Case Study: Delta Airlines

 Picture credit to David Emery on Snopes.com

Delta Airlines Stops Passenger From Signing The National Anthem

When I first heard about this on our local news channel, I was not only shocked that they violated her freedom of speech but it got my attention and thought to myself that Delta was going to be in big trouble. Before I did research on this case, I wasn’t familiar with the whole story of what had happened on the flight.

After doing more research on what had happened on the flight Dr. Pamela Gaudry, passenger that was stopped from singing the national anthem, I found out more of what reporters and social media left out for the public to make a judgement. I mention before when I heard that Delta Airlines stopped one of their passengers from singing the anthem, I right away was against the company. That changed right after I read more articles on Snopes,  Fox News, UPROXX , and much more other sites online. You can easily find this case if you type it on google.

From what I read on a few articles, Gaudry and passengers on flight from Philadelphia to Atlanta were told by the pilot that they were carrying the remains of a fallen American Soldier, Dustin Wright. He was one of the four soldiers that were killed on October 4th in Niger. It said that he told everyone that ones they land if everyone one could be seated until the casket was carried out. Everyone respected that request including Gaudry. She taught about an idea of singing the national anthem as the soldier was carried out so she decided to walk around the seats and told the other passengers if they could join her. She got a few passengers happily agreeing with her idea and other didn't say anything and she was okay with that. After she settle down on her seat, a chief attendant came to her and told her that it was against "company policy" to sing the national anthem. Gaudry was shocked and encouraged to do what thought would be a great idea.

This incident became known by her 6-minute video  she uploaded on her Facebook account right after she got off the plane. It shortly got deleted once Gaudry accepted the apology from Delta. It was originally intended for her friends and family to see but it with the support of her followers being upset and frustrated about the incident, the video became viral. It became a huge controversy that Delta immediately reached out to Gaudry and apologized for what she had experience.  Deltas' spokesperson stated on Snopes that" there is no company policy on singing the national anthem aboard planes, but added that their employees “take great pride in Delta’s longstanding support of the military,” which includes voluntary participation in honor guard ceremonies to pay tribute to deceased service members transported via the company’s aircraft." He clarified that the attendant thought it would disrupt the solemn ceremony.

Although it became a misunderstanding, it definitely affected Deltas Airlines reputation.  There are several people against the airline now and few people starting to boycott. Gaudry confirmed that she isn't agreeing with those people because it wasn't Deltas fault for having someone interrupt a ceremony. She respects the way Delta shows respect for American Soldiers. She will continue to fly with them.

I did a little more research and found what the value proposition is for Delta's Airlines passengers. They quote on their official website Delta.com, "Delta Air Lines intends to ensure that your air travel experience will encompass, to the best of our abilities, the most comprehensive customer service possible. We have outlined our responsibilities and how we will fulfill them in 12-key points, known as our Customer Commitment." I read through it and it sure didn't mention anything that they prohibit their customers from singing the national anthem.

Over all, if I were the marketing department for Delta Airline, I think I could have put out a statement to the public apologizing about what had happened and the reason they thought or the employee thought, that by singing it would no respect to the fallen soldier.  We all can agree that the employee did put the company in a big controversy but it’s been cleared that it wasn't intended to prohibit passengers from singing.