Editor's note: Alaska Air is no longer going to provide prayer cards to passengers. This doesn't sit well with Dave Harbour, publisher of Northern Gas Pipelines. Here's what he had to say:
Today, Alaska Airlines announced it has unilaterally cancelled its over three-decade-long tradition of providing prayer cards for meals.
It did not query its customers in general, nor its Gold members for their opinions. One wonders if Alaska Air's esteemed Alaska advisory groups weighed in.
Its reasoning lacks logic and common sense and could become a classic text book case of a marketing and public relations disaster, a "PR boomerang."
If it had only said, "We're eliminating the prayer card because, to counterbalance rising fuel costs, we were forced to cut many nonessential operational expenses like this," the management would have at least had the appearance of honesty.
Here is a link. Here is a link to the Alaska Air Prayer Face Book link established several years ago by Pastor Kent Redfern, Muldoon Community Assembly.
Dave Harbour is the publisher of Northern Gas Pipelines. His opinions are his own. The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch. Alaska Dispatch welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.