Struggling for survival, US Airways in particular, and the airline industry in general, do not need any more negative publicity. But over the Christmas weekend, the national news featured thousands of angry and frustrated holiday travelers stuck in airports as mountains of lost luggage accumulated at airports.

In what might be described as a perfect storm for the airline industry, last week's high-volume holiday traffic was exacerbated by a Midwest snow storm and, apparently, a work slowdown triggered by strained labor relations at US Airways.

The heavy snowfall in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana late last week created major problems for Comair, which was forced to cancel all of its flights on Christmas day after its computerized reservation and scheduling system became overloaded and crashed. For US Airways, the weather challenges were not as significant as the consequences of an unusually large number of baggage handlers and flight attendants calling off sick over the Christmas holiday weekend. The one-two punch resulted in hundreds of US Airways flights being cancelled over the holiday weekend.

It is not uncommon, though still unfortunate, for a certain percentage of healthy workers in many companies to call off sick in order to avoid working on holidays. At US Airways, where some unionized workers had threatened random work stoppages or slowdowns, labor relations have been badly frayed by company requests for workers to agree to wage and benefit cuts in order to reduce the company's operating expenses.

Federal labor officials have said they will investigate the apparent work slowdown once the airline recovers from the disastrous weekend. That recovery process included several "luggage only" flights from Philadelphia to the company's luggage-handling center in Charlotte, N.C.

The weekend's sick-out action, if it is confirmed, might have given some employees a warped sense of revenge against US Airways, but it also makes it less likely their employer - and their jobs - will survive in the long run.

This weekend's airline troubles were the last thing the industry needed. Forcing people to spend Christmas in airports and separating them from their luggage for days are not effective marketing tools for an industry already in trouble.

The flying public has grown increasingly frustrated with the hassles associated with air travel, and winter weather only adds to the odds of things going wrong. Memories of cancelled flights and lost luggage due to AWOL baggage handlers and flight attendants - or weather - will probably remain in people's memories next year as they consider holiday travel.

The airline industry has been dealt another damaging blow - by both nature and, apparently, by disgruntled US Airways employees.