Blog Post #1: Ethics

by Radhi

As Hurricane Irma passed through the southern United States, the idea of evacuation was on many minds. Irma has already caused devastation in the Caribbean islands along with Puerto Rico. For those who were ready to evacuate responsibly in the state of Florida, flights were one of the only ways to escape as Irma traveled west. Although airlines are notorious for their randomly inflated prices, The New York Times reported on a heavy increase in prices coming from Delta Airlines for those flying out of Miami, Florida. The tweet claiming price gouging as reported by The New York Times is shown here.

 


In the tweet, the price for a Delta Airlines flight from Miami, Florida to Phoenix, Arizona went from 547.70 USD to 3258.50 USD. This resulted in Delta Airlines to be the target of outrage by many who criticised the airline of gouging prices.

Among the critics were Senators Richard Blumenthal and Edward J. Markey, who wrote in a letter to the Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao,

“Airlines certainly have a right to a reasonable return for services rendered and vagaries in pricing are to be expected; but airlines have no right to impose exorbitant, unfair prices on Americans simply trying to get out of harm’s way. It would certainly be offensive if airlines – who rely on publicly supported infrastructure and have been bolstered by American taxpayers for nearly a century – used this opportunity to impose unconscionable costs on consumers.”

This letter asks of Secretary Chao to investigate reports of price gouging. Senators Blumenthal and Markey reflect the outrage and views of the people: It is simply immoral and unethical to expect the citizens of Florida and the devastated populations of these island nations to pay prices such as these. The price reported by The New York Times is three times the fare of a flight from Vancouver back to my home in Malaysia at the moment, which is almost a 20-hour flight across the Pacific.

Businesses should not be responsible for handling every complaint against their product unless there is a government-wide regulation against that issue. However, when that issue is that an individual must make a choice to pay for their life or pay with their life, businesses must recognize they hold a certain responsibility towards mending it. Delta Airlines has responded by saying that the increase in price is due to the programming that increases prices the week of the flight. Delta has capped the fares out of South Florida at 399 USD, along with other airlines such as Jetblue capping theirs at 99 USD. Purposeful or not, acts by businesses that threaten livelihoods can be corrected without the loss of profit.

Words: 445

Sources:  

  1. Sablich, J. (2017, September 09). Airlines Face Criticism Amid Irma Price-Gouging Complaints. Retrieved September 13, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/09/travel/airlines-face-criticism-amid-irma-price-gouging-charges.html
  2. As Hurricane Irma Makes Landfall, Blumenthal and Markey Call on Department of Transportation to Investigate Skyrocketing Airline Prices for Evacuees. (2017, September 06). Retrieved September 13, 2017, from https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/as-hurricane-irma-makes-landfall-blumenthal-and-markey-call-on-department-of-transportation-to-investigate-skyrocketing-airline-prices-for-evacuees