How many airline passengers does it take to kill a $40 million tax break for Delta Air Lines? 13.
The Georgia legislature removed a jet-fuel tax break from a larger tax package Thursday. Lawmakers were upset that Delta, which is headquartered in Atlanta, dropped the National Rifle Association from a discount-fare program in an effort to appear neutral on gun policy.After the firestorm, Delta will review all its marketing programs to avoid those that might become political, CEO Ed Bastian announced Friday.
But the airline said only 13 passengers ever bought tickets with an NRA discount. That translates into each discount costing the airline about $3 million in tax breaks.
The number of Delta Air Lines passengers who bought tickets with NRA discount: 13
Words fail me, mostly because I am laughing so hard.
If I were a shareholder I’d be pissed.
If you were a shareholder, you could sue. Are you sure you don’t have any Delta stock in any of the mutual funds in your retirement accounts?
I’d require nooses at the shareholders meeting. This is just than losing $40 million in breaks but add to that the pissed off NRA members that will rather fly Shitkicker airlines than Delta.
Or, would rather drive 20 +/- hours than fly Delta, and leave our nasty NRA cooties on their nice airplane. Like me. I’m the NRA.
What’s funny is that Delta inflicted this damage on itself not by ending a discount for 13 people, but only because they stood up and made left wing SJW noises about their decision. Of course, that was the point (ending the program quietly would not have achieved what they thought of as the goal). But they were too stupid to contemplate what could go wrong, and now they are reaping the bitter harvest.
Good.
There’s hardly a better example of the Law of Unintended Consequences.
Delta makes this decision to please some loud SJWs or Demanding Mommies, and ends up having the state say, “well if you’ve got enough money you don’t worry about losing customers, I guess you can pay that tax”.
I don’t think Delta could say, “screw you, we’re moving operations to Charlotte” or some other airport, but they might be able to schedule not quite as many flights into Atlanta.
With respect, I don’t think this is the right math for Delta. It’s not the thirteen passengers who will no longer get a discount, but rather, the unknown number of rabid victim disempowerment advocates who won’t be purchasing Delta because of their nominal association with the NRA.
I’d put that number at not much higher than the 13 NRA members. Boycotts like this generally don’t do much. Airlines are highly competitive on price. In a couple of months most people won’t boycott Delta if they have best price or most convenient flight times or any other positive. It’s easy to say boycott online. It’s hard to carry through. If Delta saw a sales loss over a financial quarter, it could make a big deal about the NRA drop later. Right now there is no evidence that the boycott would have had any negative effect.
I’m a card carring (Visa) Delta frequent flyer. Made the decision I will never fly Delta again, and will not allow my 50 employees to fly it either, no matter what discounted price they offer. My company spends $5,000 per month on flights (we are corporate auditors) and none of that will ever go to Delta again.
You mean both of those? 🙂
It seems plausible that a lot of those SJW noisemakers aren’t purchasers of goods or services in the first place. More likely they are unemployables living with their parents.
If these companies were run by people with any sense at all, they’d shut up, leave things status quo, and not take any sides on any issues. Offer no retorts to the SJW types. Pretend like they don’t exist. Pretend like no one running the company has ever watched the news. You’re an airline. Firearms have nothing to do with your business model. Idiots.
Stupid Hurts
Textbook example of what happens when you listen to virtue signaling snowflakes and SJW’s.