Silver2Gold

Biden says avoid planes, subways; puts out clarifying statement


This was not cool.

Thanks Joe.

11Fan

It is totally out of character for me to stand up for our Gentleman Vice-President (marginally skirting APC TOS), but if you listen to the actual interview, there was no "right way" to answer the question. When the lead-in statement is "this is not a gotcha question", it usually is.

Sadly, it will have some effect and the mainstream media loves a good doomsday story. Meanwhile, I gotta run down to the local pharmacy. Seemed to picked up a sneeze and fever over the weekend, cough cough….gasp… cough…..ack…..

iPilot

FEMA: "Run for your lives!"

iceman49

You're doing a great job Brownie

Twin Wasp

I knew that plastic sheeting and duct tape would come in handy someday.

myoface

What should have he said?

buzzpat

Well, in a time when we're trying to save our economy, our industry, encourage people to spend money, travel, fly, etc, ... I'm thinking "nothing?" Obviously, he and his boss aren't talking which was evident when the WH immediately came out and said "what he meant to say was blah, blah, blah."

He's a train wreck...and irresponsible comments like these are going to result in layoffs if airline travel dips and our industry tanks.

KC10 FATboy

Myoface, the problem is, this is exactly opposite of what the President said last night.

What is concerning, the President was relatively calm, collected, and directed us not to panic (a good thing). They passed on how this virus wasn't an airborne threat -- you must come into contact with mucus material (someone sneezing, coughing). The virus isn't airborne.

When asked specifically by reporters about whether the US should shut down travel between Mexico, or perhaps hault public activity unless absolutely necessary, the President said that based on the evidence and the position of the "experts", that was not necessary.

But, here comes Calamity Joe, who goes on national tv, and gets dooped by a loaded question and says exactly the opposite of what the President said. And in doing so, almost incited a panic response to this outbreak; "it isn't safe to travel anywhere."

Joe Biden ... "I would tell members of my family, and I have, I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now. It's not that it's going to Mexico, it's you're in a confined aircraft when one person sneezes it goes all the way through the aircraft. That's me. I would not be, at this point, if they had another way of transportation suggesting they ride the subway. So, from my perspective, what it relates to is mitigation. If you’re out in the middle of a field when someone sneezes, that’s one thing. If you’re in a closed aircraft or closed container or closed car or closed classroom, it’s a different thing.”

After hearing about this (as I performed pre-flight duties for my airline job this morning), my first question was, "I wonder what he knows that the government isn't telling us?" Second, if the VP really feels this way, or has legitmate information to back his claims, then why is the "official" stance of the government, "keep your hands clean, cover you're face when you cough, and you'll be ok, no need to shut down travel"????

I wonder how much Biden's words alone are going to cost this industry?

forgot to bid

A) One way to look at it, if it costs the industry $0, then that shows you what America thinks of Biden, who is our VP until 2013 or 2017.

B) If it costs the industry $ and turns out to be an overhyped event by the WHO and media then it shows Biden not only bought into the hysteria but he passed it like the flu inside one of those flying coffins we call a jetliner.

C) I guess for Biden, its best politcally for him to see it become a lethal pandemic that does indeed require the eradication of the travel industry and allows him to claim he was ahead of the curve. Think I'm playing, go check out the politico, there are more than a few who are hoping for this option.

A, B or C, great options.

Now, if we keep Rahm's advice and never waste a good crisis then this is a great time to re-regulate the airline industry and for the government to buy United, forgive its debt and staple CAL, Frontier and AirTran to the bottom. Audit SWA maintenance until it goes under and slash Delta and AMR until they're unable to function and want to move out of GA and TX to bluer pastures.

DAL4EVER

Well as working pilots who are "forced" to fly on these airplanes to perform our jobs, does that mean we can refuse to go to work based on the comments of VP Biden. Perhaps, the gov't can reimburse DAL for the LOA we take in this time of crisis.