The Spirit Airline Boycotters Are The Real Thugs
All the judge had to hear in the Spirit Airlines vs. Vietnam veteran case was, well just that, dying Vietnam war veteran vs. Spirit Airlines tightfisted CEO Ben Baldanza. In fact these were the precise terms used by Foxnews reporter J. Miller. However the judge in this case ended up being thirty thousand Facebookers threatening a boycott against Spirit Airlines.
Jerry Meekins, a Vietnam vet and cancer patient was told by his doctor not to fly. Spirit Airlines is a no-frills airline and charges for 'every extra' in order to offer rock bottom prices. This is were the problem began. Spirit Airlines has a strict, well publicized no-refund policy and Jerry is a Vietnam vet with cancer. Seems like an open and shut case, Jerry wins.
I have nothing but respect and admiration for a man like Jerry Meekins. However if I had the chance to talk with him I would explain why I believe he has responsibility in this disagreement as well. Passengers flying Spirit Airlines are aware of their no-refund policy and accept the added risk in exchange for a rock bottom fare. Many of you are now calling me a heartless bastard only worried about the evil rich, tightfisted CEO. But wait a minute, aren't we now taking the exact same position as Nancy Pelosi and the libs? The same position we rail about everyday as conservatives.
But Ben and Jerry are not the only ones involved here, I'm involved too. I fly Spirit Airlines all the time and one of the very reasons I choose Spirit is because I don't value the extras the same as other airline passengers do. I prefer to pay as little as possible to get from point A to point B and then spend the savings on a nice dinner or a new Callaway driver. Until last week I thought my relationship with Ben was absolutely perfect. I would give him a small amount of money and he would fly me where I wanted to go. But that was before I was told that Ben and I were doing it all wrong.
Ben was offering a service that was below the acceptable minimums for air travel. Now wait, don't minimum levels of service only apply to health care. With Obamacare I'm not allowed to purchase a bare bones major-medical-only policy. You can't just have major medical, then go to Target and give the clerk nine dollars for contraceptives.
Now it seems I'm being told I can't purchase air travel a-la-carte either. Jerry told Foxnews he appreciated Ben's willingness to refund his ticket out of his own pocket and write a check for $5,000 to the Wounded Warriors Foundation. But “I just want them to agree to take each case and review it, because there are others in my situation and they deserve to be heard”.
I have to disagree with Jerry here. This is exactly what Ben is trying to avoid at any cost. He can't determine whether a stay-at-home-mom deserves a refund but a single-mom-lawyer does not, without it affecting ticket prices. Ben also made the point that Spirit is often the only airline many passengers can afford to fly.
This story hit a nerve with me because the left's reflex is always to condemn the evil CEO. This time it seemed people on my side of the political divide had the same reflex.
