
Originally Posted by
jsearles22
Yeah, you're right, he should definitely expect 50 large for getting hassled for a few minutes and getting back on his regular flight and not being inconvenienced at all after that.
I don't know about the proper compensation, but to give the guy $150 is LOL. The compensation here would be punitive, and not so much for his inconvenience.
This was pretty bad. It was interfering with his right to free speech and using his travel on their airline as an extortion tactic to force him to remove what they didn't like to see.
Again, an airline has a federal requirement to allow him to travel after selling him a ticket. They can't just pull this "we have a right to refuse service to anyone for any reason" crap that the owner of a local pizzeria can.
There needs to be punitive damages against a company which does such a thing.
It is also fully legal to criticize an employee by name via an internet post, provided your statement about them is true. (If your statement isn't true, it's still not a crime, but rather a civil violation which can result in monetary damages, but no jail time.)
There is no doubt that his statement was true. If he wanted to post Kimberly S's last name, that would have been within his rights, as well.
Southwest would have the right to refuse to sell him tickets in the future, but they had to honor his travel here because they had already ticketed him, and he had not violated any laws, nor was he threatening the safety of the plane or passengers in any way.