The problem with the airlines is that pretty much everyone has been bitten by them one way or another(unexpected fees, unreasonable policies, etc..) so it will be difficult to get any sympathy from the public.
They recently introduced a fee for cabin-luggage which could be disputed but:
1. I don’t mind, I generally fly with a small bag;
2. my partner has enough miles to get free upgrades.
No one has complained about it when boarding.
Most people use price checking sites to purchase tickets, and because people only look at the initial price tag and fees aren't calculated until the end.. budget airlines started gaming the system to appear even cheaper. (shifting costs into fees and away from the fare)
Since consumers won't change their habits, many or even most airlines had to adopt the same practices in order to compete.
If you've ever used a price checking site to search for airline tickets, you've likely contributed to creating this problem.
We cannot permit American and other airlines to use federal assistance, whether labeled a bailout or not, to weather the coronavirus crisis and then return to business as usual. Before providing any loan relief, tax breaks or cash transfers, we must demand that the airlines change how they treat their customers and employees and make basic changes in industry ownership structure.
As an industry they provide an exceptional service, but it's rarely that they as comapnies are profitable over time.
Anything above that and people have to start rethinking their choices and be held accountable for their choices.
By the same token I shouldn’t hold accountable Google or FB engineers who are just trying to make a living.
Or soldiers who did atrocities because they were just trying to be good soldiers.
No you shouldn't - they need to put food on their families' tables just like you do.
> Or soldiers who did atrocities because they were just trying to be good soldiers.
Well committing an atrocity is a crime. If people are acting criminally that's different. And if they're committing atrocities then they aren't good soldiers, are they?
> No you shouldn't - they need to put food on their families' tables just like you do.
I disagree. They have any option who to work for, as you and I, and they chose to work for unethical companies. They don't need to put food on their families' table. I am not judging as everyone makes their own choices, but it's good to hold them responsible. Maybe I would have done the same or do so in the future. But I wouldn't expect people to feel empathy for me when shit hit the fan.
Many people don't. Tech interviews are unforgiving. Some people have to take the opportunities they get offered to them. Even if you can pass an elite Google interview one time that doesn't mean you'd get past the interview anywhere else.
> They don't need to put food on their families' table.
Their families can starve?
> I wouldn't expect people to feel empathy for me when shit hit the fan
Hows about we all practice empathy with everyone, no matter what good or bad choices they've had to make to survive in the past?
However I don't expect any kind of real 'new' outrage from this particular action though. There aren't people flying... so yeah this result is pretty understandable.
Most folks are understandably busy with other news.