April | 2017 |

Boy it’s tough to fly these days. From airlines squeezing passengers into smaller and smaller seats, charging for checked bags and overbooking flights, it’s no wonder the friendly skies are becoming more and more tense.

By now, I’m sure you along with the entire world has seen the video of a United Airlines passenger being forcibly removed from a flight from Chicago to Louisville. The video, which includes audio of the man screaming while being lugged down the aisle, is difficult to watch, but does not tell the whole story.

United was trying to make room for a flight crew to get to Louisville. An announcement was made that they needed four passengers to give up their seats which were already taken. When no one volunteered, three passengers were asked to get off with little fan-fare (although I’m sure they were not happy) and no video to post on social media. David Dao, the fourth passenger, refused to give up his seat, resulting in Chicago airport police dragging him down the aisle.

The problem? The airline was actually in their rights to ask the passenger to get off the plane. In the fine print (that nobody ever bothers read) it basically gives the airline the right to remove anyone for any reason. Each airline has their own policy on how a person is to be reimbursed, but make no mistake, United Airlines was in their rights to do what they did.

Now you can argue that isn’t fair and that United Airlines totally mishandled the entire incident (and you would be correct), but what about the actions taking by Mr. Dao? A law officer made a request which he chose to ignore. Does that mean other passengers in the future can disregard a request/command from a law officer? I’m not sure I’m comfortable going down that pathway either.

United Airlines was in the wrong, but so was Mr. Dao. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but maybe, just maybe it will generate a discussion on passenger rights for future travelers.

The debate in our nation’s capital over the Affordable Health Care Act continues. Even though Republicans own a majority in all three branches of government, there has been no consensus on how to repeal/replace it.

It seems from the rhetoric of the American people, there are actually parts they like such as having their children stay on their policy till they reach 25 years of age, and allowing people with pre-existing conditions to get some kind of health care coverage.

The biggest hurdle may be in what the act has become known as; “Obamacare”. Republicans seem to have the attitude of “we don’t much care for Obama” and anything with his name on it is an abomination. I can’t help but wonder if both sides could fix it/make it better if his name wasn’t associated with it.

Ironically, the Freedom Caucus, is asking republicans to work with conservatives and throw out the whole thing which sounds strange to me when you consider the fact that most every Republican would claim they already are conservative.

It’s not easy, even President Trump commented “who knew health care could be so complicated” (actually anyone who relies on P.P.O.’s and co-pays already knew that). Trump even threatened to work with Democrats (insert gasp here) to get something done much to chagrin of Republican law-makers.

The Republicans point out more insurance companies are bowing out and rates are sky-rocketing which is true. Democrats warn a full repeal would cause millions to lose coverage which is also true. So where does the answer lie? Perhaps in the provable middle where few dare to tread and even fewer are able to politically return.