Page 15 - IAV Digital Magazine #431

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Delta Refunds $30 To Ann Coulter After Her Twitter Rant
Daniel Trotta, Reuters
(Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc. said it would refund $30 to conservative com- mentator Ann Coulter after she unleashed a Twitter tirade over being reassigned to a seat with less leg room, and the airline called her string of insults "unacceptable and unnecessary".
"We're sorry you did not receive the pre- ferred seat you paid for and will refund your $30," the airline told Coulter on Twitter.
"Additionally, your insults about our other customers and employees are unacceptable and unnecessary," Delta said in a second tweet.
Delta appeared to have deleted its tweets after they were posted on Sunday afternoon, but not before they were shared thou- sands of times.
Coulter, one of America's best- known and most provocative pundits on the political right, ripped the airline with a series of
tweets on Saturday and Sunday, saying she was "kicked out of a carefully pre- booked seat to a less desirable seat, without explanation, apology, etc".
She also directed her ire at the "dachshund-legged woman" who took her seat with extra leg room, posting a picture of her.
Coulter, who has 1.6 million followers, likened Delta employees to Nurse Ratched, the heart- less villain in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest",
called Delta
the "worst
airline in
America",
and sug-
gested the
ideal job for
a Delta
employee
would be
prison guard, animal handler or an East German policeman.
The incident gener- ated some social media sympathy from people dissatis- fied with airline serv- ice, a topic that went viral in April when a man was dragged off a United flight to make room for a flight crew in transit.
But some of the sentiment turned on Coulter when Delta revealed that the upgrade she was denied was worth only $30.
"Only people like Ann Coulter could make one take the side of the airline. I will book my next flight with @Delta,"
said Twitter user Mark Curtis.
Delta representa- tives did not immedi- ately respond to a request for com- ment.
Coulter responded on Twitter by saying she was still waiting for an explanation why her seat assign- ment was changed.
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