there were snake bitten twice we're talking about a united airlines flights leaving sfo on sunday headed to shanghai about three hours into flights discover that they had problems with all three restrooms the board so they weren't working said had to reverse to encourage alaska meanwhile united said the second aircraft the next day and that aircraft had technical problems all the lights went out and once again disabled all three restrooms. this was among the very frustrated passengers. >>> sell all the three cavan's is all working. did with the captain came on to the speaker and said were having problems. so much time problems. >>> set to make matters worse each time the passengers on united airlines flight 857 were made to wait and the plane and tarmac for hours and then once

the new united airlines has a bumpy takeoff. and despite an apology, rush limbaugh loses yet another advertiser. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. >>> plus, the mysterious naked photo twist in the latest celebrity phone hacking. >>> kobe gets his revenge plus tiger roars back with the best final round of his career, but was it enough to win? you're watching "early today." >>> good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry and here are some of your top headline this morning. vladimir putin will become president of russia again. he got 60% of the vote. he'll serve another six-year term. >>> an explosion at an armed storage depot in the republic of congo killed 206 people. the blast shattered windows in a three-mile radius and more than 1,500 people were injured. >>> amateur video captured an avalanche roaring through a ski lodge. no injuries were reported. >>> in argentina, dramatic video of huge chunks of a massive ice wall on a glacier collapsing sunday. large pieces fell into the water fr

new united airlines has a bumpy takeoff. and rush limbaugh loses yet another advertiser. your billions headlines are straight ahead. >>> kobe gets his revenge. tiger roars back with the best of his career, but was it enough to win? you're watching "first look" on msnbc. emily's just starting out... and on a budget. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. cleaning better doesn't have to take longer. i'm done. i'm gonna...use these. ♪ give me just a little more time ♪ [ female announcer ] unlike mops, swiffer can maneuver into tight spaces without the hassle and its wet mopping cloths can clean better in half the time, so you don't miss a thing. mom? ahhhh! ahhhh! no it's mommy! [ female announcer ] swiffer. better clean in half the time. or your money back. >>> welcome back to "first look". i'm lynn berry. vladimir putin will become president of russia again. he got 60% of the vote to return the office he previously held. he'

continental officially merged with united airlines today. and united combined passenger reservation data from both airlines into one computer system. don knapp is at sfo with the changeover to the new system. where it ran into some turbulence. don? >> reporter: it turns out one of the most difficult things to do when you merge two airlines is to get the computer systems to work together. there is a history of this. united airlines was aware of it. they worked with continental. they planned ahead. they even have dress rehearsals we understand. but early today when the switch over came, there were glitches and issues. people moving smoothly to their gates. this is how united had hoped their sfo lobby would look after the airline executed a massive computer switchover. but this is how it actually looked earlier today. >> we got here at 7:00 for an 8:15 flight. palm springs. and the line here was about 150 people deep. >> reporter: folks were blaming the computers and they were right. this weekend, the mega merger between united and continental

equipaje de mano efectivamente, llevaba fuegos artificiales, estuvo a punto de tomar un vuelo de united airlinesue el materal explosivo etaban en su mochila >>> la policía estaba sacando a a la gente. sacaron a una mujer con su pelo, y la tiraron al piso >>> la policía usó barricadas para evitar que más estudiantes entraran al edificio >>> por otro lado, la junta escolar de oakland sigue firme en cerrar 3 escuelas primarias hoy el distrito escolar decidió arrendar el plantel santa fe y alquilar otros 23 2 locales y escuelas charter >>> no queremos ninguna escuela cerrada >>> el distrito escolar decidió cerrar los planteles el pasado mes de octubre >>> lanzaron una campaña de 0 tolerancia, como se les conoce a aquellos que suelen venir con todo, menos con los ojos en el camino. nos cuentan cómo buscan lograr con su objetivo. >>> 1' años lleva conduciendo en california, años en los que no ha estado ajeno >>> tenemos que ser responsables de los actos de nosotros también >>> por eso no duda en darle todo su apoyo a campañas >>> ya sea con el celular, leyendo comida, a veces se ve unpun poco de todo

the plane was evacuated after officials learned about the bomb threat at a united airlines airplane,d and had to go through prescreening. the tsa is checking out the plane right now. it is being searched in a remote part of the airport. this debate -- the tsa says passengers are aboard another plane and the flight will arrive in san francisco. >>darya: google will be tracking what you search for online. it will operate under new privacy laws that allows google to dig even deeper into the lives of its more than 1 billion users. basically they would use the information that collect based on your you tube and gbl use and build a profile on you. google says they will use that information to improve their services. >> it is about improving the relevance and use information that you have shared with google to make global products and services were useful for hop >>darya: what we saw this morning was that the measure failed in the senate., who, if >>mark: we will be right back as a kron 4 news continues. a live chat outside as we're watching conditions around the bay area. here is a look ou

united. without admitting any wrongdoing, the airline did settle lawsuits for millions of dollars. >> as i toldrs for united, i would much prefer getting on an airplane where nothing happens and have no cases than being on an airplane that blows up at 23,000 feet and represent my fellow passengers. i'll make a deal with any airline i fly on. you get me there safely and i won't represent any passengers. >>> when we come back, a catastrophic case of structural failure. grass gurus. doers. here's to more saturdays in the sun. and budgets better spent. here's to turning rookies - into experts, and shoppers into savers. here's to picking up. trading up. mixing it up. to well-earned muddy boots. and a lot more - spring per dollar. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. show the yard who's boss, with this cordless black and decker trimmer, just $84.97. hey, heard any updates on the game? i think it's final seconds, ohh, down by two, shoots a three, game over. so two seconds ago... hey mr. and mrs. harris, where's kevin? say hi kevin. hi. mom, put me down. put...the phone...down.

and one quick personal notes, do you know he is a million-mile flyer on united airlines? i did not say mile high club. i said million mile fire. he is going for his second million miles. he is quite the traveler. 1.4 million miles. just a little interesting tidbits. again, they are community. that is why it is so wonderful to be part of this community. congratulations to them and congratulations to all of tonight's award recipients. let's give them a big round of applause. [applause] very important to work in contributions on behalf of the community. and for inspiring us to be better citizens and activists. and a special thanks and recognition to tobin for overseeing the awards committee and to all the committee members for their time and hard work. out come the best part of all. we have been waiting for this fabulous reception in the greenroom, being catered by chefs and their restaurants to offer the best asian-pacific cuisine in the bay area. without this support, this event would not be such a success. at this time, please welcome them. great restaurants, although you

so much time problems. >>> set to make matters worse each time the passengers on united airlines flight 857 were made to wait and the plane and tarmac for hours and then once the plan had to wait several more hours to get hotel vouchers once again they got to the hotel some of the folks couldn't use their vouchers because hotels required credit cards a lot of the people on their way to their native china did not have credit cards so is a really big mess united tells me that's the size of the vouchers the airline also refunded all the money to the passenger's is actually still a chance to get a hold of some of the passenger's because they want to give even more money away. according to a statement " we sincerely apologize to our customers for the delays and are fully refunded tickets we are also actively reaching out to our customers to offer additional compensation. apparently they mated to china i finally got in that plan on tuesday yesterday and got to shanghai. >>> i some warn the west coast in the bargain for. the waves as joe vasquez thank you. >>> realtors are hopeful that spring

tomorrow the airline will finish its merger with united airlines. the last continental flights scheduled to depart from phoenix before midnight. tomorrow the airlines will switch to one web site and all continental flights will not show up as united. another merger not far behind, southwest airlines and airtran have the green light from the federal government to combine operations. they got the approval from the faa for a single operating certificate. out west closed the deal to purchase airtran last year. the merger is expected to it take a couple years to complete. reports that your old tweets could soon be up for sale. twitter plans to open up its archives and sell old messages to and marketers looking for value of consumer information. it wants to sell access to messages going back to january 2010. it will not have access to any deleted messages or user-direct messages. someone did not have all passed at a school in the carolinas. a deer was running down the hallways and finally was able to get out safely and run out of the building. it got a few

. >>> united airlines is still trying to work out the kinks in their reservation system following their merger with continental. you started complaining about strange balances and other frequent flyer account. united said it's still working to fix the problems. >>> we'll show you the different locations and prices. abc2 news at 6:00 starts right now. >>> a harford county preacher is in jail, charged with sexually abusing a young girl and why no one knew he was on the sex offender registry. >>> parts of the patapsco river have been shut down. >>> the megamillions jackpot is up to a half a billion. we want to start you off at the beltway. at least it looks sunny after a line of storms rolled through. what does the rest of the week look like. meteorologist wyatt everhart has your first forecast. >> it's a quick moving line. you probably heard that rumble of thunder. some scattered showers, storms coming through. you could make out the lines, some storms coming through, especially northern virginia. that's where the main threat was all day. here's the humidity values, want there to fuel som

. >> they put it shows and flight scuffling on a united airlines air board. >> the flight attendantsegan ranting on the intercom. passengers helped restrain her. she was arrested and taken to a psychiatric a evaluation. >> prices for regular unleaded jumped today. seeing $4 aare gallon. d.c. is averaging about $3.96 a gallon. in virginia, it is a little bit last. work will cause delays on four out of the five metro lines. the web and park and cleveland park stations are closed. at least 20-minute delays on all except for the green line. because of daylight savings time, metro is closing one hour earlier. clawed his way into the region. cat is running for the u.s. senate in virginia. his campaign manager says that is not yourt typical politician. has a positive message. he does not attack other candidates. to help spay and neuter groups and rescue groups. >> just wait for the- ads to come. george allen and tim kaine are his rivals. >> he already has a negative attack ad on youtube. things are looking up for us in the water department. will feel a lot like summer around here. people wo

in san jose, david lou abc 7 news. >>> headache continues for united airlines passengers. nearly a month after they transition to the computer system used by its merger partner continental. there are still long lines and hours spent waiting on hold. maybe it's happened to you. jonathan bloom has an exclusive look tonight what's really going on here. story you will see only from abc 7 news. >> look closely at any united ticket counter. you might see agents squinting and shaking their heads while passengers wait in line. you may also see the agents doing an awful lot of typing. but since the airline switched computer system on march third there's one thing you will never see agents doing. using a mouse because now there isn't one. >> it's more similar to doss than window. >>reporter: remember doss? the back in 1987 when p c looked like this. tv he was training airline worker to book ticket with long command like these. in the 2 decades that followed united replaced its old terminal with a menu driven system called fast air. >> this is what the united fast air system was like

we chose united airlines because like version america earlier this year the reservation overall as driving of the wait times so instead of waiting we hit star star and she takes over. now that she's white man called for me i'm going to take my phone and go work on a couple of other stories. >>> while i was working and she was waiting something unexpected happened. united disconnected before she could produce through so we tried again. leaving a more detailed message for her to introduce us with. it turns out that all it took a look back to work and a short time later i was chatting with united rep. her critics say the disconnect happen from time to time because agents kidnap not yet familiar with the service. in addition to airline is losing its many calls for cable companies apple and the unemployment benefits and by now she's getting a lot of tax related calls. >>> the weather is not so cool today it's cold and yucky. >>> >>> wind up the rain as long as you have an umbrella and prepared for it are getting soaked across the bay area and the north bay so far the the rest of the bay area ai

the lines were longer than usual at sfo as united absorbed continental's computer system and schedules into its own system. other merged airlines have experienced similar problems with a process called a cut- over. initially united headquarters in chicago said the cut-over went smoothly. but sfo and denver both reported problems and delays. with the merger now complete, continental airlines no longer exists. >>> well, bart is looking for your input on the inevitable. fare increases. before making a decision on a price hike in july, bart is holding five public workshops this month and doing an online survey to get ideas. the point is to find out how to spread the pain of higher fares among different sets of riders. to find out where and when those meetings are, go to cbs- sf.com, click on links and numbers. >>> three months from now, cal train riders will also have to pay more. this week the peninsula quarter joint powers board approved higher fares and wants to encourage riders to switch to clipper cars. the price of those cars will not go up in july. but riders who pay with cash or fork over an extra 25 cents for a one way pap

. >>> over the weekend united airlines angered thousands of customers when technical glitches caused widespread problems. >> ai zb is selling to aia to help repay its u.s. bailout. >>> pro flowers.com is the seventh advertiser to drop rush limbaugh despite his apology for derogatory comments from a law student. >>> and finally cigar sales in cuba are on file. six hand-made houma doors sell for under 6 bluks. >>> a record game for the nets and a new top dog in the world of golf. >>> plus the mass avenger strikes again. your early morni sports hecht lines are straight ahead. >>> we're off to a nice start, nice and tranquil weather. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." and a new top dog in the world . >>> good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports yesterday'sen to nba matchup was no match at all as kobe bryant and the lakers easily extinguish the miami heat. here's mario solis with all of your morning headlines. >>> good morning. when dwyane wade broke kobe bryant's nose last week in the all-star game, they knew they had a chance.

united airlines, union bank, and our media sponsors, the san francisco examiner and hers media services -- hearst media sponsors. thank you very much. i could not do it without you, so today we celebrate the successes this chamber has accomplished and the promise of greater successes ahead with our team this morning of prosperity, business, labour, and government united, because that is the key to making the city viable and sustainable, and with our new mayor across more business- friendly, economic-friendly, we are all working together to a common goal with sharon priorities, and that is truly a formula for prosperity and improving the well-being of all san franciscans. the 2012 city beat poll survey of san francisco voters found that some franciscans are very optimistic about the future, but they remain concerned about homelessness, panhandling, and the economy, and public transportation. the trends are going the right direction. the good news is 58% of voters think san francisco is going in the right direction, and the highest since march, 2007, so we are moving in the right directio

. >> and united airlines says there is nudge wrong but employees say something different with that. that is at 6:00. back in a moment. [ male announcer ] at green giant we know nature gives us the most nutritious of gifts. but only when they are ready to be given. that's why green giant picks vegetables at their peak. ...and freezes them fast, locking in nutrients ...for you to unwrap. ♪ ho, h ho. green giant this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. >>> we're looking for vegetarian food there. >> and there is a good start. >> no better way than finney's friday free stuff. i wish the camera had a nose. >> take a look at the presentation. i love it this, is from chevy's. this is remarkable. there is that and salad. there is up to $12 worth is what you can get. and this is in part to remind everybody they're out ther

. >>> united airlines flight left san francisco but forced to make an emergency stop in alaska when theaboratory malfunctioned. when they returned the next day there was an issue with the cooling fan. they had to stay a second night. united apologized and is issuing refunds. >>> your eyes could be paying the price from sitting in front after a computer. doctors recommend using eye drops or grabbing a pair of glasses to cancel out the lights. taking a break from the screen every 20 minutes is also suggested. >>> it's a sign of spring. washington's cherry blossoms showing off their beautiful blooms. >> reporter: in washington d.c., the perfect day for a picnic. or even a spot of tea. >> we call it tea on the title basin. so much fun to pull out the fine china and silver and do it. >> reporter: the 100th anniversary of the japanese giving 3000 cherry blossom trees to the united states, a symbol of the blooming friendship between the two countries. why do you think it's important for people to see this? >> it's a reminder that people can say thank you in many ways. >> we're here to come see

united airlines blighted, diverted the flight three hours after taking off because the restrooms were all broken. >> all three cabins, first-class business class and the other economy class is all broken. >> the next day the passengers boarded different plane but that airplanes cooling fan was not working so they left the airplane and spent another night in alaska. united offered those travelers hotel rooms and meals vouchers >> a massive containership has just made san francisco bay history. ken is on the water with mobile 5 >> there she blows, as they say. that is a fabulous, 1,200 ft. of her, and that is it the biggest ship in the day but that is the biggest ship in north america. it has just come under the golden gate about 15 minutes ago. it has an escort of three very large tugboats and the bar pilot president told us earlier is hard to bring this thing in. they need to send three different pilots aboard. it is a huge ship. >> unfortunately we did not have that sound but we see the ship in the background, give us that perspective of how massive the ship is up close when you look

just the beginning of a flight at sfo passengers and today is that alaska enroute to shanghai united airlines every flight 857 to encourage three hours after takeoff from sfo because of a lack of bathrooms. >>> first-class business caugh site at to economy class is broken the next day passengers boarded a different plane but that one's cooling fan wasn't working so they stepped off the plane and spent another night in alaska and they finally departed for shanghai today and united are the traveler's hotel rooms, meal vouchers and refunds. a bay area man was on a caribbean cruise when armed police took him off the cheap shot and arrested him his one of two men in custody after the boats pulled into port and demanded that many countries most nobly jamaica have the reputation of intolerance. allows the cup explains. it's spring break but for two men this dream crews turned into a nightmare. did we ever shocked and outraged. it's john decline of eight travel company that organizes gay cruises says he at least 20 clients on a cruise to the minute that. >>> the fact is that gay people go to all thes

abordar la aeronave en denver, las autoridades recibieron una amenaza de bomba para el vuelo 869 de united airlines abordaron otro vuelo y llegaron esta manana a su destino final... topvo ---la ciudad de san francisco quiere eliminar miles de cheques de paga... ---el ayuntamiento, develo un programa nuevo que exhorta a las empresas a dejar de imprimir cheques de paga y en vez utilicen el nuevo sistema de nomina completamente electronico... ---de esta forma, aseguran, se ahorrarian millones de dolares al evitar cargos por cambio de cheques... topvo ---vuelven a hacer noticia el ex-gobernador arnold schwarzeneg ger y su esposa maria shriver... ---segun el diario "the new york post" la pareja ha comenzado terapias matrimoniales para evitar el divorcio que ella pidio luego de que el actor revelo haber tenido un hijo, producto de su infidelidad con su empleada domestica de origen latino... cu / cesar y blanca ---ahora pasamos con elva saray quien nos tiene mas sobre la farandula, en acceso total.. take pkg acceso total ;05 ;10 ;53 trt: 1;31, out cue: open music el dia de ayer roberto gomez bolanos "ches

we chose united airlines because like virgin america earlier this year, a reservation over all is drivingp wait times so instead of waiting we hit star star and lucy takes over. this is julie. ok. now that lucy is on hold for me i will take my phone and go work on something else. but while i was working something unexpected happened. united disconnected before lucy could put us through so we tried again. leaving a more detailed message for lucy to introduce us with. , it turns out that is all it took. i went back to work in a short time later i was chatting with the united rep. lucy's creators say the disconnects happen from time to time because agents hang up, not yet familiar with the service. lucy gets many calls from cable companies, apple, unemployment benefits and tax calls. if you have an idea for a story, give us a call. >> is an acronym for let us call you. >> that is worth a fortune. >> we're calling for much more rain in the bay area. let's get down to business. it is our live high-definition radar in search of green. no rain yet but we do see increasing cloud cover. temperatur

. >>> we chose united airlines because like birds of america earlier this year and reservation over hollis driving away * sunset awaiting we had star star and lucy takes over. >>> now this is waiting on hold for me i will take my phone and a workable other stories. but was working in this was waiting something unexpected happens. >>> united disconnected before losing to push it put us through so we try again. the more detailed message for lucy to introduce us with. >>> it turns out that is all it took. i went back to work and a short time later i was chatting with united representatives. >>> is a scarce as disconnects happen from time to time because agents hang up not yet familiar with the service. in addition to airlines is to get many calls for cable companies apple unemployment benefits and right now she's getting a lot of tax related calls. julie what cbs five. >>> director james cameron has returned from his record-setting journey to the bis as john black sun shows us he shining a light on part of the world that looks like in other planets. >>> james cameron go to the bottom of the s

. >>> united airlines new computer system hit some turbulence today. the final step in the merger of continental and united met the data were combined into one computer system. but sorting out ticket codes and frequent flier miles for millions of reservations prove to be overwelming. passengers who arrived at sfo for flights found long lines and long waits. >> computers weren't working. they couldn't get anybody to check in that had a bag. by the time we got to our agent, it was too late. >> after a bumpy start, the system is now on track. the airline advises customers should consider additional time for checking in. >> this afternoon, rush limbaugh apologized for insults that a young woman who testified about birth control coverage. a bay area lawmaker expressed outrage on the senate floor. >> the comments were extremely harsh and shocking. even for a man known for generating shock. now rush limbaugh acknowledges he went too far when he called a law student a prostitute. today talk show host, limbaugh, issued an apology saying, my choice of words was n

thumb wrestling people to get your way. >> some passengers say they spent hours on hold with united airlines yesterday. the airlines said they brought in extra employees to answer the customer phone lines. >>> it is a great day to fly if it is san francisco, san jose. not a cloud in the sky. >> temperatures will be warming up once again and we are a few degrees warmer than where we started. sitting in the upper 30s and out at the napa valley marathon getting underway. mostly blue skies and cool start. look at the conditions. we have got a light north early breeze to report in santa rosa and we know what northeasterly means offshore and they will continue for today. they have lightened up considerably. not gusty in the hills this morning. >> 37 in napa. and cal list toga is where the marathon starts. and napa. 41 in oakland. san francisco, sfo, checking in at 51. no delays if you are headed in the direction to catch a flight. satellite radar. still, an easily defined ridge of high pressure. most will you clear skies. tahoe is going to be another nice day. on the back edge of this. we do have

united airlines diverted flight 857 to encourage three hours after takeoff from sfo because of broken bathrooms. first-class business class and is all the economy class is the working. >>> and i say the passengers boarded different plain bad about one's cooling fan wasn't working. cell they stepped off the plane and spent another night in alaska. if on the departed for shanghai today united offer the traveler's hotel rooms meal vouchers and refunds. >>> a bay area man was i caribbean cruise when armed police to come off the ship and arrested him his one of two men that is in custody after the boats pulled into port in the dominican republic caribbean country's most notably to make that have a reputation of intolerance as elizabeth cook explains. it's spring break, but for its human this dream crews turned into a nightmare. >>> i was outraged and shocked. jonathan kline of san francisco's new voyager travel company that organizes the cruises says he had leased 20 clients on the cruise to the medigap. >>> the fact is that gay people go to all these places. and most of the time there is

. >>> a tense morning for some united airlines passengers as a bomb threat delayed their arrival at sfo. passengers on the united flight out of denver were relieved when they arrived if the bay area after a 90-minute delay. they hadn't boarded the plane yet when the threat came in, but they were told -- they told us there were plenty to see at the gate. >> all of a sudden, there were a zillion tsa agents and all these big muckity mucks from the denver airport. 25, 30 of them standing around. and you look out the plane and there's fire trucks out there and police cars out there. >> to watch everyone in action. no one really understood what was going on. but it was something that was brand new. some said ten years they'd never seen this. direct threat against one plane. and so that was unique. >> passengers did end up taking a different plane. and there were a few complaints. but one summed it up by saying, quote, better safe than sorry. >>> b.a.r.t. is trying to rehabilitate its public image. today the agency showed members of the citizen review board what it is like to walk in a police

local time just as passengers were about to board their united airlines flight. the plane was towed to a remote area and searched while passengers and their bags were re-screened. nothing, in the end, was found. the passengers were put on another plane that was due to land in sfo in about 15 minutes. >>> also this morning, a day of action in the long list of campuses all across california. one of the biggest right here in the bay area. nbc bay area's christie smith joins us live at uc berkeley where students and faculty are taking decision makers to task for rising tuition costs. good morning, christie. >> reporter: good morning to you, jon. their big rally is supposed to start in an hour here at uc berkeley, but boy, they really picked aing so day for a protest. despite the raindrops and the cold, and the group of protesters are on campus and they surrounded one of the buildings with crime scene tape with many administrators and those who make financial decisions come and go, but they didn't block people who wanted to pass. this is a strike, a day of action over

if you're flying on united airlines this morning, there's a good chance you have to skip the self-check-innter. they had big problems over the weekend after the merger of united and continental was completed. they merged their reservations systems this weekend and it caused all kinds of delays across the nation, jamming the phone lines for the airline and frustrating countless customers who could not use those kiosks. we have more on the situation there this morning. >> reporter: you might notice no one is at the kiosks this morning but instead they're at the counter talking to a ticket agent. in fact, i just noticed these two gentlemen here. they were trying for quite some time but were not able to have any luck with the kiosks so they moved over. we talked to one weary traveler this morning. she said she's very frustrated because she went to the kiosks thinking that everything has been worked out. but apparently not. >> no system record found. there were three other customers in front of me seeing the same thing. >> reporter: that forced you to go to the ticket counter? >> exactly. it's

you'll see that when we do events it's sort of like flying on united airlines. we usually don't let people leave their seats and go in the hall. we do it all at your seats. and we're going to do that. as we're discussing we're going to have staff at the hotel quietly clear your plate. we're not taking a break after this. we're going to proceed. thank you very much. paul, first question. today "the atlantic" issued what i like to call our money issue. ben bernanke is on the front. i was talking to peter schiff and other people out of the room who were basically ones who see bernanke as a villain as opposed to a hero. they see bernanke as a villain for keeping interest rates so low that either inflation or other bubbles are being created. and so if you were fed chairman today, would you have inflation rate -- the fed rate where bernanke does? >> i'm not there so i don't have to make that great judgment. and i have a regular practice of refraining. >> we just wanted to see if you had given up that practice. >> when i saw that bernanke is a hero, bernanke is a villa

it's all related to the merger of united and continental airlines. erday was the day youth switched over to continental assures -- united switched over to continental's reservation system. >> when i called them after they finally got on the line, they said they weren't sure what happened. there's just no flights going out, sorry. we'll try to get you on one tomorrow. >> united says overall the transition is going well. the airline is installing upgrades to improve kiosk service. >>> a little boy in our area has a big birthday wish. >> no, i'm not going to do that on my -- don't do. >> kids are usually begging for presents on their birthday. find out why this boy chose to give back to needy animals. >>> stephen strasburg makes a spring training debut as the nats take the field in vieira. lindsay murphy is ahead with sports. >> a close eye on this system to the west. it's expected to dive its way down across the mid-atlantic with snow and rain. what does that mean for us? i'll have the answers later after the break.  [ male announcer ] th

. >>> the united airlines is looking to reimburse the 260 passengers stranded for more than 16 days.hey took off to shanghai on sunday but was diverted. once online the hotel had problems being passengers took off on a third plain yesterday. >>> well the final report took off at yesterday's reno air races but organizers are going ahead with preparations for this year's event. they still need it to hold racing. if they don't get the necessary approvals to hold an air show and tickets are already on sale. >>> what is happening again, more gray whales are spotted in the san francisco bay. there were two off just since saturday. look at that the mother was discovered and marine biologists say it is not unusual for them to swim all the way up to alaska. >>> let's go to sal, check in on traffic. >>> so far we are looking good on highway 24 if you drive up to the tunnel, no major problems getting to the other side. it is still light but not a lot. it still looks good if you are driving on the upper deck of the bay bridge. traffic looks good if you are driving in from let's say livermore to

and says it is because we switched to the continental system. >> reporter: united completed its merger by continental airlines by merging websites. united scrapped its own website and moved all of its customers over to continental system. >> i think the customer service gals are struggling, too, because they are dealing with the computer systems they don't know how to deal with. >> a spokesman told us everyone's res expectations and miles are intact, they are just displaying wrong on the website and led to confusion hence the long hold times. united beefed up airport staffing and hired 600 new telephone agents to deal with the onslaught. >> the 600 they say they brought in still aren't enough considering the problem. >> travel attorney says his phone is ringing off the hook with disgruntled travelers. the irony, he says, the glitch is most likely to effect people itineraries. eye continue he is not entirely surprise. >> they didn't complain about consumer complaints before. they don't really care about them now and as they get bigger they will care about them less. >> reporter: united is asking customers for