Transportation to Disney Cruise

[mjbarnard]

Webmaster Michelle has decided to close down a thread which was discussing the treatment of a 17 year old girl by Delta airlines. This is unfortunate as I know others wished to contribute to that thread.

Michelle posted :
"Okay, I think everyone has expressed an opinion here. This board is not for debating the merits of a paticular airline, so this thread is locked."

She is wrong on both counts - actually not everyone interested had expressed their opinion.

Secondly if this board is "not for debating the merits of a particular airline" - can Michelle please confirm that she has closed down the threads discussing the merits of Happy Limos and in fact the many other comments and discussions about transportation to Cape Canaveral? Or any threads debating the merits of particular travel agents?

I personally found the comments about particular transportation services very helpful - and had excellent service from Happy Limo as a result. I suggest that it is somewhat regrettable if compliments and criticisms cannot be posted as they are an integral part of a Disney cruise trip.

If she cannot provide that confirmation - could she kindly publicly reassure us that no commercial pressures led her to close down the thread?

With regard to my comments about the Delta issue :

Michelle, nicurnc and alexturner74 have all COMPLETELY missed the point. The real issue is not about the (legal) rights of airlines to bump passengers (undoubtedly established) nor the responsibility of parents to teenagers travelling alone (entirely responsible) - but rather how wise is it for a commercial enterprise (in a time of severe industry trouble) to choose to exclude a 17 year old female travelling alone from a flight for which she has a fully paid ticket, and then respond to her and her families predictable anxiety with denials and apparent lack of sympathy?

 

[Señor Ferrari]

Without defending Delta's actions, or trying to speak for Michelle, I'll throw my two cents in.

I would argue that the difference between the two is that when the thread just becomes a complaint session about Delta, then it is outside the function of these boards. A thread comparing the relative merits or towncar companies could still contain information useful to board members.

Admittedly, and again not trying to excuse what happend to the child in question, I stopped reading that thread when it was about four posts long, because it seemed to me that it had already degraded into said complaint session, I did not realize it was closed. OK, we get it, you all hate that airline. Move on.

 

[mjbarnard]

Yes - fair point. Mindless attacks on individual companies are not very interesting. - particularly compared to genuine comparisons of transport options.

I would comment that I have read with interest (and benefit) threads on individual companies (eg Happy Limo, Dreams Unlimited) which have led me to make reservations with those companies and been very satisfied with the result.

I believe we agree that discussion of particular companies is not outside the function of these boards. Mindless or non-constructive attacks certainly are. I hadn't taken that thread as degenerating into that area - but perhaps others would disagree. Fair enough.

 

[Mojomanny]

Chiming in with my two cents....

I too quickly tired of the Delta bashing. I am no fan of the airline, but am also not a foe. I think if the situation was as presented, they may have made some errors in judgement but there are always two sides to the story.

I stopped reading the thread after about the 4th thread because it had simply become a gripe/***** session.

Nobody asked...just my opinion

 

[Jeanne434]

I did not intend for that thread to turn into a gripe session against Delta at all. In fact I tried hard to keep my personal gripes against that particular airline to myself. I do have personal issues with them and will deal with them personally, privately.
Honestly- I was simply trying to raise a debate about the practice of bumping minors. Period. I was simply taken by surprise that it happened to my daughter and I wondered if it had happened to other people. I tried to play fair by only using the name of that particular airline because that was the only one I could speak of with certainty. Perhaps other airlines do indeed have regulations controlling this sort of thing and it wouldn't be fair to lump them together with an airline that had proved it did not.
I didn't mean to upset or offend anyone- least of all our web master Michelle. I just wanted to get the word out- a heads up as it were.
I do find it unfortunate that grown ups can not have a lively if spirited debate about issues here. I believe that shining a light on problem areas is a healthy thing. Noone was forced to read or reply. I was not offended by anyone's differing opinions or experiences, not in the least. And if I was not upset by the heat I was taking what's the problem? To be honest, I found it reassuring that noone else reported a minor being bumped over night. Maybe this WAS just a freak occurence.
I still say that if there isn't a law there ought to be one. And I will do what I can to make this happen. Not as punishment to that particular airline but to protect kids.
I apologize if I upset the apple cart of the Dis boards- I thought it was healthy. We found out the thread had been locked when the DD tried to post her own report on the incidence- too bad- sort of unfortunate to have her input squashed. And hard to explain since I don't really understand it either- perhaps moving us to a debate thread or discussion spot would have been more suitable. just my humble opinion.
Now will everyone just smile and be nice eh?
I loved my Disney Cruise, I enjoy these boards, I just feel strongly about this important issue.

 

[Michelle]

Matthew, if you had posted ALL of my comment I also said that any further discussion could be continued on the Transportation Board. That board has MANY topics related to airlines. At the point the thread was locked it was simply turning into a debate about Delta airlines. It had nothing to do with Delta airlines as they relate to the CRUISE, other than the young lady in question happened to be on her way to cruise when this happened.

As others have pointed out, yes, we do have many other threads here as well related to transportation or travel agencies, etc. But as they also stated, those threads relate to cruising. We DO give a pretty wide leeway for the types of threads here, but this particular thread really had nothing to do with cruising.

Jeanne, I sincerely understand you being upset with the situation with your daughter. Your topic of bumping minors is a valid one and again, feel free to open a discussion on the topic on the Transportation Board. If you prefer, I will move your original thread to that board and reopen it.

If anyone has further questions feel free to PM or e-mail me.

 

[Crissup]

Hmmm... I missed that thread. But I can relate to how you are feeling. I, too, used to be an arm-chair webmaster.

It reached a point where I felt that I could do things better and I ran off and started my own board. Of course, what I learned, is that in spite of people complaining about the mods and webmasters here, they really do feel they do a great job and prefer this place over others for that very reason.

All of us, board members, moderators and webmasters alike, are human. We make mistakes. The webmasters here try to make judgement calls about when a post should be locked for everyone's benefit to maintain the integrity of the board. Sometimes I agree with the webmasters calls, sometimes I don't. However, let's give em a break. Accusing them of closing threads for commercial interests, or any other reason, is really uncalled for.

Just my two cents (not sure what that translates to in pounds).