Let me declare, I love my emergency exit seats. So does Ann Coulter, apparently.
When sitting in Economy in the USA with their stressful security procedures, awful airports and scrappy airline catering, the exit row seat seems the last luxury left!
A luxury, Ann didn’t want to forgo when Delta moved her from her chosen Seat 15D on their flight 2852 from New York La Guardia Airport to West Palm Beach, Florida. In the picture below it is the seat on the right of the aisle, on the aisle:
The airline says the move was “inadvertent” while “working to accommodate several passengers with seating requests“. I am a little suspicious of the “inadvertent”. I suspect Delta were actually trying to seat two passengers next to each other.
The fuss that followed made me think that she has been moved from her nice emergency exit seat to seat 29B which is a middle seat in the back row of the Airbus A319. One that SeatGuru says to avoid:
OR did Delta make her stand from New York to Honolulu or did they force her to eat hot nails?
No, she was simply moved from 15D to 15A, a window seat. Same row with the same leg room.
On top of that, the airline said that Ms. Coulter had originally booked exit row seat 15F, which is by the window so a seat identical to the one she ended up in. 24 hours of the flight’s departure, she changed from that 15F to seat 15D. (I assume she did this during check in).
Yeah, it sucks being asked to move seats. It does not make sense, sometimes. But really the inconvenience on this occasion, was almost nil. One can respond to the airline’s request it graciously or one can create a stink. Ann went for stink.
First up, she published a picture of the woman who was given seat 15D. I am not publishing the picture because that sort of behaviour is reprehensible.
This was followed by tweet after tweet attacking Delta, accusing them of lying and undermining all aspects of their brand.
Delta refunded the $30 fee that Ann Coulter had paid for the extra room seat. So she got an extra legroom seat for free. This was not good enough for her:
Delta tweeted to Coulter telling her that insults about other customers and staff were unacceptable. This did not temper her at all.
Her followers seem to appreciate her efforts to stick it to Delta:
I have often been critical of USA airline service and if this incident serves to improve Delta service that will be good. But Ms Coulter has turned this into a tornado in a teacup. Her plane on July 15 took off 20 minutes late and landed safely 29 minutes early. No doubt, she got a free beverage. In the meantime, how can I get $10,000 to look at Seatguru.com ?
The Verdict
A good leader sets an example of how to treat others. In asserting her own “rights”, Ms Coulter seems to be in a race to be the nastiest person she can be. Sadly, those who respect her, will think that her behaviour is “appropriate”, “good” or “normal”. I expect many people will now emulate her and respond badly to simple requests from airline staff Not Good Enough, Ms Coulter.
Surprise. Not. Coulter is an abysmal human. Delta should give her a lifetime ban for being so petulant and malicious.
Politics and whether you feel that the change of seat was minimal are both really irrelevant.
The point is Coulter bought and paid for a specific seat and should be entitled to use that particular seat. Unless there is an emergency or a very specific situation not seemingly present here, it should be up to Coulter whether she wants accommodate another passenger. People have different feelings about whether they prefer an aisle or a window and we should not judge what is a better or worse seat since that is a subjective opinion. I would argue that Delta would need to get Coulter’s consent even if they were moving her from Economy to First Class–it is still her decision to accept or decline the offer and it is not about whether the new seat is better, worse or the same.
True, the Coulter (and Delta’s) Twitter storm may have been much, but that does not take away from the facts I have seen that Delta did not request Coulter to change seats but rather removed Coulter from her seat involuntarily and without a meaningful explanation. We can’t say that Delta is not wrong because Coulter’s reaction may be worse or disproportionate to the perceived “harm”.
It is unfortunate that the position taken in your post, Mr. Cowling, and by poster, MSer above, both seem to miss that point.
I think Delta over-reacted just as much. And, it is because Ann is a conservative. The previous comment proves my point.
She is a first world problem
Although tucked in the terms and conditions are probably the airline reserves right to move seats at any time blah blah blah. It happens. My comment is that 57 tweets about it feels a tad excessive.