Bill Oreilly Goes On Rant

[Hobby]

Here is my reply first... I don't recommend reading the entire transcript.... waste of time... 15 minutes of Rant

First I have watched your program since you were on Inside Editon and all through Fox News. I will tell you what I think! Come on Bill, you went on a long-winded rant pretending this was for us. Shame on you for you using your podcast to get revenge! So you had a bad experience having to wait for your flight, boo hoo! Well, who hasn't? And they lied to you! That's what people do when they don't want you to know the truth or they don't know themselves! On a few flights over the years, I have had to wait hours upon hours, and sometimes the flight was canceled. I wasn't happy about it but things do happen and no I particularly did not need to know the why.
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Start of commentary....

Hey, Bill O'Reilly here. Welcome to the No Spin News, Monday, April 11, 2022. Stand Up for Tour Country. Well, I'm back. I got back Saturday and if you were following BillOReilly.com while I was gone on vacation in Turks Caicos, you know we had a terrible situation with JetBlue. And we're going to get into that tonight on a wider level because everybody who flies in this country is getting hosed. Every single person. And we're going to put a stop to it. We've already made inroads. So this is a fascinating broadcast tonight. If you have a pen and paper, that might come in handy. So the airline industry is harming, literally harming, millions, probably tens of millions of Americans, and the Biden Administration not doing anything about it. They know about it. Pete Buttigieg, not doing a darn thing. So I'm going to make the case, you're going to see it clearly, I hope. And we are going to do something about this.

Skippin over Biden commentary...

OK, airlines. This is the Talking Point Memo. So let me set this up. We are in business and have been for 25 years to look out for you. This report is not about me. I am just a catalyst for it. All right. We want to enhance your life - make it better, protect you. That's why I am doing The No Spin News and you are watching or listening to me. I don't need the money. I don't have to do this. I could float around the Caribbean as much as I want. But I believe that I'm doing good by looking out for you. Now I know that's a little self-aggrandizing. I know it. But it's the truth. So on Sunday, April 3rd, I arrive at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City at 5:30 in the morning. 5:30. JetBlue. It's a zoo already, airline terminal is a zoo. All right. The Feds, checking people in, shaking them down, throwing stuff all over the place. Just a zoo. Giant lines. 5:30, Sunday morning. OK, place is packed. Finally get to the gate. The flight, JetBlue 1-1-7-9, Nonstop, JFK to Turks Caicos set to take off at 6:55. On time sticker. As soon as to the gate I go, 'great!', it's going to be great. It's a 3 hour, 15 minute flight. OK. 6:55 rolls around, delayed. They put 7:55 on it. Why? They make an announcement. The plane is here in New York and it's being rolled out to the gate. Apparently, that takes an hour. OK. People sitting there, alright, what are you going to do? Plane has to be at the gate for you to get on. Then at 7:55, delayed again for an hour this time. Nobody says why. We can see the plane at the gate. Nobody says why. 8:55 shows up. Delayed another hour. Now we're working on hour 3. Nobody says why. Then I get involved. OK? I thought it was discourteous to all the people on the flight, not to even give them a reason the flight is more than 2 hours delayed. Right? OK.

 

Now when I buy - and when you buy - an airline ticket, that is a contract. We pay our money in return for the service of taking us from point A to point B. That is a contract and it's a literal contract because the airlines, if you read the contract, they've got you every way. OK, but it's a contract nevertheless, and they have to uphold and get you where you want to go - or they're supposed to pay a price. Which they don't. So I get a supervisor from JetBlue, finally he walks out. Doesn't know me, which is good. I don't want preferential treatment. I don't want any of that, OK? And he's a wise guy. He's a wise guy. Now I'm getting a little heated. Little Irish, OK? And I said, 'Hey, you're the supervisor at this gate. We've been waiting here now 2 and a half hours and you are not updating us.' All right, and he gives me some kind of, this. So I'm not going to get into that personal thing, but everybody heard it. All right, I made it quite clear that I wanted him to find out what the deuce was happening, as would be my right as a consumer who already paid for the ticket.

 

OK, fast forward, the flight took off 5 hours and 40 minutes late. Most of the people by that time had left. They went over to a Delta flight at 11, which took off pretty much on time. OK, so there are only a handful of us left at the JetBlue Gate, but I was going to stay to see this through. 5 hours and 40 minutes late. You know why? They didn't have a pilot. There was no pilot ready to fly the plane. None. They had to drag a guy who was off, out of his house, he had to drive to the airport, and he finally showed up. That's why. They knew they didn't have a pilot. JetBlue knew it. They had to know it. And they hosed everybody on that flight! So, I kicked into action. I tweeted about it, got picked up everywhere. Bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom. So, today, if you read The Wall Street Journal, most of the other newspapers, JetBlue announces - because of this, trust me, that they're cutting back their flights in the spring and summer because they don't have enough personnel. But first, they lied about why the flight was delayed, and I'll read you the quote in a moment. But first, I want to give you some facts. Saturday, April 2nd, 65% of JetBlue flights throughout the country were either canceled or delayed. 65%. On Saturday, April 2nd. Sunday, 76%, and this is a very heavy travel period for spring break. Monday, April 4th, 46%. Delta, Saturday, April 2nd, 15% as opposed that were canceled. OK, no, I'm sorry. Delta Saturday, April 2nd, 8% of flights canceled as opposed to JetBlue's 15. Sunday, 16% of Delta flights canceled, 34% JetBlue. Monday, 6% of Delta flights canceled. 13% for JetBlue. They, they fly the same routes. OK.

 

So Jet Blue lies and says it's weather. Weather prevented us from doing it. We couldn't get there. And this is the CEO, put his picture up there. Robin Hayes. All right. He's based in Long Island City. He would not provide a spokesman to come on this program tonight. Wouldn't do it. He lied about it! This man lied about it. He knew the press release was going out, saying it was weather. All of the delays and cancelations were weather. Bull! Because Delta flies the same routes. Delta got right out to Turks Caicos, as I said. This is a disaster, but it's an ongoing disaster. Last Christmas, 2021, JetBlue only had 72% in December, Christmas season, of their flights arrive on time. 72%. OK. That's outrageous. That is outrageous. I mean, you know, you fly in for Christmas and you can't get there. Almost a third of their flights are either canceled or delayed. They do anything about it? No, it got worse. It got worse. So who is supposed to prevent this? Oh, and by the way, the last weekend, yesterday, Sunday, yesterday, Saturday, another disaster. All right. Saturday, April 9th. Half of JetBlue flights in this country were delayed. Half! Sunday, 34%. Insane. Insane. So now, oh, no, no, we don't - now they admit they don't have the personnel to fly the planes, but they don't tell you. You go to the airport, run up all that expense. So the Federal Aviation Administration is supposed to be monitoring this. The guy who runs it is Billy Nolan. Throw him up there. Billy Nolan has just took over. OK. He is a bureaucrat. He has never really done anything in his life. He doesn't know what the deuce he's doing. So Billy Nolan is the guy. We asked Billy to come on on the show and talk to him. No. But the real villain is Pete Buttgieg, the Secretary of Transportation. Buttigieg, again, doesn't know what he's doing. He's Billy's boss. Now, the FAA can fine JetBlue. They can do a whole bunch of stuff to JetBlue. Nothing. Nothing.

 

So this is not going to get better because the Biden Administration doesn't care. Am I getting through to everyone? If you go to the airport, it's a dice roll. You'll get your luggage on the plane, it won't take off. Your, you know, your plans will be ruined. Whatever it may be. Spring breakers were stranded for days. Couldn't get back. Horror show after horror show. Nobody in the Biden Administration doing anything about it. Are you surprised? And? How about the media? Media covering this? No! Fox News covered it a little. CNN, not at all. MSNBC, not at all. ABC News, World News Tonight, not at all. Evening News covered. CBS, Evening News. NBC covered. OK, little pieces, little pieces. Number of people affected, tens of millions - by this.

OK, So I'm not going to get it because I did eventually get to Turks Caicos, almost 10 hours later. All right. Now, what can people do? So you have an organization, FlyersRights.org. I would like to see a massive class action suit against, I don't know, all the airlines? Buttigieg, federal government. I don't know really who to target here. I know you've been involved with some lawsuits in this area. Is there anything viable that we can do?



"It's very difficult to get a class action certified. It has to be in federal court. However, if you can prove that the airlines have actually been acting in bad faith, and they have, you know, absolutely lied. They always say it's, it's weather, or it's air traffic control. But as you, as you indicated, it's really the lack of pilots is the number one reason. And the other reason is they have no reserves. Some airlines actually operate with negative reserves. And there's no requirement that they have reserves. So you could file a class action suit. I'm not saying what would happen with it, but it would certainly be in the tens of billions of dollars."

 

Can your organization put that together? Because you need a central place. I can direct millions of people to you. All right. Again, it's FlyersRights - one word - .org. And they will tell you their story. We've already proven that Delta took off on most of the JetBlue routes. But JetBlue, for some reason couldn't take off. Because they lied said it was weather, while Delta zipped right down to Turks Caicos with no problem. Same route, same day. OK. So, is it possible that you guys - I'm sure you have attorneys working with you - can you, can we put something together here?

 

"If we get, if we get sufficient evidence, as well as complaints. We have attorneys, not on our staff, but we have class action attorneys, that will bring these kind of suits. They are very expensive. They take a long time. And that's why you need a lot of people and you need some really egregious situations."

This is where I said enough and turned Bill off.

[Danno]

Bill on a commercial airline? Doubt it. Jet Blue is going through a major change. Last month our Jet Blue flight back from Cancun, they didn't have a gate and we bussed out to the plane. That route has been cancelled. They need to charge more if they want to stay in business. $350 round trip Sacramento to Cancun.

[Hobby]

All the airlines have issues. I am more interested in their safety record than I am in keeping a schedule. I installed an app on my smartphone flightradar24.com I was totally blown away by the air traffic... looks like LA freeways at 5pm.

[Hobby]

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