Spy pen jolts talks between airport, Delta

The world’s busiest airport and the world’s biggest airline were locked in critical negotiations last summer when the talks lurched off the runway.

Executives from Delta Air Lines were chatting after a meeting with city of Atlanta negotiators ended when they discovered a high-tech pen on the table. It appeared to be surreptitiously recording their conversation.

Ben DeCosta, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport’s general manager, admits that he left the gadget — he loves gadgets — on the table with its recorder running. But he insists that he did not intend to record Delta’s negotiators, and he even charged later that Delta stole his pen.