How one ever feels sorry for a company, especially an airline, I’ll never know. But this Saturday afternoon, I’m officially sorry for Delta Air Lines and every one of its employees from the CEO on down. The little maelstrom created by this Huffington Post article boggles the mind. While the author is certainly entitled to his opinion, the fact that this issue has taken off the way it has leads me to wonder about our collective future as a country.
The issue at hand is that Delta Air Lines is a member of the Sky Team Alliance along with a plethora of other airlines, and the Alliance has voted to admit Saudi Arabian Airlines as a member. Delta and every other airline is required to comply with certain laws for each country it serves or connects passengers to. In other words, Delta does not, and will not be flying to Saudi Arabia, but if they happen to carry a passenger that connects to a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight headed to Saudi Arabia, they have to comply with certain laws regarding travel to Saudi Arabia. One of those is the need to obtain a Visa for travel if you’re stopping in Saudi Arabia (none required if you’re connecting through).
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia requires a Visa, and to get one, you are asked what your religion is. Also, if your Passport happens to have an Israeli stamp on it, you may be denied a Visa. As bad as that is (and make no mistake, I think it’s bad), it’s the policy of the Saudi government, not Delta Air Lines. Furthermore, it is a requirement that must be met for air travel on any airline or alliance. Flying American Airlines from the USA to London, and connecting on a BA flight to Saudi Arabia? Same deal. Are we now going to boycott BA because they fly to Saudi Arabia? Lufthansa? Air France? American for partnering with BA? I could go on.
I suppose given the hyper-sensitive, hyper-polarized, hyper-idiocy that envelops our country today, Delta might have better anticipated the reaction to Saudi Arabian Airlines becoming a member of Sky Team. Though after reading some of the hysterical lunacy contained in the comments section of Delta’s blog on this topic, I’m not sure anyone could plan for this. To be clear, I do not condone the policies of the Saudi government, and the only thing I hate is hate itself. That said, the reaction by some to this business transaction makes me wonder if some people don’t need to take a look at themselves before they lecture the rest of us on righteousness.
I think I’ll go book a flight on Delta now.
OK. So it is not OK to be in an airline alliance with an airline of the RSA, but it is OK to sell fighter jets? Where is the boycott of Boeing?
At this moment, Delta is a collaborator with the Saudis. As I recall, when WWII ended, collaborators were arested, tried and punished and in some cases they were seized, head shaved and then battered or worse. The fact is, allowing Saudi Airlines to become a codeshare partner perpetuates and gives credence and comfort its racist policies and dictatorial government.
Delta is not codesharing with Saudi Arabian Airlines at the moment, and according to Delta, does not plan to. However, I think at this point, that doesn’t really matter.
I thought this MSNBC Overhead Bin blog article was very informative to the conversation.
http://on.msnbc.com/jLix4h
Only “minor” problem with Delta is that they are violating US law by participating in or encouraging the Arab Boycott. You can blame on the Saudis but Delta perpetuates it by enforcing it.
I’m not a lawyer, but every other US airline that originates a passenger destined for Saudi Arabia is “guilty” of the same thing if that’s the case.
Indeed, we cant boycott everone, but this stroy brought to light the sad fact that global firms do business with countries that discriminate againt minorities. This is a shame!
Where was this so-called “Rabbi without border” when Israel denied entry to many Jews (Americans or otherwise) who are opposed to its current government’s expansionist policies … not to mention the scores of Arabs who are not allowed to go back to their homes.