Delta: Get off this flight or you’re going to jail and your kids will be taken away
By Shawn Langlois
Published: May 4, 2017 6:24 p.m. ET ‘Airlines don’t give a crap about their customers’
No huge bunnies died, no doctor was roughed up and no fists were flying, but the airline industry is faced with another PR fire after a family of four, including two babies, were kicked off a Delta red-eye flight from Maui to Los Angeles.
Essentially, the father, Brian Schear, explains that he put his teenage son on an earlier flight so that his 2-year-old could have a seat to himself.
“I bought the seat,” he said. “You’re saying you’re going to give that away to someone else when I paid for that seat? That’s not right.”
But the agent wasn’t having it, and then took everything she presumably learned about de-escalating such a situation and tossed it out the exit door by telling Schear that, if he didn’t comply, he would go to jail and his kids would be taken away.
Still, Schear remained remarkably calm the whole time and didn’t budge as the tension ratcheted up. At one point, the agent seemed to resort to a lie to convince the family to leave, claiming that, according to FAA regulations, the boy wasn’t allowed to sit in the seat by himself and could only fly if in the lap of a parent.
Of course, any parent who flies knows this to be completely untrue. In fact, the FAA states that children are safer in car seats, and says on its site that “Your arms aren’t capable of holding your child securely, especially during unexpected turbulence.”
“Airlines don’t give a crap about their customers,” Brittany Schear, wrote on her Facebook page. “It was the middle of the night, we had no hotel to go to or a car.”
The family eventually left the plane, managed to find a hotel room and had to buy $2,000 in new tickets the next day, all without any refunds from the airline.
Delta DAL, +0.68% for its part, issued a statement saying, “We’re sorry for what this family experienced, and our team has reached out and will be talking with them to better understand what happened and come to a resolution.”
This latest mess comes just days after House lawmakers told airline officials at a congressional hearing to improve customer service in the wake of recent incidents or face possible new regulations.”
“If you want to keep treating us this way, fine,” Rep. Michael E. Capuano said. “But there will come a day when Congress won’t accept it anymore on behalf of the American people.”
That day may come sooner rather than later, at this rate.
The passengers should get the full $10,000 each for involuntary bumping...courtesy of the agent.
BUT, I'm sure there is a second side to this story. Waiting to hear it.
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Last edited by StarAllianceFlyer; 05-05-2017 at 04:35 AM.
I suspect this will cause the airlines to "BAN" any mobile phones with cameras attached..! Shoot the messenger, but never actually bother changing the attitude and message of the airlines. Amazed any orginazion that deals with the public haven't yet realized that the times are a changing, and it's no longer he says, she said, but rather, he/she did wrong, no wait a minute they have it on camera..? opps we stuffed up...!
First the cops got caught out lying, now it's the airlines, next the government I suppose... All caught on camera and broadcast on the Six O'Clock News... and repeatedly on youtube... times really are a changing... All for the better for us poor consumers...
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I guess i will have to travel by Greyhound bus the next time i travel within the continental U.S... nah just kidding, i simply just fly Southwest & American Eagle and i don't have to worry about all this nonsense drama about who can fly or who can't fly or who's getting bumped or not...
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I suspect this will cause the airlines to "BAN" any mobile phones with cameras attached..! Shoot the messenger, but never actually bother changing the attitude and message of the airlines. Amazed any orginazion that deals with the public haven't yet realized that the times are a changing, and it's no longer he says, she said, but rather, he/she did wrong, no wait a minute they have it on camera..? opps we stuffed up...!
First the cops got caught out lying, now it's the airlines, next the government I suppose... All caught on camera and broadcast on the Six O'Clock News... and repeatedly on youtube... times really are a changing... All for the better for us poor consumers...
Very bad reporting, after reading a couple other reports, this one is too biased towards the pax. Miscommunication and misunderstanding in addition to stubbornness from both sides, i feel bad for the other pax who were delayed by this
At first, it seems so. On one hand, can understand tickets are not transferable. We saw this in another story about the newlywed who could not change her name on the ticket to reflect her married name and had to buy a new ticket.
On the other hand, this family was ticketed and seated already and apparently airlines in the US have limited reasons to kick off the passengers once seated.
The passengers should get the full $10,000 each for involuntary bumping...courtesy of the agent.
BUT, I'm sure there is a second side to this story. Waiting to hear it.
I don't think there's a second side to this one!! The airlines (at least the US airlines) have been doing this to themselves for a long time, and now it's FINALLY starting to catch up with them!!
By the end of this all, we'll have gone full circle since deregulation made US domestic flying pure misery several decades ago!!
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I don't think there's a second side to this one!! The airlines (at least the US airlines) have been doing this to themselves for a long time, and now it's FINALLY starting to catch up with them!!
By the end of this all, we'll have gone full circle since deregulation made US domestic flying pure misery several decades ago!!
Guess it has, Andrew. Can't wait to try the new AA737-Max with the shortened legroom.
You know, and maybe I wasn't paying attention while at the airport, but I don't ever recall hearing announcements for overbooked flights in China or in HK. They got other issues with abusive passengers, never heard about overlooking here at all.
Location: Hangzhou, Zhejiang; Peoples Republic of China
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Re: United, American, and now Delta...Oh My!
Quote:
Originally Posted by StarAllianceFlyer
Guess it has, Andrew. Can't wait to try the new AA737-Max with the shortened legroom.
You know, and maybe I wasn't paying attention while at the airport, but I don't ever recall hearing announcements for overbooked flights in China or in HK. They got other issues with abusive passengers, never heard about overlooking here at all.
The only "overbooking" announcement I've ever heard in China or HK was at the "next door gate" where the US carrier was departing from.
__________________
Enjoying aviation from a "TSA-free Zone"!!
Take the money-grab & deceit out of our hobby, and bring back ethics and quality!!
Just say NO to Apollo400/Black Box/NG(No Good)/Panda Models/Junk-X/First Choice/C&C/IF400/Witty400/Magic/AV200/AK200/Flightline/Flightline200/Flightline400/Pegasus/Blue Angle/5stars & any BigBirds (real or fake)
United, American, and now Delta...Oh My!
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