Sign this petition...Military Airfare Reduction

[imax2268]

I hope this isn't a dupe...

Our military is not “flying free” as most Americans believe. As a majority of the airlines do not provide discount fares for the military, the men and women actively serving our country are paying for their own flights home during leave and – in many instances – are paying higher fares than most of the public. The reason for this is that they are unable to book their tickets in advance as their leaves are not always granted 21, 14 nor 7 days in advance.

All too often, our military are not informed of their leave dates until the last minute. Then they frequently cannot afford the “walk up” fares. As a result, many family members have difficulty seeing their sons or daughters as neither can afford the airfare. In other instances, parents are paying exorbitant airfares to bring their children home before their deployment—worrying that this may very well be the last time they see them.

http://www.petitiononline.com/BSMMIL/petition.html

[KarmaHappens]

1. Similar thing happened to my daughter's boyfriend

...stationed in Ft. Bragg. They were set to go to Iraq around the 10th of Jan. If I have my details straight...one of the airlines that transports them gave TPTB a call saying they had a plane free to transport on Dec. 30th so their departure day was moved up..plus (I think) they wanted them there before the elections.

I realize that should be expected when your are in the Army...but guess who got screwed...the guys and their families. Everyone who had bought tickets in advance to be able to spend holiday time with their families had to amend their tickets at an extra cost or lose them all together.

I put my daughter on a plane to NC this morning. It cost us 50.00 more to be able to leave today and since she is leaving earlier and coming home sooner than planned she had to forfeit her flight home. She now has to take a bus home to TX from NC (28 hrs.)because they simply can't afford another the ticket to get her home.

Oh well...she is in love so she will survive. But it has to be bad on the boy's morale. Her BF is a good kid..been in the army for about 5 years and voted for Kerry :).

Lots of tears today when I watched her take off to be with him... not knowing when or if they will see each other again.

[imax2268]

2. Oh...hey...

believe me I know...my cousin's husband was over there right after the war began...he was air lifted over there with is unit...but when his time came to come home...he had to buy his own ticket and he couldn't afford the money...he had to stay there for a few more months until the money that we sent him was delivered to him so he could buy himself a ticket...

and the right says that we don't support our troops...what Bushit...