I don’t know whether you’ve ever disagreed with a merchant over the price or other specifics of something he was selling you. On the few occasions I have, I’m always impressed with how quickly and completely he tries to please me—even if doing so costs him time, money or trouble.
But that is one of the market’s many blessings. And sadly, as government’s compulsion and cruelty have subsumed American aviation, accommodating customers no longer appears even dimly on the industry’s radar. Now arrests—or worse—punish any disagreement with Our Rulers over the Unfriendly Skies.
A passenger named Chiara Fall learned this bitter lesson at Dayton [Ohio] International Airport last week. “[A]ccording to a Dayton police report,” she “got into an argument with officers at the airport twice over ticketing issues…” The article is too brief for an outrage this egregious; it does not define “ticketing issues,” but the phrase seems to indicate that Ms. Fall disliked some aspect of what she was buying, whether the price, or her assigned seat, or the way her name appeared on the ticket (remember that an incorrect spelling or middle initial can land you in TSA hell). Why are cops involved at all? Why isn’t the airline peaceably resolving the dispute to its customer’s satisfaction? And why am I asking since we all know the answer: 9/11.
Cops not only arrested this poor woman, they “had to use a Taser to take her into custody.” Ah, yes, the old “one-woman-was-about-to-overpower-us-six-bruisers,-so-we-HAD-to-Tase-her,-bro” excuse.
Keep it up, Delta, American, United et al (the too-short report doesn’t specify which airline Ms. Fall patronized). Pretty soon, you’ll be flying empty planes (which won’t bother you at all, of course: Congress will only vote you more of our taxes). And thanks to Mark Luedtke, who alerted me to this story.
3:20 pm on March 5, 2018
