No industry is as accomplished at the art of denial as travel. Two recent examples — one from government, and one from an airline — come to mind. Neither statement is particularly compelling, but both could add to our collective travel misery in coming months.
The first is the Homeland Security Department’s eloquent rebuttal of the gist of a ProPublica project about air marshals who broke the law.
The story, which appeared in yesterday’s editions of USA Today, charged that dozens of federal air marshals have been charged with crimes and hundreds more have been accused of misconduct since the government greatly expanded their numbers following the 9/11 attacks.
It was a devastating, but not unsurprising, revelation. I’ve suggested elminiating the federal air marshal program in a previous column.
In response to the article, Bob Bray, the head of the air marshal program, let loose on the TSA blog, calling the article “a great disservice.”
Like any law enforcement agency, a small percentage of bad apples always garner more media attention than the overwhelming number of outstanding professionals. While sensationalizing the regrettable acts of a very few may make for good front page news, it doesn’t tell anywhere near the whole story of an organization.
If Bray’s statements were meant to blunt the impact of the ProPublica piece, they failed. But as far as spin goes, they were not so bad. An air traveler reading the story and the post might conclude that USA Today sensationalized the “bad apples” and conclude that the air marshal program was, indeed, worthwhile. That would probably be incorrect.
It would also be wrong to assume WestJet’s denial that it, or someone associated with it, had something to do with the controversial survey received by its passengers, was true. I reported earlier this week that one reader had been asked by the Canadian carrier if she would pay more to avoid sitting next to families with children, and for “priority” disembarking, among other things.
WestJet had the following response:
The notion of priority disembarking is ridiculous. Not only would we not consider it, we wouldn’t even consider putting it in front of the guests to ask them would you consider that. The idea of segregating children on board a flight is something that we wouldn’t ask either and wouldn’t be interested in doing.
Who is telling the truth? I believe both are. WestJet may be able to say that it never sent out the survey, but a lot of polling is done by third parties such as advertising and public relations agencies. Did the passenger take that survey from someone purporting to represent WestJet? I have no reason to doubt them.
Both of these corporate denials are troubling, because if they remain unchecked, they will make the travel industry a worse place.
Think about it. Do you really believe the air marshal service works? Do you actually think airlines are not considering any and all ways of making money off you on your next flight?
Of course not.
