Salomon Says: Unfriendly Skies

Torah Reading: Be'halot'cha

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Published: December 31, 2005
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Visitor Comments: 7

(7) Anonymous, June 5, 2012 6:37 PM

I agree.

Rules are well and good, but common sense must prevail and compassion for people. The bureacracy in healthcare is creating a monster which is labor and time intensive and costly but which really does not translate into a better value for the patients. For it takes over 17 steps to obtain an order for a pill and tanscribe it and send it to the pharmacy. Each step has a potential for an error. Yet all this busy work is of no real value to the patient.

(6) Anonymous, January 4, 2006 12:00 AM

18 year old boy jailed for not being a citizen

How about the situation of an 18 year old boy in Cleveland whose grandfather brought him here as 10 year old boy. The grandfather moved back to Germany and the boy went to Immigration office and they have had him in jail ever since. They want to send him to Germany and he speaks no German!

(5) Anonymous, January 3, 2006 12:00 AM

I agree with Anonymous, who points out reasonable explanations for the rules established by airlines. With all due respect, Rabbi Salamon, you seem to imply that these rules are arbitrary or senseless. I agree that rules should be bent for good reason if possible, but not if doing so would compromise security or timeliness. What about the people who arrive 43 minutes prior to takeoff?? 42?? 41?? Where would you draw the line?

(4) Anonymous, January 2, 2006 12:00 AM

What about everyone else????????

Dear Rabbi,
I greatly admire the way you teach and your insights into life which has had a very positive impact on me. With all respect, however, and since you asked for my opinion, please allow me to point out that I do not think it is fair that everyone should be inconvenienced by people that do not follow the established time schedules. Since Atlanta is one of the busiest hubs in the world, it has the greatest number of bags from all connecting flights which will be delayed if it permits people to check luggage after the alloted times. We all know that this often does not happen in the best of circumstances. Now with added security checks, baggage screening, bankrupt carriers with airplanes wasting time on the ground, you want to make it worse by cutting people slack who cannot seem to get to the airport 45 minutes before departure. This all results in everyone else on the plane being late and perhaps without luggage, and perhaps missing their connections.

I hate to sound selfish, but I do not think that my bags should get mixed up, and I should have to be inconvenienced if someone else does not follow the rules.

I am certain we would blame the airline if we were delayed arriving home erev Shabbat, without bags, and missed candle lighting........and not the lovely couple and their baby who the airline allowed to check in after the deadline! What do you think?????

(3) Anonymous, January 2, 2006 12:00 AM

Other options not presented

To apply the 45-minute rule so strictly that even 1 minute of grace is not given is extremely harsh. It does not allow for the fact that nearly every watch or clock you look at will read a slightly different time, at the same time, unless they are auto-synched clocks. Even policemen give a couple of mph of grace to allow for slight differences in the calibration of speedometers. However, it has been my experience that the ticket agent has some leeway in these matters and if the ticket agent did not offer to make a couple of phone calls to the gate, etc, then they were not offering the same type of customer service that they have at times offered to me. Also, there is also the option of signing a form for voluntary separation from your checked luggage if the time is too short but apparently even this option was not offered to your children. There are stipulations associated with this option, specifically that the airline is not responsible to deliver the luggage to you as they would be if the luggage was misconnected by the airline. But, making a second trip to the airport to pick up the bags (provided the airport is not unreasonable far from the final destination) is far less painful that what your children were put through.

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About the Author

Rabbi Yaakov Salomon

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Rabbi Yaakov Salomon, C.S.W. is a noted psychotherapist, in private practice in Brooklyn, N.Y. for over 25 years. He is a Senior Lecturer and the Creative Director of Aish Hatorah's Discovery Productions. He is also an editor and author for the Artscroll Publishing Series and a member of the Kollel of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath.

Rabbi Salomon is co-author, with Rabbi Noah Weinberg, of the best selling book "What the Angel Taught You; Seven Keys to Life Fulfillment," (Mesorah), and is also the co-producer of the highly-acclaimed film, "Inspired."

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In these marvelous stories -- brimming with wit, understanding, a touch of irony and a large helping of authentic Torah perspective -- we will walk with a renowned and experienced psychotherapist and popular author through the pathways of contemporary life: its crowded sidewalks, its pedestrian malls, and the occasional dead end street. This is a walk through our lives that will be fun, entertaining -- and eye-opening. In our full -- sometimes overfull -- and complex lives, Yaakov Salomon is a welcome and much-needed voice of sanity and reason.

His speaking, writing and musical talents have delighted audiences from Harvard to Broadway and everything in between. Rabbi Salomon shares his life with his wife, Temmy, and their unpredictable family.