Commentary

Category Archives for Commentary.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian’s Op-Ed: Government Should Pick Your Pockets, Give Him the Money

by Gary Leff

Dec 21 2018

It isn’t Italy’s subsidies for Alitalia that Delta is complaining about. Since Delta benefits from an anti-trust immunized revenue-sharing joint venture with Alitalia, those subsidies are met with silence.

Instead Delta’s CEO has an op-ed this morning complaining about the smaller Air Italy which is 49% owned by Qatar Airways. And since he has no legitimate complaint that Air Italy, or Qatar, is acting against US law or policy he has to resort to deceptive and disingenuous claims in calling for “the Trump Administration to examine this situation and send a strong message to the Qatari government.”

Continue Reading »

Watch: Infant Born Inflight Emerges From Plane in Istanbul

by Gary Leff

Dec 20 2018

A 21 year old woman flying from Libreville, Congo to San Francisco via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines gave birth to a son she calls Bennel during her first flight segment this month. Her husband – who is a doctor – delivered the baby three hours into the flight.

There were 144 passengers on board when the plane took off, and 145 when it landed. The rear of the aircraft was cleared to become a “makeshift delivery suite.”

Continue Reading »

Heartbroken Woman Forced By Southwest to Leave Pet Fish Behind

by Gary Leff

southwest plane
Dec 18 2018

Everyone eventually has a fish story. Now Southwest Airlines does, too, since one of their passengers is telling the story of how the carrier separated her from her pet fish in Denver, a pink male beta fish named Cassie. She says she travels with it everywhere, but on this day the Southwest employees she ran into wouldn’t allow it. And she loved her fish.

Earlier this year Spirit Airlines told a cancer patient she’d have to flush her emotional support hamster down the toilet if she wanted to fly that day out of Baltimore. While the TSA was happy to screen the pet, Spirit Airlines is just too classy to carry rodents on board or as cargo.

Continue Reading »

Why You Never Get Stuff Back You Leave on a Plane: Delta Cleaning Crew Steals Passenger Laptop

by Gary Leff

delta plane
Dec 18 2018

If you leave something behind at a security checkpoint you’re better off searching for it on eBay than at lost and found.

At American no one will retrieve your missing items because helping customers gets in the way of their operation.

Apparently the reason you don’t get your stuff back if you leave valuables on a Delta flight?

Continue Reading »