[jimworcs]

Well, I think it is time for me to retire from this site, because I do think that without discussion there is not really any point to this. There are lots of sites which allow people to just rant their complaint, but I felt the value of this site was that there was discussion which could either, help the poster get a resolution, or test if the poster was complaining legitimately. My view was that such an approach was valid. If we are to get the airlines and more importantly congress to pay attention to the issues, we must distinguish between those complaints which address the abuse of monopoly power by the airlines, and those which are either frivolous, not valid or in some cases ridiculous. Let me give some examples...

A poster recently had a confirmed reservation for his family to fly to Mexico. Delta sought to charge the customer more after re-scheduling his flight. There was extensive discussion about the merits of the complaint, but the OP was given specific advice on how to address this and encouraged to fight the decision by Delta. In the end, the OP won the battle and was re-scheduled onto direct flights at no extra charge. This is an example of the merits of the feedback elements of this forum.

In another posting, the OP complained that her child had not been seated near to the front of the plane, and her complaints about this lead ultimately to her and her child being asked to leave the plane. The OP then claimed the airline was responsible for causing PTSD in her child. This poster was challenged (by me amongst others) as to whether this was a fair criticism of the airline and also challenged customers expectations of what is essentially a form of mass transit. The value of this is to educate potential passengers as to what are the realistic expectations of an airline and also to clearly delineate the difference between legitimate criticism and ridiculous demands. This is equally important if change is to come. The airlines will point to these ridiculous complaints to defend themselves, ignoring the legitimate ones at the same time.

I think this debate is important and that the "airline defenders" play an important role in this approach. At times, the posts have crossed the line. I think PHX on the airline defender side and Butch Cassidy on the anti-airline side have both over stepped the mark for example, but on the other hand, many of their posts have been very valuable both in providing information, insights and in debating and highlighting the key issues. I think the site benefits from this type of debate. Although I didn't want to see anyone banned, I thought the Administrator was right to fire a shot across their bows.

However, I think the warning to Silent Bob is of a different order. I think it is fair to say that Bob is generally speaking supportive of airlines and their staff. However, I do not think any of his posts have overstepped the line into being abusive. To question a version of events is, from my perspective, a legitimate activity in an airline complaints forum. I have expressed my concerns privately to the administrator, but I think it is clear that we don't agree, and as this is his forum, his viewpoint wins! That is fair enough.. I didn't set it up, design it, run it or pay for the bandwidth necessary to sustain it. I have decided to stop posting on here and move on to other sites which are a little less restrictive in relation to debate. I am sure I will log on from time to time to read what is happening, but with the boundaries set so tightly, I think this will be my last post. Adios amigos.. it was fun while it lasted!!
Jim