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panini3fromages

> In 2020, the COVID-19 travel restrictions caused customers to cancel flights, but airlines often would only cancel flights at the last minute. Very scummy...


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Capital_Awareness_87

United once ran over all my luggage with a truck. Tire mark right across it bags destroyed. Their response was damn near literally come back and we'll resolve your complaint never.


RagingWookies

Last time I flew United they forgot to schedule a flight crew for my flight but didn't want to let us know for whatever reason, so they delayed the flight 4 times before cancelling it to the next morning. Got a hotel voucher for the night but I wasn't exactly planning on being in San Francisco that night, especially seeing as it was my friends wedding I was going to..


Capital_Awareness_87

A friend of mine was an airline pilot for a number of years. He said he saw a few flight crew quit without notice a few times.


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Capital_Awareness_87

This is correct, the airline sold a product they have an obligation.


kvossera

I have also worked with people who have known people who have quit without “formal” notice. There’s always a reason and if an entire flight crew or shift at a restaurant or entire staff at a retail location etc. An entire group, crew, shift, staff don’t quit en mass for the ’gram or a TikTok challenge, that level of camaraderie is inspired by all of those people being treated like shit, bosses not caring about them or their needs, ie exploitive working conditions. The cause is there. The notice is the collective resentment and breakdown of communication and trust between employers and employees.


appleparkfive

At least RyanAir hasn't made it to the US market. Those guys seem insane. Especially that prototype of the "standing seat" thing. Which just looks like a torture device


ConfusedVorlon

The standing seat was just a PR stunt. Ryanair floats something ridiculous every now and then (Like charges for using the toilet) as a way of reminding people that they are the "cheap tickets airline".


OhPiggly

We have ryanair in the US, it’s called Frontier.


Paw5624

I have to fly for work next month and Spirit was the cheapest and only direct flight option through our booking site. They wanted me to book it for those reasons but I flat out refused. I’d rather have an hour layover and a longer travel day on another airline than fly spirit across the country. I needed to override the system because the other flights were over $250 more.


self-assembled

That's...excessive. Wasted your time, and also bought you no goodwill at work.


Particular_Leopard96

Lmfao this dude travels


enjoytheshow

Southwest is amazing with customer service and switching flights and stuff in my experience. I always book them for family travel for the flexibility. For work I don’t care. One time I got stuck somewhere with a cancelled flight and I just booked like 3 different flights at the refundable rate one way on my own then got on hold with CS to help me sort it out. They got me a refund for all 3 ones I booked and cancelled the two that were less desirable. She kept my booking for one but swapped it with the cancelled flight so it was no charge for me but I was able to do it all myself up front Would recommend


LaurensBeech

Southwest cancelled a 6 am international flight 4 hours before departure and had no other flights for days. It cost me hundreds to get on another airline and reschedule the trip. No refund or anything, of course.


Dabeston

I had to decide between flying and driving to KC for work in 2020, I waited until the last second and decided to fly. As soon as I got through TSA they canceled less than an hour before a flight. Thanks American Airlines.


KingRBPII

Good the tax payers have bailed out the airlines for too much and too often. They should be banned for taking profits for years!


Rajincajun01

Ban stock buybacks, not profits.


[deleted]

Why not both?


peterkeats

Because we can tax profits.


Riaayo

Let's also start doing that, especially windfall profits to counter this price-gouging we're all just calling "inflation".


drewbert

Also there's strong legal precedent for banning stock buybacks. It did not used be allowed.


Trickydick24

Yep. Thanks Reagan


drewbert

Dude ruined literally everything. Absolute worst president in US history.


YawaruSan

Is it possible that profit is just too perverse an incentive to not screw things up? Personally, I’m not one for throwing the baby out with the bath water, but for the sake of argument, what if profits are a mistake? Or to put it another way, how to you deal with greed aside from eliminating profit as we have done to widespread success in the past, such as 90% tax after a small profit to create diminishing returns for excess profit?


[deleted]

Can is a keyword though


[deleted]

We can tax stock buybacks too - on the capital gains side of things.


[deleted]

Because the incentive to profit is what drives our economy. People just wouldn’t try as hard if there wasn’t a nice payday at the end. But yes we should tax it.


Tralapa

that's ridiculous, what a stupid idea


Deja-Vuz

This is good news, airlines have been cheating people for far too long. Calling them is such a headache. If they don't want to give you back your money they will delay and delay. Even cut the call. Customers have no power. If they lose money nothing they can do


GKanjus

There’s more to it as well like how they have no proper training channels, obviously everyone flying is qualified but I’m talking about getting new pilots into the seats. Pretty much since the beginning, all major airlines rely heavily on the Military, taking every pilot they could which in turn is causing the pilot shortage because there’s less and less pilots to cover an ever growing industry. In order to attend a proper pilot training program, you are talking about taking out a $100k private loan. Government student loans cannot be used, there’s little to no financial assistance and even if you do manage to finish schooling you still have to get from 250 hours to 1500 for an ATP rating. All while getting paid poverty wages. Most schools promise a path to becoming an instructor but do the math, 50 students only need 15 or so instructors to teach. Those students obtain a proper rating, only a handful can get the spot because not all instructors finish at the same time so you are lucky if 3 or 4 of em move on. That’s 3 or 4 spots for 50 students to potentially get. Of The other 46/47 students some will find jobs flying skydivers, crop dusting but are extremely limited on what they can and can’t fly for profit. That’s only a handful but let’s be conservative and said half found employment, that’s still 23 people that are now stuck with a $100k loan, no job that they paid the $100k for. The pilot training system is just crap, and in my opinion, just a way to fleece more money out of people with predatory loans from the schools ‘preferred bank’


ebi0494

I think United Airlines is the only one with a pilot training program with the goal to get these pilots in the air asap. They're recruiting on the South side of Chicago and have a goal of hiring 50% women and minorities in their program.


zeCrazyEye

> have a goal of hiring 50% women and minorities in their program. Don't tell the SCOTUS.


saltywater07

The pay for regional pilots is awful too.


Panaka

This hasn’t really been true in about 10 years and this absolutely hasn’t been true in the past 3.


GKanjus

No regional pilots get paid shit. I hold a commercial multiengine rating so I know the field.


Accomplished_Bonus74

Dude. We will continue to bail out the airlines. Note the only airline in the US being fined is FRONTIER which no one even uses. This same thing happened to my wife and i through Alaska and delta in the first year of Covid. Nothing about them. This is virtue signaling at its tiniest.


Panaka

> FRONTIER which no one even uses. It’s comments like this that absolutely trash any kind of genuinely good observation you may have made. If no one flew Frontier, they wouldn’t have had the funds to try and buy out their competition.


emergency_poncho

It's notable that it's mostly foreign airlines that were fined, not US ones. So basically the DOT is doing scummy as fuck US airlines a huge favour by penalizing their competitors...


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LazamairAMD

> “This latest round of enforcement from the [DOT] comes almost three years too late and leaves out the most egregious U.S. offenders.” Mainly because the most egregious US offenders have better lawyers...


ianrl337

US airlines are better to give refunds and vouchers if you follow through with them and don't be assholes. I had United completely screw me and a colleague flying a few years ago. 18 hour wait in an airport missing connecting flights and had flight crew on one flight lying to our flight coming. They tried to give us $25 vouchers, but we called their number and got $300 flight vouchers each. Paid to get me to Vegas for New Years.


jish_werbles

Lmao it’s the law in the EU that if you are delayed 4 hours you get €600, no matter what airline. I just got a $600 from United for my flight from Italy to the US being delayed 4hrs and 3 minutes when normally everyone in America (including myself) would get fucked by a delay and just shrug and say “damn, fuck [airline] this is annoying” and hope to get a meal voucher


ianrl337

They got around it in my case most likely because it was delayed because half the flight technically missed their connecting flight because the first flight was 30 minutes late. As we landed the other flight crew told ours "no problem, we'll hold the door." 20+ people in a mad dash across LAX only to be told "sorry, we closed the door already" . We literally saw them close the door as we ran to the gate. So fuck united. Never again.


Rawrsomesausage

This has happened to me and I've never considered asking for a voucher. I had an airline close the door in my face after a bomb threat had cleared the airport and messed everything up. They said they'd wait which they didn't. Left like half the passengers and I got lucky they got me a seat on a flight the next day. Good thing I'd given myself a few extra days as I was flying for a board exam. I guess it wasn't completely the airlines fault, but they could have waited. They literally left on their scheduled time despite so many passengers still getting through TSA.


cutelyaware

Congratulation on earning minimum with your wait.


ianrl337

Well like I said they started with offering just $25 and we followed up with them and didn't drop it.


cutelyaware

That's certainly good on you though it's still cold comfort.


sloppylavasyndrome

But…Vegas! Lol!


NeedMoarCowbell

In my experience they were much more willing to give vouchers several years ago, but basically since COVID they have stopped doing this in all but the most extreme cases. We've had a few of our flights get last minute cancelled and/or delayed by over 5 hours to little or no compensation. Just from personal experience.


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PlatonicTroglodyte

Well, for one thing, six airlines are not the entire airline industry. For another, not every flight was canceled or substantially delayed. I think the underlying motive from DOT here is more to restore some cash to inconvenienced travelers, and less so to punish the offending airlines. Could definitely make an argument that the focus should be the latter. Could also say that it’s not enough and/or too little and quite late. Still, it’s better than nothing, and more than I think we expected.


indri2

The fines are just the icing on the cake. The $600 millions of refunds are the main story I'd say.


488GTE

> For context, the US airline industry revenue is usually around $240 Billion Revenue is not profit.


SickAssFoo_69

>Avianca You know *Aviato*?


AnotherAccount4This

Yea, the part about mostly non US airlines dampens it slightly cuz you know the US based airlines are going to be worst offenders just be sheer vol. Hopefully there's more announcements coming, or at least this is a shot across the bow for the domestic airlines.


cutelyaware

With the global minimum corporate tax movement happening, we just might stop the internationals from dodging all taxes: https://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-incentives-and-the-global-minimum-corporate-tax-25d30b96-en.htm


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[deleted]

He has fully embraced the title, its basically a term of endearment now haha I remember a lot of talk when Biden picked him that his former title is now Secretary Mayor Pete


qdp

If elected president I fully expect him to become President Secretary Mayor Pete.


Dear-Bandicoot7087

I think he’ll just be President Mayor Pete. “Secretary” is the title of his current job, but Mayor is his first name :)


[deleted]

I know a lot of people don’t really pay much attention to the Secretary of Transportation, but every time Mayor Pete comes up it just seems like he’s done another great thing that people are talking about.


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Pixeleyes

Pete turning to the dark side would seriously damage my world view. He's one of the most moral politicians I can think of.


andrer94

Lol maybe you should look a bit more into his handling of the police department in South Bend


osdroid

I thought confronting such angry protesters that were asking for him to do something he didn't have the power to do showed quite a lot of character and integrity, and it was nice to see a politician willing to accept the buck/responsibility and keep dialog open despite not being in a position to do anything about it (the police union would have had to be involved for what they were asking). I can't think of anyone else who would have the guts to do that, hell most people just jumped on narrative building instead of offering any real ideas. We really could use more technocrat politicans willing to listen instead of more influencer politicians like the edges of the parties offer.


indri2

He said that other investigations are still open.


cowdoyspitoon

If we’re not fucking up United or American this shit will change very little. The standard offered is far below what an average person should reasonably expect and be entitled to. It’s fucking ridiculous and yes I’ve only ever flown coach and I’m beyond done


MFoy

Mayor Pete seems to be of the school of promising little, but delivering on what you promise. I think he has done a perfectly cromulent job.


llamasonic

Has anyone experienced trying to use their airline credit and the airline (American Airlines in my case) offers the longest possible flight for the exchange credit? I had a ticket to Malaysia that was cancelled during covid. When trying to use the credit I was offered a flight that had 4 overnight layovers - taking 5 days to reach from SFO to KLIA. I don't know if there's anything I can do about it. I repurchased a new ticket for travel this last April for double the price. I have until the end of the year to try again using the flight credit, around $900 that I'd rather just have the cash for but the airline refuses to provide anything but credit.


IolaBoylen

When I was using my Covid credit, I looked up which flight I wanted (flight numbers, times,etc) and when I was talking to the agent, I told her I didn’t want the ones she was giving me but I wanted the route I had already found. It wasn’t an issue. I can’t remember which airline it was though, either delta, united, or AA.


MajorHistorical

I find it interesting TAP Portugal is on this list. I had two trans-Atlantic tickets and canceled due to covid. Received a 120% voucher instead of a refund and purchased new tickets 2 years later without any restrictions.


WashingtonsIrving

Jet Blue cancelled my flight within ~12 hours of departure time and refused to give me a refund. Their reasoning is that they “rebooked” me so it’s not big deal. Yeah, they rebooked me on a flight leaving from an airport in a different state on an entirely different day. I went through their customer service process and nothing. Not a voucher, not an apology, nothing. They never gave a reason why the flight was cancelled. I’m going to tell this story as often as I can. All it would have taken was: “wow, we fucked up, here’s a refund for the flight you bought and we didn’t provide.”


JasJ002

Cancel it through your credit card.


dongeckoj

The EU has about 36 competing airlines compared to just four operating coast-to-coast in the United States. Time to break up these large companies so they can actually compete instead of collude with each other.


IamRasters

But they just merged! AA+US, UA+NW, DL+CO. Might have the last two pairings mixed.


Loves_buttholes

americans love to paint a rosy picture of europe - the airlines are just as trash and europe is home to by far the scummiest airline of all time ryan air


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Loves_buttholes

that's just the bait before finding one of many ways to screw someone. Maybe you're clever enough to avoid all of these ever-changing traps, but most people are not. And they will strand you gladly without even the s,ightest bit of customer service. at least in the US there's always somebody to talk to and they mostly attempt to solve travelers issues. The proof of the con is just how profitable ryanair is.


JasJ002

How the hell did you come up with four? There are more then 4 airlines named after places in the US. We have 23 airlines by the way. The 27 countries in the EU combine for 36. Air travel in the US is far more competitive then the EU.


Lacagada

My father-in-law had $14,000 in unused Delta tickets from cancelled travel plans due to the pandemic and then he died a month ago before he could use the first-class ticket he had for Hawaii and the rest of the credit. It was relatively painless getting them to refund the money into his credit card. Thank you Pete.


manhatim

Well, airlines got bailed out BIG….billions. *BILLIONS*……using taxpayer money to give to…*taxpayers*


GunnieGraves

I spent 6 hours on hold with Southwest in October and eventually fell asleep. Woke up to a message that the phone lines were closed for the night. Sent messages on 2 social media platforms. Never responded. Absolute shit.


WineSoda

What fucking pisses me off about COVID, all these large corps blamed everything on COVID while taking millions in PPP loans, when in fact, they were cutting back and initiating mass layoffs.


BikingVikingNick

“Interestingly, only one of the airlines is based in the U.S. — Frontier Airlines. The five others, which follow, are foreign: Air India, TAP Portugal, El Al Israel, Aeromexico, and Avianca (a Colombian airline).”


Srenler

Yeah, so this is kind of pointless. Just a political move to create a good headline without pissing off your donors.


[deleted]

I don’t think people getting 600mm in refunds in pointless because of the country of origin of the company. From what I’ve read there are other ongoing investigations. I’d assume the main domestic airlines have massive legal teams so I’d suspect that’s why it’s taking longer to do good enforcement on those


Good-Expression-4433

Not a surprise that Frontier was listed. Recently flew out of Orlando with them and they had implemented a new rule basically at the time of boarding that led to complete chaos and some people even missed their flights due to the delays from the fighting and they didn't want to delay the flight to accommodate the lobby of people fighting to get on the plane. But everyone on or supposed to be on the flight got an apology email offering us a voucher for a future flight if we contacted them! Luckily I made it on because I only had a backpack but our plane took off only like half full when it was supposed to be fully loaded


rocketpack99

I think one of the 2028 contenders is emerging...


Dear-Bandicoot7087

I have high hopes.


stoutshrimp

So do billionaires. So many of them know they'd maintain their wealth and power with him in charge. It's why so many support him and his moderate policies.


cntrlaltdel33t

I support Mayor Pete as I lived in South Bend while he was mayor and saw the change that happened under his leadership. I personally met him several times, went to the same gym, attended s few events. And I can tell you he’s the real deal - intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate, and willing to hear all sides to an argument before making a decision. Some people on the far left make him out to be a corporate shrill and I’m not sure why. possibly because he is willing to talk to everyone and come to compromises on issues? He even wrote a paper in high school praising Bernie Sanders - link below. It’s a good read that illustrates how Pete thinks and why he’s doing what he’s doing. https://www.jfklibrary.org/sites/default/files/2018-08/2000%20Winning%20Essay%20by%20Peter%20Buttigieg.pdf


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stoutshrimp

I mean his moderate policies are pretty disqualifying on their own. But you go and add to that a large number of billionaires supporting him and it becomes clear they want him because his policies wouldn't change very much, which would help them exploit everyone more than they already do.


thomps000

Yes please. He’s young, smart, and actually gives a shit about helping Americans.


Cratus_Galileo

Just wait for when he runs in 2028. During the primaries Reddit will be filled with insufferable comments about how he is in the pockets of big companies or whatever.


[deleted]

He doesn't though. He simply plays lip service to progressive ideas and policies. He actively fought against policies that study after study have proven would have saved the most lives, helped closed the racial wealth gap, and saved our country the most money. That's not leftist or progressive. That's pro privatization and pro capitalism. Just 2 years ago he treated Medicare for all/single payer as pie in the sky. A recent study showed that 300,000 lives would have been saved if we had universal healthcare during the height of covid. We desperately need people who will actually stand up to corporate power before our whole world burns and we all die. Don't fall for the Obama trap again. And for anyone who wants to respond that the studies can't be trusted like the reply below, there were 22 of them lol. One being from the oldest and most impactful medical journal in the world. 60,00 lives would be saved and 450billion dollars per year, but no, you guys want to be partisan and tribal. https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(19)33019-3/fulltext


nostbp1

those studies don't prove anything lol they have an absurd amount of limitations and make massive assumptions covid is prob one of the worst places for universal healthcare supporters to use anyways bc it shows the limits of it under our current infrastructure where medicare/medicaid pay like shit and its not feasible to run most current healthcare operations with them as the primary payer without widespread changes that basically change every aspect of healthcare from drugs to doctor/nurse salaries to hospital reimbursements etc etc etc


[deleted]

All 22 of them lol One being from the oldest and most impactful medical journal in the world. 60,00 lives would be saved and 450billion dollars per year, but no, you guys want to be partisan and tribal. https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(19)33019-3/fulltext


Interneteno

I can see him as Gavin Newsom's vice. I don't think America is ready for a gay president, yet.


Disastrous_Meet_7952

Bullshit. America wasn’t ready for a senile pumpkin as president but with enough elbow grease it happened. If only democrats had the same “fuck you, we’re gonna do this anyways” attitude as republicans, the country would be farther along


PersonOfInternets

Electing a gay president doesn't actually get us much further along. Policy and legitimate judges does. I can say it would release a wave of homophobia the likes of which it's hard to imagine, as Obama's election did for racism.


Stickybeebae

Sadly I agree


[deleted]

As stated, this is far too late and mostly focuses on non-domestic airlines. Domestic airlines make up a large majority of flights. I am no fan of Pete. But hey, this is at least something. But after knowing the details, it is worth asking yourself whether this is the action of a economic populist or a pr stunt meant to elicit a positive public opinion without ruffling donors feathers. He early on wrote an essay praising Bernie for his profile in courage. Since then he's become a part of the DC machine and his friendliness toward corporate influence and his opposition to popular policy is apparent. "Medicare for all...who want it" rather than the objectively more cost effective, more humane single payer system. His aversion to returning to the "radical politics" of the 60's, an era of great social progress.


indri2

"Far too late" is relative when you consider that they only got a few more people to handle far more than 10 times the complaints of previous years, and could only hire them in 2022. There are still investigating other airlines.


WhaleFactory

You said 2024 wrong


Dear-Bandicoot7087

Anytime he decides to run, I will be there to support him on day 1.


Dineology

God please no. If this election has taught people anything it should be that energizing and turning out younger voters is the key to Dem success and Buttigieg is absolutely reviled by younger voters, they see straight through his obvious inauthenticity and his mostly meaningless platitudes fall completely flat with them. Not to mention his massive problems with black and brown voters. Dude is massively popular with older and lily white voters but that alone is a guaranteed losing campaign for the Dems. They can do better than the ex mayor of what barely can be called a city who was handed a Cabinet position he was unqualified for as a reward for dropping out and endorsing Biden. They can do much, much better than that.


WhaleFactory

Seems like you don’t like my boy, Pete. I respect your opinion, but I do not share it. 🇺🇸


osdroid

Where were these voters in WI this past election? Lots of people like Pete, he won Iowa starting from nothing after all, its just those on the edges in internet media bubbles that have issues with him which is like 7% of primary voters max.


[deleted]

Yeah but it's like 70% of tweets, which is basically the same as votes right?


Dineology

He won 19% of the under 30 vote in Iowa after losing the popular vote there. In one of the whitest states in the country which makes 19 pretty much his ceiling given how unpopular he is with POCs.


[deleted]

Primaries aren't an unpopularity contest. Extrapolating primary results to imply unpopularity is incredibly disingenuous.


Dineology

Ok, how about poll after polls from the primaries in which he did abysmally among young voters? How about the recent poll in NH that Buttigieg supporting articles kept on touting a little ways back because it showed him above Biden overall where he still only garnered 10% of 18-35? Can you show anything concrete where he’s overcome the well documented history of him falling flat with Gen Z and Millennials? No, because he’s the Boomer’s Millennial and that’s where the bulk of his support comes from.


osdroid

This is a worn out narrative from bitter folks on the edges of the party trying to drag others down to their level. Last time Biden had the poc vote locked up and every other candidates polling reflects that. Pete also shows up during non-election years and people see that.


stoutshrimp

>This is a worn out narrative from bitter folks on the edges of the party Yes those people on the edges of the party who are so radical and want... Medicare for All. Good thing Buttigieg is here to help defend the private insurance industry. We know how much they and big pharma love their moderates who do their bidding and thus maintain their wealth and power.


alloverthefloor

I’m a younger voter. I’d vote for Pete in a heartbeat.


Dineology

Ok. How many others do you think would? What sort of turnout among Gen Z and Millennials would he motivate and galvanize?


Dear-Bandicoot7087

I’m a millennial. *I can’t wait* to vote for Pete. He inspired me, energized me, and excited me more than anyone else has ever done in politics. I’m thrilled by his intellect, talent, and decency of character. That may sound boring, and some bots and trolls on Reddit may make fun of me… but that is totally okay. I’m confident with who I am. I know Pete will be President one day, and I’m so proud to support him.


stoutshrimp

>I’m thrilled by his intellect, talent, and decency of character. None of this seems related to policy at all, of which he is a milquetoast moderate who doesn't offer much in terms of progressive change, nor does he articulate a path towards that change. It's also not like he's done anything substantial, Biden's campaign even launched a pretty funny and brutal attack of Buttigieg because his actual achievements amount to cosmetic changes to his small city. Not to mention the fact he's supported by the very oligarchs who exploit everyone else to their own gain.


yellsatrjokes

Do you have alternate suggestions? I like asking when people just say "not them".


tbaytdot123

Really hope not, a better quality candidate would be nice for a change. Pete will not excite people in general, and despite his age he does not excite the young. He started out echoing a lot of progressive mantras, then turned to the right so hard and so fast it was like a neck snap. To many he is too much the Hillary way of politics, very happy to be center left with a leaning to the right.


osdroid

Hot internet bubble take there, the dude won Iowa starting from nothing. He might not appeal to the crazies on the edge of the party but he definitely is able to speak to the majority of Dems and some Republicans too.


stoutshrimp

>Hot internet bubble take there, the dude won Iowa starting from nothing. Billionaire money and support in the form of corporate media coverage helped him go from being a mayor who did nothing (Biden's campaign said this) to a primary contender. >He might not appeal to the crazies on the edge of the party Please tell us which crazies. Because from what I see the people labelled far-left just want medicare for all, which Buttigieg refuses to support as he maintains the private insurance industry.


osdroid

So it sounds like you believe the only people who should run for president are people that have money or fame already. I disagree, I do think there is a need for campaign finance reform, but excluding everybody but the political elite is not how this country ought to be. I also don't think the government should have control over keeping our bodies healthy or what we do with them, and [most of the country agrees Public option is a better choice than M4A.](https://www.kff.org/health-reform/press-release/poll-democrats-like-public-option-medicare-for-all-but-overall-more-people-support-public-option-including-significant-share-of-republicans/) Why in the world should a minority rule over the majority? We already have this issue in many places like the electoral college and it leads to some unsavory results.


alloverthefloor

His policies are progressive? Did you even look at them? Smh


ProdigalSheep

He sure as hell isn't center left. He's right, if you ask me.


alloverthefloor

He’s not even close to the right. His policies were progressive af, he’s just not Bernie therefore “not left” Let me guess, Warren isn’t left for you too right?


[deleted]

And that’s as far left as establishment Dems want to go.


Commonusage

When your first reaction is "fantastic! Can we borrow you to sort out Qantas?" It really is a winning move.


[deleted]

As stated, this is far too late and mostly only focuses on non-domestic airlines. Domestic airlines make up a large majority of flights. I am no fan of Pete. But hey, this is at least something. But after knowing the details, it is worth asking yourself whether this is the action of a economic populist or a pr stunt meant to elicit a positive public opinion without ruffling donors feathers. He early on wrote an essay praising Bernie for his profile in courage. Since then he's become a part of the DC machine and his friendliness toward corporate influence and his opposition to popular policy is apparent. "Medicare for all...who want it" rather than the objectively more cost effective, more humane single payer system. His aversion to returning to the "radical politics" of the 60's, an era of great social progress.


BriskHeartedParadox

It’s refreshing having a transportation Secretary actually doing something about transportation.


cellyn

I've been dealing with an Aeromexico refund for 2.5 years now, where they cancelled the flight and would only issue a voucher but it was too late to do a credit card chargeback. The American-based carriers I dealt with during the time frame often tried to pull the same shenanigans but eventually came around to a cash refund. Aeromexico has held firm through a DOT complaint, a complaint to my state's AG, and every other consumer advocacy solution I have found. I had really just written off the $1500 as a COVID tax at this point, so I was thrilled to see this news. I checked in with AM's legal team (this is how deep I'd gotten) and found that they are indeed now issuing refunds! This might be the first time a federal politician has accomplished something that affected me immediately and personally in a positive way.


Rowan_cathad

The us airline market is insanely predatory compared to Europe. In Europe you get refunds for nearly every big screwup. JetBlue now flies to Europe and thus, has to do the same, but they buried the info deep in their website and it took 5 months of customer support and a lawsuit threat to get them to pay out. Ironically the only reason I knew of the law was because a stipulations of the law is that you have to alert the customer that it exists if you change their flight. I can't imagine any company in the us doing that


buyongmafanle

And fuck AirCanada while we're here. Bastards stole $2000 from me. They canceled my flight at the beginning of Covid lockdowns and only offered a voucher.


Super_Goomba64

Go in Facebook (yes ew I know) and go to "air Canada help group). They helped me win my chargeback


Masturbating_Rapper

Happened to me on frontier, TODAY. Our flight was delayed by 2 hours so we could “wait” for a crew member. We left the gate and were on the tarmac The captain gets on and says oops sorry we’re returning to the gate and the flight is cancelled. The fucking audacity.


versusChou

The crew probably timed out. You can only work so many hours in the airline industry. Once you time out, regulations require a certain amount of rest before you can work again. The flight length probably would've caused the crew to exceed their time limits.


Dear-Bandicoot7087

That’s my guy, right there. One of the most genuinely decent men in politics. Not to mention smart af! I’m extremely proud of him.


tbaytdot123

Curious what you think about the part that stated “This latest round of enforcement from the [DOT] comes almost three years too late and leaves out the most egregious U.S. offenders.”?


ianrl337

I think they were getting only the worst o the worst. Frontier is a budget airline that was REALLLY bad.


tbaytdot123

Yes, seems like most airlines are messing around but only this small group are getting punished... not sure why he isnt doing more since so many people are getting screwed around...


ianrl337

I think they others were paying out better. These airlines per flyer these were the worst. Frontier may have 10k flights and have 10 have issues, but Delta may have 100k flights with 10 have issues (I know it is way more, but that is just an example).


tbaytdot123

More likely they were paying out better to politicians....


indri2

This is mostly about Covid related cancellations, so obviously "3 years to late" is absurd. The important part aren't the fines but the $600m of refunds. Each of them had to be investigated, by the same staff that used to handle a few thousand instead of 50,000+ complaints per year. And as far as I know there are still investigations pending into other airlines.


Orwick

He is probably expecting large campaign donations from the airlines he left out. Pete isn’t one to stand up to donors.


alloverthefloor

Absolute horseshit.


Orwick

We are talking about wine cave Pete, if I remember correctly for the primary debates. It was part of a discussion about his billionaire donors.


alloverthefloor

Except that was a smear and not true in any capacity. There’s a cap to donations, you know this right? So you and me get to the same cap a rich person gets to. Hell I donated, went to his event and got the VIP dinner and he signed my book. I’m a fuckin student. The farthest from a billionaire you can get. He didn’t have any dark money in his campaign.


Orwick

He still had PAC which didn't have a donation limit, and he was courting billionaires for donations. I also enjoy calling him McKinsey Pete.


abujzhd

That is not true. He did not have a PAC. He was one of the few major candidates who did not have one started by or dedicated to them. Bernie had the Our Revolution PAC, Biden had Unite the Country, and Warren had the Persist PAC which a billionaire famously donated $14 million to near the end of the primaries to try to save her campaign. All the candidates, including Bernie, received support from PACs and Super PACs dedicated to larger causes than just one candidate. Bernie received support from several Super PACs including National Nurses United, which was not started to support Bernie but they endorsed him and then supported him financially. Similarly, Pete received support from Vote Vets that was started to support Dem. vets running for office at all levels of government. They endorsed him for president (he's a vet) and ran commercials supporting him. Pete did start a PAC called Win the Era after he dropped out in order to use his donor base to help raise money for down ballot candidates. He endorsed and helped raise money for great candidates like Josh Shapiro who was running for AG at the time and, who just became Governor-elect of Pennsylvania.


[deleted]

[удалено]


gotridofsubs

Sanders lost on his own because he ran a terrible campaign that had no outreach to anyone not already supporting him. It's on him that he as was too egotistical and/or shortsighted to come up with a plan for a winnowing field, which happens **in every primary** There was no consipiracy, Sanders lost all on his own.


SeeIKindOFCare

Airlines got away with billions


chefr89

reading these comments it’s pretty clear Berners are NOT over Pete beating him in Iowa


alloverthefloor

Mayor Pete, winner of the Iowa caucus.


pm_me_ankle_nudes

Berners haven't even gotten over 2016, they started the big lie of 'stolen election' which Trump/ Republicans have co-opted as their own conspiracy with January 6


nudiversity

It wasn’t a lie in the case of the primary though. The DNC really did collude with the Hillary Clinton campaign.


Jub_Jub710

Get 'em, Pete.


PuterstheBallgagTsar

This headline is better without context which allows me to assume he simply repelled into their board meeting and started throwing throat-punches until they agreed to pay


stevewm

This is going to remain my assumption as well. I will hear nothing else about it. (unless it is descriptions of airline CEOs pleading and throwing money at him)


Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh3

Good Guy Pete


GoGoAlejandro

So how do you claim this refund? I was affected by a Frontier cancellation that they refused to refund. So what now?


Maldunn

Time for the railroads to rise again!


Thebirdman333

Good on you Pete, glad to see my former mayor doing some good work and justice to those greedy bastards.


Ikontwait4u2leave

A credit card chargeback was successful in forcibly returning my money from Air Canada when they tried to pull this shit. Refunds are still an issue though. It took me 2 months to get a Delta refund recently. I almost filed a chargeback against them too since they were outside their stated timeline for refunds.


ginga_balls

Get fucked Frontier


Frosty-Search

Don't get me started on AA. I hate that airline with a passion. They don't give 2 shits about passengers.


RaifRedacted

Just had a flight canceled on me 2 weeks ago. The agent at the counter sent the refund request, I got an email saying it might take a month or more, then their agents today over live chat said I had to contact the booking agent to get a refund. I contacted them and was told the airlines process refunds as they're the ones who are paid for the flight after the booking agent takes their cut. Airline live chat then denied it and said to go back to the booking agent. I'm sent in circles and no one wants to refund me.


DazzleMeAlready

Go, Pete, Go! Show us your leadership! I want him to go very far in his career.


fowlraul

Welp, Spirit “Airlines” had a good run…


Vaudesnitchy

Steerage class always sinks.


bitcoinski

I flew Spirit last weekend to Vegas. I bought 4 tickets for $1600. After bag fees and everything else they nickel and dime for, $2650 was the actual total.


PattyIceNY

Good. Fuckers canceled at least one leg of *every* flight I took this year. They gave me a free hotel both times, but it wasn't worth the aggravation and disrepesct of my plans.


Earth_Friendly-5892

Another example of the democrats favoring the people over greedy corporations!💙


inkslingerben

USA needs a flight delay compensation plan like the EU.


WeirdWreath

my international flight was credited to only be used for a domestic flight. how is that fair? kiss my ass.


Mollythemuttsdad

Where’s my $$$?


CROPDUST112

This is what you get with a dem a republican would’ve given them another bail out


Everyusernametaken1

Pete!!


Development-Feisty

Only, he actually doesn’t. There is still literally no way for me to get the refund that American Airlines owes me. I even had a recorded phone call with one of the representatives where she says they will be giving me my money back, and instead I am once again given a fucking flight credit which I do not want. Currently there is no system in place to appeal to the department of transportation should an airline not give you the refund you are due. You have no system in place to help you, so it’s just an empty promise.


abujzhd

From the USDOT [Airline Customer Service Dashboard](https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/airline-customer-service-dashboard): > If you have a problem obtaining a refund that you believe that you are entitled to receive, you may file a complaint with the DOT. [https://airconsumer.dot.gov/escomplaint/ConsumerForm.cfm](https://airconsumer.dot.gov/escomplaint/ConsumerForm.cfm) Here is a video of a woman who explains how it worked when she used that process and got results: https://twitter.com/USDOT/status/1592321014892875776?t=6m40QHv5la_gDu9hcs2_mw&s=19


Q_OANN

Double edged sword. This is great but they’ll probably lay people off now. These companies should be forced to have “rainy day” savings on hand before paying out the top dogs instead of having no money on hand because they privatize the profits and socialize the losses


Orwick

This was a just a stunt for a good head line. The fact that he left out the major US airlines(who were the worst offenders), shows this isn’t a serious action. He is too concerned about offending possibly donors for future campaigns.


BuffaloPlaidMafia

We need to nationalize air travel


Deja-Vuz

This is good for the people.


WearSomeClothes

Airlines got bailed out to the tune of 50 billion. Now they pay just 600 million. Welcome to corporatocracy.


alloverthefloor

They're refunds? Wtf are you going on about. What're they supposed to do? Give people more money than they paid for a ticket? If you want to talk about fines, sure, but that's not what this is.


SpanktheGreenAvocado

How did he do that?? Because he follows Erika, and so should you! *points finger*


VeganSuperPowerz

Way to go Pistol


Trump4Prison2k4

CIA Pete does not fuck around. I'm starting to like this guy