It has been reported in their last few days that Delta Airlines CEO , Ed Bastian claims that the airline will Ban passengeres that are “rude”. On its face it sounds good. If your thinking is binary, it is good, but I on the other hand tend to run down every possibile scenario (ADD).
I will go over a few possible outcomes of this, and why I feel this is a huge slippery slope that could potentially allow a flight attendant or ticket agent having a bad day, decide you were “disrespectful “ , and you end up getting banned.
What Exactly Was Said
In an interview with Fox News, Ed Bastian said the following:
“Please know that respect and civility to others on our planes, at our airports, in our workplaces and in our society – even when we have differences of opinion – have always been a requirement for our people and our customers,” Bastian wrote. “Those who refuse to display basic civility to our people or their fellow travelers are not welcome on Delta. Their actions will not be tolerated, and they will not have the privilege of flying our airline ever again.”
Let’s break this down further…
The Past
Ed Bastian, has in fact sent out memos before about this topic, although not nearly as Strong as this one….Here is a memo from 2016 Bastian sent.
Mr. Bastian Has a bit of a past of being NASTY to foreign airlines, particularly the ones from predominantly Arab and/or Muslim countries. He has said nasty things , provocative things, and I have yet to hear him apologize for his comments. I wrote about it HERE , and HERE!
I must note, since I have written those stories, things have gotten even more complex, and I am working on an extensive update to them, as many many things have changed.
Some may say “ That was business” , well, others could argue that what’s going on now is “Just Politics”. I wont rehash all the mean and provocative things Mr. Bastian said, but I’m just trying to make a point that we should lead by example, and if an airlines CEO is / was saying nasty things about foreign (Mostly Muslim) owned or backed airlines, then …. (I do have to comment that a big argument Bastian had was how these airlines were getting backed by the government… well How many BILLIONS have been given and loaned to Delta in the last year?? Pray Tell)
The Possible Outcome
Like I said in the beginning, I don’t disagree with the principle and idea of this policy , I am just worried how it may or may not manifest.
What if a Delta employee is very rude to me, disrespects me, gives me false information, or anything along those lines, and I reposed as a human being should be able to do …. will I be banned?
If Delta messes up your flight ,and it’s s all their fault, and you tweet about it or write about it, will you be banned?
Does this give Flight Attendants even more power to RULE ? If you are having a bad day and you get a little snippy at them (not cursing, not loud ) , will you be banned?
My point is , WHO DECIDES, what is civil or not civil? Will this policy make one scared to fly Delta, in fear they may come across “un-Civil” and be banned? This is what scares me about this. Delta is regulated by the US Government, accepts money from the US Government (all citizens money), and even though they are a somewhat private “publicly traded” company, do they have a right to just willy nilly banish anyone that dis-pleases them? This is NOT my idea of Delta… I ALWAYS feel safe with Delta, BUT, I also know that when something happens I can complain about it, as I should be able to ,and 9 times out of 10 they fix it. Will it be now, that if I complain, they will just boot me, to make it easier? I hope not, and truly think not…BUT anymore, anything’s possible!
Wrap Up
Yes, I was probably a bit dramatic, and thought this out too much, but that’s what I do. What a fabulous idea that the likes of those that harassed senators recently in the airports and airplanes should be banned. I just am worried about all possible eventualities. Five or so years ago, American Airlines was FABULOUS when it came to customer service, they won best loyalty program many times, etc, but NOW LOOK AT THEM! Anything’s possible.
Maybe a Civility Board, where employees, passengers, and others reviewed these claims and voted on the ban or not ban. In my opinion this would put a safety valve on this new policy! DELTA, are you seeing this?
Anyway folks, we all need to get back to being civil, kind, understanding and HUMAN again! I applaud the spirit of this policy and hope to see it work for the best!
Thanks for reading and PLEASE, TRAVEL MORE!
