midwest focus city. Northwest will also codeshare on Midwest Airlines-operated flights between Milwaukee and Kansas City to Atlanta, Boston, Hartford, Los Angeles and San Francisco that connect to the Northwest/KLM trans-Atlantic network and trans-Pacific network.”

Ticker: (AMEX:MEH)

As I said when AirTran raised its offer last month — it was going to be hard for Midwest Airlines to keep the bulk of its institutional owners from not taking the sweetened deal.

Today, AirTran announced that holders of nearly 57% of Midwest Airlines’ shares now back its hostile takeover bid.

AirTran said 13.9 million Midwest shares, or 56.6% of its equity, were tendered under AirTran’s cash and stock offer that expired Thursday. AirTran extended the offer, which is currently valued at about $15.89 a share, to June 8.

While AirTran seems happy with the shares already tendered, claiming that it represents a “no confidence” vote in Midwest management, Midwest says publicly it matters not. “It doesn’t change anything,” said Midwest spokeswoman Carol Skornicka. “The board continues to remain steadfast in its view that the offer is inadequate.”

I think Midwest is on the wrong side of the slippery slope in this one. Then again, they do still have a “poison pill” they can unleash.

Yep, after this travel-shortened week we should be back on our normal schedule. But not quite yet.

As always, I’ll let subscribers know when we are up and posted tomorrow.

I think one of the best sports columnists around is Bill Simmons of ESPN.com. If you haven’t read him, you need to. He’s alternatively insightful, irreverent and oftentimes hysterically funny. (Yeah, I  know. Can’t understand why I would like him.) He’s a died in the wool Red Sox fan also — which doesn’t hurt. Here’s part of his column on the NBA fiasco from Wednesday.

“Let’s say you’re one of the best seven players on the Phoenix Suns. You love Nash — he’s your emotional leader, your meal ticket to the Finals, the ideal teammate and someone who makes you happy to play basketball every day for a living. He’s killing himself to win a championship. His nose was split open in Game 1. His back bothers him to the point that he has to lie down on the sidelines during breaks. He’s battling a real cheap-shot artist (Bruce Bowen) who’s trying to shove and trip him on every play. But he keeps coming and coming, and eventually everyone follows suit. Just as things were falling apart in Game 4 and you were staring at the end of your season, he willed you back into the game and saved the day.

Suddenly, he gets body-checked into a press table for no real reason on an especially cheap play. You’re standing 20 feet away. Instinctively, you run a few steps toward the guy who did it — after all, your meal ticket is lying on the court in a crumpled heap — before remembering that you can’t leave your bench. So you go back and watch everything else unfold from there. Twenty-four hours later, you get suspended for Game 5 because your instincts as a teammate kicked in for 1.7 seconds.

Think about how dumb this is. What kind of league penalizes someone for reacting like a good teammate after his franchise player just got decked? Imagine you’re playing pickup at a park, you’re leading a game 10-3, your buddy is driving for the winning layup, and some stranger clotheslines your buddy from behind and knocks him into the metal pole. Do you react? Do you take a couple of steps toward him? I bet you do. For the NBA to pretend it can create a fairy-tale league in which these reactions can be removed from somebody’s DNA — almost like a chemical castration — I mean, how stupid is that?”

If you haven’t read his entire take on the Suns-Spurs NBA suspension fiasco, you need to. You can catch the entire column here.

I know. Airplanes, airlines, unhappy employees, unhappy passengers. We’ll get back in gear with the usual stuff here shortly….

Then the mayor tried to steal the New Orleans Saints in a rather rude example of “taking advantage of a situation” following Hurricane Katrina.

Then there were always those games between the Spurs and the Mavericks when I lived in Dallas. I began to harbor a distinct dislike for Tim Duncan and that perpetual “Who me?” look he has on his face years ago.

Now this. 🙁

Heartbreaking game in Phoenix last night. Have to give the Suns credit — they came out of the chute last night as though they were possessed. They played like maniacs.

Only one problem. There weren’t enough guys to play like maniacs for the entire game — and that eventually caused those who were playing like maniacs to get tired. Including Steve Nash — who basically couldn’t leave the court at all — as none of the guys out there could lead the team as Amare Stoudemire does when Steve takes his infrequent back breaks on the floor.

I don’t care if you are a Suns fan or a Spurs fan, this series has been irretrievably tainted.

Game six is in San Antonio Friday night. Final game seven (if there is one)  will be in Phoenix on Sunday. I see courtside seats at the US Airways Center are going for more than $6000 a piece if you’re interested. Yee haw!

In case you missed it, there was a fairly notable DOT judge’s ruling  that came down Tuesday that basically sided with the low fare carriers and international carriers who fly out of LAX. You may recall that earlier this year LAX began imposing much higher terminal fees on both groups. The airlines affected then sued the airport.

Much to the surprise of LAX, U.S. Administrative Law Judge Richard C. Goodwin sided with the airlines this week — in a ruling that left little question he sees very little merit in the airport’s arguments. Not only that, but he also cited what he called “systemic problems with the airport’s budgeting system.”

From the LA Times:

In a potentially costly setback, a judge for the federal Department of Transportation found Tuesday that higher terminal fees the city airport agency imposed on low-cost and international carriers at Los Angeles International Airport earlier this year are unreasonable and discriminatory.

The ruling, if upheld, could cost Los Angeles World Airports millions of dollars and throw into question how the agency would pay for added security since 9/11 and improvements at timeworn LAX.

The fee increase, imposed by the city Airport Commission, nearly quadrupled rent and maintenance costs for domestic carriers in Terminals 1 and 3. Airport officials argued that the jump was necessary because they were subsidizing the airlines. Carriers contended that the higher costs put them at a competitive disadvantage, because airlines with long-term leases would continue to pay lower terminal rent.

The carriers appealed the fee increase to the U.S. Transportation Department.

Carriers and agency officials both expressed surprise that U.S. Administrative Law Judge Richard C. Goodwin sided with the airlines, which had repeatedly argued that the increases would force them to raise fares and limit flights. The strongly worded, 78-page ruling also brought up broader concerns, including what Goodwin termed systemic problems with the agency’s budgeting system.

The agency’s “entire accounting system is suspect and cannot be relied upon to provide accurate and timely information,” Goodwin wrote. Although the ruling isn’t binding, its findings are so strong that many participants expect Transportation Department officials to take it to heart when they issue their final decision June 15.

During his seven-week investigation, Goodwin conducted a 15-day hearing in Los Angeles, during which numerous airport and airline officials testified. He also reviewed 11,000 pages of documents and 500 exhibits.

Low-cost domestic carriers in Terminals 1 and 3, including Southwest, Alaska, US Airways Group, Frontier and AirTran, issued a joint statement saying they are “very gratified” by Goodwin’s decision.

“The ruling upholds clear and long-standing principles of law that are designed to protect consumers and airline taxpayers alike from excessive, unreasonable and discriminatory payments for the use of an essential public facility,” they said.

An attorney representing 21 international carriers who operate out of the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX also applauded the ruling, saying it affirms their contention that existing leases bar the airport from unilaterally charging higher maintenance fees. In a separate complaint filed with the Transportation Department, the carriers are challenging increased rents imposed earlier this year.

According to a GAO report that was issued last week, more than four years after the process started, the Department of Homeland Security “lacks a comprehensive integration strategy with overall goals, a timeline, appropriate responsibility and accountability determinations, and a dedicated team to support its efforts.

“Despite some progress,” the auditors for the Government Accountability Office concluded, “this transformation remains high risk.”

“Managing the transformation of an organization of the size and complexity of (Homeland Security) requires comprehensive planning and integration of key management functions that will likely span a number of years.”

But the DHS’s implementation of such changes is lagging. Its “financial management systems still do not conform to federal requirements,” and it “has also not institutionalized an effective strategic framework for information management,” the GAO report said.

I probably don’t need to remind you that DHS is the agency that supervises the TSA.

Yes, DHS, the same agency whose website has the tagline, “Preserving our Freedoms, Protecting America.”

While there were, clearly, a couple of positive notes at the Southwest annual meeting this morning, it does not sound like that tone originated with the first airline to hold its meeting today in the metroplex — American Airlines.

As many of you may be aware, both airlines usually hold their annual meetings on the same day. American usually starts at 8 AM, Southwest at 10 AM. And for all these years, neither side will give reporters a break (and a little extra time to get from one to another) by adjusting their schedules.

Some bizarre DFW turf war of sorts.

Anyway, as I hear it — the security at the American meeting was, as one reader put it, “unprecedented.” Including metal detectors. According to Ft. Worth Star-Telegram reporter Trebor Banstetter, “Airline officials said they increased security due to the recent killings at Virginia Tech.”

Uh-huh. Well I guess that’s a good excuse as any. Maybe the fact that many employees are not too happy also had something to do with it. Ya think?

On the agenda this year was a non-binding resolution that the Allied Pilots Association got put on the agenda, one that would have seen shareholders given the opportunity to voice approval or disapproval of executive compensation plans. The resolution failed, but probably by less than many might have thought. The measure was defeated by a 58% “no” vote. 

Meanwhile, the TWU took advantage of the meeting to present 17,000 petitions from employees and customers critical of the management bonuses.

In addition, American pilots protested on Wall Street Wednesday in support of the union’s proposed “say in pay” proposal.

Just another day in paradise.

Ticker: (NYSE:AMR)

Bye bye desert. Hello wind, rain, and ugly lightning.

Yes, yours truly is back in the swamp and well, it’s a nasty rainy swamp today as a front moves through.

Speaking of ugly and nasty, I’d say that pretty much sums up the situation we now find between the Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs as we head towards the fifth game of their playoff series tonight. Whether you think the “punishment” handed out by NBA Commissioner David Stern to the Suns’ Amare Stoudemare and Boris Diaw  was right or wrong following Robert Horry’s love pat to Steve Nash Monday night — one thing is for sure. Stern can now say he single-handedly altered the outcome of this playoff series. No matter who wins. No matter what happens.

And personally I think that stinks.

I’m also not surprised that Stern has now apparently decided not to attend tonight’s game in Phoenix as he was supposed to do.

Can’t imagine why.

On the airline front, there was some news from the Southwest Airlines’ Annual Meeting this morning. I was supposed to have been  in Dallas this morning for the meeting, but alas, things here at home with the PlaneParents had me come home a bit early last night.

But the scoop is this. Southwest is now going to make its inventory available on Galileo GDS systems. Galileo and the airline announced a new 10-year distribution agreement this morning. The agreement will provide Galileo’s Apollo agencies with access to Southwest’s publicly available fares, but would exclude Web specials, special promotions and Ding alerts, which are sent directly to customer desktops.

The airline will apparently participate in the “basic level” Apollo  system — with the intent to move at some point to the “full connect” program.

The second bit of news concerned the announcement last week that Southwest is going to equip all of their aircraft with RNP (Required Navigation Performance) capability. Today the airline announced that it has partnered with Seattle-based Naverus to do so.

Following FAA approval to conduct RNP operations, Southwest and Naverus will work with the FAA, Air Traffic Controllers, and airport communities to develop and implement tailored approach and departure procedures at each of the airports Southwest serves.

That RNP is pretty cool stuff — and is the cornerstone of the new FAA NextGen ATC planning.

Ticker: (NYSE:LUV)