Air Tran/AirTran Airlines Discrimination against White Customers. Ripoff! Atlanta, Georgia; Nationwide

Kathy,

Look at what caused your delay in the first place ICE STORMS.

AirTran (and any other airlne) "Doesn't do that" for WEATHER issues or air traffice control. However they DO do that for other issues such as a mechanical issue with the aircraft. You don't know these other people's situation. Also, you didn't apparently know at first the hotel voucher you got was for a discounted room instead of a free one - is that what the other passengers got as well? How do you know the that other "white" passengers were staying the night?

Bottom line is that your statment about "AirTran doesn't issue them" is simply not true. I am very certain that someone along the way told you it's not done due to weather issues.

I find this particular letter interesting enough to write back. First off I am an airline employee. The first thing that most travelers do not understand is that ALL airlines not just ATA have certain rules that protect them and well as their passengers. One of those rules deals with inclimate weather.

As a CUSTOMER SERVICE action an airline will issue meal and hotel vouchers, but they ar enot oblligated to. During certain times of the year especailly in certain parts of the country such as the east coast you can almost never fly out due to weather.

There would be no way to provide service for those of you that live on that side of the country if they HAD to pay for every weather incident. I'm not saying its right, but they are thinking about their wallets as most companies do and must to survive.

It is called and act of God, they do not have a direct line to heaven to find out if they should operate, nor does the passenger, I'm sure neither would fly if they knew the weather was going to be so harsh. The company would have to spend a few thousand dollars per flight to put up very unhappy, nasty and sometimes down out right rude people for the night.

And passengers did not make it where they wanted to go. The people in the middle are the agents. (Am I defending what they did, no.) After having to deal with the technical side of a canceled flight we have to try to explain why we can not send them tonight. After doing this for over 1000 in one day it does tire one out. The simple fact of the matter, people do not understand there are different reasons why things are done and why things are not done.

If it is a mechanical issue which the airline has control over, then yes they are obligated to give HMTs (Hotel, Meal,Transportation vouchers) to passengers. If it is weather realted the best they can do in some cases is to offer a dicounted rate called the Distressed Passenger Rate that the passengers pay out of pocket. You can obtain a copy of these rules from the airline or DOT. Again it is a customer service call.

You also have to look at a few other things before you go screaming discrimination, and reporting things on a site like this can lead to slander and what not, so this piece of information is valuable to you. First of all there are HOT SPOTS. Places where people fly for specific reasons.

I worked in Palm Springs. We have famous people, rich people, and every day joes like me and specail groups that we see every day. Sad to say each is treated differently. If it is a group such as a company sending staff for a major meeting or what not that does a lot of traveling with ATA (which is the companies bread and butter, not the occassional vacation traveler) they will take care of those people differently.

Sad to say if you fly a few times a year, they will not miss the $1000 you spend, but they will miss the $10-20,000 a company will pay a year to send their employees to meeting and what not. Palm Springs was very much like this. I was told to do what I had to make certain groups happy, while I had to tell the family I could not help them.

That is one of the reasons being an agent is bitter sweet. I did have the freedom to wiggle a bit, but in the end, it all comes down to my keeping a job, so I had to do what the Corp wanted.

The first thing you should do is contacted the Cust Serv and tell them what flight what time and about how many people received vouchers. Vouchers are accountable documents and can be tracked. Then you left the Corp office investigate.

This saves you the money you would pay to a lawyer. In worse case it may be the employee that is in the wrong and not the company, so to slander a company makes YOU the bad guy. They may even see fit to offer you some sort of goody.

While it will not be a million dollar lawsuit settlement a free trip for 4 to see grandma is great sometmes too. They will fire the employee. But be very careful, as the pilot and the flight attenddants you mentioned in this article as being upset with ATA and saying unrepeatable things may end up fired of worse because you mentioned them, and yes they can find out who there are, they do it all the time.

There are only so many planes for ATA ont he ground at a time so its not hard to figure out who they are. If you seriously feel you have been mistreated, go to DOT (Department of Transportation) not a lawyer, as they may do more than your lawyer can, as you said you ahve to prove it.

The funny thing is you can't, but the company can. Those accountable documents I spoke about will tell n themselves, so again save your money, opt for a few free tickets may be and no matter what air line you fly you will ahve issues if the weather is bad.

Delta may be great, but I have also seen the very same thing happen to their passengers. Needless to say when you have an issue that involves something out of the hands of a company try being a bit nicer to the persont hat has to give you the bad news.

We did not purposely make it rain or snow or cause a fire just so that you could not go home. Its no fun being called names (yes racial names too) by a passenger that is upset because they can not have their way. In fact that is the quickest way to be refused help, and yes we have the right to refuse to help a confrontational passenger.

With that said I have this last piece to say. When you point a finger there are 3 others pointing back at you. You say this is discrimination, if you take to carrying camera make sure to have a legal form with you as well, so that you can get permission to film the employee, or they will refuse to help you. It sucks being treated different because of your race does it not.

Think on that the next time we walk down the street or see something on TV and make a comment. In this world to many people of ALL races are quick to scream foul.

Kathy,
What you experienced isn't so much related to AirTran as it is Atlanta. Furthermore, it's a growing problem and can be seen in restaurants, stores, etc.

Yet these same people will be the first to cry "racism" if something doesn't go their way. My advice is to avoid Atlanta, period, though I am very glad to hear that Delta treated you well.