Free Republic

The cost of a seat on a commercial airline has been going up a fair bit lately, though not as quickly as the inconvenience and frustration levels have risen. But some seats are clearly worth more than others, at least at Delta Airlines. Earlier this week, a Delta flight was scheduled to go from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Minnesota. But when passengers were ready to begin boarding the plane, it quickly became obvious that Delta had overbooked the flight. They began asking for volunteers to move to a later flight and when they didn’t hear from anyone willing to give...

A Chicago aviation security officer fired after forcibly removing a United Airlines passenger is suing the airline and his former employer, according to court documents. James Long filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the department, its commissioner, Ginger Evans, and United. On April 9, 2017, aviation security officers, including Long, were called to a United flight for a passenger who refused to give up his seat. The responding officers approached the passenger, Dr. David Dao, and tried to persuade him to leave calmly, after which Dao told them, “I’m not leaving this flight that I paid money for. I don’t care...

U.S. airlines have received some well-deserved criticism lately for their routine mistreatment of customers. But maybe it’s time air travelers also look in the mirror to see why so many jetliners have become venues for Mile High cage fights. Those folks might see a reflection of the Ugly American. The whiny American. The entitled American. Just this week, we’ve been treated to a fight night on a plane at Burbank Bob Hope Airport in California that ended with a Southwest Airlines flight attendant buried somewhere in the scrum. At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, passengers started duking it out...

Fill in the blank: “We are sorry for the unfortunate experience our customers had with …” This time it’s Delta Airline’s turn to apologize profusely for a viral video detailing their customer-service experience. Brian and Brittany Shear had paid for a seat used by their toddler on a flight from Hawaii back to California, where they live, when a flight attendant told them they had to give it up, claiming it was overbooked. When the Shears refused to do so, the video shows someone — it’s still unclear who — threatening them with jail and the loss of their...

That the forceful ejection of a United Airlines passenger the Sunday before last proved so newsworthy indicated something that’s largely been ignored by the airline’s myriad critics and “advisers.” What happened was news precisely because it’s so rare. But for a commentariat prone to turning anecdote into statistic, United’s resort to force when it came to properly removing David Dao (more on this in a bit) from one of its airplanes was naturally (to the chattering class, at least) a sign of a tone-deaf airline; one clueless about customer service thanks to a culture within the airline that doesn’t prioritize...

No. It's not. Apparently it's now fine for airlines to drag off a passenger if it comes out later he has a criminal record Here’s a question: Did the media go digging up the guy’s criminal history on its own? Or did the airlines put some oppo researcher on the case and feed it to a friendly reporter? Because that would be one hell of a PR counteroffensive if it turned out the airline’s fingerprints were on it. Better question: Does it matter? Is a corporation justified in treating a customer like inhuman garbage if it comes out after the...