{"id":131218,"date":"2024-01-16T13:30:36","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T18:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldtribune.com\/?p=131218"},"modified":"2024-01-16T13:30:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T18:30:36","slug":"not-funny-united-airlines-bizarre-corporate-wokeness-could-cost-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/not-funny-united-airlines-bizarre-corporate-wokeness-could-cost-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Not funny: United Airlines\u2019 bizarre corporate wokeness could cost lives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #006699;\">Special to WorldTribune.com<\/span><em>, January 16, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-71569 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.worldtribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Joe-Schaeffer.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"99\" height=\"114\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-family: Roboto Slab, Open Sans, 'Roboto Slab', sans-serif; font-size: 29px; color: #25408e; line-height: 120%;\"><span style=\"color: #bd0404;\">Corporate<\/span> <span style=\"color: #25408e;\">WATCH<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>Commentary by<\/em><\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldtribune.com\/category\/corporate-watch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #25408e;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #25408e;\"> Joe Schaeffer \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Schaeff55\">@Schaeff55<\/a><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re not getting a haircut, you know. When you choose to fly United Airlines, you are literally entrusting your life to a corporation you assume will take on the responsibilities of air travel in a competent, professional manner. It\u2019s time to rethink those assumptions.<\/p>\n<p>Greetings, passengers. Meet your pilot:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Meet Maya Tallman, a man pretending to be a woman who&#39;s a pilot and runs a newly formed DEI Committee for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/united?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@united<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>He sent a letter to employees about how excited he is to incorporate DEI into <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/united?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@united<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pray United is focused on safety just as much as they\u2019re focused\u00a0on\u00a0diversity <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/d7mU4rkzlf\">pic.twitter.com\/d7mU4rkzlf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/libsoftiktok\/status\/1746993657696117227?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 15, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not the least bit funny. At what point does political correctness stop and a common-sense desire to have mentally stable personnel at the controls of the plane kick in? Does being in tune with the lockstep fashionable agenda of the times really take precedence over actual survival?<\/p>\n<p>From a June 2021 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hemispheresmag.com\/information\/united\/pride\/\">interview<\/a> with Maya Tallman in United\u2019s official in-flight magazine:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Maya: When I got hired at United, I hadn\u2019t transitioned yet and wasn\u2019t \u201cout\u201d to my coworkers. I was still in that place where I knew who I was, I was comfortable in my own head, but in professional settings I was still male. I didn\u2019t start as a visibly LGBTQ+ person; I became one about two years ago. I could not have asked for or hoped for it to have gone any better. Basically 100 percent of the people I work with, they get it. <strong>They understand that this is about the importance of authenticity to one\u2019s mental health \u2013 the importance of being whole by having that alignment is so important for your mental health. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-131240 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.worldtribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/unitdair.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\" \/>The sheer recklessness with customer lives here should be shocking. M. Gallegos, a &#8220;Senior Coordinator&#8221; of operations at Indianapolis International Airport, was also interviewed in the same article as part of United&#8217;s observation of Pride Month. Gallegos asserts that having the proper progressive views on racial and sexual identity makes for good flying:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>M: I am truly inspired by how LGBTQ+ youth <strong>keep pushing forward to make the vision bigger and more progressive, <\/strong>to include trans and nonbinary communities of color, to highlight the struggles of undocumented youth, and much more. They realize that it starts from the grassroots, and much of their hopes to create a better world come from asking questions and listening to the most vulnerable. It comes down to always learning. And <strong>that kind of persistence and spirit is exactly what leads to success in aviation.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>And here you thought aviation was about being able take off, keep the plane in the air and land. Shame on you.<\/p>\n<p>This is not conjecture. This is not a political argument. Adults who identify as transgender have a staggeringly high propensity to attempt suicide. Here\u2019s a 2023 <a href=\"https:\/\/williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu\/press\/transpop-suicide-press-release\/\">report<\/a> from UCLA Law School\u2019s pro-homosexual Williams Institute:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>A new study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that <strong>81% of transgender adults in the U.S. have thought about suicide,<\/strong> 42% of transgender adults have attempted it, and 56% have engaged in non-suicidal self-injury over their lifetimes.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s spell it out as clear as can be: When you have a transgender pilot manning the controls of the flight you are on, there is an 8 in 10 chance that that pilot has seriously contemplated killing himself. Oh, and you also get a free non-alcoholic beverage. Enjoy.<\/p>\n<p>Tragically, one of these sad transgender adult suicide statistics involves a flight attendant heralded by United in its soulless pursuit of corporate woke gratification.<\/p>\n<p>The Denver Post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2023\/03\/24\/transgender-activist-united-flight-attendant-kayleigh-scott\/\">reported l<\/a>ast March (the paper insisted on inaccurately describing the man involved as a \u201cshe\u201d):<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>A transgender United Airlines flight attendant celebrated after she appeared in a 2020 company Trans Day of Visibility commercial <strong>has died at age 25<\/strong>, Colorado authorities confirmed Friday.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Police found the body of Kayleigh Scott in the house where she was living in Englewood, south of Denver, early Monday, Arapahoe County Coroner\u2019s Office senior medical investigator Shannon Sanamo said. She <strong>died by suicide<\/strong>, Sanamo said.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Scott in 2021 <strong>emerged as a high-profile transgender activist<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The article makes clear that United seized on this troubled soul to score progressive brownie points:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><em>In the United Airlines commercial <\/em><\/strong><em>titled \u201cUnited \u2013 Kayleigh\u2019s Story,\u201d Scott declared \u201cI am trans and I am proud\u201d and said she was telling her story publicly <strong>\u201cnot for me but for those out there who are still fighting social norms.\u201d<\/strong> She said, in the commercial, that \u201cmy life changed for the better when I came to United as a flight attendant.\u201d She credited loving coworkers for helping her \u201cbreak free\u201d and said she was \u201cliving confidently as my true self.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>United is unsurprisingly showing similar disregard for passenger safety in focusing on race and female body parts as essential qualifications for its air captains:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby says they want \u201c50%\u201d of their hires to be \u201cwomen or people of color.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He doesn\u2019t care whether or not they can effectively fly an airplane &#8211; all that matters is race and gender. <\/p>\n<p>DEI is going to get people killed.<br \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8Pb0RFiwbR\">pic.twitter.com\/8Pb0RFiwbR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Michael Seifert (@realmichaelseif) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realmichaelseif\/status\/1746712871248015467?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 15, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Ask yourself this question as if your life depended upon it, because it does: Do you really want to fly with a company that fixates on the color and gender of those it graduates from its very own flight training school? From a Jan. 2022 United <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/united-officially-opens-flight-academy-and-welcomes-historic-inaugural-pilot-class-301469954.html\">press release:<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><em>United, the only major U.S. airline to own a flight training school<\/em><\/strong><em>, officially opened United Aviate Academy today and welcomed a historic inaugural class of future pilots<strong>, 80% of whom are women or people of color<\/strong>. United Aviate Academy is a key part of the airline&#8217;s goal to train about 5,000 new pilots at the school by 2030, with at least half women or people of color. This unprecedented training commitment will dramatically expand access to this lucrative and rewarding career while upholding United&#8217;s world-class safety standards.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Thank goodness for the second half of that last sentence. Surely United would never seek to implement its progressive ruling establishment cultural agenda at the expense of individual human safety? Bad news, folks. It\u2019s already done it, to the extreme.<\/p>\n<p>United Airlines was perhaps the most singularly cruel private employer bully on workplace vaccine mandates during the coronavirus hysteria. CEO Scott Kirby was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldtribune.com\/we-gave-everyone-ample-time-biden-lowers-the-boom-on-his-employers-in-speech-dripping-with-hostility\/\">personally praised<\/a> by Joe Biden when the installed president infamously unveiled his federal worker vaccine mandate in Oct. 2021:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>I\u2019ve spoken with Scott Kirby, the CEO of United Airlines, who\u2019s here today. United went from 59 percent of their employees to 99 percent of their employees in less than two months after implementing the requirement. Ninety-nine percent\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s Kirby <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/covid-vaccine-mandate-texas-united-airlines\/\">bragging about<\/a> his strong-arm tactics to CBS that same month:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>&#8220;<strong>I tried to be empathetic<\/strong>, and I do understand. There&#8217;s a lot of people that have a different view on this. I tried not to argue with them about it. We&#8217;re not going to win the arguments on this with people. Really to say my responsibility is to try to do the right thing for United Airlines and what I think is safe,&#8221; said Kirby. &#8220;I respect that you have a different opinion. But <strong>you now have a decision to make about whether you want to get vaccinated and stay at United or not.&#8221;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The way Kirby uses the term \u201cempathetic\u201d is highly disturbing. It evokes a paternalism and ultimately a deep-seated disdain for the personal concerns of the employees at his mercy under pain of job loss. He tried to give a damn about those concerns, really he did.<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to today and the other shoe may finally be about to drop for the man who pressured United workers into being injected with an experimental gene therapy wrongly labeled a \u201cvaccine\u201d that poses significant health risks, including death.<\/p>\n<p>Breitbart <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/law-and-order\/2024\/01\/13\/lawsuit-united-airlines-mocked-and-shamed-vaccine-mandate-holdouts-ceo-accused-of-floating-scarlet-letter-on-id-badges\/\">reported J<\/a>an. 13:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby and upper management expressed animosity toward religious employees who sought exemptions from the company\u2019s draconian coronavirus vaccine mandate, internal company communications have revealed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>A legal brief filed early Saturday [Jan. 13] in part of a larger lawsuit against the airline <strong>contains internal communications obtained in discovery<\/strong>, which show management\u2019s effort to coerce religious employees to take the coronavirus vaccine at every turn. The effort was so blatant that one union president, Craig Symons, expressed to Kirby and others that <strong>United was \u201cover the line\u201d and attempting to institute a \u201cpurge of religious orthodoxy,\u201d<\/strong> the brief revealed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The news site notes the brief lays out the deep animosity Kirby is alleged to have had for the religious sentiments of United workers:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>At the outset, Mr. Kirby threatened employees to \u201cbe very careful about\u201d requesting such accommodations because \u201cvery few\u201d\u00a0 people would \u201cget through the medical and religious exemption process.\u201d <strong>And Mr. Kirby derisively described such employees as \u201call [of a] sudden decid[ing] I\u2019m really religious.\u201d<\/strong> Making his plans clear, <strong>Mr. Kirby warned that anyone who applied for an accommodation was \u201cputting [their] job on the line.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Scott Kirby\u2019s coronavirus vaccine coercion program revealed that United\u2019s progressive agenda comes before the personal welfare of company employees. So perhaps it was inevitable that this same callousness would be unleashed upon customers as well.<\/p>\n<p>United Airlines is willing to risk your life to play out its culturally leftist daydreams. At what point do Americans say enough is enough?<\/p>\n<p>Does the plane they are traveling on have to fall out of the sky and plummet to Earth before the passive and inert citizens of this country finally decide that they will not go along with this madness anymore? Well, that is one kind of an awakening. Alas, it&#8217;s bound to come to a rather abrupt and obliterating end seconds later.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #c72626;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.worldtribune.com\/invest-in-the-american-free-press\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Action<\/a><\/span> . . . . <a href=\"https:\/\/geostrategy-direct-subscribers.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #333399;\">Intelligence <\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><span style=\"color: #b03838;\">. . . . <a href=\"https:\/\/freepressinternational.org\/citizen-journalists\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #c42727;\">Publish<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Special to WorldTribune.com, January 16, 2024 Corporate WATCH Commentary by Joe Schaeffer \u00a0@Schaeff55 You\u2019re not getting a haircut, you know. When you choose to fly United Airlines, you are literally entrusting your life to a corporation you assume will take on the responsibilities of air travel in a competent, professional manner. It\u2019s time to rethink [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":131240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[309,3,504,9,10,12,5],"tags":[509,6],"class_list":["post-131218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corporate-watch","category-exclusives","category-joe-schaeffer","category-rest-of-the-best","category-top-stories","category-world-links","category-world-tribune","tag-not-funny-united-airlines-bizarre-corporate-wokeness-could-cost-lives","tag-worldtribune-com","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}