Delta Airlines has found virtue-signalling can prove quite costly. Especially when a company allows a teenager with no life experience tell them what to do. Earlier this week, the company listened to David Hogg and announced the end of their NRA member discount program in the aftermath of the Parkland, FL school massacre. As if . . .
the NRA ordered those deputies not to enter the school on February 14th while the killer slaughtered those defenseless victims in a “gun free” zone.
Unfortunately for “The World’s Most Trusted Airline,” the Georgia legislature took a dim view of corporate-level social justice activism against the nation’s oldest civil rights organization. Especially when said corporation received a big, fat tax break from Georgia taxpayers.
So the Peach State politicians voted not to renew Delta’s fuel tax exemption, costing the airline about $40 million dollars. Per year.
Now, we learn that only 13 passengers ever used Delta’s NRA discount. From USA Today:
How many airline passengers does it take to kill a $40 million tax break for Delta Air Lines? Only 13.
The Georgia legislature removed a jet-fuel tax break from a larger tax package Thursday. Lawmakers were upset that Delta, which is headquartered in Atlanta, dropped the National Rifle Association from a discount-fare program in an effort to appear neutral on gun policy.
After the firestorm, Delta will review all its marketing programs to avoid those that might become political, CEO Ed Bastian announced Friday.
But the airline said only 13 passengers ever bought tickets with an NRA discount. That translates into each discount costing the airline about $3 million in tax breaks.
Proving once again that NRA members join to help protect their natural, civil and Constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms, not for a trivial discount on coffee. Or airline tickets.
In even worse news for the company, in the four days since the company’s NRA-dumping announcement, the company’s stock price nose-dived 4.6%.
Time will tell if other virtue-signalling corporations like Enterprise Rent-A-Car, True Car, SimpliSafe and Met Life will feel similar effects of their short-sighted decision to end NRA discounts.
One thing remains constant though, The People of the Gun have long memories.
I don’t fly as much as I did before the whole ‘tsa security’ fiasco. But Delta has been my go to aircraft for years since I have a bunch of family in Georgia.
No more. See, even though I don’t belong to the NRA i support their goals.
as do over 100 million other Yanks who own guns….
this whole “focus” on the NRA is the gun-grabbers running scared after a ‘soft’ target….
if they started “pointing-the-bone” @ 100+ million gun-owners, then, they’d be in major strife….
The question is not how much did each NRA member cost Delta since only 13 ever used the program. The better question is how much did David Hogg cost the airline.
Didn’t know they had a NRA discount, would have used it. I’ve been flying delta but going to fly elsewhere for sure. Good for Georgia taking their 40 million back!
They don’t. It only applied if you booked travel when you registered for the NRA Annual Conference. Which is why there were only 13 discounts used.
The best thing is that this is a shot across the bow of other companies thinking about jumpig on anti-NRA bandwagon. The companies now have to ask themselves if the are subject to retaliation from 2A friendly states.
There needs to be another company that gets a state retaliation to make this sink in
“… in an effort to appear neutral on gun policy….”
[facepalm]
Well I didn’t join for discounts! I also have Allstate Motor Club and have never used discounts. Trying to decide which Old Fogey group to join…AARP are leftards. Any suggestions? $3000000 a flight😄😘😏
Old fogey group AMAC. Not as big as AARP but firmly conservative.
https://www.google.com/search?q=AMAC&oq=AMAC&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.4005j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
I’ve heard ads for AMAC https://amac.us/ It seems like that is the more conservative competitor to AARP
AMAC Association of Mature American Citizens was created as a conservative version of AARP. I’m not old enough to use their services, so I don’t know how they stack up to AARP. I know about them because they advertised on conservative radio. Website is amac.us.
AMAC for sure,, unlike AARP anti-2A, AMAC IS PRO-2A. I don’t believe they officially endorse any party [although they were formed to counter AARP’s obvious “progressive devotion” and dem endorsements, claimed to be for ‘our’ benefit].
I’ve been a member of AMAC for two years. Unlike AARP, which stumps for gun control, Obamacare, and government entitlements, AMAC stumps for productive citizens, small businesses, and traditional American values.
I hadn’t flown in about 9 years until the week of the shooting when I had to make an emergency trip to Florida. I flew on Delta and didn’t even know there was a discount. Too bad for Delta, it won’t really matter now. This virtue signaling can get pretty expensive.
Anyone who has ever flown Delta knows how bad that airline sucks. I used to be a Delta frequent flyer, logging at least 100,000 in miles every year. Then the airline decided that customer service didn’t matter anymore and I dropped them.
I’m sorry that I can’t boycott Delta, but I’ve been avoiding the airline for over 15 years.
I agree. Southwest is a really nice airline, unless they don’t go where you want to go.
Southwest ground crews don’t screw around getting the gate open when your plane lands. Makes catching connections a whole lot easier. With Delta, the plane has sat at the gate for 10-20 minutes before the ground crew gets the gate ramp up to the door so you can get off the plane.
That said, United is the worst. Constant maintenance delays anytime i’ve Had to fly with them.
All that aside, an interview with a GA state legislator I saw indicated there was a lot of opposition to extending the tax break well before their decision to end the discount to the NRA.
Agreed. Flew them for work a few times because their price was the lowest, but on two occasions I needed something from their customer service and they treated me like total shit when other airlines helped with similar things as though it was a non-issue. Hate ’em. Refuse to fly ’em now.
And now Lockton is dumping all the NRA-branded products. That would be the end of NRA Carry-Guard, right?
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-gun-boycott-lockton/insurer-lockton-will-no-longer-sell-nra-endorsed-policies-idUSKCN1GB06O
Lockton was the broker, not the insurer, so the NRA will just have to find another broker, which shouldn’t be too difficult. As long as there are gun shows, there will be a need for insurance covering them. Chubb is another story, but for some reason I am confused about whether Carry Guard is a new program or an existing one that has been around for sometime. Anyway, Chubb apparently was planning on pulling out before the Florida shooting, and the reason was obvious: “The New York Department of Financial Services, which regulates insurance in the state, launched an investigation into Carry Guard last year.” I guess either the NYDFS doesn’t care for “murder insurance,” or Chubb/Carry Guard wasn’t doing what it had promised to do. So the NRA will have to find another underwriter or there will be a lot of unhappy NRA customers banging on USCCA’s door.
Or ACLDN or CCW Safe. Carry Guard only covers self defense using a firearm. Defend yourself any other way and they won’t help you. That’s not much of a program.
What bothers me is that for something like at least 20 years, Lockton has been the firm offering liability insurance to NRA instructors. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a core piece of NRA’s mission.
HAHAHAHAHAJAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Eat S*#t delta! I just became a 5 year NRA member because of companies like you.
I did the exact same thing.
I cancelled a week long rental from Enterprise the day I found out about their virtue signalling nonsense. It will cost them a little over a grand. And all my future business. I’m getting tired of the coordinated constant smear campaign.
Who did you rent with? Most of the major companies took the same stand.
That’s per year! Until the GA legislature decides to renew the tax breaks, if ever. I think that there are a lot of people at Delta regretting this decision! Not for long though. Probably will have seek other employment.
And now the leftists here in Georgia are whining about how this lack of a tax break will now cost Georgia the new Amazon headquarters part 2. That is assuming that Georgia would have gotten that in the first place. Of course, they’re using this as a way to try to stop anything conservative from happening here in the Georgia legislature.
How are the progressives in Georgia? I’m considering moving there. They can’t be nearly as bad as here in north east Illinois (I hope). Perhaps the Augusta area.
“How are the progressives in Georgia?”
Stay *far* away from Athens.
It’s known for being the ‘East Coast Berkley’…
I have to applaud Delta for “coming out of the closet” (AKA no longer hiding) as a progressive-(communist)-supporting company, and I whole-heartedly applaud Georgia for their removing the de-facto endorsement of “group-NON-think” knee-jerk Pretense.
Keep Amazon HQ out of Georgia? That’s a good thing! You put Amazon in and the whole place turns Democrat.
Georgia has two zones that are Democrat, there is a small one at Athens, and the larger which is the downtown Atlanta Zone. Atlanta itself is pretty much the hole in the donut, you have a large leftist City surrounded by a large population of conservatives. That’s why both of the senators from Georgia are Republicans and mostly conservative, but you have dingbat’s like the congressman who thought Guam would capsize if you put more Marines there. Google Hank Johnson for the quote.
Huh. Never knew there was a discount, and I’m a life member of the NRA.
Also looks like the BiMart chain has raised the firearms buying age to 21.
As they are employee owned, I’ll go to my local one to raise a stink. I think they’ll listen as I know several of the employees. May not make a difference, but they’ll hear from me.
Looks like my next trip to Africa will not be with Delta.
NRA Life membership, is that $1,500 a year or just a one time fee of $1,500
(Serious inquiry)
I don’t know what the current rate is, but it’s an one-time fee.
One time and it’ll be “on sale” a few times a year for like $500-$600.
I got mine and my wife’s for $300 each a few years back.
$300 after Sandy Hook
I think I read somewhere that Lifelock bailed on their whole “NRA discount” program, but since Lifelock is basically a scam anyway, all they did was do NRA members a favor.
I love that they were clearly caught with their pants down pretending to “do something” when only 13 people ever used a discount. So not only do you have the people of the gun all fired up…. but the progressive liberals also should be pissed that clearly delta was Adding to more FAKE NEWS!!
So damn funny
Delta got telebombed with “complaints” after being outed by Everytown (or some such). They reacted, thinking that they had to do “something” to avoid bad press, and since no one was actually using the discount, no big deal, right? (Oops.) I really don’t think that these student protesters had anything to do with the assault on the NRA. It was too well organized and happened way to quickly to be attributable to some traumatized teens. Again, more astroturfing.
Here is a link for complaints from Delta’s website https://www.delta.com/contactus/commentComplaint
Tell them how you feel.
Only works if you have flight info. Need a general email so I can tell them to fuck off and die.
actually, I used that link.. you don’t need to enter the flight info, just go to the comment block.. I’m a life endowment member as well as a delta diamond medalion/ million mile flier.. their top tier; I read them the riot act. They are clearly frazzled, since I usually hear back from them within a day for complaints.. been 5 days now, and nothing… I am sending a new complaint daily on this until I hear back… you guys should all use that link too.. bomb the hell out of them…
Hahahhahahahahhahahaaha
I quit flying, the LSD hasn’t been worth a shit since 1973.
So with Delta virtue signaling with dumping the NRA discount, you know like 95% of the people that have crapped all over the NRA on these very pages, the State of Georgia virtue signals that they’re all strong for their…fiscal….2nd…1st, some amendment rights to give, or take away, corporate welfare. I’m not on Delta’s side, but I’m really not on the pols side, so if this is either 100% for or against, I guess I’m on Delta’s side? or not, or something.
At the end of the day, Delta is not getting the subsidy that hadn’t gone into effect, but was proposed, passed, repealed, once already in the last 5 years, that they didn’t ask for, actively tried to dissuade the pols from giving them, OK, and…
Are you actually asserting that Delta “actively” lobbied to *NOT* receive a $40 million annual tax break?
No, but the did have a press release several months before the bill passed saying that they didn’t believe it made sense. Remember, Georgia legislature had a similar bill in place before, that they cut during a pique of fiscal sanity. They’re were happy to take the money, but, at least publicly, were lukewarm. If someone sends you a check for millions because they like you, don’t protest to much, cash the check, but don’t build your life around getting that every year.
This has caused them to be dropped from the Amazon HQ2 lottery, which is probably a good thing long term. Delta is locked into Hartsfield, so they’re not moving, but I’d imagine with the billions they spend in ATL it ran through their mind for a few seconds
My hat is off to the Georgia legislators! Thank you!
Agreed. FedEx is standing up to the grab-a-gun lobby. However it has cost them a little business. Two companies I have never heard of will NOT ship with them again. The horror….
Politics makes strange bed fellows.
I laughed my Cagle arse off when I heard ’bout the 13 today.
“After the firestorm, Delta will review all its marketing programs to avoid those that might become political, CEO Ed Bastian announced Friday.”
So Delta backed off from their decision?
Or are they still dumping their NRA association, and ‘promising’ to be non-political next time?
What they’re saying is that in the future, they’ll try to completely avoid offering discounts to groups like trade unionists or Jews*, lest it come back later to bite them in the **s.
*I’m channeling Martin Niemoller here, lighten up.
Who says gun control doesn’t save anything? It saved the Georgia taxpayers $40M and counting.
Honestly, I don’t even know what the effects are of ending this tax break. They don’t just suddenly take a $40mil hit in the shorts. The fuel will still be bought, somewhere. And the bill will get passed onto somebody, and Delta will take all of this into consideration when they’re looking at where to concentrate any future expansion or changes in their business model.
Delata’s main hub is Atlanta, and they’ve invested millions on the airport over the years.
And then the Georgia state legislators will be forced out of office for attempting to extort a private business. The leiutenant governor outright said that the tax breaks would be revoked until the NRA discount was reinstituted. A public official telling a business to give his friends goodies or he will punish them is extortion, and it is a major crime.
Reverse your thought process.
Deltas taxes were not raised. Now they have to pay the same as every one else.
What has Delta done that justifies them not paying the same taxes as everyone else inthe state?
Apparently, he waited to drop that bomb until after the Republican caucus in the state had decided to kill the tax break because giving Delta, one of the state’s biggest political donors, a break would be perceived as crony capitalism. The Lt Gov basically went against the party line and turned an effort to combat cronyism into an act of cronyism. He’s going to get murdered by the party.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/27/deltas-nra-move-not-the-reason-it-shouldnt-get-tax-breaks-georgia-state-senator.html
The vast majority of the air miles that I’ve flown in my life were on Air Force aircraft during my 20+ year career in the USAF. It’s been quite a few years since I have flown on Delta airlines. If I remember correctly, the last time was in early July of 1997. I can also guarantee that will also be the “absolute” last time that I ever fly Delta. Listening to moronic liberals, especially moronic liberal kids, is not a good corporate strategy Delta. Will you learn a valuable lesson from your ignorance in this case Delta? I kind of doubt it. If Delta is smart, they’ll decide who is ultimately responsible for this decision, then throw them far under the Bus!
I never though Delta was a good airline. and I will never fly them , or rent a car from what seems to be now owned Dianne Frankenstien.( well you have to admit you do see a family resemblance when you look at her). and any other commie supporting banana brain company.
This is why the hubbub over this is nothing more than virtue signalling. Do any people really use these discounts anyways? I have a AAA card and it supposedly gives discounts too, but I may have ever done it twice.
Before this posting, I was thinking about the thinking behind all these companies “dropping” their NRA discounts. Then this posting came along. A CEO who simply decided to alienate a large segment of the buying public because “virtue signaling”, would be dismissed in a hot minute. So, I thought….
There must be something not being reported. That “something” was any data on how many customers for whichever company actually used the NRA discount. As in, just how much revenue was generated via the discounts vs. normal retail. If the number was really small (13?), then the risk to the bottom line would possibly be considered negligible, or zero. With a small amount of revenue “lost”, a company could look courageous, but risk really nothing. Now, we see that Delta recorded 13 NRA discount purchases. So, the airline gets street creds for “fighting” the dangerous NRA, but it is a reputation that costs nothing. I imagine many of the “courageous” companies dumping NRA discounts made the same calculation.
Until, somehow it becomes evident how much non-NRA discount revenue also disappears. Then maybe some CEOs will have a hard time explaining their decision to the stockholders.
“If the number was really small (13?), then the risk to the bottom line would possibly be considered negligible, or zero.”
For Delta, the bottom line impact ended up being 40 million.
A *year*.
That ain’t ‘negligible’ by any rational standard.
I’ll be very interested in what their stock shareholders will think about Delta pissing off 50 percent of their customer base and likely 50 percent of their shareholders.
I have a feeling the fallout will have some legs and last a whole lot longer then they ever thought possible…
“I have a feeling the fallout will have some legs and last a whole lot longer then they ever thought possible…”
Which is my point. I think Delta miscalculated, hoping they could skate by with accolades at virtually no financial risk at all.
Well written article. Probably the best I’ve read on TTAG.
guess what assholes
the game is different…were ON TO YOU
social justice warrioring goes BOTH WAYS NOW
all you guys did was to awake a sleeping giant
youre pathetic godless unhappy people
were not
and all your hatred and anger will burn you out WAY before we even BEGIN to tire
youve locked horns with us in a battle of wits brute force and attrition you cant possibly win
btw demographics aint on your side either
theres the door…please use it
I really don’t like this. I suppose it’s inevitable for corporate welfare to be used as a political cudgel, which is why we should largely do away with it. Those of you who are applauding this should be concerned, maybe someday Massachusetts will offer special tax exemptions to S&W contingent upon donations to Everytown.
NY – home of the unSAFE act, continues in its 50th (lowest) business-friendly-state status. Remington started there in 1816, but expands to AR, AL, and keeps the old plant in Ilion NY, don’t know how, don’t know why, but we’re grateful for the jobs that remain … for now. I exist here, unless you want to buy a POS house, in an upstate (detroit-kind-of) town that once thrived (IBM, Singer-Link, Universal; now the State University is the area’s largest employer). Cudgels are used both ways – to foster Left-Think in a university, AND to ‘discourage’ conservative enclaves. But ‘do away with’ AFTER it’s too late?
That is the leftist dream.
Kill free enterprise and only allow their left-wing echo chambers like “universities” to be the fulcrum of the economy.
“…maybe someday Massachusetts will offer special tax exemptions to S&W contingent upon donations to Everytown.”
I would welcome such a confrontation. Turn on the lights, and see where the cockroaches were hiding,
Well I didn’t know they even had an nra discount. I can not fly with them anymore though too. Assholes need a wake up call.
Prior to all this, I had been in email discussions with SimplySafe, asking for more info etc. to put in a new security system in my home & property. Yesterday, I replied that since THEY were the ones who decided to use their products and services as a political weapon, it would be my pleasure to let them keep it all to themselves. As a Life Member of the NRA, I will spend my money elsewhere and they can go piss up a rope for all I care.
Good for you! I did the exact same thing to them, and called/emailed others to let them know I’ll never consider their products or services.
I just looked at AAA Simplisafe “discount”.. Two free months 2x$15=30 if you using a two year contract for $300 worth of monitoring , you have to go through AAA portal and the price of the equipment is $45 more than just buying it on amazon and subscribing.
Ie it is like most affinity a RIP OFF. Good riddance.
Moreover, people join discount clubs like AAA for discounts, they don’t civil rights/liberties organizations for discounts.
Bingo! I did not join the NRA to save $5 on a rental car.
I’m not sure I care much for this. I don’t particularly like what Delta did, but that decision was a business decision. Let the consumers punish or reward Delta as they see fit with their purchases, as should be the case in a capitalist society. For the legislature to decide to punish a company for political reasons seems uncomfortably close to fascism.
I understand your thinking, but shouldn’t it logically work both ways? No tax abatements for businesses? Is “punishing” a business more fascist than “rewarding” a business?
Think of a local government interest in the business decisions of an airline. The airline benefits from tax breaks, and the locality expects to benefit the tax payers through increased business directly, and indirectly (the more traffic through the airport, the more spending by passengers, the more taxes that can be generated, the more the public benefits by either additional revenue, or the lack of need for higher taxes). now, the airline decides to alienate an untold, unpredictable number of passengers through the airport. the community suffers potential loss, while the airline continues to benefit from tax breaks. The airline damages the community, yet expects to reap tax benefits regardless. Should there be no recourse for the taxpayers?
Much like hosting the Olympics never presents a sustained economic benefit, tax breaks for businesses are “bad” business. Better to not join that game.
I would disagree with tax breaks if they were done to push a specific political agenda like this was. I guess what bothers me is that the lawmakers didn’t say, “We think it’s a bad idea to give tax breaks to business in general,” but rather tied it explicitly to Delta’s decision with a sense of, “If companies don’t do what we want, we will punish them.”
I just find it a little concerning that our government would take that sort of stance.
I understand and agree about government cronyism. However, tax breaks are entity specific, not general. A general tax break would be something like X% of a company’s revenue/expenses (or such) will be non-taxable; come one, come all. Instead, the breaks are targeted. They are used to induce a specific company to make a specific decision. This is government picking and choosing winners/losers. If a company expects a favorable welcome for accepting tax breaks, that same company should expect the removal of tax break for disrespecting community values. In short, government should not be in the business of favoritism, in either direction.
Ah, I see what you’re saying now. I was under the impression it was like the tax refund that the Ark got in Kentucky (i.e. in that case, any tourist attraction that meets certain attendance and revenue criteria could apply), and didn’t realize it was company-specific.
Best views i have ever seen !
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