Originally Posted by
Bucking Bar
Why are you embarrassed? In my experience Delta takes excellent care of it's veteran customers. Flight Attendants often make a point of thanking them for their service, as do we pilots.
104 degree temperature, apparently did not get to the gate in time to board early, bought a ticket in the back, but somehow expected to be seated in the front, then angry because he could not change seats with a First Class passenger (who was apparently drawn into the situation and was willing to help), flight attendants told passengers to remain seated with the boarding door closed.
The sensationalistic tone of the story doesn't put the facts out there objectively. While a little flexibility might have gone a long way, they guy might have been just as uncomfortable getting up and going back to the front of the jet (which assumably would have required getting the wheel chair out in the aisle again). What would be your solution, Purple?
Link to Col. Knighton's Bio. She's an activist, with a cause:
Colonel Christine B. “Nickey” Knighton U.S. Army (Ret.) | Home
and the author ....
Journalist Annie Groer has been a Washington Post gossip columnist and design writer ... A founding director of the Art Deco Society of Washington, she twice represented the District of Columbia in the National Chicken Cooking Contest and once danced across the Kennedy Center Stage with Liberace. She lives in Georgetown, where she is at work on her first book.
This is EXACTLY what I was going to say. We do a great job generally. This article was one-sided sensationalism. Someone with a 104 fever in a wheel chair was wheeled to the back of the plane to his seat. Doors closed. Other passenger activists were told to be seated as we departed. Done deal. Just because someone writes a sensationalist article decrying us, doesn't mean it's unilaterally true or we have to start flailing ourselves as unworthy...
And yes, I did 29 years in the mil and do know what I'm talking about. On today's flight I listened to over 30 "Thankyou for your service" comments from Delta folks to just two military guys on our flight. BOTH of them were offered seats in 1st class by passengers up there, and both of them were seated in 1st class. And it was a 45 min turn. And every seat was taken with one on the jump. And it was raining. And the mil guys got free drinks and snackage. And both stopped on their way out to say thanks for a great show from Delta.
I see that every day I fly the line. I NEVER see a bad act by Delta folks regarding military members. But I guarantee you, some liberal muckraker could easily write up even today's flight and attribute all the rules we follow (D0, seat belt light, stay seated, use lav in your section, phones off...) as an anti-military attitude, if all they did was write about how we made a mil person do all these... and never mentioned it's the same for every other person on the plane.
I read that article, and I said, "so what?". And as I grew up with a mil amputee in the family, I think I've seen enough regarding this to have a valid opinion, beyond just reading some activist anti-Delta article.