Politician’s Daughter Punches Flight Attendant—Her Father Made Sure There Were No Consequences [Roundup]

News and notes from around the interweb:

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Comments

  1. This is a global issue right now–such impunity is corrodes the social contract.

    It should not matter what your wealth, contacts, party affiliation, ideology, or any other identifier/background that you are–violence and a lack of accountability is the problem.

    What should happen–charge her with the crime, afford her due process, and let the law and independent, qualified judiciary do their jobs, without threat of vigilantism or favor.

    No, it’s not perfect, but it’s the best system we got. Let’s not give it all up for witch hunts either.

  2. Gosh, with the occasional typo, I feel like Colin Firth in The King’s Speech, stuttering, while trying to say something important. Then again, unlike King George VI, it’s not like I’m declaring war on Germany via radio broadcast. Sorry, Gary, VFTW is awesome, but it’s just not ‘that’. Bah!

  3. Politicians fixing the issues of their family and friends has been around longer than I’ve been alive. In years past few would know but with social media their dirty laundry will at least no longer be hidden.

  4. The FA should just take the bag, loudly ask to whom it belongs and TELL them it is being gate checked. Period.

    Do not slow things down by giving the passenger the opportunity to try to squeeze it in — or to decide “heck, I guess I **will** just put it under the seat in front of me.”

  5. @George N Romey — That’s a good point. ‘Sunlight cleanses,’ as they say. We don’t often agree on partisan preferences, but I hope we can agree that transparency is essential for accountability to be possible. Yet, while social media can expose the truth, it can also be weaponized to propagate lies. This is why the ‘court of public opinion’ rarely has such guardrails as the formal, judicial process, which are govern by rule of law, evidence, and procedure, to limit bias and interference by politics, money, and power, to ensure a balance of fairness, veracity of facts, and as accurate as possible interpretation of law to given circumstances. However, even the judicial process can be manipulated, which is why the politician suggesting he can get his daughter out of trouble anyway is so harmful to the social contract–he’s breaking the fundamental agreement that anyone, even the literal President, can and will be held accountable. Perhaps, the Court messed up when it basically said, yeah, this one President can, indeed, be above the law. The fish rots at the head.

  6. Can I reroute the discussion / get Gary to do a post about Southwest’s response to Frontier’s that they are offering a promo of free checked bag through 8/18?

    What I read was this as the “official statement:”
    “You don’t need a promo code to avoid change fees, cancellation fees, view in-flight entertainment or bring along two carry-on items on Southwest,” Southwest said in a statement.

    So they are saying “2 carry on items” or was the spokesperson conflating personal item+carry on? Because if they actually allow two carry ons, no one will pay to check bags and the bins will fill up quickly…

  7. I heard your episode of Complex Systems this morning. I love that podcast, and it was a nice listen to you talk while doing work around the house.

  8. @Lamomt — No! Resist the urge. You’ll just be charged with battery, end up in jail and/or pay fines. C’mon folks. Vigilantism is not the way. When we have free and fair elections again, let’s elect representatives who will actually serve the people, who will legislate equitable laws for all, ensure we each pay our fair share, and an executive who will enforce the without corrupt intent, bias, or favoritism, and also not to resort to senseless violence. There’s a better way.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *