Eventually, Schear did agree to hold Grayson in his lap so the family could remain on the flight, but an agent told him it was too late, saying his family would either have to exit the plane or the crew would have to deplane all of the passengers.

At this point, I would have folded my arms and said: "Well, then you are going to have to deplane all of the passengers. And they will all film you doing it. I paid for this seat."

The ordeal began when the airline asked the family to give up a seat they had purchased that was occupied by their 2-year-old, Grayson.

That is simply not true.

The ordeal began when Brian Schear decided airline rules and federal regulations do not apply to him and that he would do whatever he wanted to.

Delta’s website clearly states: All tickets are non-transferable per the fare rules. Name changes are not permitted.

Airline tickets are non transferable. Point, blank, period. A passenger cannot purchase a ticket for someone and then let someone else use the ticket. It doesn’t matter if the “someone else” is your 2-year-old son or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It’s the same rule for the same purpose.

After the Schears tried to refuse – explaining repeatedly (and calmly) that they purchased that seat and needed to use it

Schear was right in that he purchased that seat for his 18-year old son. Schear was wrong in thinking he had the right to use the seat for whomever he wished to be seated there, including his 2-year-old, Grayson.

Federal security regulations clearly states: A name change on a ticket can be made as long as the new passenger's name can be run through a data base before the flight.

Schear was wrong on two counts. But as is the new trend nowadays, he turned to the sympathy of social media and brought another “mean old airline” to its knees….whereby the airline is now handing out a generous compensation.

This “airline passenger” abuse is some times a wrong that needs to be corrected. It however will soon be, or either already has become, a new “cottage industry” where ingenuous crackpots will come up with any number of ways to scam the airlines for their mega buck hits.

Airline tickets are non transferable. Point, blank, period. A passenger cannot purchase a ticket for someone and then let someone else use the ticket.

Schear says Grayson flew in his own seat on the original flight out to Hawaii without a problem.

He says Delta knew he was planning to use the seat for his younger son when they boarded their return flight.

It’s the same rule for the same purpose.

What "rule" allows the airline to take away a seat that had already been paid for by the Schears? Man, your ovine fealty never ends, does it?

It doesn’t matter if the “someone else” is your 2-year-old son or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Attaboy!

Like a two-year old white American kid is any threat.

the airline staff made an outrageous threat:

“You have to give up the seat or you’re going to jail, your wife is going to jail and they’ll take your kids from you.”

Airline tickets are non transferable. Point, blank, period. A passenger cannot purchase a ticket for someone and then let someone else use the ticket.

What Schear told someone doesn’t matter. He should have had the ticket reissued in his Grayson’s name. He is a businessman, the president of a company. He deals in contracts all the time. He knew what to do….why he didn’t do it, is an unanswered question.

Delta airline rule allows the airline to take away a seat if the person for whom the seat was purchased is not occupying the seat. Man, you failure to accept reality never ends, does it?

Delta rules and the federal security regulations are there for a reason. Both are flexible and can be worked around prior to boarding a flight….not after boarding!

Simple problems have simple solutions, when approached and dealt with by rational and intelligent people. You need to learn that …

anyway, they were of no consequence to this flight.

Attaboy!

Delta knew he was planning to use the seat for his younger son when they boarded their return flight.

You're a bleating sheep.

Schear sent his 18-year-old home on an earlier flight so his 2-year-old son would have a seat to himself.

That sounds like bullshit.

If he wanted them to both have a seat, then he would have purchased seats for both when he initially booked the flights.

If he purchased seats for everyone coming over to have individual seats….then his return trip would obviously have been the same.

I feel he knew what he was doing all the time, just waiting for the $$$ka-ching$$$ …

It doesn’t matter if the “someone else” is your 2-year-old son or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Sure it does. Delta would never remove Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from the flight.

"A name change on a ticket can be made as long as the new passenger's name can be run through a data base before the flight."

And it would be funny if the two-year-old was on the no-fly list because of suspected terrorist activities.

I am being treated unfairly stories

More like "I got fucked over by an airline to the tune of over $2,000" story.

That you condone such actions by the airline is pathetic.

"That you condone such actions by the airline is pathetic."

That "action" being to enforce it's rules? How DARE they?!

That you are sympathetic to such people who feel they can ignore rules anytime they feel like it is understandable.

"That you condone such actions by the airline is pathetic."

That "action" being to enforce it's rules? How DARE they?!

"A name change on a ticket can be made as long as the new passenger's name can be run through a data base before the flight."

And it would be funny if the two-year-old was on the no-fly list because of suspected terrorist activities.

Strange things have happened …

WARNING=> GRAPHIC CONTENT: 4-Year-Old? ISIS Cub in Giant Play Pen Shoots Prisoner in Head .

Schear sent his 18-year-old home on an earlier flight so his 2-year-old son would have a seat to himself.

A lot of families split up so that a bad airliner crash can't entirely wipe out the family. Usually, it is the older kids who fly alone.

Schear sent his 18-year-old home on an earlier flight so his 2-year- old son would have a seat to himself.

A lot of families split up so that a bad airliner crash can't entirely wipe out the family. Usually, it is the older kids who fly alone.

Yes, that’s true, but that is no indication whatsoever this was the case here.

You also can hear Schear explain that initially bought the seat for his 18-year-old son, but sent the teen home early on another flight so that his toddler would have a seat on the plane.

That desn’t sound right. Why would Schear purchase the seat in the name of his 18-year-old son for his 2-year-old son to occupy? Something doesn’t jive here. If what Brian Schear said is true, then he would have purchased the seat in his 2-year-old toddler’s name [Grayson] and not in the name of his 18-year old son.

I find your family split up point is not relative to this incident….unless I have missed something.

Schear violated a clearly published airline rule and failed to comply with a federal security regulation.

It was an unfortunate incident and not properly handled by Delta….but Shear was in the wrong.

That desn’t sound right. Why would Schear purchase the seat in the name of his 18- year-old son for his 2-year-old son to occupy?

I'm not sure it matters. Would what they did to the family be fine with you if it was the 18yo son in that seat? I don't see why.

Probably the better question is why they only had 3 seats booked. It should have been four. Maybe the 18yo joined them last minute or something and they hadn't expected him to travel with them.

Probably buying the 18yo a seat was a last-minute purchase, and the other 3 seats were booked in advance as round-trip tickets.

We'll probably never find out as the airline will be falling all over itself to silence this scandal, very quickly and quietly.

Did you know that the dragged doctor is getting some huge settlement (after his beautiful daughter held that press conference with her bloodsucking lawyer) but United also announced they would compensate every passenger on that flight? United really wants to make it go away badly.

Of course, they'll all have to sign NDAs so we'll never learn all the details. That part of what the airline gets when it buys off the victims but also the witnesses to these scandals: silence from everyone. No more videos released, no public speaking about it to the media, etc. They buy silence.

I'm not sure it matters. Would what they did to the family be fine with you if it was the 18yo son in that seat? I don't see why.

If the 18-year-old in whose name the seat was purchased occupied the seat….there would never have been any problem at all.

Delta’s website clearly states: “All tickets are non-transferable per the fare rules. Name changes are not permitted.”

Airline tickets are non transferable. Point, blank, period. A passenger cannot purchase a ticket for someone and then let someone else use the ticket. It doesn’t matter if the “someone else” is your 2-year-old son or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It’s the same rule for the same purpose.

A passenger simply cannot unilaterally decide which Delta rules he chooses to follow and which he decides to ignore.

Besides, federal security regulations require the person in whose name the ticket was purchased occupy the seat. There are provisions to have the name changed before boarding, not after boarding.

It was a unfortunate incident and Delta did not handle it correctly…..but Schear was in the wrong.

The rest of your post has too many hypotheticals for me to try to address …

Chris Wallace just said a few minutes ago the family “purchased the ticket for the 2- year-old.” That was INCORRECT. Had the family done that, there would never have been a problem. Damned news organizations cannot ever present factual information and only inflame public opinion with incorrect information. Of course, everyone on the panel agreed with Wallace….no one pointed out Delta’s rule of the federal security regulation. I am beginning to despise the MSM more as each day passes …

That was when I turned the TV off …

The media never gets anything right.

Delta flight “DAL 2222” aircraft is a Boeing 757-200 (twin-jet) (B752)

Delta’s website clearly states: “All tickets are non-transferable per the fare rules. Name changes are not permitted.”

Well, let's just see if Delta gives the family a fat settlement or not.

Delta’s website clearly states: “All tickets are non-transferable per the fare rules. Name changes are not permitted.”

Well, let's just see if Delta gives the family a fat settlement or not.

Of course Delta will bend over to take it and then open their deep pockets.

The Schears know they have Delta by the balls in a vice grip and they are squeezing like heck.

These people waited for almost 3 weeks before posting their video on social media and they planned distribution to major media outlets.

They knew what they were doing, or were going to do all the time….and acted after a carefully orchestrated plan.

$$$...ka-ching…$$$...

Of course Delta will bend over to take it and then open their deep pockets.

It seems Delta is thereby admitting its culpability in general, if not by the letter of the law in its flight rules or federal laws for airlines.

TheDrive: The USAF Finally Gives Its AC-130W Gunship The Big Gun It Desperately Needs

I guess our air force can just cancel those F-35s and instead cruise around the world in our C130s dropping MOABs on brown persons and firing off our airborne howitzers. It actually sounds pretty cool.

Of course Delta will bend over to take it and then open their deep pockets.

It seems Delta is thereby admitting its culpability in general, if not by the letter of the law in its flight rules or federal laws for airlines.

Of course Delta admitted to wrong doing….they had no other choice. It was a “good ole American family of 4” with dad, mom, a 1-year-old infant and a 2-year-old infant versus “big bad Delta” in the court of public opinion. It would never have gone to trial had the family sued….there would not have been enough tissues for the jury to keep the tears from flooding the jury box.

Delta’s website clearly states: “All tickets are non-transferable per the fare rules.

They why do they regularly give peoples seats away.

It should be illegal to overbook and they should be killed if they give a seat away that someone purchased.

If they lose money who gives a shit get in another business.

If you buy a ticket it is yours and you can sell it or give it to anyone you want.

Despite what their bogus illegal contract says.

They why do they regularly give peoples seats away.

Also, how about obese people who buy two seats? Why don't they get bumped in these overbooking fiascos? It's not like we've run out of fatsos in America.

Those "rules" are pretty self-serving. Maybe they should be litigated more vigorously.

I think a better solution to overbooking would be to offer two fares on any flight: non-bumpable (higher price) and bumpable (lower price but only 6-10 seats in this category on any big airliner). People who take the discounted seat (or book a seat late) are the ones who would get bumped. And the airline doesn't get to bump anyone just so they can deadhead their crews. If it is so important to them to move a crew, let them transport them on a charter flight, which would cost a lot less than all these lawsuits they'll have to pay off.

Also: in no instance (other than violence or drunkenness or creating a disturbance) should any passenger be taken off a flight once they have been allowed to board. Once you are on that plane, you stay on that plane unless you are making real trouble. I think this is what the airlines will do after these prominent cases.

If you buy a ticket it is yours and you can sell it or give it to anyone you want.

Okay, taking your rational one step further…. if a bakery sells wedding cakes, then any same-sex couple has the right to buy a wedding cake from that bakery and it’s theirs to use it for their same-sex couple wedding, sell it to another same-sex couple for their wedding or give it to any same-sex couple they want to for their wedding.

Yea?

No?

Which is it?

Or do you want it both ways….according to "Stone’s Rules?”

Delta’s website clearly states: “All tickets are non-transferable per the fare rules.

They why do they regularly give peoples seats away.

It should be illegal to overbook and they should be killed if they give a seat away that someone purchased.

If they lose money who gives a shit get in another business.

If you buy a ticket it is yours and you can sell it or give it to anyone you want.

Despite what their bogus illegal contract says.

You can call it a “bogus illegal contract” all you wish to….but the contract is a legal binding one long established by precedent in different courts of law.

Whether you disagree with it or not is of no consequence, airlines have a lot of leeway to remove a traveler from a plane, for any reason.

Established law states that when you purchase an airline ticket, you entered into a contract, known in industry jargon as a "contract of carriage." It is unfortunate for some flyers that they fail to exercise their right to get a copy of the lengthy document, much less read it.

However, after these recent incidents, they will be well advised to reconsider that and obtain a copy to carefully peruse it.

Airline contracts of carriage do state that your seat isn't guaranteed, and there is language in them to cover refusing to fly someone at their discretion.

In that contract of carriage, there are "involuntary denied boarding" rules that can kick in, and if you want to know everything about the sorry-sounding legal term, it's all spelled out in plain English in a government consumer guide called Fly Rights.

When a passenger simply refuses to leave….well, the airline has another legal weapon:

Any action or behavior that is judged to be "interfering with the flight crew" is against the law. "Interfering" is vague and can cover a broad range of passenger behavior, and can encompass almost anything that makes the flight crew feel uncomfortable.

Not saying that I agree all this is the way it should be [which I am not]. I am however saying this is legally the way it is and unfortunately for passengers….the airlines gets to decide anything and everything about seating you on board their aircraft.

The only recourse a passenger has to fight an airline, it to post a video on social media and gain public opinion support….the airline will then bend over backwards to issue an apology and offer monetary restitution.

Also: in no instance (other than violence or drunkenness or creating a disturbance) should any passenger be taken off a flight once they have been allowed to board.

And just who gets to decide what “violence or drunkenness or creating a disturbance” is? The airline, of course. How much does a passenger have to raise his/her voice to an airline representative, before the representative can decide they are creating a disturbance? How does the airline representative determine a person’s drunkenness? Violence only….how abut the threat of violence or fear that violence will occur?

Your procedures are far to subjective to be workable and you are back to the original unsolved problem.

Well, there are howitzers and then there are howitzers...

The AC130-H Gunships were equipped with the 105mm over 40 years ago when I crewed in them.

Glad they will keep the newer models with the 105mm.

Had an ALO work with me in Iraq who used to be on a Spectre. His knowledge was instrumental when we had to arrange round the clock CAS for a SF team pinned down January 28th 2007. We called it the "Mother of all TICs (troops in contact) MOAT. We had continuous CAS flowing in and at hours of darkness every AC130 available.

More here:

Battle of Najaf

Gunships have always been interesting to me.

The Jihadis have learned since 2001 to fear just the sound of C-130 model aircraft.

We had some issues in Basra with the Brits getting hit a lot at night with indirect fire (mortars and rockets). We had some smart Air Force folks with special operations experience and recommended we fly regular cargo C-130s over the areas in question at night on their regular supply runs.

We did this and it reduced the night time attacks quite a bit. Did not cost much as these were scheduled flights to run parts, food, people etc. and all the pilots had to do was come down a few thousand feet to make enough noise.

PM: 16 C-130 articles at PM

They included the C-130 in a series of Why The _____ Is Such A Badass Plane. Others in the series include stories on the badassedness (yes, it is a real word that I just made up) of the A-10 Warthog, F-22 Raptor, FA-18 Hornet.

PM: Why the C-130 Is Such a Badass Plane

The C-130 is an Air Force classic, like the B-52 and the SR-71.