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Charter jet operator waives $36,000 fee for mother of Parkland shooting victim

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Charter jet operator waives $36,000 fee for mother of Parkland shooting victim

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Old May 3, 2018, 10:23 pm
  #1  
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Charter jet operator waives $18,000 fee for mother of Parkland shooting victim

Parkland victim's mom gets break on shocking $36G bill for charter flight Fox News

Last edited by davie355; May 3, 2018 at 10:28 pm Reason: upon closer read, the passenger still had to pay $18k of the $36k invoice
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Old May 3, 2018, 10:51 pm
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"It didn’t matter what the cost ~ I had to get to my son! "

It seems that wasn't true. She would have known the cost before but booked it anyway. If she wasn't willing to pay for it, why did she book it?

"Talon Air has responded and agreed to reimburse Schulman the cost of the one-way flight, $18,229.56, and donate the remaining $18,229 to the Scott J. Beigel Memorial Fund..."

The operator was very nice to waive the whole bill, and give half to the fund in the deceased's name.
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Old May 3, 2018, 11:20 pm
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Ms. Schulman in her Facebook posting stated "I am very happy that Adam and Talon Air, Inc. have seen their way to accepting responsibility ..." Responsibility for what? Sending her an invoice for a service she requested?
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Old May 4, 2018, 1:01 am
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It seems the passenger felt that the cost of the return flight was the operator's responsibility.
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Old May 4, 2018, 3:19 am
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emotional blackmail, there isn't much Talon Air could have done at this point but swallow the cost.
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Old May 4, 2018, 5:51 am
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Originally Posted by JamesKidd
emotional blackmail, there isn't much Talon Air could have done at this point but swallow the cost.
Yup. The grieving mother used her son's death to extort $18,000 out of the company. I'm not buying her story that she couldn't get a flight or rented a car and driven to a more distant airport and made her way home.
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Old May 4, 2018, 7:08 am
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I am trying to find a way to say this gracefully. Grief is a funny creature and it hits us all differently. When you first hear the shocking news of the unexpected death of a loved one, your ability to make great decisions disappears for awhile.

This mom was in that position. She had to "get to her son." She wasn't thinking, she was reacting, especially since her son was already dead and there was nothing she could do in Florida to change that. She chose an option with no regard to cost because she wasn't thinking.
When the bill came, she realized what she had done. She couldn't "undo" it, and so she sought help from the company. I can understand all of this.

What I can't understand is the post on social media that makes it look like the charter company was somehow "greedy" or unfeeling. The charter company did what she contracted it to do. I could see writing them a letter directly requesting some sort of discount, but this social media blackmail is very sad.
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Old May 4, 2018, 8:00 am
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Happily she's getting a spanking in the comments.
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Old May 4, 2018, 8:26 am
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Originally Posted by NeedstoFly
Happily she's getting a spanking in the comments.
I just found the corresponding post on FB. Trust me, what is posted here is very light to 1100 posts of heat she got there.

wow.
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Old May 4, 2018, 9:29 am
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1. I find it hard to believe that there was not any availability on any flight between the NY and Miami areas. look at how many flights there are between the two cities per day. Not one single seat was available last minute? Nothing out of PHL with wouldn't be too difficult to get to? And that's just the non-stop options, surely something with a connection could have been found.

2. She's using the tragedy to extort expensive services out of the charter operator. Talon has no choice but to waive the fees, because people who have no idea how charter airline operations would would mercilessly attack them on social media - not that any of them could actually afford to use their services. But understandably they didn't want the bad PR. I guess they know there's some secretary in charge of booking charter flights for C level execs who wouldn't book anything with Talon because of some nonsense about "cheating a Parkland victim's parents" they saw shared all over Facebook.

3. This is going to sound horrible, but if her son was already dead, what does it matter if they got there that night or the next morning?
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Old May 4, 2018, 9:31 am
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Originally Posted by t325
I find it hard to believe that there was not any availability on any flight between the NY and Miami areas. look at how many flights there are between the two cities per day. Not one single seat was available last minute? Nothing out of PHL with wouldn't be too difficult to get to? And that's just the non-stop options, surely something with a connection could have been found.
FWIW she mentioned it was spring break I believe so no availability. That being said, yes I too find that hard to believe.
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Old May 4, 2018, 9:55 am
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What a disgusting human being.
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Old May 4, 2018, 11:57 am
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Originally Posted by t325
. I guess they know there's [b]some secretary in charge of booking charter flights for C level execs who wouldn't book anything with Talon because of some nonsense about "cheating a Parkland victim's parents" they saw shared all over Facebook.
That is a stretch
3. This is going to sound horrible, but if her son was already dead, what does it matter if they got there that night or the next morning?
Can't argue with this
The grieving mother used her son's death to extort $18,000 out of the company.
There is a specific definition of extortion and this doesn't meet it.
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Old May 4, 2018, 12:14 pm
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Originally Posted by rufflesinc
There is a specific definition of extortion and this doesn't meet it.
This may be true legally, but in colloquial terms I can certainly see how this constitutes extortion.

The charter operator was effectively bullied out of the revenue for this flight.
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Old May 4, 2018, 1:57 pm
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Originally Posted by rufflesinc
There is a specific definition of extortion and this doesn't meet it.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/extort

Obtain (something) by force, threats, or other unfair means.
Criticizing the company on social media with an implicit threat to its reputation more than qualifies.
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Last edited by Badenoch; May 4, 2018 at 2:02 pm
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