Alaska's Jesus cards, are they finally gone?
 

Last meal flight I took on Alaska IAD-SEA, there wasn't a Jesus card served with the meal. Is there any hope that this practice has actually ended system wide? I have always found this terribly offensive, is/was Alaska the last hold out? Or, do they just not stock the cards on the east coast?

I don't recall getting them on other airlines in the past few years, are there other major US/Canada carriers out there that still dose out religion on the sly?

Jebus Cards are still there as of Wednesday the 20th of August when I flew PHX-PDX. There are three things that are somewhat annoying on AS;
1) coach pax freely parading into FC lavatory when coach lavs are readily available (what they are hoping to find at FC lav is beyond me)
2) no pre- takeoff beverages (not really a big deal as they normally distribute water or orange juice bottles to each FC seat)
3) Jebus Cards with every meal (well, at least they still serve meals! However, I do not want to be preached to on an airline, so i find those cards to be annoying).

Otheriwse, AS is an excellent airline IMHO

Life is full of s..t that you will not desire. Stuff on your doorstep you did not want. Stuff dogs left on your lawn you did not want. Stuff in your mail you did not want. Stuff on your e-mail you did not want. At least this is easy to cast aside. I WANT it, so you are doing millions of Christain a favor to just cast it aside and get over it.

I would much rather believe that the airline was more concerned about what happened to me -before- I died, then after.

Edit to say cattle is right.


[This message has been edited by birdstrike (edited 08-23-2003).]

Maybe they are doing both at the same time http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif I wasn't a Christian at the time I last flew AS and it didn't bother me in the least.

On AC we get a note about this or that business highlight (ie. an IBM or BMW announcement of some sort) from time to time. Do I feel outraged by this? Nope. It's no different for the "Jesus" cards you talk about except people "choose" to get fired up about religion being forced on them.

No once forces you to be of any religon when flying AS as far as I have heard. You know what the card is when it is on your AS tray so you can make the choice not to read it. If it offends anyone who flies AS then they should vote with their $$$ and loyalty. Also, do the FA's come around asking you if you would like to believe in Jesus? I didn't think so.

This thread has the potential to turn ugly and it's not my intention to fuel it. I am trying to say make the Jesus card a Visa application every time and ask yourself if you would feel like you were being forced to apply for a card and increased credit. If you really don't like it then just don't read it. Is it that hard? http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

Very good point, Birdstrike.

Wow, I'm surprised and pleased that they actually do this. Go AS! They really do take their chances and stand out from the rest. I am a Christian so I think it's wonderful. But do you know what? If they were handing out Jewish info or horoscopes or something... I wouldn't find it "horribly offensive" at all (would you? what's the difference?). I would just say, "okay, whatever", and leave it behind.

Look at it this way... If the worst thing that happens to you in a week, or even a day, is that you are 'subjected' to viewing a Jesus card on your flight I'd consider you a very fortunate person! http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif For pete's sake stop whining and enjoy life!

Given the fact that they have nickeled and dimed everything re: service cutbacks, employee working conditions, and so on, you wonder how much they, in the aggregate, spend on these things. Remember that over at AS, a million bucks is a substantial sum of money (as compared to other airlines.) Its more than printing costs, its having the caterers put them on the trays.

If only they were devil worship cards or heathen baby-eating fire god cards.

I think it is great if people want to pay to fly on a carrier that presents religious material to their pax, I won't. So clearly this program is still in place on AS. It was easier to over look or forgive when AS was a hick airline you took to and from Alaska, or to Idaho. I don't find it appropriate for an airline aspiring to be a world class carrier serving diverse markets and customers. That said..

my question, are there other carriers that are doing this? I am dropping AS as my preferred airline and would like to make sure I don't pick a churchy replacement. Sounds like maybe AC is safe, how about UA? DL? AA?

You know I hate to sound like an "old fogie", but our world was so much easier to get along with one another when I was growing up. I think that is what is wrong with the world today, everyone is so "terribly offended" at this practice and that practice. For God's sake get a life and I agree with some of the others about "caring before you are dead".

No evangelical nonsense on AA.

Because of the ability to get miles/elite miles, I've flow Alaska a couple of times this year but in coach, so I was totally unaware of their using customers as a "captive audience" to preach to. I guess that only first class souls are worth saving. Hah, or maybe they figure first class souls would be more likely to fork over some checks to Pat, Jerry or this nutjob of a judge in Alabama.

zurbec-dropping AS as your preferred airline could not be much of a loss for them. These bible verse cards, not mentioning Jesus in the 150+- trips I made on AS, are a modest attempt by a God fearing CEO, not longer there. They have been doing this since before 1984.

While my most recent flight on AS was 3 years ago, the cards are have always been in all classes of service to the extent that I flew in both first and coach, depending on the meal service.

To say the As is a profitable airline, in a sea of red ink, is due to factors other that this card...I think!?

In any case, if you read one and it offends you, they just don't pick it up next time you fly. Sounds like an easy way to deal with this issue...if it is one for you.

Some facts:

Freedom from Religion Foundation in Madison, WI has been complaining about AS for over 20 years in regards to the bible versus. Note AS does not even fly there.

As started in 1932, as McGee Airways. The current name was adopted in 1944. As was contracted in the mid late '40 to airlift supplies from Czechosolovakia to Israel. This Operation Magic Carpet airlifted over 40,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel during that program under then President James Wooten.

Bruce Kennedy became CEO in 1979 and I believe that is when the bible versus on the tray started (yes people in coach and first got trays with their meals).

In Sept 1992 AS donated $200,000 to the Univ of Alaska Fairbanks as part of there continuing effort to but something back.

Not only will I not fly AS because of the Jesus Cards, I've decided to stop staying at any Hilton, Hyatt, Starwood, or Pan Pacific properties as I have seen Bibles in the nightstands!!!! Can you beleive it? Imagine someone trying to FORCE THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS DOWN MY THROAT! The nerve.

More often than not, when flying, I am offended by the food that comes with the meal. I can always use the card to pick my teeth.