‘All Agree That This Customer Should Not Have Been Allowed to Continue on the Flight’
The CEO of Delta airlines on Monday said a Donald Trump supporter who disrupted a flight last week by calling out for “Hillary b*tches” to identify themselves has been banned for life. Ed Bastian sent a memo to all Delta employees worldwide, thanking them for their service over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and commented on the unruly passenger.
“After questioning the customer, our team members made the best decision they could given the information they had and allowed him to remain on the flight,” Bastian said supportively of the crew. “However, if our colleagues had witnessed firsthand what was shown in the video, there is no question they would have removed him from the aircraft. He will never again be allowed on a Delta plane.”
The unnamed Trump supporting passenger had stood up and announced to the passengers, “Donald Trump, baby! We got some Hillary bitches on this plane?†He also said, “Come on baby, Trump! Donald Trump is your President. Every god damn one of you. If you don’t like it, too bad!”
On Saturday Delta posted a statement responding to the outrage caused by the man’s disgusting behavior documented in the viral video that had been shot by a woman sitting near the Trump supporter. The statement offers a bit of a different take han the CEO’s internal memo.
“We are sorry to our customers who experienced this disruption,” the message begins. “We have followed up with the teams involved and all agree that this customer should not have been allowed to continue on the flight,” it says, presumably referring to the crew as well as other corporate service personnel.
“Our responsibility for ensuring all customers feel safe and comfortable with Delta includes requiring civil behavior from everyone. The behavior we see in this video does not square with our training or culture and follow up will continue so we can better ensure our employees will know they will be fully supported to make the right decisions when these issues arise.”
Many on social media have noted that airlines have ejected passengers who were not white for far less, including for merely speaking in a language that was not English.
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