United And American CEOs Join Corporate Leaders Strategizing To Stop Voting Restrictions

United and American have spoken out against measures that limit access to voting. American came out against a proposal in Texas they had not read. Delta is against Georgia’s law, after being for it, and after telling employees they helped craft its final form.

Now the CEOs of American Airlines and United have joined a forum of major corporate CEOs concerned about voting rights that was put together just a few days ago.

Also part of the meeting was Adam Aron, former CEO of Starwood Hotels, Senior Vice President of Marketing at United Airlines, and responsible for the launch of Hyatt Gold Passport.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian was invited but did not attend. Bastian also skipped a meeting with President Trump that centered on a key priority pushed by the airline for four years, because it was his week with the kids.

The meeting “ended with no concrete game plan or timetable, but with a general plan to draft potential responses based on a firm’s size and resources.”

New York lacks no-excuse absentee voting, requires registration 25 days prior to an election, and enforces voter ID with registration (or upon first casting a ballot). New York may be worse but it isn’t actively making voting access worse than it is today, in other words the focus is on directional flow when both are clearly important.

New York isn’t an excuse for Texas or Georgia, but ignoring New York is a significant indicator of virtue signaling and latecoming to the issue.

I happen to believe that voter fraud is a potential issue in local elections. For instance just last year a Philadelphia judge was convicted of taking bribes “to cast fraudulent ballots and certifying false voting results during the 2014, 2015, and 2016 primary elections in Philadelphia.”

The number of fraudulent votes in that case was in the hundreds. Voter fraud is rarely significant in national elections. The scale needed is difficult to accomplish, and difficult to conceal.

Voting should be as low cost as possible. There’s no valid reason for systems or structures that make 25 day advance registration necessary, there are other ways to keep people from moving into a district or state at the last minute for voting purposes if that’s a concern. There’s no valid reason someone should have to cast a ballot in person, or even wait in line.

The rules around voting, like the rules around districting and campaign finance, are always written by those in power and always written to advantage those in power. John McCain spoke directly to his motivations for campaign finance reform – incumbent Senators were under assault from groups with significant money, and he aimed to stop it. Elizabeth Warren wants to break up tech companies that criticize her.

Ed Bastian, though, is wise to let others take the lead here since he’s already done so much to anger all sides. Doug Parker would be advised to worry more about employee relations and record levels of debt at his airline. Although anything that distracts Scott Kirby from finding areas where he can cut customer experience is probably a good thing.

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 »

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Comments

  1. I can care less what any of these corporate hypocrites have to say. They are like the jellyfish of the sea, spineless and serve their bellies and not there souls.

  2. So RACIST to check everyone’s IDs at the TSA checkpoint! To thing we have been suppressing the rights of minorities to fly all these years!

  3. What they are really saying is they are ok with voter and election fraud to appease leftists who use the black community to steal elections as they can dump in hundreds of thousands of fraudulent mail in ballots and have thousands of dead people voting because no one is allowed to hold blacks accountable for their actions. There are 100 million white conservatives who are majorities in 80% of the counties in the country but Republican leaders are too corrupt to forcefully advocate for us.

    We need ID to buy beer, get a library card, to fly, to cash a check, or to enter a college campus. Anyone who opposes voter ID supports election fraud. Sure, we should all admit democracy is just slavery by the majority and all would be happier completely separated and in our own countries where we can be free. Unfortunately, the people who support election and voter fraud don’t say this.

  4. The ignorance in this post and its comments are just plain disgusting. Will the bigotry and racism ever end?

  5. They are promoting voter fraud not standing against “restrictions”.

    I think it is racist of them to believe that minorities aren’t smart enough to get proper i.d. for voting.

  6. The majority of my flying is international. It’s time to give my business to foreign carriers and not the political hacks at the big three US carriers.

  7. What a crock of crap. These airlines took huge taxpayer funded subsidies. Then they get involved in politics and tell half of those taxpayers to go eff themselves.

  8. @John B wrote “The ignorance in this post and its comments are just plain disgusting. Will the bigotry and racism ever end?”

    Can you please clarify what specific portions of this post and comments are “just plain disgusting” and how they’re full of “bigotry and racism”?

  9. Replying to David:

    Agree. Get off the US carrier airlines. Try Lufthansa, I did. You will really like it a lot better than the
    junk (and attitude) that US airlines have. Much friendlier, and much cleaner airplanes too….and
    everything on their airplanes work too.

  10. I never fly through Texas anymore. Both Texas and Georgia are determined to keep black and brown people from voting. How ridiculous for a state to allow one drop box in a county with 4 million people. That is such blatant racism.

  11. Way to lose a follower by wading into politics when you don’t need to. Congrats champ; try sticking to travel.

  12. @Mark wrote “How ridiculous for a state to allow one drop box in a county with 4 million people. That is such blatant racism.”

    Can you please be more specific about *where* this one drop box was located?

  13. Good article, and anyone who thinks the new voting laws are racist/restrict voting must be in the US illegally or advocate for the deceased to vote (and over 95 percent of Black Americans have some form of Government-issued ID card). The chaos and illegality of the Covid-inspired ‘election reforms’ of 2020 is where the REAL voter fraud and suppression lies, and any US company who blindly sides with these fascist Marxists betrays their country and doesn’t deserve my business.

  14. Assuming these travel executives will come out saying that it’s racist to require ID to vote or put time restrictions on when you vote I would not expect any of their companies to EVER ask me for any kind of ID at all in the future. In addition, they should not raise rates closer to the travel time or date as that restricts my ability to travel and adds an additional financial burden that will disproportionately affect black and brown people of course.

  15. I love the implication by liberals that ‘black and brown people are too dumb to get an ID’

    I am more convinced than ever, that the real racists are the liberal democrats who keep bringing up skin color in EVERYTHING.

    It’s 2021, we’ve all moved past that. DrMLKJr taught us about this 60+ years ago.
    Why are we dragging up skin color now in everything?

    Democracts are racists, it would appear. Skin color matters more to them than character?

  16. I don’t want to wade too deeply in the political aspect of all of this but the Georgia law eliminates signature verification which is subjective and replaces it with some sort of IDENTITY – which can be a state or federally issued identity including the last 4 of your SSN – or even your utility bill.

  17. voter fraud a potential issue… you are pushing more batsh*t conspiracy theory garbage.

    I wish you would go back to the flight analysis you used to do instead of pushing your insane political beliefs.

    I don’t know why you even travel with the way you have so many hateful biases.

    This site is more a backdoor for you to espouse your jacked up political beliefs now instead of travel analysis. Change the site to libertarian view from the wing and see how many people will stick around for your politics.

  18. @George – it is CLEAR that you are spewing propaganda and bullsh*t and lies. Seriously. Stop it.

    You are the racist.

    You are gaslighting.

    We see through your lies.

    This is supposed to be a travel site but apparently you think it is a place for you to spew your hateful political views. Just stop with the lies and hate and division and fake outrage.

    YOU are the racist.

  19. @Ang wrote “voter fraud a potential issue… you are pushing more batsh*t conspiracy theory garbage.” … “it is CLEAR that you are spewing propaganda and bullsh*t and lies. Seriously.” …”YOU are the racist.”

    Have you actually investigated *all* of the vote/voter anomalies that occurred in every swing state during the 2020 elections? Or are you just blindly accepting the MSM and Progressive narratives about that issue? Or perhaps you are in *Denial* about such anomalies because you personally *Desired* the resultant outcome?

    How can you declare that real problems did *not* occur, yet those same real problems are now being desperately covered up? If everything were truly so totally copacetic, then *Why* are those complicit 2020 swing states election officials so vehemently *obstructing* the auditing of entire slates of votes cast across those swing states? *What* are they so terribly afraid of, that could get exposed?

    BTW — ad hominem attacks without *Facts* to back you up merely prove that you’ve already *Lost* your battle … all on your own!

    This said … I *do* agree that reading about, and discussing, air travel is more interesting! 🙂

  20. @strictlyfacts

    You might want to consider what “facts” we are aware of…..almost every court that considered such matters rejected your “facts”…….some with blistering opinion……including those judges with known conservative biases……and those judges appointed by djt………..

    Your candidate lost the election……get over it and move on instead of pushing wild conspiracy theories disguised as productive discussion.

  21. Corporations should stay the hell out of politics unless the legislation directly effects them!

  22. Eliminate voting altogether and move to a dictatorship or a king system. Then you have only one crook to be concerned with rather than hundreds.

  23. @Hammer wrote “… consider what “facts” we are aware of…..almost every court that considered such matters rejected your ‘facts’…….some with blistering opinion……including those judges with known conservative biases……and those judges appointed by djt…………” AND “… get over it and move on instead of pushing wild conspiracy theories disguised as productive discussion.”

    Do you understand that those judges refused to hear cases because of *Procedural* issues that had *Nothing* to do with the *Merits* thereof? Your claims supporting legitimacy of the 2020 election results based on court rejections are *Not* based on the *Merits* of those court cases and are, therefore, *Inadequate* for legal validation purposes!

    As for “pushing wild conspiracy theories,” you still have *Not* answered the questions that I had posed, so why not try answering those *First*?

  24. This group should not operate in vacuum… they should hear from their customers as to how they feel about them forming this group. If they heard from us… maybe they would disband.

  25. Anyone notice how woke Amazon is on this but fought unionization tooth and nail? Where are the big guys on abolishing right-to-work, raising the corporate tax and capital gains tax? Virtue signaling is meaningless until it costs money.

  26. @strictlyfacts

    I am not clear on what type of law you purport to practice (or have knowledge of) but you do not appear to be familiar with the federal or state judicial system. You must understand that you cannot just present your case by flailing around with innuendo and hearsay (much like you are doing here). Most cases were rejected not on procedural grounds but because they lacked merit and more importantly, they lacked any real evidence. This election wasn’t that close. Your candidate lost. Accept it and move on instead of parroting concepts, theories, and ideas with no basis in fact.

  27. Why is showing an ID racist? We need to show an ID at the pharmacy, to buy alcohol, at a doctor’s office, to get a Covid vaccine, to fly…why should we not be prepared to show our ID at the polls?

  28. @Hammer wrote “Most cases were rejected not on procedural grounds but because they lacked merit and more importantly, they lacked any real evidence.” AND “This election wasn’t that close.” AND “… parroting concepts, theories, and ideas with no basis in fact.”

    Really? So *Prove* your claims that they were rejected based on *Merit* and *… lacked any real evidence*! These are what we constantly hear from MSM and Progressives all the time — *without any real evidence* from them to back them up! Look at the *Actual* legal renderings and then try to understand all of the rampant *Corruptions* that occurred throughout the electoral system in 2020!

    Look at the Mathematical analyses by world renowned Mathematicians that actually *Proved* the *Impossibilities* of the resultant outcomes! Then look into those Voting Tabulation Machines that purportedly had *No* wireless Internet access but were finally found to have embedded WiFi modems in them! Then understand that there are intel agencies that have actually captured the IP packets traffic to/from these machines to *Prove* outside interactions! Then realize that someone was reported to have run some “calibration” tests through those machines, with equal numbers of ballot votes for Biden and Trump … and they found a *Huge* skewing of counts against Trump! Then what are we to make of those vote tabulation operators who were caught on video cameras running the *Same* sets of ballots over and over through the *Same* machines? Yet all of those *Corrupt* elections officials intentionally *Ignored* such anomalous machine and staff behavior! Need I go on? *Facts* do matter!

    As for the election not being “that close,” just how do you assess the credibility of those purported election numbers when the entire election process was totally compromised, as indicated above?
    =============================================================================
    I hereby suggest that we all STOP continuing on the 2020 elections thread and return this forum back to more relevant air travel news and issues!

  29. not only is showing an ID not racists, it’s insulting. Does who think that black people are incapable of getting an ID are insulting black people. By the way, 98% of Georgian blacks have an ID. Remember this has nothing to do with any of this… this is all part of something called “gaslighting”. All of this talk from the left is meant to distract us from they’re really trying to do.

  30. @strictlyfacts

    As mentioned, I do not believe you have a grasp of our legal system. You do not have to believe me, you can do your own research and read the actual court decisions and the basis for the court in rendering its decision(s). Hint, I don’t need to “prove” a claim as to why a court made a particular ruling. They tell you.

    You can scream and wave your arms about voting machine fraud and the My Pillow Guy but you have this process completely backward. The plaintiff, in this case you and djt, have to provide evidence of this widespread fraud. No, a blog that you read on your alt right forum does not constitute evidence. This is why these cases were adjudicated and dispatched rather quickly. Judges generally have little to no tolerance for plaintiffs and counsel who waste time and taxpayer money on far fetched conspiracy theories. Separately, the Department of Justice, under the direction of djt handpicked AG, investigated and said there was no widespread voter fraud in any single state much less all of the swing states you have referenced.

  31. @Bernie – you just spewed so much racist dogwhistle propaganda. It is clear that your educational prowess is lacking — you have trouble with tenses and even how to ask a proper question.

    You also can’t redefine gaslighting. You are actually trying to gaslight the definition of gaslighting. Just crawl back into the racist hole that you came from.

    You know damn well that having to show ID IS RACIST. When states – like Texas, for example, but the nearest DPS nowhere near any black community and only near white communities, or have ridiculous operating hours that only a person with a car can get there, that is on purpose. And you know it. You think only racists like yourself hear that dog whistle… You are wrong.

    Just shut up and stop spewing your hate and lies.

    This is supposed to be a travel blog. It is a shit show of hateful racist people and those of us that don’t want to hear your racist hateful politics. Go to a political site and spew all the lies you want and go ahead and believe all the lies you spew. They will still be lies.

  32. @Hammer —

    Apparently you insist on continuing this thread …

    Have you ever read the expert opinions of renowned legal experts on those court “rulings,” in addition to reading those court rulings? Which courts have made any definitive rulings based on *Actual Merits*? Just *How* do they claim to be based on *Actual Merits* when they *Refused* to even hear the cases that were to present those *Actual Merits* as evidence? Are you engaging in some circular Non Sequitur arguments about this issue?

    As for anomalous behaviors of voting machines, I was on to those anomalies way before Lindell was, so to ASS-ume that I was following in his footsteps would be DIS-information! With respect to your continuing claims about “lack of evidence,” what more can I say about your *Total Denials* about looking at *Real Evidence* instead of just randomly regurgitating those tired old *Factually Debunked* Lies and Propaganda from MSM and Progressives? I’ve already laid out in my prior paragraph above on *Why* your continued claims about “adjudication” by the courts (presumably based on *Merit*) are *Total DIS-information*.

    You need to understand that the DoJ and FBI did *Not* actually investigate issues with vote/voter frauds, even though tasked to do so! AG Barr said that he had found *Nothing to Date* — that’s *Not* surprising since he *Never* actually looked into those issues at all! So many witnesses with affidavits were ready to testify on this matter, but DoJ and FBI *Never* even contacted them to set up interviews! So if you *Never* look into the matter and just say that you’ve found *Nothing to Date*, why is that in any way considered to be credible?

    Furthermore you can *Not* disavow the mountains of *Real Evidence* collected and publicly presented in so many public hearings, complete with documented *Facts* and *Witness Affidavits* across multiple swing states! Just because courts chickened out of hearing those cases does *Not* mean that *Facts* and *Witness Affidavits* are therefore “non-existent” or “invalid”!

    Finally .. haven’t you paid attention to many current court rulings that *Have* now validated post-election undertakings to *Audit* past anomalies across multiple swing states? Ask yourself a basic question about *Why* they are *Now* (after election) willing to look *Back* into those anomalies — Fear of Intimidation by those who had Rioted, Looted, Burned, and even inflicted bodily harms to so many innocent bystanders, all through last summer in just about every large city? CJ Roberts even hinted as much about the reluctance of SCOTUS to take up those cases *Before* the election got held!

  33. @strictlyfacts

    And with all of your babbling and blustering, not a single shred of supportive evidence. You can repeat the same tired fantasies about voting machines and hidden WiFi etc. but saying it 1,000 times won’t turn fantasy into reality.

  34. If Corporate America thought about it, the “Voter reform laws” — to the extent they discourage ANYONE from voting — “discriminate” against the LEAST motivated voters. In other words, the people who probably have the least at stake in the American Capitalist system. Think about them as “renters” instead of “owners” — which group has more of a stake in seeing that the “neighborhood” is looked after and maintained? Who is more likely to be motivated by short term “free stuff” vs. long term equity in the successful American enterprise? And, yet, in the Woke times, these obvious facts are completely lost on Corporate America. Sad.

  35. @Hammer —

    ROFLMAO! I see that you’ve worn yourself out from endless repetitions of standard tired old MSM and Progressive Talking Points! I don’t know what the posting policy is on this forum for listing links to other websites, so I won’t bury you with those, but I’ll just give you two starting references from a well respected investigative journalist (substitute “[dot]” with “.” first) —

    sharylattkisson[dot]com/2020/12/what-youve-been-asking-for-a-fairly-complete-list-of-some-of-the-most-significant-claims-of-2020-election-miscounts-errors-or-fraud/

    sharylattkisson[dot]com/2020/12/hard-to-find-2020-election-fraud-stories-and-links/

    Be sure to read the first article to the end, as it also discusses the voting machines controversy!

    I’m sure that you’ll wish to reply with biased counters sourced from Progressive agencies, but you need to *First* differentiate their *Ideological Blusters* vs. *Facts* that have been *Legally Established* and *Proven* (even if some courts refused to hear their assigned cases) — *Facts* are still *Facts*!
    =================================================================
    Now … let’s return this forum back to its rightful charter of discussing news/issues relating to air travel, shall we? I may choose to *No Longer* waste bandwidth on this topic in this forum!

  36. so many racists speaking their hate here…..good for those who are for protecting voting rights and not disenfranchising Black and Brown people no matter how much it upsets white supremicists nationwide. You speaking out against their civil rights stance just can’t get over that the man who grabs women by their genitals lost

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