Where is Justice?

An American soldier home from Afghanistan on a two week leave arrived at his hometown airport, January 2006, to depart for Afghanistan. Only to be turned away at the ticket counter by a very rude ticket agent working for Northwest Airlines. The people working for the Transportation Safety Administration TSA stood there in disbelief. The curt reason the ticket agent gave the soldier was that he had not arrived at the airport within the predetermined time allotted by Northwest airlines for passenger check in. The people working for the TSA were standing by ready to check this American soldier’s duffel bag and get him on the plane, but the agent would not take his ticket and gave him no other explanation. The United States army purchased the ticket for his return trip to Afghanistan, and expected this soldier to be on that plane.

There was still thirty minutes left before the plane's takeoff time. The ticket agent in her attempt to be as rude a possible would not even talk to the soldier. He then asked her what he was supposed to do, and she responded I'll deal with you when I get through with what I am doing. This airport is in a small town of forty-five thousand people, there was no one else there, no line to check in, there never is, there is barely enough people flying out of Greenville Mississippi to keep the airport open. Northwest Airline’s people have always been very rude at this airport; this is a known fact to any one that has ever flown out of Greenville, according to the Airport Director.

The connecting flight was in Memphis, Tennessee a three-hour drive away. To keep the army from considering this soldier AWOL (absent with out leave) a fast drive to the next airport was all that his family could do. The difference between the treatment received at the Memphis airport and the Greenville airport was tremendous, and he even arrived in Memphis before the plane from Greenville touched down. The ticket counter personnel in Memphis greeted him with respect, took care of his duffel bag, checked him in quickly, and greeted him with a smile. He arrived back in Afghanistan to serve his country in Operation Enduring Freedom on time, but he and his family were not satisfied with the treatment he received in their hometown. They contacted the local airport administration while driving to Memphis

After returning home from seeing him off, the family found out that the airport administration had no control over Northwest Airlines policies or personnel. The Director stated that he had received numerous complaints on the ticket agent’s people skills, on a regular basis, and would lodge a formal complaint with Northwest Airlines. The family then contacted Northwest airlines several times trying to at least get an apology from Northwest to the soldier for the rudeness of their employee and inconvenience of having to drive to the airport in Memphis. The apology never came, Northwest Airlines would only say that the ticket agent was doing her job, and for the family not to bother them any more. They were not going to do anything about the situation.

Ticket agents in Germany were also doing their job in January 2007, when a group of forty Muslim pilgrims arrived late to the gate in Germany on a return trip from Hajj to Detroit Michigan. Not only did they arrive late, but also there were other problems at check in with this group. There was misleading and apparently incorrect information printed on some of the tickets and some passengers lacked the required receipt for their luggage. Northwest Airlines did not allow this group of passengers to board the plane, and the outcry of injustice and discrimination sounded around the world.

According to the Associated Press, a Muslim group from Detroit threatened to boycott, or Jihad, against Northwest Airlines for the treatment of the pilgrims. Northwest Airlines caved in and not only apologized to the group; they also reimbursed them for their overnight stay in a hotel and put them on the next flight to Detroit. Northwest Airlines also agreed to reimburse the pilgrims for the flight and possibly other compensation. The President of government relations for the Airline, Andrea Newman also stated that she would be flying to Detroit to meet with the disgruntled passengers and Clergyman.

The single American soldier never even got and apology for his treatment at the hands of Northwest Airlines and their employees. Where is the injustice and discrimination? Both the soldier and the pilgrims were late according to Northwest Airline policy. The soldier as always took care of his own and made due with what was handed to him. Where is the justice?