Iberia Forces 3 Kids Flying Alone From Miami To Tel Aviv Off Their Plane In Spain
Way too wordy and convoluted. Someone seeing the headline without knowing the story would need to read it three times to make heads and tails out of it. I like our suggestions better
.
Ms. Addi asked the gate agent how she could bump 3 children
Wording seems way too soft. The tone should be incredulous, not blase; this isn't about the weather.
and that there is nothing against the law preventing minors from being bumped off a flight.
Should be "and there is no law preventing minors..."
When Ms. Addi asked the gate agent to put aside the law aside and have some compassion
As per the preceding sentence there is no law at play here, so there is no law to be "put aside" (and definitely not put aside twice
).
A better way of putting it would be "Ms. Addi asked the gate agent to forget about laws and have some compassion"
” I cannot speak to your mother”
Extra space after the first quotation mark.
The kids were sent to a customer service desk and given a hotel voucher, but were told they couldn’t receive any a check for compensation on the spot as they were all under 18.
Neither Ms. Addi, who was in Israel, nor her 17 year old daughter, who was in a Madrid hotel room, got any sleep due to their anxiety about the situation. Iberia in Tel Aviv said they were not able to handle any compensation issues.
You're mixing up the hotel/anxiety issue and compensation issue here. In addition, the most egregious part of the whole story isn't given enough attention IMO. Here's how I would write these two paragraphs:
The kids were sent to a customer service desk, and given a hotel voucher and nothing else. Iberia left the three young children and teens all alone in a strange city. Neither Ms. Addi, who was in Israel, nor her 17 year old daughter, who was in a Madrid hotel room, were able to sleep a wink due to their anxiety over the situation.
According to both EU and Israeli law, all three passengers are entitled to compensation for involuntary bumping. But the customer service desk in Madrid claimed they couldn't issue a check since they were all under 18, while Iberia in Tel Aviv simply said they were not able to handle any compensation issues.
I waited a week for Iberia to investigate the issue and they finally replied with the following,
Needs a colon, not a comma.
Perhaps the law doesn’t prohibit minors from being bumped, but what about common sense and decency? Why were other passengers not solicited or bumped instead of 3 children in a foreign country?
Again, I feel that the most important bit is being under-represented. Maybe add another question, something to the effect of "Was Iberia willing to accept the responsibility if something, God forbid, happened to these kids?"
That is the most mind-boggling part of this story, IMO. Just taking three minors and leaving them alone in a strange city where they don't even know the language. A trained ape would be able to comprehend the absurdity and irresponsibility of such a thing.
Also, and this is a more general comment, quotes look pretty weird on the new site. The center alignment doesn't fit the rest of the page, the paragraphs are spaced way too much. It would look much better in a more compact form, maybe even on a slightly shaded field (similar to the old site, if I may bring that up
).