Cassandra - totally ignorant!

Nice Cassandra! Way to use your ignorant views on the very people that fight for your right to express them!

Ha, seems we have a bunch of idiots on this board...obviously you missed Cassandra's point.

I wonder if these gestapo guys pay for their luggage when they travel?

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/police-state-swat-team-breaks-down-door-detains-man-wife%E2%80%99s-defaulted-student-loans

Spoken like a true liberal. I sincerely hope you and your spawn need help one day and get this kind of consideration...

I'm not sure she was dissing the soldiers.

It sounded to me, she was making a point about the futility of war.

And, her comment pointed out the irony, that our good soldiers are being used as pawns in a larger, horrible theme.

Worst of all is that the ad on this site that accompanies this video and article is a DELTA ad about deserving our business. So I ask you DELTA " What have you done to deserve my business" - charge our soldiers money for a checked bag - you ought to be absolutely ashamed of yourself, you greedy jerks. Gomer Pyle said it best "Shame shame shame". Bless all of our heroes.

Unbelievable... but not surprising to hear from the looneys that linger on the left side of the field.

hmmmm, another word that begins with a c, that a woman is called when she is being as base as she can be, comes to mind when thinking about the trash cassandra is talking about our country.

With that in mind little c, you are free to leave this country on a flight, on Delta, anytime want, because a Soldier paid the price for you to do so.

but the shock of even being charged is enough to make most servicemen and women simply shake their heads and wonder who or what it is they are protecting

What you are protecting is Delta's right to bill you that extra $200 and who knows how much more in the future. If you're republican, you're also voting to allow no limits on how much that fee can be or any fee that any company decides to charge even if the fee is without valid reason!

Wow, I see reading comprehension is not the strong suite of the right wing. Nowhere did Cassandra say anything against the returning soldiers or any soldiers. She stated the fact that our soldiers jobs have become to protect America's corporate interests. Seeing that America is practically a plutocracy she's not off base in the least. This statement does nothing to impugn the integrity of our fine and brave soldiers.

Ya know, its not really necessary to bash Cassandra to get a point across. As an Army retiree her comment didn't offend me one bit. "These men and women would lay down their life for you"? Give me a break. After 20 years of service, I seldom found many that would lay down their life for the guy in the foxhole next to them, let alone someone they never met. The whole point of war is to make the enemy lay down his life for his country, not the other way around. There is no glory in dying. Everyone in the military recruiting arena knows that a recruiter's job becomes much easier in a crappy economy, and all that that implies.

Now to the meat of the matter. It's a known fact that the military actively steers traveling service members to Delta. The Government will reimburse or pay you to fly on just about any airline, but they make it known they prefer Delta. This whole $200 extra bag fee would also be reimbursed, so its not like the service member is actually out of pocket, they're just basically loaning the Government $200. What irks me though, is that you'd think that after all the free advertising Delta gets via the Government, and all the business that service members give them, they'd be less inclined to allow greed to overpower their better judgement. I mean really, its a pain in the ass to have to pull out your credit/debit card and deal with this kind of crap when typically all you want is to just get home with a minimum amount of hassles. One would think Delta would be more sensitive to this fact.

Ok, let's not let emotions rule here. Was it Delta's policy that caused this to happen or was it just some Delta functionary at the terminal who didn't really think too hard before implementing the policy? Whatever the cause, it seemed Delta figured out that their policy didn't take into account scenarios like this. They corrected it pretty fast so I say although unfortunate, cudo's to Delta.

And yes, since I spent 20 years in the Army and had two combat tours, I think I get to have an opinion. I also understand the anger of the soldiers. I'd be angry too. The question is who was responsible for the bad judgement? Some poor slob just trying to do his job by using the policy his company imposed? Do you think the board of directors at Delta met and decided, hey! lets screw these soldiers so we can look like crap to the rest of the country? I think it was just a case of not foreseeing this eventuality. Nothing more.

Cassandra, you are a pig. If you want to be upset at our shady government, that is one thing. But don't you dare ever disgrace an honest American company who is just trying to make a buck or two. These corporations are the blood of our economy. They pay taxes (same amount as you do), give people a job (a lot of them in China and India whenever possible, but hey, what can you do?)

cassandra, do you ever think about what you say before you say it?????btw how old are you because age does make a difference in the way you see things. What would feel like if(this is a big if on your part) one of these men or women was coming hoe to you??? Vietnam Vet and proud of it.

The corporate interests are still not worth fighting nor dying for. There has to be a better reason for martyrdom than sacrificing one's only life for folks who wouldn't extend to you the same courtesy.

GI Joe;

I like your comment. Spoken like a true American.

cASSandra,

You can oppose the war. I am a Vietnam vet and I don't like seeing our troops put in harms way in an unwinnable war. Just don't dishonor the troops.

GI JOE, I like your comment, too. Very sensible. Everyone's so quick to fly off the handle here.

I served 20 yrs. If Delta did that to me, I'd say a few choice words, pay up, then put it on my travel voucher. No big deal, just annoying.

After 20 years of service, I seldom found many that would lay down their life for the guy in the foxhole next to them, let alone someone they never met. The whole point of war is to make the enemy lay down his life for his country, not the other way around. There is no glory in dying. Everyone in the military recruiting arena knows that a recruiter's job becomes much easier in a crappy economy, and all that that implies.

Thank God I didn't serve in your unit! Must have been assigned to a desk or the stockyard! That's what they do when your deemed psychologically unfit for battle!

@kpokeefe. Actually, most of that quote was plagiarized from George Patton. I just put my own personal touch on it. Now you know ol' blood n' guts was really assigned to a desk or stockyard. The media accounts of his exploits were all just a big fabrication. (no doubt you'll totally miss the intended sarcasm).

Geeze man, are you capable of seeing anything through the glass of realism, or is everything all about personal attacks with you? As for being assigned to a desk or stockyard, you seem to know a great deal about being assigned to both. Did you gain this from personal experience, or did you just watch MASH reruns a lot?

This whole class warfare that seems to have been being waged in the last few years is tearing the country apart. Do you people not recall 9/11??? Did corporate America cause that? Did we go hunting for Osama Bin Ladin to appease or enrich corporate America? Who do you think is going to give this G.I's jobs when they come home? Who sets up so many charitable foundations, supports colleges, hospitals, infrastructure??? CORPORATE AMERICA, the so-called rich, that's who. Seems the biggest critics are those people want to schlep around, with their hand out, don't pay taxes, and criticize and hate "the "rich". They'd rather let the government support than break a sweat. I can't believe people settle for being "kept". No one is stopping anyone from getting off their ass and working and earning their own living, and who knows, you may even get RICH. Then we can hate you??? Even Democrats have plenty of those dirty rich people. Obama allows this "hate the rich" stuff to perpetuate, while he panders to the rich himself. Guess that's because he IS one of them. There are no jobs, you say? Well, if the government would get out of the way there would be more jobs in the private sector. The government is the most inefficient wasteful "employer" there is.

Do people realize that there are people in those countries where our men and women are fighting who want nothing more than to kill us all? We must defend our country, so don't anyone disrespect those who are trying to do just that.

GI Joe - 1.

kpokeefe - 0.

And Aggie, I let your handle speak for itself. lol (College jab!)

It's sad that so many people can't see the difference between criticizing our troops, versus criticizing how our troops are USED.

Obviously military members don't get to pick and choose the missions they are sent on. So it's really pathetic that so many of you couldn't understand the point that Cassandra was making beneath her sarcasm, that there is hypocrisy in condemning Delta's actions in light of the types of wars we engage in.

I am just thankful that some of our troops are getting home and that we have a way to do that. I am not focused on the slaughtering of the lambs on this page. you guys need to take a break and understand that people MAKE MISTAKES. Just cool it and be glad they fixed the problem. Seeing our retirees act like children to prove and point a being hateful is dishonoring our men and woman and what they stand for. Just say positive things and if you dis agree just wither say positive things and encourage them to understand but not with slander and disrespect. our soldiers do fight for the right of opinion. If we do not allow those to speak then we are hypocrites. Been with the army for years, an army brat and many other branches of the military that are survived and won through many battles. I am proud of these men and woman in my family and glad they got a safe ride home and they are treated well on the flight home, First class and all. I am sorry that this poor soul made a mistake but quit pointing your guns at each other. You are suppose to represent our Country and our men of honor... ALL I SEE IS A BIG MUD SLINGING WHO HAS MORE YEARS IN AND WHAT DID THEY DO FIGHT. Lets grow up and show some respect. Its a Burp! Sheesh! let it go.

Why not charge for luggage? Anything less would be socialism!

Read what you wrote again. You sound like an ass. Do you even know what socialism is?

pfft doubt it.

How the heck is that socialism, define socialism please. I don't think it's defined as making the military pay bag fees when traveling on civilian airlines. One thing though, when we were ferried back and forth to Vietnam the military chartered planes and flew us home, there was no interaction with civilians going or returning, what the heck is THAT. And traveling with your hardware? Never heard of THAT one either. I like that term Hero though, just thought we were doing our job?

I think frank anderson is joking or being sarcastic TT.

Bloody disgusting! says I.

Better any socialism which protects the lowest of us, than a capitalism which plunders us all...

Delta Airlines should be ashamed of themselves and should refund all the monies.

Frank- I don't think they get sarcasm

Did you guys not notice that Delta corrected this and apologized? What more do you want? Free lifetime flights?

A correction and apology is a good step, but how about they refund their money?

I statement about socialism--when we pay our income taxes, real estate taxes, sales taxes, etc--it's socialism. The money gets thrown in the pot to be spent on our better good. Your fire and police departments--paid collective pool of taxes by a given group of citizens in a geographical area. Relax with the word, socialism--it's not evil. We should be striving harder towards maintaining a democracy with a strong social edge.

Regarding the baggage fees--that's life. Entry level in the military is more that the private sector entry levels, with less education--add on those benefits. Yes---I served in the USN.

To a VETERAN, a lot have things have changed since you were in brother. I know, my older brother did two tours in Nam. I being the younger brother did Iraq before retirement. weapons cases and chartered flights are just two of the changes. I think the biggest change though is how soldiers are viewed. now they call us heros. Unlike you guys that fought in one of our bloodiest wars and had to endure being called baby killer for serving our country. and even though it's decades over due I just want to say thanks for your service brother, and welcome home

and as far as delta goes. if you didn't think these a** H***** didn't know they were screwing our soldiers until now, I own this bridge I want to sell in CA. it's just that now someone called em out

James - Thank You and Thank You for YOUR service. I stand and salute you. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat, as you would also. It makes the old guys rest easy to know there are young people such as yourself and others who are willing sacrifice and serve our nation. To those who have fought for it FREEDOM has a savor the protected will never know.

I think it is shameful that this happened. More than that though, as someone that did not serve in the military, I'd like to thank all the men and women that have ever served in our Armed Forces. We owe everything to you guys. You go where you're told and lay your lives on the line for a country of people that, most of the time, take for granted the freedoms that you braves souls fight to provide for us. For that you are all HEROS and I for one appreciate you and thank you. If anyone on active duty by chance reads this then I say: God's speed and be safe. And again, THANK YOU.

Read the article... They ARE returning their money. Unfortunately for Delta, the damage has been done. They made a bad decision and got a ton of negative publicity. I chuckled at the post calling this socialism. Actually it's blatant capitalism run amok. Sometimes it's not smart to make more money, even if you can. (In the end you can make LESS money because the negative publicity hurts you.) Penny wise and pound foolish.

I'm guessing the military pays for first/business if no coach seat is available on any airline if they must catch a flight at a certain day/time. But, the high ranking muckety-mucks should travel coach, just like the ordinary soldiers who do the work...and dying...

Clearly the socialism comment is a joke making fun of the Rush-worshiping folks from red states.

Here's a solution: Have the soldiers fly first class on Delta's dime. No more baggage fee. As a former soldier, I don't expect a free ride, but all these bull@!$%# fee's are ridiculous.

I have 2 son's in the Army. My youngest has a purple heart already at the age of 22. He is in his second tour in Afghanistan right now. My oldest leaves in a few weeks to join his brother. While spending weeks at Walter Reed in DC after my son's armored car was blown up. I saw the price of the war. Over there and every war before..Our young people with difigured faces missing eyes, missing limbs. The youngest person there had just turned 19 while I was there in 09 he has no arms, no legs..But a smile to light up a room. .So for you who think it is outrageous to allow a returning soldier an extra bag on the plane..Shame on you. My son's will lay down their young lives for you ... So you can let one bag slide ....

A couple years ago my son who had just returned from a year in Iraq was flying home for leave. His Sgt. misplaced his leave papers and by the time the issue was resolved my son arrived at the airport a few mins too late. He had to get another flight leaving the next day. Delta charged him and his wife $150.00 each to fly on another flight even though it was no fault of their own. My son explained what happened and that he hadn't been home in over a year. They didn't care and still charged them $300.00 to fly home on top of what they had already paid for thier original flight. Delta does not care about our military. Too bad they came out of thier bankruptcy situation and are still flying. I will never fly Delta again.

Delta is simply acting as a typical corporate business, selling a shoddy service at gouging prices with no thought about common decency, let alone the customers. Somebody has to pay those seven-and-eight-figure-a-year CEOs' salaries so they can get stuff. Delta figures that if brave soldiers want to check four bags, like those in First Class can, then they should pay up, or else be happy with being treated as dirt like everyone else in Steerage Class.

dahorndawg, I think he did ride the short bus. He said that's where he met you. This hero worship garbage is going too far. These service people are getting paid for their work. Some are getting paid better than if they were doing their civilian jobs. Many of these people are only in the service because there are no jobs in their home towns. This is a volunteer military and I have no problem with people going where the work or money is. That's life. And why didn't the military fly these guys home? Those aren't podunk airports they were flying from/to.

On a recent flight through Atlanta-Hartsfield, my wife encountered a female soldier whose flight had been cancelled by Delta. They had told her that about 20 hours later would be the next flight to her destination. She pleaded with them because if would cause her to miss her mother's funeral. There were openings in first class, Delta refused and refused to upgrade anyone into one so she could be seated. They were going to fly an empty seat and cause a soldier to miss her mother's funeral.

The passengers at the counter were in the process of collecting the money to buy the young sergeant a first class ticket (with Delta counter clerks threatening to have all the passengers removed as a threat to security.) But an unidentified man walked up and purchased the young lady a ticket with frequent flyer miles. It was obvious that the Delta agents did not want to comply, but apparently they knew the person and he had some clout. My wife speculated that maybe he was a local politician.

The other passengers and the soldier wanted to know the man's name. Just to thank him and my wife wanted to write a letter to the editor to thank him, but Delta refused to tell his name. Airport security was cited. Everyone at Delta knows that terrorists frequently try to purchase tickeds for soldiers as propaganda.

We live in an increasingly warped corporate world. But I guarantee companies like Delta one thing ---- when you get control of the world you will hate it.

dpgympac - you can be as disrespecteful as you want to be about a HERO coming back from his tour of duty because he fights for your right to be as ignorant as you obviously are. My suggestion is that you can make statements like you did when you grown the stones to do the same thing they do. Since we all know that won't happen we'll never have to listen to your ignorant babble again.

Delta not only made a mistake, they made a huge one. It doesn't take a genius to know when to do the right thing and this is a classic example of people not acting on something they know is wrong to begin with. This whole situation should have been avoided by one person that pushed a button and waived the charges.

Chris, what an incredible story.

We American consumers still have the power, and we had better use it while we can, to bring down these big-business corporations and force them to serve us, rather than us serving them. We may not have the money to buy lobbyists and politicians (all of whom, Democrat or Republican, are corrupt because of money they want to provide them with a lavish lifestyle), but we have the power of boycott. Delta should be boycotted. Even if one has to pay a bit more for another worthless airline, or not be able to cash in on miles, if we all stuck together we would force them into compliance. Imagine a world where Delta is flying with empty jets and no money is coming in to pay its CEO his big bucks, or the other big-wigs or board members. Imagine its stock plummetting and the holders going into an uproar. Imagine Delta being forced, in our still barely free-market capitalist society, to charge the minimum fares with the best service just to survive and thrive. We can do it. We must all start doing it. We, as consumers, must somehow protect what is left of our free-market capitalist system before the corporations win at wiping it out and imposing the slavery of plutocracy.

What I don't get is, why was this their policy to begin with? You're telling me that no one in the company ever brought up the "soldier baggage fee" issue?

I now will never have anything to do with Delta again. What they did to this female soldier is inexcusable and I commend this stranger for helping her. What a truly good person. Delta seems to just keep going down hill. When I flew to Florida in 2002 it was on Delta. I was moving here so I had 2 really large bags and a carry on. Because I was flying alone, one way, I was obviously a threat. So I had to endure standing at a checkpoint while they literally tore through my very carefully packed bags, and then duck taped.. yes that's right, the one they couldn't fit everything back into like I originally had it. I was livid. Then at every layover I was forced to remove my shoes, etc right at the gate so they could thoroughly check me before I entered the plane, I was humiliated. When I arrived in Florida, 5 hours later than I was supposed to due to them making me miss my connecting flight, my bags were nowhere to be found. To compensate me for that, i got a little drawstring bag with some toiletries in it. That's it. No offer for any type of compensation as I sat here with no clothes for 3 days and no money to buy any. Delta is pathetic! Keep treating our military how they've been and they'll be more than hurting financially again.

Delta hires many many veterans, reservist and national guard who are on the front lines as we speak, many of the pilots and aircraft techs are vets and dont deverve to have the job they worked for removed becuase alot of crazys jumping on the bandwagon they lose the jobs (90,000) we pay more taxes for unemployment and obama care

To dgpympac you obviously have no idea how little the military gets paid. but to those of us that served, it was never about pay, It was about patriotism and love of our country. morals and values. things you obviously know nothing about.freedom was never free, it's price has been paid with blood left on the beaches, in the jungles and the sand of the middle east. young men and women have given everthing they have to protect the rights of morons like you to spew the garbage that you do. and even though I disagree with the garbage that comes out of your mouth I would do it all over again to protect the rights of morons like you and Ston3r78.

Pamela, The reason you didnt get anything is because your story didnt get out into the media. They dont care unless they are humiliated by the media...the only reason they apologized to the soldiers at all is because of the negative attention they are receiving.

Had you been 5 hours late to the plane, you would have either 1. lost your ticket completely, or 2. been charged a ridiculous penalty. They bring you home five hours late, treat you like crap, and lose your luggage, and you get a toiletries!!!

My goodness, Delta certainly has an image problem on its hands. First, from denying that cancer stricken Korean woman a flight home and now this. No customer service to speak of. I have never flown Delta, but I do not think that I would want to, either.

To dgpympac

Our least experienced military members E-2's get approximately $19700 a year. I enlisted in 1966 and was paid $150 a month. We were never in it for the money. I would do it again even for people like you.

If the soldiers were authorized the bags on their orders, they will be reimbursed. The article suggested these were contracted flights. If they were, then whoever contracted for the tickets screwed up. This isn't really a story. Delta charges for extra bags. Instead of having it in the contracted ticket, the soldiers had to pay up front and get it reimbursed later. This isn't a story about Delta screwing our soldiers, no matter how much the author wants it to look that way. I think most people would agree that checking four bags reasonably should cost extra. The government will pay for it, regardless of what Delta was quoted in this article. The soldiers won't.

dgpympac

while you are right about today's military being "all volunteer", but its not quite what you make it out to be. For instance the National Guard and Reserve Troops being deployed two or three times by the cynical Bush administration that stated these clusterf**k*. These guys volunteered to defend the country against foreign invasion and natural disaster, not for military adventurism in the name of corporate profits. You really do have a lot to learn from the men and women protecting your sorry a**.

Veteran 1, you fall into the basic trap the corporatists set for you: "we provide jobs for people, including veterans, so if you muck with us, they'll lose their jobs." Corporatists provide no jobs. Working people do. They run the affairs of corporations, plus when they have jobs they have the disposable income to buy the products and services (most of them now garbage) so corporatists can have corporations. Delta won't fire 90,000 people (I hardly think that's an accurate statistic - corporations lie) if it's punished for what it's done out of greed. It'll capitulate if we all jump on the bandwagon and make sure it treats customers, especially soldiers, right, otherwise its CEO, other mucky-wucks, board members and major stockholders will lose everything. Everyday working Americans have lost their jobs and are able to somehow try and find a way to survive; rich people who lose everything can't do that. During the First Great Depression, they all jumped out of skyscraper windows. They'll do what we say or else they will end up with nothing, and that's the last thing they want.

Regarding the baggage fees--that's life. Entry level in the military is more that the private sector entry levels, with less education--add on those benefits. Yes---I served in the USN.

Wrong answer! It's not life, it's Government Travel by Commercial Aircraft...on orders...get it? These soldiers were shipping weapons and you think it's just fine for Delta to charge them individually for their "baggage"? I noticed you were sure to point out that you served in the US Navy. I wonder how many of your shipmates would agree with your point of view. And yes, the entry level pay in the military is higher than the civilian sector, of course you probably aren't likely to get hit by an IED in McDonalds and Burger King won't ship you off to some hell hole separated from your family 5 or 6 times. And as to less education? Are you kidding me? Entry level requirements in the military are considerably higher than the civilian sector!

All that was needed was a ticket agent with a set of nuts and problem solved. ORDERS, WEAPONS, all spell a ticket agent that could have contacted the Station Manager to clear this up but we simply do not have that info at this time if that was done. Delta does treat the Military well. I know.

dpgympac

dahorndawg, I think he did ride the short bus. He said that's where he met you. This hero worship garbage is going too far. These service people are getting paid for their work. Some are getting paid better than if they were doing their civilian jobs. Many of these people are only in the service because there are no jobs in their home towns. This is a volunteer military and I have no problem with people going where the work or money is. That's life. And why didn't the military fly these guys home? Those aren't podunk airports they were flying from/to.

Because cheapA**, free-market republican/t-party types think the private sector can do everything better than government so the military contracts commercial seats rather than their own transports. I'm sure if you could you'd hire Blackwater (excuse me...Xe Services) to fight America's wars.

When are we gonna rise up & say enough is enough?....This country is turning into one big-ass police state,these corparations are getting away with alot of sh!t & it needs to stop,they always gey you with those little pesky charges that add up to their bottom line so the ceo could by his wife another cartier watch,you know we need to have freedom from these corperate hacks,not just the gov. these corperations think they are an individual,I say NEVER!..WE THE PEOPLE MAKE UP THESE COMPANIES....& LATELY THEY BEEN SH!TTING ALL OVER US......MAYBE IT'S TIME FOR SOME PAYBACK(like mass internet boycotting..etc)WE NEED TO RISE UP & TAKE BACK THIS COUNTRY FROM THESE HORNSWAGGLES...WHAT THE HELL AM I SAYING?!(Wake up tea-bag-not,you sound like a gop/teabagger)..but hay,the corporate ass-wipes need to go........& THESE COMPANIES NEED TO START TREATING OUR MEN & WOMEN IN UNIFORM BETTER!.....Like walmart does,by paying them minimum wage,and going on food stamps.........

Delta's action, until it was exposed, is what you call "greedy corporate capitalism".

Dave-309982 - Thank You for your Service and Welcome Home. Yeah, I remember in Vietnam in 1966 as an E-5 with combat pay and paying no income tax I cleared a whopping $280.00 a month. Nope, sure as HELL not in it for the money. Peace.

And the absolutely worst part is who is paying for the retirement of those pilots and snotty "counter pilots" and "gate spies"? The American taxpayer! When Delta went into bankruptcy, ERISA assumed all their pension plans and capped them at $34k a year regardless of how much they had accumulated. So the American taxpayer actually pays these people to do things like that.

And if you want to see what a long term retired thinks of the airlines, go on youtube and look at any of Capt Sullenberger's statements. He loathes and despises the airlines and considers the actual corporations themselves as a threat to the flying public and as a threat to air safety.

There is a cost to flying the plane. Coach fare has three pieces of luggage included. First class and business has four.

What is the problem? Being a soldier does not mean you or your bags fly free.

Nam vet class of 1968.

Old fat guy...
What is the problem? Being a soldier does not mean you or your bags fly free.

That is the problem... they (or at least their bags) should fly for free!!! These soldiers are the ones putting their lives on the line so that Delta and other major carriers can continue to rape a pillage the rest of us in the name of holy capitalism.

Both arguments are flawed. Delta should charge the fee for the extra bags, it has to make money to continue to operate and provide jobs to all of its employees. However, they should apply the charge to the DoD account that paid for the flights per the soldier's orders; this could also be resolved by authorizing the Sr.NCO or OIC a Credit Card (which they always did for us). That the soldiers were charged directly is just bad business on both sides.

Delta, and most other airlines, do not charge baggage fees to "continue to operate and provide jobs to all of its employees" - it charges baggage fees to pay the multi-million dollar salaries of its CEO and other big mucky-wucks, as well as other board members. Southwest does not charge baggage fees, and it's doing just fine making lots of money to "continue to operate and provide jobs to all of its employees." It's CEO and other big mucky-wucks probably aren't doing bad either.

Also, Delta and all other airlines do not (and should not) have to charge either the soldiers, the DOD, or any customer baggage fees. There are two reasons: 1) as stated above, charging baggage fees is not necessary to "continue to operate and provide jobs to all of its employees;" airlines charge that because they're greedy, not because they're struggling; 2) the DOD should not be charged because it is part of the federal government, and the federal government already gives tons of money to the airlines every year through tax breaks and subsidies (corporate welfare).

So what, exactly, should Delta and all the other airlines do when carrying as passengers soldiers going to, or returning from, dangerous missions? Fly them (and their luggage) for free; if there are seats available in First Class, the soldiers should be put there. After all, it's because of these soldiers that these corporate businesses have the freedom to apply their indecent, lousy, greedy trade and make lots of money for a relatively few already mega-rich people. If Delta, any other airline, or any other business, wants to charge soldiers who need their "services," then they should not be allowed the protection of our military. Instead, let them hire their own "protectors" at free-market rates - maybe Rambo is offering a discounted price sale. The rest of us decent Americans will take care of our brave soldiers.

As a fellow member of the 'Nam class of 67-68, I would remind you that any military member in uniform in those days not only flew with his bags free, he received a greatly discounted fare and preference in standby selection.

Jerry-1903677
Are you a clairvoyant? Do you have access to the minds of airline executives? Are you in possession of documents that prove your accusations? If not, please stop acting as if everyone in business is out to get their customers to pay for CEO salaries. You really need to seek professional psychiatric help for your delusions. By the way, I served in the U.S. Navy for many years and the airlines I flew on were very kind to me even if the rest of the public called us baby killers.

Dave-309982. Dave, Dave, Dave, get with the program. No one has to be clairvoyant to see into the minds of corporate CEOs. We see their "work" every day. And the "back in your day" is no longer your day. It's today. The airlines today see soldiers as just another pieces of cargo to make money for them. What you need to do is to get help for your slavish love of corporatist plutocrats. Do you really think that some guy today, sitting in his multi-million dollar office, pulling in multi-millions of dollars for himself at your expense really cares about you after you've forked over your money? This isn't 1968, Dave. This is today. Wake up and smell the coffee (if you can afford to buy it).

Jerry....

I will guess that you do not know, have never met or even had a casual encounter with a CEO that is responsible for thousands of employees, billions in capital equipment and the satisfaction of their customers.

In fact I will further guess that you are far from an exemplary employee, and a bitter extortionist as a customer if you can afford to buy anything.

Go smoke some more weed and refrain from commenting please.

So now soldiers coming home from the war need to worry about how many GOD DAMN bags they can carry on the airlines A$$HOLE? Don't you think they have more important things on their minds, like seeing their families again after how many long months, missed births, birthdays, graduations, etc. etc. etc. Have you served?

These soldiers are deployed for a year at a time, and everything they have for that year is in those bags. They must include their dress military clothes as well as all their fatigues, and what little non-military clothes they take. They must also carry their "tools" of the trade. Can you possibly pack for an entire year in just 4 bags? . I think it would be totally impossible in 3 bags. Maybe they should even be allowed the 5 bags you talk about. I know most people cannot even go on vacation for a week without at least 2 or 3 bags. What is interesting is that you expect that the people that are charged with protecting our freedoms to take advantage of the system. Shame on you.

An active duty soldier flying on orders should never be charged a bag fee.

Hell, when I traveled I had ONE bag. Didn't need a whole wardrobe in the 60's.

Stop lying. You are not for the soldiers.

You didn't even read the article, did you? Here is the first sentencs of the first full paragraph.

"The soldiers' military orders authorize them to travel with up to four bags."

Put the blunt down long enough to do more than click a link.

How can you say they will try to squeeze in five and in the very next sentence you say you're for the troops?

Are you so stoned that you didn't realise that you contradicted yourself?

Just be done with it and call them greedy. That's what you're implying.

derpy, are you smoking with ston3r? They don't carry loaded weapons on board. Also, they have been flying in non military planes within the continental U.S. for over 20 years now.

ston3,

You apparently are unable to read. Their orders said they could take 4 bags. They didn't think they had 3 and were pushing to 4. You likely also missed the point one of the bags was their government issued weapon. You are another pathetic example of peoples inability to read.

Derpy, you are another reading challenged individual, they didn't carry them on they checked their weapons. Shees, what kind of school system do we have these days?

As for the delta manager or employee who enforced this at the ticket counter. Just how in the hades could they not identify that this was a publicity nightmare waiting to happen? What an idiot with a total lack of initiative.....

ston, you must have reading comprehension problems. The military orders that the soldiers were returning home under authorized 4 bags. Delta only allowed four bags if a soldier was flying first or business class and three if they were in coach. Do you think that soldiers returning from a war zone are supposed to know the baggage policies for each airline? Especially the greedy ones like Delta.

derpy derpington: Active duty soldiers are flown by the airlines. My husband flew commercial to Viet Nam in the 60's. This is nothing new. I am sure the guns were stored in cargo and not inside the plane.

Derpy, need to work on the reading comprehension. The weapons were checked, not carry on. Even if they were allowed in carry on, I would be completely fine with that. I think that would make any would be terrorists a little less likely to try anything as well, don't ya think?

Read the article derpy! This is checked luggage. By the way, I believe, if you really look at statistics, soldiers and former soldiers are far less likely to "snap" and use weapons than civilians.

derpy derpington: as said by the other posters... the weapons are stored in the cargo hold --- without ammo.

Actually Derpy, the best part about your posts is that if we remove all of the ignorant statements we're left with an empty page. Manners are best kept for people that derserve them. Not for people who make irrelevant statements about an article they clearly cannot comprehend. FYI - you were able to name a grand total of two (2) incidents that involved people with military experience. Hundreds of thousands of crimes are committed by civilians, many of which are as bad or far worse, so what is the point you were so desperately trying to make, and failed to do?

Derpy - Does the word "puncuation" have any meaning to you whatsoever? Ignorance must really be bliss.....

Derpy, checked bags always go underneath with the cargo as opposed to carry-on bags that passengers "carry on." The article specifically says "checked" on in several places.

FYI, besides being a former Marine, the guy in the tower had a brain tumor and had likely been physically abused by his father. Besides being former Army, the guy in the tank was a drug addict. He had also been out of the Army for many years at the time.

Keep in mind, I said "far less likely" not "never." Of the thousands of violent crimes committed in the U.S. every year, most have absolutely nothing to do with the military. As you have pointed out in your comment, crimes are sometimes committed by people in or who have been in the military. It would be foolish to believe otherwise. That being said, in the two incidents you mentioned, neither was ever suggested to have occurred as a result of their military service. I'm kind of surprised you didn't bring up Lee Harvey Oswald too but even that was never said to be a result of military service.

I would feel FAR more comfortable sitting on a plane full of military personnel, all with loaded weapons than I ever would sitting on a plane full of civilians who had never been checked for weapons.

As a service member I'm embarrassed that these soldiers chose to deal with their issue in this manner. These soldiers were authorized 4 bags by the Army, the military contract with Delta clearly states that 3 bags are free with all additional bags costing $200. The soldiers would have been reimbursed for the expense, this is common knowledge in the DoD! This is not unlike any business person traveling and submitting receipts for expenses incurred during the business trip. I have personally had to pay these fees and wait for reimbursement on more than one occasion. I don't know why this group of soldiers didn't have this information but to perform such a stunt is unprofessional in my opinion. Instead of following procedure they apparently thought it necessary to make themselves a news story.

I applaud their service but I'm disheartened that they felt it necessary to make a story out of nothing.

Cracks me up, do you really believe these guys did this as a stunt? Please note, the article said their orders stated they could travel with 4 bags. I am assuming the orders didn't say anything about 3 being paid for up front and a 4th will be reimbursed at a later date.

It has been a few years since I last traveled on military orders. I remember them saying how many bag I was allowed and that if I exceeded that amount I was on my own. I had to pay various fees because I traveled with pets, even when they were my carry-on. I didn't argue because pets weren't on my orders but I would have been very upset if my orders said 4 bags and I was charged for one of them. In the middle of a trip is a little late to tell anyone, much less soldiers returning from war.

I am disheartened that you would you would have so little faith in your fellow service members so as to believe they would "perform such a stunt!"

st0n3r78

Im totally for reducing the cost of Soldiers to fly and such. However, the soldiers im sure were aware of the bag count being 3 and they pushed 4. Now that Delta is caving into pressure and upping it to 4, now soldiers will try to squeeze in 5. Again, im 100% for the soldiers, but we are pushy people and in the future im sure we will read about a soldier being hit with fees for a 5th bag.

So dude...which part of "their orders authorized 4 bags" did you not get? ...put the pipe down...step away from the pipe...no one has to get hurt!

Yes Tired I do think this some kind of stunt. As a service member if I have an issue it's my job to take it to my command through the chain of command, NOT make a video and post my feelings on Youtube for the world to see. That is what makes it a stunt, airing their feelings to the masses instead of dealing with the problem in a professional manner.

27 June, 1966, flew out of Naval Air Station North Island, in San Diego, California with 30 other guys in a C-130 Hercules turbo-prop. Went to Hickam Field, Hawaii, Wake Island, Guam, Mactan AFB in the Philippines and on to Danang AFB Vietnam. No commercial airline contracts back then.

Cracks

When my orders told me to fly it stated what I could take. Their orders stated 4 bags to include gear. Nothing what so ever about you gotta pay for one of them up-front. My check went straight into an account to take care of my family back home. Seeing as my meals where provided I didn't need to keep more than 50 bucks a month for personel stuff seeing as a war zone ain't exactly a shopping trip at the mall.

Something tells me that you've never seen a set of travel orders because if you had you wouldn't be making comments like:

These soldiers were authorized 4 bags by the Army, the military contract with Delta clearly states that 3 bags are free with all additional bags costing $200.

Just that one little line said it all. You haven't got a clue what a set of travel orders contains. Travel orders don't contain that crap. Instead they say point blank how many authorized bags and that anything extra is at the members expense. It doesn't list the amount of that expense.

Hate to break it to you Tony but I fly on orders at least annually for the last 10 years so I've seen more than my fair share of Travel Orders. This is why I'm so confident in speaking the truth. If you weren't briefed about the situation that's the fault of your supervisors, not the airline. Of course the TOs don't state the Delta bag policy because that's the norm. It states four bags on your orders because someone in military pay needs to be certain that you are eligible for the reimbursement. Thank you for trying to smear my name though, sorry it didn't work for you.

Hate to break it to you but your the one who smeared yourself by posting a comment that you know darn well is incorrect. Nice try on the recovery but it's as they say...A day late and a dollar short.

Small record of my flights just being in 644th Combat Comm out of Guam...maybe you heard of it. Turkey, Hawaii, Saudi, Kuwait, Germany, Thailand, Japan, Alaska, and England. That's just the first 3 years mind you so that annual stuff means nothing to me. I spent more time TDY then I ever did at home base. I still have copies of all my orders and those orders started in 1988 when I joined the Air Force.

Sorry Tony,

Don't know how you managed to do so much traveling with the AF and still never learn the basic rules of MilPay reimbursement but I guess that's your issue not mine. As I have stated on here time and again I have flown on orders my fair share as well and have never had an issue get reimbursed for the extras that were authorized above and beyond the contracted amount.

I think if you actually took the time to read everything I wrote you might see that I actually do have it correct as I have had several current and former military members agree with me 100%. Guess we'll just have to agree that we don't agree and let you find out for yourself that I actually know exactly what I'm talking about.

Here is the problem I have and your not getting. Reimbursement is for items not covered under the orginal contract but have been listed on your orders and you are told about it up front. It is not as you have tried to claim an "after the fact that just happened". In other words they would have known about it before they ever got to the Airport and not been smacked in the face with a bill on arrival.

In simple terms Reimbursement covers out of pocket expected expense not covered by travel orders. When your travel orders authorize 4 bags then you are not required to pay for the 4th bag. If your orders say 3 bags then you will pay for the 4th and be reimbursed. At no time are you suppose to pay out of pocket for an already covered expense and their orders stated that they where authorized 4 bags. That means 4 bags are being payed for by the Government when they purchased the ticket from the commercial airline.

Get the picture now?

Now as far as travel goes we where getting ready for a war at the time. First in Last out! an I was also a volunteer for not only Search and Rescue but Search an Recovery. I went where I was needed not only for my primary job but to try and save lives and when I couldn't then to at least bring them home.

AMEN!

Will never fly with them again. Souldiers should NEVER pay anything on their return or outbound flights. Goodness, they put their lives on the line for us, and then Delta charge them for it !! Outragous.

another mountain our service men and women have to climb. i for one are so grateful for giving their time,life and bravery so i have the opportunty to thank them all from my safe haven,"home". my prayers are always with them each and their families.

How will boycotting Delta help? I haven't flown Delta in 6 years since a horrible experience with them. These turds will always stay in business because they'll just beg the govt for a bailout if they need to.

Delta keeps rocking up the charts of great Customer Dis-Service. If they didn't have international flights, they would be out of business. Rude flight attendants, very poor landings, charge for peanuts and candy, and scream at you if you dont finish the can of unopened soda they give you, stating ITS THEIRS and their gonna take it back,

um no, pop, pour, No your not now go back and sit down hag...l.

really to charge the soldiers, extra who don't fly first class, DUDE THEY ARE RETURING FROM COMBAT you should have GIVEN THEM FIRST CLASS TICKETS. The same plane, same destination.

While we're at it, I think we should stop using taxpayer dollars to provide airports, access roads, air traffic control, FAA route regulations, and every other public provided service and resource that they use to operate their business. Want a "free unregulated market"? Fine. Let THEM pay for it. ALL of it.

The airlines would probably get together and create a rather good operating system that would have better air traffic control, regs and lower the tons of taxes and landing fees they pay for those services, but the tickets may cost more.

Robert: I guess that must be where you landed. I came home from South East Asia in 65 and was met with hand shakes and cheers.

I actually landed in Travis and had the encounter in the San Fran airport from some hippie dud wearing the same uniform I was wearing while a cop stood by and laughed. Glad you had a better experience than I did. Continued serving for 23 years.

So sorry you were treated that way when you came back from your service to our country! I know it doesn't make up for what happened back then, but thank you for your sacrifice. Want to add that today someone anonymously paid for my son's (a soldier) dinner. May seem like something small, but it shows appreciation. I thought that was very cool!

Robert and Verno, Welcome Home and Thank You for your Service. I met both kinds of crowds, I came into Travis and had to go through SFO and was greeted by the Hippies. I also landed at March and Norton AFB in San Bernardino and Riverside and was welcomed home with handshakes and smiles. But my friends we are still here to talk about it. Peace. Mike RICE Vietnam Jun66-Mar69. Go to www.riflewarrior.com/vietnam.html I wrote that for you a long time ago. Peace.

militarymom - A kind person did that for me and my date in 1967, I was in my Dress Uniform and was told an anonymous gentleman and his wife took care of the bill. I remember that to this day and whenever I see a young military person in a restaurant I and my now wife of 41 years pick up the tab anonymously. Pay it forward. Thank You for your child's service.

To A Veteran - Thanks for paying it forward......it usually takes a veteran to understand a veteran..........God Bless You.

That was then this is now, I am sure you've had other responses from you weapons remark. For the twenty-two years that I was in the Navy, everywhere I went I had a 9mm under my jacket. And the others that were part of the team did as well. Commercial or private we carried and we were loaded. Especially after 9-11. I'd leave Little Creek with four extra mag eight if I knew it was an over sea deployment. And at that I was just a Navy Hospital Corpsman or a 91 Bravo (Field Medic) to the Army.

TimF - Welcome Home and Thank You for your Service. I was an M-60 Machinegunner, a little hard to carry that under your coat. Peace. How did you get around the metal detectors?

TimF - One more thing Doc, I salute you and all Corpsmen (FMF) one of you saved my life during TET-68 up at Cua-Viet by the DMZ. I am forever indebted to you and those like you.

I think that is the best comment I have seen regarding this outrage. OOH RAH Regular guy in PA!!

Who's freedom are they protecting? I have no enemies in Iraq, Afghanistan,Libya, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Nicaragua, El Salvador and a lot of other countries USA has bombed and destroyed. As far as I am concerned, they should all come home and let those countries enjoyed their freedom at last.

Yep Cassandra, you are a bitch. An uninformed one too.

Cassandra, of course you don't have any enemies in Iraq, etc., but apparently you have made a few here, and enjoy the freedom to say so, and would be speaking Japanese or German were it not for our service men and women.

The USA bombed Nicaragua and El Salvador? lol.... What planet are you from? And yes, you do have enemies in the middle east. You really need to read some history books. Most of these countries have had some pretty bloody history long before we became invloved. El Salvador continues to bring us problems by the way of MS13 and 18th street gangs. Lots of drugs and human trafficking.

Peech- COH reported for twice calling another member the "B" word

Gee Michelle, I won't be able to sleep tonight. If the shoe fits, wear it.

Cassandra: First I would like to say that you are an idiot. Second, you really should read a history book. Before you decide to comment on a db you should first know what that hell its about, and how to respond. If you would put that nose of yours in a book you would realize that our military are over seas for a reason and if it werent for them you would not have the right to comment on this db at all. But then again you have the right to be a dumbass, thats what AMERICA is all about THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS A GRAND RIGHT DONTCHA THINK?

Cassandra- Have you been living under a rock? Do you not remember 9/11? THEY attacked US. My husband is currently in Iraq and trying to shut down and come home. Trust me when I say our Soldiers are NOT over there because they want to be. So Miss Ignorant, if you can't stand behind our troops then PLEASE PLEASE stand in front of them or get on the first plane to your Best Friends Forever Countries (since you have no enemies there) and leave the UNITED STATES OF AMERICAN to TRUE red blooded AMERICANS!

I don't care how you sleep I hop eyou get banned for your childish and abusive name calling just because you disagree with another poster. Are you in 3rd grade?

Really sweating it here, Michelle.

Michelle-485481, enough, sometimes people really deserve to be called bad names and someone like Cassandra-2164063 is the perfect candidate for that. Disrespecting our soldiers is pretty low and those that do are begging to be called names. I doubt she would voice her opinion in public for fear of getting a vicious beatdown, thus she is cowardly voicing her opinion on here anonymously.

I want to begin here by apologizing to you for everyone who has attacked you for what you've said. I spent 35 years in the military prepared to fight and die so that you and everyone else in the United States can have the right to free speech. While it is certainly acceptable to argue alternative points of view, attacking someone simply because we disagree is unacceptable.

Cassandra, I know that our "involvement" in some of the countries you mentioned may be questionable but I served on the USS Stark after it was struck "accidentally" by Iraqi missiles back when Iraq was our "friend." I also had friends in the Pentagon on 9/11 and the link between Afghanistan and bin Laden is well established. My wife helped Bob Stethem do his laundry so he could go to a farewell party the night before he was beaten to death. My parents were friends with John Testrake, the pilot of the plane where Bob was beaten to death. I had friends in the Naples USO when it was blown up. I am far from unique in my association with terrorist acts.

In my lifetime I have lived all over the world. I have met many nice people who love Americans but I have also met a few who don't. Whether you like it or not, there are people out there who hate the fact that we have the freedoms we do and they are willing to show their hatred by any possible means. Simply killing a tourist or two is no longer enough. They need to feel they are relevant on the world stage. Blowing up a hotel or airliner or so similar act gives them their 15 minutes to express their views of how they think the world should be.

You may not think you have any enemies in the countries you mentioned but believe me, you have thousands, simply because you are American.

Perhaps, one of the reasons you feel have no enemies in these places is because we've been preemptive, rather than waiting for incidents such as 9/11 to occur before we do something?

Cassandra clearly knows more about U.S. foreign policy than the ditch diggers that are on here insulting her. My suggestion is that some of YOU (*cough* alda and Mike) pick up a book and read about the oppression of leftist governments in the americas that the U.S. has been involved with in recent history (el savador and nicaragua are two prime examples of this)... Google it, it's not hard. Then maybe you can stop spouting this ignorant hatred that is currently flowing from your finger tips. We are edging closer and closer to a corporatocracy every day (some would argue that we're already there) and ignorant fools like yourself are the reason why our government is getting away with it. And as far as those enemies in the middle east go... Tell me, would you be mad if your country WAS OCCUPIED BY A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT? Seriously, do a little reading people

OK onlyusernameleft. I could care less about her view on foreign policy. I commented on her statement "i didnt ask nobody to fight for me" and the one beginning with "whose freedoms are they protecting" so before you attempt to debate me take a look back and read what I replied to. As for for me picking up a book, trust me honey I DO ALL THE TIME. I am up to date on all the bull@!$%# you speak of and really if I what I said was spouting ignorant hatred then f****** sue me ok?! I am by no means a fool, or ignorant and I am most definitely NOT THE REASON WHY THE GOVERNMENT GETS AWAY WITH THE CRAP THEY DO.

ANYONE who disrespects our servicemen gets what they ask for. I really wish they would reinstate the draft. Young people need to KNOW first hand the circumstances our military personnel have to deal with. Instead, we get uninformed, unintelligent opinions from idiots who have not been there, nor done that.

@alda

I don't know who's books are you reading. But I can recommend to you and everybody else the book I am reading now. It is called "A People's History Of The United States" by Howard Zinn. It is an incredibly intelligent and educational book.

You Cassandra are as UN-AMERICAN as they come. That is if indeed you are American. As I said everyone has the right to voice their opinion, thats what is so great and not so great about this country we live in. To you commenting about a book that yes does speak for the common man but also denounces companies who are the key to keeping our economy strong, then by all means move to Europe where they believe in socialism. Dont get me wrong there are some good things about it, but in the long haul it isnt going to make things better here. I simply made a comment on your remarks reguarding our troops and to the fact that no you may not have asked them to fight for you, but they do it anyway.You put yourself out there to be slashed by the entire db now you can deal with it. And when I said go read a book it wasnt meant to talk about a book that in essence has nothing to do with what we are talking about, but a history book instead. I AM PROUD OF OUR COUNTRY AND PROUD OF THE SERIVCE MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE SACRIFICING THEIR LIVES OVER THERE and if I could do it all over again TRUST ME I WOULD BE RIGHT THERE WITH THEM.

Cassandra, please keep in mind that Zinn described himself as somewhat of an anarchist and could hardly be considered color blind on issues of U.S. foreign policy.

I am not talking about who Zinn is. I am talking about his book. And if you disagree with the information he puts in the book, why don't you do your own investigation of US history and write your own book with your version of history.

It's enough when people stop bashing this woman for no reason. if in your narrow point of view regards what she said and bashing our soldiers that is your problem alone...she is entitled to her own opinions and allowed to express them without being called names like we are 3rd graders on recess. Does civil discourse exist anymore? I'm glad to see some people here understand that.

Cassandra, I really do hope you don't think Zinn was completely open minded and unbiased in any of his books! As much as anyone who has authored a history book, Zinn wants his view of history to be the accepted view and his bias is evident. Because most authors have a bias, you have to read a variety of books and explore many different resources to really get close to the truth.

We have recently experienced an example of blind allegiance with the Palin/Paul Revere mess where Palin supporters actually attempted to alter Wikipedia so that it supported Palin.

Even when I find historical material I believe to be true, if I didn't actually experience the historical incident myself, I would still want to see additional information.

I am old enough to have personally experienced many historical incidents, beginning with the Cuban Missile Crisis. You would be amazed at the amount of misinformation and out and out BS out there.

Who is "us"? I never asked nobody to fight for me. The US government does not speak for me, but for corporations and oil companies. I am not a corporation.I am just a poor human being.

Again Cassandra YOU ARE APART OF US!!! I guess you are one of those who would say 9/11 was okay and Pearl Harbor was nuthin and no reason to retaliate? YOU REALLY ARE A DUMBASS AND SHOULD REFRAIN FROM COMMENTING ON ANYTHING TO DO WITH OUR MIITARY

Cassandra? do you reside in the USA or any of our out lying islands? Do you pay sales tax when you purchase food. Do you pay income tax from any employment of earnings gained. If you answer no to all 3, ok, you don't have any enemies. If you answered yes to any, they are your soldiers, that your vote (or lack of vote) placed into service thru representation, defense, and civilization, but if your like the GEICO commercial, and live under a rock, we understand, it's ok. Your safe now because of what those of us who have served, who do pay (unfortunately) taxes, and do vote to provide for our country.

oh and your welcome.

poor Cassandra... champion of the oppressed third world.

Alda:

Osama Bin Laden stated that one of the reasons 9/11 happened is that approximately half a million Iraqi children died as a result of the 10-year embargo we enforced on Iraq. As for Pearl Harbor, we were already at war with Japan when it happened. Preventing Japan from getting oil from the Middle East was an act of war; sending men to fight with Chennault's Raiders on the side of China was an act of war. By the way, tomorrow is the 44th anniversary of Israel's attack on the USS Liberty, in which 34 American sailors died and 174 were wounded. Do you know of this attack? If not, please ask yourself if you can trust the media, both conservatvie and liberal, to tell you the truth about what is happening in the Middle East and Afghanistan, considering that they have worked with the governments of Israel and America to keep the attack on the Liberty from being general knowledge in this country. You might want to visit www.ussliberty.org, the website sponsored by the surviving sailors.

Cassandra-2164063

The US government does not speak for me, but for corporations and oil companies

Well, what are you going to do about that? But does showing disrespect to soldiers help or make you feel better?

Cassandra, did you know that "I never asked nobody to fight for me" actually means that you did ask someone to fight for you? It's difficult to gain credibility in a debate with poor grammar.

Roland: I am not denying any of it, never said I was. I simply replied to a comment about her saying who they were protecting. You can say what you want, but to me that is IGNORANT. And to your comment on bin laden, he also stated that the reason for the taliban was because the U.S didnt help them rebuild after the soviets were forced out of afghanistan, so really how are any of his statements credible? The man was full of hatred for anybody without his same belief. So like I said say what you want her comments were negative and pointed at the soldiers who protect us and again that to me is IGNORANT. ;)

@Julie

Thank you for pointing out. I assume that the correct way would be "I never asked anybody to fight for me". The problem is: English is not my mother tongue. But I am trying hard to improve it.

Well then perhaps you you take your ignorant veiwpoints back to wherever your "mother tongue" fits. If you have nothing but disdain for this country then why should we allow you to be here?

For the same reason American soldiers and special forces are in over 600 countries against the wish of local people.

Then what are you doing here if English is not your "mother tongue". If you didn't think this is the best country to be in, why are you here? Respect what we stand for or get the hell out.

I see, you now claim to personally "know" people in over 600 countries that all want the US out of their countries now? So that's you're reasoning, you're occupying the US against our will ? You're not only ignorant, you're delusional too. I doubt, seriously doubt, that you could even name 600 countries let alone show that the US is there. Go back to whatever third world country you came from because this country is NOT better off having you here. Your own country was so bad and yet you came here. Be glad this is anonymous or you'd be getting a look for a trip to Gitmo where you probably belong.

Actually this country is very good! I love it here! I can go every night to bad and I know that no bomb is gonna be dropped over my place. And the drones are not gonna kill me either! Beautiful!

Wow, how come nobody has pointed out for Cassandra that there are only 195 countries in the world ? not 600 like she stated ?.. Her saying that is incredible and extremely stupid and she has no right to be heard on this subject whatsoever.. Idiot

@ cassandra: there arent even 200 countries in the world so where does yhis number of 600 come from? are they imaginary?

@ Roland: Japan and the U.S were not at war when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The admiral in charge of the attack did not want to begin with the attack until 30 mins or so after the declaration of war was delivered to Washington, but the translation of the coded message took too long and therefore they were not at war when the attack began. I suggest you read some more about history before dishing out comments like that..

In May 1968, the Israeli government paid US$3,323,500 as full payment to the families of the 34 men killed in the attack.

In March 1969, Israel paid a further $3,566,457 in compensation to the men who had been wounded.

On 18 December 1980, it agreed to pay $6 million as settlement for the U.S. claim of $7,644,146 for material damage to the Liberty itself.

Yes, 6 day war, People on edge, a Mistake was made. Amends were made, Accountablity and responsibilty accepted. It cannot replace the lives lost, but If you spend more time within facts, instead of wearing a Tin METAL hat of Conspiracy about it, you will find comparing Bin Laden and senseless slaughter led by a JIHAD attitude, vs a mistake that happened once and recompense was made, why thats just crazy.

And the embargo on IRAG did not cause the children to die, It was Saddam torturing and killing his own people, but we havent seen that happen lately anywhere, syria, bosnia, herzagova (sp), egypt, sudan, north vietnam, even in china, no, dictators with all the money and power would never subjugate their people and line them up to kill them, or arrest them, detain them, or prevent them from traveling freely across their own borders or using their children, women, and older citizens as human targets...... Would they?

Cassandra, I don't think Zinn made this mistake but there are approximately 195 countries in the world today. I don't believe we have "American soldiers and special forces" in even twenty percent of those countries unless you count military personnel attached to American Embassies and Missions and if you count those folks then you have to say the States has lots of foreign military in our country.

If your 600 countries comes from something you are reading, it call your responses here to be even more in doubt.

Having lived and traveled in many countries around the world, I know that in many places American military personnel are welcome because they tend to bring stability. They also put a lot of money into local economies both directly and indirectly. Of course, there are many places we aren't welcome. A few years ago the Philippines decided they didn't want us and we left. That has also been true in several other countries and we have reduced our presence in many others.

Roland and Mr. R., there are a lot of reasons to believe the attack on the USS Liberty was anything but an accident. Perhaps neither of you know just how close it came to making that "accident" a whole lot worse. When word of the attack finally did get to American commanders, the alert aircraft on the U.S. carriers were launched. At that time, the height of the cold war, the alert aircraft were armed with nukes. Fortunately for all concerned, the aircraft were eventually called back to be rearmed and were eventually allowed to stand down. We were minutes from resolving most of the Mideast problems we have today because much of the area could, easily, have been contaminated nuclear waste.

Please don't think a few million dollars is "full" payment for the loss of a father or son much less 34 of them.

Just for the record, I am a little biased when it comes to the Liberty. A friend of mine's brother was one of the survivors. Fortunately he got out without a physical scratch.

Cassandra, unfortunately, is not understanding the principle and what the majority of the posters are trying to convey to her. After all, we are not even certain that she is an American Citizen. She has a right to express herself, as we have the right to respond freely.

She is reminiscent of the Hippie mentality and those that taunted and even spat upon our returning soldiers from Nam while they lived a life free of worry, pursuing their education, partying, etc.

Do not cast your pearl's (of wisdom) to the swine, it is a waste of time. It is her prerogative to live in the delusion that she would be safe without the protection of our military men and women stationed all over the world.

OH, now I get it...a post above by CASSANDRA said that English is not her native tongue.

Ah Ha! No doubt she is not even an American. No doubt, she is probably either on a Visa, or Green Card using our American System to educate her...or maybe she does not live in America at all.

Just what is your native tongue Cassandra and what country are you from?

Actually I know very well that there are officially less than 200 countries. The correct message would be: USA has over 600 military bases overseas, and military personnel in over 150 countries. Obama must know the exact number.

I deliberately put a wrong number. It was a test. I wanted to see if you guys (who criticize me) are really as stupid and ignorant as pretend to be. (You must be extremely stupid and ignorant to have no idea that USA is the biggest and most evil empire which ever existed in the human history) And I found out that you are not ignorant and stupid at all. Look how fast you realized that 600 is a incorrect number! Amazing! What I don't understand is how come that when your politicians keep telling you the same lies all over again and again: you always believe everything they say and never question their statements. Why you all have such a selective knowledge and memory of the history?My guess is:

1. You people are as hypocrite, evil and murderous as your government is.

2. You are trolls payed by corporations to place comments favorable to US government and corporations, and insulting everybody who will comment otherwise.

3. All of the above.

Cassandra-2164063

I deliberately put a wrong number. It was a test. I wanted to see if you guys (who criticize me) are really as stupid and ignorant as pretend to be

ok, so then we could assume your first comment was intentionally a stupid and ignorant one for the same reason:

They got what they were fighting for: Promoting corporate interests all over the world.

Say what you want about our military policy you have every right to, but don't dishonor the troops, don't laugh at their predicament of paying extra for baggage fees. Don't say anything on here you wouldn't say in public. I'm sick of cowardly people like you that take full advantage of internet annonymity just because you have nothing better to do than argue with others.

Really, you think Obama set this up. It does seem like his quality of work!! LOL

Hold that - you clearly aren't capable of thought. What an assinine post. More like Bush's quality of work. Remember he never even went to honor our fallen soldiers when their bodies were brought home!

W Goin, what's your source for your statement on Bush? I think you are incorrect in your statement.

If you want assinine, look at the White House and Congress, now that's assinine and it's pathetic they allow this type of crap to happen to soldiers. The Obama administration should have had this all handled by now with the private airlines, but it seems this issue was never approached.

Now, we're off on a tangent! Let's not start making this a political debate. There are other headline news that are perfect for those comments. The fact of the matter is that this in an incompetent and insensitive Airline company (Delta) that ****** up! The buck stops with them. Let's not divert the blame to someone or something else.

Goin....You must know Obama never passes up an opportunity for a photo op.

the other meaning is Doesn't Ever Leave The Airport.... never had a DELTA flight leave ontime. Haven't flown them in 10 years due to repeat incidents. Only fly American now.

still can't figure out why he had so many bags. Seems to me when we came home it was a duffle bag and maybe, at the most, two other bags. What did he buy over there?

Well said David-1951! Imagine the revenue an airline could make if it advertised its support for our troops! Whenever possible I utilize the organizations that support those individuals who are willing to lay down their lives to protect mine. If Delta, or another airline, provided free services to our service men and women, I would use that airline exclusively. Too bad Delta didn't grab this opportunity to do the right thing.

We heard Delta's side of the story, they charged the soldiers. Good lord, what airline wouldnt bend their policies for people who have been a year, abroad, in a war zone????

What a bunch of twits at Delta.

Screw you, what is Delta going to say? SORRY! They have no side to this story.

So
simply being in the military means that contracts and rules don't apply to you.
Ignorance to the rules and regulations that regulate the military’s interaction
with the civilian world doesn't preclude them from having to abide by those
rules. Delta already bends their policies for the military by allowing three to
four free bags and allowing additional weight. How much would a civilian pay
for three or four overweight bags on delta?
Hmm seems like Delta made allowances for military travel and this unit
exceeded those allowances and Delta is supposed to just accept that?

What Delta had every right to say is that they were upholding the contract that was agreed upon between them and the government for military transportation. As a serviceman I have been thoroughly briefed about the baggage costs on trips and have had no issue paying them knowing I will get my money back.

I don't know why the uninformed are making such a huge deal about this? Thousands of military members fly all the time and abide by the rules. Why these individuals didn't know the rules is beyond me but I'm saddened by their need to deal with this issue in such a public manner when they have a chain of command to deal with these things.

Should Delta make exceptions for military on deployment orders to a hostile country: Absolutely! HMMM seems to forget that these soldiers are going off to defend this country and there is a chance that by doing so, their trip home could possibly be in a casket. So I think they are more than entitled to check their 4 bags for free. Now HMMM if you want to volunteer to go along to defend this freedom, by all means, your bags should be free too. The bags that these soldiers take with them consist mostly of military issued items, equipment to save and protect lives. They are not 4 bags of personal belongings.

Now, if the soldier is not deploying,but is on orders to PCS to a new assignment (and I mean orders that include shipping household goods), then by all means that should not constitute as being able to ship 4 bags for free. Believe me, as a 26 year military dependent, there are those who have tried it....in that case, I have no sympathy. But in this issue it was a deployment and that's a huge difference and should be excluded from charges.

Cracks me up! You bring up a really good point. Even as a dependent we were dragged into all kinds of mandatory meetings explaining policies for each and every PCS. Deployments involve even more meetings. Never has it been a issue for my husband, he'd pay it, keep his receipts and be reimbursed.

they get paid, sooooooooooo let em pay like we would have to

Maybe you have not been in the military, when I took that oath

"I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic"

By the military standard anyone who is trying to deny Americans of their Constitutional rights in this case free speech would be considered an enemy/traitor not the person who is exercising their constitutional rights

I went into the military and fought for people like you and this other person to have the right to speak, that is what defending the constitution is about.

That does include the freedom of speech even if you don't agree with what the other person says.

When people start telling others in this country what they can and can't say

then we can start to look a lot like

Stalin's Russia
Mao's China
Fascist Germany

The U.S. is to full of people trying to bully others into their side of things. I didn't fight to have a fascist regime where the majority controls the minority that goes against everything the people in the military are fighting for.

And I took the oath as well and spent 20 years in the military and my youngest son took the oath 3 years ago and just got back from Afghanistan and you are missing the point. Delta makes rules, Delta can break rules and Delta has decided only becuase of publicity to change it's rules. So just because others have something to say, fine, let them say it, but DO NOT start this right to speech bull@!$%#, there has to be a point when enough is enough and enough said.

happyhippy, you are correct, people are free to speak their opinion, and to be respected in speaking such opinions, but the same must be said for respecting counter opinions. If your who I think you are, your old motto still sits on my wall of fame and honor.

Freedom of SPEECH is AWESOME. Respect is just as important.

Never Confuse the two.

Don't like fees and troll tolls? Vote with your wallet and fly Southwest.

Does Southwest fly to Afghanistan Ted? The military personnel don't make their own flight reservations, as far as I know.

southwest would need to invest in 747s lol. But no, then they would get 5 seats left, 7 middle, and 5 on right, with no first class. so you would get 12 inch seats, not good for soldiers, while great with the fares, Its not good for those with just slightly bigger ... um, physiques lol. tho 90% of mine are sw, I always pray for one empty seat in the back row tween me n other person, cuz usually I end up (free drink comps aside) sitting having to hang over the aisle to allow room.

Sent Delta a message early this morning regarding this issue and they have now responded with a concession. Still believe that all baggage should be free, but this is a start.

Dear Bruce,

RE: Case Number 3568325

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We realize there may be concerns
regarding members of the United States military traveling with us on
active duty and we want to take this opportunity to address some of
their issues.

We want our customers to know how deeply Delta respects and admires the
men and women who fight every day for our country. As a company, we
have very strong ties to the armed forces, with countless employees,
family, friends, and loved ones serving actively or on reserve, and many
more who are retired from military service. Delta understands what it
takes to travel as an active duty member of the military which is why we
work hard to ensure our policies allow active duty military personnel
traveling with us additional flexibility.

Effective June 7, 2011, Delta Air Lines will increase its baggage
allowance for Active duty U.S. military personnel traveling on orders to
or from duty stations to four (4) checked bags in Economy Class and up
to five (5) checked bags in First and Business Class on Delta and Delta
Connection carriers at no charge. This change is also applicable to
dependents traveling with active military on orders. Previously the
allowance included three (3) checked bags in Economy Class and four (4)
in First and Business Class. Weight restrictions will still allow these
bags to weigh up to 70 lbs. (32 kg) and measure up to 80 linear inches
(203 cm), which offers added flexibility over the standard 50 lbs. and
62 linear inches (157 cm). Because of weight, balance and space
constraints, Delta Connection carriers will accept up to four bags at no
charge.

As an enhancement to these policies, active military presenting military
id will be allowed two free checked bags (up to 50 lbs. and 62 linear
inches) during personal travel.

Our military men and women deserve a high level of flexibility in their
travel and we hope that this clarification will support our efforts to
provide them with a travel experience reflective of our appreciation for
their service.

Thank you for writing.

Sincerely,

Coordinator, Customer Care
Delta Air Lines

Original Message Follows:
------------------------
Delta Air Lines Customer Care Form

Message:

Hello: I read this article this morning about how Delta
charged $2,800 to returning soldiers for extra baggage. I also read
Delta's response that according to the agreement they we over the
specified limit. Never the less, these men and women are protecting our
freedom and should be given every common courtesy possible when
returning home from many months, even years of life threathening living.
What I can't believe is that any company would want so much bad press
over $2,800. Very poor judgement on Delta's part.

I cannot believe someone locally at Delta did not have the
responsibilityor authority to waiver the extra baggage fee of our returning heroes.
As an veteran I am very distressed and will likely boycott Delta for
future travels and will also asked my company to do the same. There is
absolutely no excuse for this!

Sincerely,

Bruce

Submitted: Wed Jun 8 2011 07:07:36 EDT

Delta is only apologizing because this made the news and You Tube has over 200,000 views....otherwise they wouldnt care. These fees have gotten out of hand. First they charged a fee for baggage, because of fuel....then they added a fuel surcharge on top of that! So your paying for your luggage in 2 diffrerent taxes!!!
I am a travel agent, and i will steer my customers away from Delta....F...Delta!

Well mquira, you'd better find another career, because ALL the airlines charge for a 4th bag,...until yesterday, that is. And, that includes everyone's beloved Southwest Airlines. Yes, they all saw the horrible publicity and they changed their policies. So, it wasn't just Delta.

Personally, I think it was a mistake to change the policy to 5 bags allowed now. Some knucklehead soldier is going to make a video that he checked 6 bags and the airline ruthlessly charged him for that 6th bag. Where will it stop?

@Zman17

I'm not steering my customers away from Delta because of the fees...it's because the way they handled it. It was (in my opinion) very unethical. Considering what these soldiers endure, they could have bent the rules. Things are not as they used to be...(remember whan a hand shake meant something). Well i see this as a slap in the face to the soldiers who were charged.

As far as finding a different career, i am one of the fortunate ones that make a great living in this business, but thanks for your concern!!!