Delta Just Doubled Down on Its Decision to Cut Ties With the NRA

[G_j]

http://time.com/5182755/delta-airlines-nra-atlanta-georgia/


By ARIC JENKINS 11:03 AM EST

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian issued a company-wide memo Friday addressing the recent fallout between the carrier and the National Rifle Association in the wake of the deadly Parkland, Fla. school shooting.

Bastian, who opted to end Delta’s discount program for NRA members as online petitions urged companies to boycott the group, said in the memo sent to employees that Delta was not trying to take sides in the ongoing gun control debate. But Bastian said the Georgia-based company stands by its decision to cut ties with the NRA despite backlash from state lawmakers, who passed legislation in retaliation Thursday to kill tax exemptions on jet fuel Delta uses.

“Our decision was not made for economic gain and our values are not for sale,” Bastian wrote in the memo. “We are in the process of a review to end group discounts for any group of a politically divisive nature.”

Bastian also dismissed the possibility of Delta relocating its headquarters out of Atlanta — an option offered by governors in multiple states that approve of Delta’s stance, such as Washington and New York.

..more..

[spanone]

1. good for Delta

[angrychair]

2. Response of coward that wants it both ways

Republicans just pissed in your face and your response is to say “we did it to remain neutral”?!? That’s a coward’s response. These people are killing us!
The time to remain neutral has passed. There is no middle ground anymore. You don’t get to sit on the fence because your afraid of the wolves. Gun control is everyone’s responsibility!

[old guy]

4. + a bunch!

[LanternWaste]

6. So you keep alleging...

So you keep alleging... while yet dramatically failing to produce any objective evidence at all to support your position.

Not much difference in tone, tenor or format than ""Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists..."

[DrDan]

11. + a bunch

[angrychair]

15. You fail to make your point

What evidence do you wish me to produce?

[dem4decades]

3. I like flying Delta already, so now I'm twice as happy.

[DrDan]

12. yep - agree 100% - long time medallion member

[dem4decades]

17. I go to Dick's to for stupid stuff too, so it's been a good week with the little stuff.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Good for them.

Too bad they aren't considering moving HQ, but that would be a hideously expensive move.

Delta has long been a good airline. They have mostly treated their employees well. When I was a ticket agent for a different airline in the 1970s, they were the envy of the industry. There's a story, possibly apocryphal, but I hope not, that at a meeting of airline presidents some time in the early 1970s, Donald Nyrop then president of Northwest and completely despised by his employees* asked the then president of Delta why his employees always flew first class, because NW employees sure as hell didn't. Other than Nyrop and other executive types. The Delta president famously said, "Because all my employees are first class employees."

Nyrop wanted the industry to eliminate or severely reduce the free travel employees got. Fortunately, his view didn't hold sway.

*Nyrop was notorious for firing employees any time he flew on a flight. He'd have some excuse to fire a flight attendant or a gate agent and of course there was no recourse. Employees got even for a while. When he'd check in for a flight, his luggage would be correctly tagged. But a quick call would soon be made to the baggage sorting area, and his bag would be put on some other flight. Then when it arrived in the wrong city, agents there would read the name tag and send it on somewhere else. All without changing the original correct baggage tag. My understanding is that if he was flying with other Delta execs, he'd have one of them put his name on an ID tag. This was back before the overhead bins that could accommodate the carry-ons we're all so used to now.

[djacq]

7. Me thinks GA Lt Gov extorting Delta Air

Plenty of states out there that would love to pick up Delta as a hub.

[Thekaspervote]

8. Thank you Delta

As a FF, I will be going Delta whenever I can

[Iggo]

9. "Fuck no, and we're not going anywhere."

Good answer!

[Skittles]

10. "OUR VALUES ARE NOT FOR SALE"

THE GREEDY OLD PIG PARTY NEEDS TO HEAR THAT FAR AND WIDE

[MichMan]

13. I wonder what other groups are now going to lose discounts

If they are deemed to be political on either side of the fence

[octoberlib]

14. The number of Delta Air Lines passengers who bought tickets with NRA discount: 13

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/03/02/delta-reviews-all-fare-discount-programs-after-nra-dispute-costs-georgia-tax-break/388587002/

[aikoaiko]

16. Its kind of a win-win situation for everybody now.

Cagle gets conservative fighter credentials
Georgia keeps $40 million a year in its coffers
Delta gets great PR
Delta is no worse off than they were before
ATL keeps Delta as a hub

Anyone lose?

Just the NRA.

[2left4u]

18. LOL

I don't know what's funnier, the bold move Delta shot their mouths off about against the NRA...the one that only 14 people used lol, versus the state of Georgia cutting off the corporate welfare for a company that employes how many of its citizens for the 14 people who used the NRA discount.

Stupidity and ignorance seems to be strong in that state lol.