I don't think that we on FT always accuse the airlines of lying. Perhaps people complain too often that they are lied to when it's an "honest" miscommunication.

However, some of us have direct experience of actual lying as management policy, and some evidence to back up our suspicions. Last winter when Delta pilots were refusing to fly involuntary overtime, one of DL's agents at an airport that shall remain nameless told me that she and her co-workers had been told to explain ANY flight delays by blaming the pilots, regardless of the real cause. She was embarrassed about this, and I was speechless, although it really just confirmed what I'd already been observing.

Trust is very valuable, but it is easy to lose. It's bad enough when an individual employee lies, for their own convenience, but when it's company policy, I'm appalled.

When people complain that the airlines are lying, it's understandable why they might jump to that conclusion. The airlines have created the situation themselves. I still try to give individual Delta employees the benefit of the doubt, but sometimes I wonder why.

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The Delta Flyers' Guide