On Nov 30, 11:32 am, Sound of Trumpet
wrote:
> http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1932170/posts
>
> Airline 'discount' charges hetero.ual customers more
>
> WorldNetDaily.com ^ | November 28, 2007
>
> Posted on 11/29/2007 3:49:15 AM PST by Man50D
>
> Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air have announced a new program that will
> charge hetero.uals 10 percent extra for their air travel to specific
> locations during the Christmas season.
>
> The company actually offers the 10 percent as a discount but only if
> the purchaser obtains the ticket through a "gay" page of the company's
> website, a location not typically patronized by families seeking
> travel arrangements, according to an Idaho activist who was distressed
> by the offering.
>
> Bryan Fischer, of the Idaho Values Alliance, told WND the company
> boasts of its "nondiscrimination" policies, but, "here they are
> blatantly discriminating against hetero.uals in their pricing
> structure."
>
> Word of the discount came through an airline employee, who needed to
> remain anonymous because of concerns over retaliation. The employee
> reported the company had sent e-mails out announcing the "very soft
> launch" of the new promotion.
>
> "They are giving preferences to male passengers who want to wear
> dresses on the planes, and giving them preference over married
> couples," Fischer said, noting families typically buy more tickets
> than individuals or pairs traveling together.
>
> "It just doesn't seem like it's smart business for them to stick their
> thumb in the eye of the main passengers," he told WND.
>
> He said he had called the company's reservations number and the clerk
> was unaware of the program and it didn't come up on the general list
> of discounts available to reservations agents, but he did verify that
> the "gay" page discount was valid - but only by going through the
> "gay" page.
>
> "The only way you could take advantage of this is to self-identify as
> a homo.ual, lesbian, bi.ual or transgender. Otherwise you're out
> of luck," Fischer told WND.
>
> The actual program, he noted, doesn't demand a person be homo.ual,
> but is set up so that only those deliberately looking for "gay" travel
> options would find it.
>
> A spokeswoman for the airline, Amanda Bielawski, returned WND's call
> requesting a comment, but didn't answer questions, noting that she
> didn't know about the program. Then she quizzed WND on who had given
> the news organization information on the program.
>
> The airline also at some point after WND inquired changed the headline
> on the page from "Gay Travel" to "New York City on Sale" but it still
> appeared to be available only through a direct "gay travel" web page,
> and couldn't be located through the airline's general reservations web
> site. It wasn't listed on the page that was supposed to reference
> "promo/all_deals". The promotion appeared only under a page citing
> "gaytravel/LGBT-NYC-Sale."
>
> Website promotion for homo.uals
>
> Fischer said he'd been told by sources the corporation viewed the
> homo.ual community as a "gigantic profitable segment of the
> market."
>
> The company earlier had an offer to travel to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico,
> under its "gay" discount, and currently is offering discounted
> "holiday" travel.
>
> "Lucky travelers who immediately switch their .ual orientation from
> hetero.ual to anything else can qualify for a special 10 percent
> discount for holiday travel to New York City," noted Fischer. "All
> they have to do, according to Alaska, is enter a special discount code
> "when you purchase your tickets at [the "gay" web page].
>
> "Alaska is basically imposing a 10 percent surcharge for these
> destinations on travelers who are .ually normal. It's certainly odd
> to see such blatant discrimination against hetero.uals from a
> company that claims to be all about equal treatment for everyone,"
> Fischer said.
>
> "It's always a mistake for a company to establish policies that
> normalize homo.uality, lesbianism, bi.uality and transgenderism,
> but to add insult to injury by penalizing straights in the process is
> inexcusable," he said.
>
> The airline's special page also promotes flights to events such as the
> "5th Los Angeles LGBT People of Color Film Festival," and the "8th
> International Conference of Gay and Lesbian Tourism."
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