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Monday's letters: Air Canada showed right way to handle overbooking

 
Published April 14, 2017

New flight risks | April 13, Daniel Ruth column

How to handle a passenger issue

The fiasco of bodily ejecting a passenger out of his paid-for seat was atrocious. Was there a better way?

I was on board an Air Canada plane about to leave Toronto for New York when a flight attendant announced the flight was overbooked by four seats. She offered $100 each if four passengers gave up their seats for later flight. A few seconds later, she came back on the PA with a bit of laughter in her voice, saying that with no takers she'd up the ante to $200. Again no takers.

After getting to the $800 level and still no takers, she announced that she would also include an evening at an upscale New York hotel. From the back of the plane a loud voice answered with one word, "Done." A mom and dad and two kids promptly got their carry-on luggage out of the overhead, and as they exited the plane a round of applause broke out from the rest of the passengers.

David Foote, Dunedin

Airline captain's role

I am a retired airline pilot. Some years ago on one of my flights, a passenger was told to get off but refused the order from the gate agent and was causing a lot of problems. I left the cockpit, walked back to the passenger and said, "Either you get off of my plane or I am, because I'm not flying this plane with you on it, and I bet you don't know how to fly this aircraft." He reluctantly got up and left.

When you are the captain, there are times you have to take charge. I wonder how the incident in Chicago would have played out if the captain had stepped in.

Charles Miller, St. Petersburg

President Trump

Plenty of policy reversals

What did Donald Trump voters vote for? Obsolete NATO? No longer. China a currency manipulator? No longer. Phony jobs numbers? Not phony. Mexico to pay for the wall? Asking Congress for the money. Ban Muslims? Unconstitutional. Repeal Obamacare? Guess not. Drain the swamp? His own and his Cabinet secretaries' conflicts of interest are the swamp. Vladimir Putin a great leader? This list could go on and on.

Paul Carder, St. Petersburg

World crises

Living in tense times

Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un: three egocentric heads of state who hover on the fringes of reality, each with the power to initiate a sequence that could culminate in annihilation. What could possibly go wrong?

Dave Helper, Tierra Verde

Scientology's big pitch for downtown | April 13

Say no to Scientology

Under no circumstances should a religious organization be the primary land holder in a city. The lack of transparent and detailed information available to the general public about this offer/deal should concern every Clearwater resident. The art gallery owner quoted in the story is proposing the equivalent of putting the fox in charge of the hen house. One of the contributing, if not the primary, factors in the decline of downtown Clearwater has been the ubiquitous presence of Scientology.

Jim Ahearn, Clearwater