Airline gives passenger seat to Rep. Lee; she blames anger of passenger on racism

a reply to: Theprodicalson

I think certain people like the senator in queastion and people like Al Sharpton and jesse jackson have built there entire identitys around racism.

Of course they have, theres no money or power in actually rising above or remedying the situation in their own ranks.

It is like a industry of racism.....

Trading in the ideological market that keeps their own people "slaves" to the message that they cant make it because "oppression" and making money off the backs of them.

One might say its the modern post slavery, slave trade. And people like Jesse, Al, and this rep are the ones cracking the whip, trying to convince every other person of color out there, that they cannot be successful, they cant possibly rise above, all while they make money off their speaking engagements, TV shows, and special interest payouts.

a reply to: SailorJerry

Universal Mind says you're onto something -

a reply to: SailorJerry

There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs-partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs

Booker T Washington, 1911

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: intrptr
It was obvious to me in the external content you brought.

I didn't post in the external content, that was a group of other people discussing the topic. Nice try though.

More deflection.

Question stands:

Why did they pay her five hundred dollars?

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: carewemust
Has United shown PROOF that the original seat-holder cancelled? Electronic proof does exist..if it happened. Maybe United will hire Gloria Allred to invent some "proof".

Not at this point. They have claimed she did but the woman disputes this and says she didn't cancel her itinerary.

I mentioned earlier that it is not customary for an airline to rebook you and then on top of that give you a $500 ETC voucher when you make a mistake so I'm curious to see what, if anything, comes out.

I'm thinking the $500 was compensation for her being unfairly booted from First Class. United Airlines does that when an inconvenience is THEIR doing...either intentionally or by mistake. (I used to work at United Airlines several years ago.)

originally posted by: Grambler
a reply to: SailorJerry

There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs-partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs

Booker T Washington, 1911

I had never read that!

Well he had it on the head

Having read the article the following can be stated:

The article is both straight forward, but also, there are very questionable items that are showing up in it. The crux of the matter is this:

A person is booked first class on a flight, as is a politician. The politician is escorted onto the airplane and person finds out that they are bumped. Person is upset and rightly so.

United is not known for their customer service, rather they are known for a few practices that ultimately has given them a bad rap in the past. They also at times tend to be a bit, rough with their passengers. However, what is questionable is that the first part is that United stated that they changed the passengers reservation and let the passenger know an hour before. However, anyone who has flown, usually is asked for a cell phone and they usually send txt messages on the phone when there is a change or delay, including alerts to when the plane is about to take off. The other thing, is that the passenger probably, like most, showed up 2 to 3 hours before the flight takes off, and would be at the airport, waiting for their flight.

The question now would be why did they not try to page the person or call them to let them know about the change, why did they wait until the last moment?

Then there is the part where the story comes out, from the rep, that the woman canceled her flight. Now if she did, then why was she offered money and seated on the plane? Now if she canceled her flight, why offer her any money, as she did it herself?

There is too much not stated and it lacks information. Now here is my suspicion:

The Rep was flying and was seated in coach. The rep has a reputation of being a bit needy and caused a bit of a scene at the check in and got upgraded and that bumped the person. The airline not wanting to make a scene of have one made, probably bumped the passenger to a lower seat, and did not let the passenger know, and that is where this all comes into play. The rep trying to make herself look like the victim, ultimately plays the race card, and cries about it.

a reply to: TerryDon79

i look at it like it is united took a persons money for a first class ticket when that person showed up another person was in the seat they paid for they both persons of same race the human race. person who bought ticket had every reason to be pissed. united gave their seat to someone they consider a vip which is wrong.

Why not just tell the truth. The seats up front were the only ones that were big enough for her ass.

originally posted by: intrptr

More deflection.

If you don't like the truth that's not my problem, stop making asinine comments that are easily disproved.

originally posted by: carewemust
I'm thinking the $500 was compensation for her being unfairly booted from First Class. United Airlines does that when an inconvenience is THEIR doing...either intentionally or by mistake. (I used to work at United Airlines several years ago.)

It's also, roughly, the same amount of dollars to make up the award mile difference between a FC seat and an E+ seat, that is working under the assumption she also got her award miles back from the canceled segment.

We still need more info, this has been big news in DC so maybe United will be forced to reveal what transpired behind the scenes and if they canceled or the woman canceled her segment.

I doubt the woman cancelled her ticket. Airlines don't throw around $500 vouchers. So when the airline did that....in my little mind is an admission of guilt. Seems as if the racism was from flight attendant & The Skank of a Congresswoman. My apologies to all the Skanks out their.....I kinda wished I'd been on that plane.......no peace would she have had for the entire damn flight or until they duct taped my mouth and restrained me to my seat.........She would know the meaning of the word SKANK before de-boarding......at least my definition of it.

a reply to: Grambler>>> I have to wait until we get all the facts before I can pass final judgment. IF the woman DID cancel her seat due to a possible delay, then she is out of luck. I say IF because United has a crappy record of customer service and bumping passengers in favor of more privileged flyers. I'm leaning towards thinking United just bumped her and then will claim an error. The womans anger and irateness points in that direction. But then we have Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee who just makes a complete ass out of herself by making completely unfounded claims of racism against the other passenger. She should be sued for that and the woman, a Doctor serving in central America should not have her reputation impugned like that. Lee had better backtrack fast and apologize for her mean spirited racist stupidity to the doctor. And United had better make a 5 digit settlement offer bumping her immediately. This idiocracy running DC is getting old ,fast. Its kind of fun having dullards and lackwits running the government and the federal agencies, but too many are corrupt and nasty, not just idiots.

a reply to: Grambler Tree Fiddy !!!! Rent's coming up soon better keep trollin get that soros money !

This is an example, and I'd bet my ass on it, of Rep Jackson-Lee not making proper time and being upgraded for her own mistake.

I presume the conversation at the desk went something like "Rep Lee needs to get to D.C. as soon as possible."
Her taking seat 1A seems like a pretty good indication that "first class and first row" were requirements.

How is it that in any case, ever, our government reps find themselves flying into DC in some kind of hurry. These people don't have jobs and Lee certainly has no little kids to tend to.

This racism narrative is garbage. This United is irresponsible narrative is not the point.

Lee deflecting, grabbing headlines, and why she needed the seat in the first place are the interesting questions but will never be answered.

originally posted by: TerryDon79
a reply to: Grambler

Her just blaming racism with no explanation is ridiculous.

Maybe she felt it was self evident?

Maybe she’s race baiting?

Maybe she overheard something, but could only make out a couple of words?

Maybe she just wants her twitter followers to share her tweet to make her feel good?

Maybe a lot of things.

You’re looking at it from one side. Try looking at it from both and see there’s no clear indication it was racial, but also none that it wasn’t. You’re relying on nothing more than a couple of tweets.

So in other words, your post was just a waste of everyone's time. Thanks for the update, Sherlock. "You weren't there so you can't know." Can't beat that one.

Problem is if your alternative theory had ANY weight whatsoever there would be people from that flight corroborating the race card. Since there is not and all other factors in the case point at United and Lee's mishandling....a reasonable mind would easily infer their dishonesty and deflection as a matter of course in the aftermath as well.

But by all means, please keep us updated with your middle lane projections.

a reply to: TheCaviller

So in other words, your post was just a waste of everyone's time.

Pot, meet kettle.

originally posted by: carewemust

originally posted by: lordcomac
obvious abuse of power and position with a less obvious hint of black privilege.

What is "Black privilege"? Does that exist in America?

You must be swimming in it to not see it.
Or perhaps not living in a very liberal area and on media blackout like I am.

I don't watch tv, or listen to the radio... but this time of year when visiting family and friends they often have that garbage blasting in the background.
Black people being openly racist- mostly against white people- and not even being called out on it.
It's become such a norm that you hear white people being racists against white people, but usually another white person will say something if their white friend is being racist against white people.

But black people can apparently say whatever they want, and nobody cares that its racist.
that's black privilege, IMO.

Now, you want to start getting into job inequality? Move out of the ghetto and go to a place where black people are a minority. Given the same qualifications, they'll get the job every time. Why? Well, for one they have the option of suing over a racist decision. But far more often what I see is a national corporation has a board meeting somewhere and they don't understand why their store in a region with less than 5% black population has over 90% white employees. That looks bad on their powerpoint presentation so they put the squeeze on management to "stop being racist and hire more black people!"
Humbug to that, as well.

Want to look at higher education?

This example is more "everyone but white", but actually does include some white if they happen to be sexually confused.
Minority scholarships

A large percentage of the U.S. college population is comprised of minority students from various backgrounds and races, including African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic and Latinos, Asian and Pacific Islanders, and so forth. To qualify as minority student, you don't need to be a first generation immigrant or the first person in your family to go to college. Specific organizations qualify women or LGBTQ students as minorities.

I don't consider myself racist, but I live in an area where we don't see a lot of people who aren't just typical white folks... and it's a rather liberal area. Lately, they've taken to putting anyone who is different on a pedestal and giving them easy jobs, cheap education, and even deep discounts on healthcare... out of the middle age white guys pocket.
Come on.

Even the junkies (mostly white folks who can't hack it, for the record) get a break on the cost of their drug habit.
(Note- this link isn't local, but it's for a similar program)
multco.us... They have "unpaid volunteers" who ride around to the hot spots and give away "free" (tax funded)needles, bandages, OD meds, etc.
Of course, to make it worthwhile these "volunteers" are the same folks selling them the drugs- but the news won't talk about that. They also don't mention that the volunteers are compensated for using their vehicles. State funded drug running at its finest.

I suppose now that I've ranted, "black privilege" is only a small part of the problem- it's privilege in general. Everyone gets their own special treatment, and it all comes out of my pocket.

If everyone is getting their own brand of special treatment, how come only middle aged white folks are demonized for it?

Humbug to all of this, I'm going back to my original point...
Sue congress for giving that person special privilege.

Status privilege! the most abused of them all.

a reply to: Grambler

I would've probably video'd the entire incident, if it were me, and then sold it to the highest MSM bidder. Nothing like hitting these entitled political D-bags, and airlines were it hurts, and make some money in the process.

I'd be mad if my first-class airline seat was given away to someone else no matter who they were (member of congress, plumber, teacher, lawyer, doctor, retail store clerk, etc) or what color they were (white, black, etc.).

I'm not sure how Representative Lee can't understand that.

It may not be fair to take it out on the person who got bumped up, because they may not know that they are bumping someone else out of that seat. However, it's human nature to take out your frustrations on the person who ended up in your seat -- again, no matter what color that person was; I'd be just as mad if the person was white. And if I knew that the person ended up getting my first class seat was a member of congress, that would certainly give me a reason to show my frustrations toward them.

On top of all that, it's easy to see at the gate whether first class is full or not (they have that information displayed so people on the waiting list for first class know if they might get it), and Rep. Lee should have wondered why she suddenly got bumped up.

Maybe she figured it was better not to ask the airline why/how she was bumped up. Maybe it's part "why look a gift horse in the mouth", but it could also ne "plausible deniability".

To be sure, racism does certainly exist, but let's not cheapen real racism by claiming racism where there seems to be none.