The America Online “cancel the account” phone call. The Comcast cable guy sleeping on the couch. The United Breaks Guitars song and viral video. These were all big, public moments that allegedly did millions of dollars in damage to the companies involved. Or, did they? Sure, we all got a [Keep reading]
Mortgage debt is rising fast. Nationwide, the average balance owed on a mortgage is $196,014, up 2.5% from the year prior and 6.4% from nine years ago. You’d expect to hear about soaring mortgage debt in pricey places like New York and San Francisco. But — surprise — the top [Keep reading]
Seems like a good week to help airline employees do right by passengers. Delta Airlines just confirmed to me that it has massively bumped up the compensation its employees can offer when bumping fliers — to as high as $10,000. Meanwhile, a relatively new gadget called SkyPro lets flight attendants dole out free miles [Keep reading]
After 24 hours of public and stock market pummeling, not quite equal to the pummeling the airline doled out on its most famous passenger Sunday, United has finally conceded. A day after blaming that passenger for his bloody removal from the flight, CEO Oscar Munez issued a new mistakes-were-made apology. But [Keep reading]
A Tweetstorm about United Airlines. Please read it. Don’t let this story die. Congressional hearings must be… https://t.co/zazc6JAlxR — Bob Sullivan (@RedTapeChron) April 11, 2017 1/Every day, airlines play game of chicken with fliers. Finally, a passenger took them up on it. United won when it brought in ‘backup.’ pic.twitter.com/Tn3TaPm2qb [Keep reading]
For those who’ve never seen an “involuntary …denied boarding” incident on an airplane, today’s United Airlines incident provided a very graphic, tangible example. Rarely does it ever go this far — ultimately, passengers had to be taken off that flight because a passenger’s blood was literally spilled on seats. But [Keep reading]
Look carefully at this face. Because it’s yours. This is the face of American consumers today. Only this time, it was caught on camera. If you doubt America is run by corporations, at the EXPENSE of the people, I hope this video serves as your wake-up call. There are almost too [Keep reading]
It’s tempting to ignore the warning sirens that blared Dallas out of bed Saturday night — but that would be a very serious mistake. We hear so much about the importance of securing America’s critical infrastructure systems. Then you find out that the company responsible for maintaining the Dallas outdoor [Keep reading]
UPDATE 4/7/2017 — The Department of Homeland Security has withdrawn this request, so Twitter has voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit. That’s good, but the main theme here remains: What a shocking level of seriousness. It’s been great fun to watch the list of Twitter accounts run, allegedly, by federal workers [Keep reading]
If it sometimes feels like student loan borrowers are treated like criminals — that’s because they are. It literally took an act of Congress to make it so. Student loans are different from almost any other form of borrowing. Unlike credit cards or other unsecured debts, they are almost impossible [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan