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Fox And Friends Takes Credit For Airlines’ Deal On Troops’ Baggage Fees: ‘Mission Accomplished’

Yesterday, American Airlines announced some good news: It decided to waive large fees for a third piece of checked luggage for active-duty military personnel.  This campaign was led largely by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). On Aug. 8, VFW Commander in Chief George Lisicki wrote a letter to the Air Transport Association of America asking the organization to negotiate an agreement allowing military personnel to check a third bag without charge. Lisicki’s letter was in response to a July 30 El Paso Times article. In the past few days, this campaign has picked up steam. For example, on Tuesday, MSNBC, UPI, and the Washington Times all reported on it. Yesterday, the CNN, New York Post, and CBS News also did stories. Yet this morning on Fox News, the Fox and Friends hosts made a desperate grab for influence by claiming that they were the ones responsible for the change in American Airlines’s policy:

KILMEADE: Meanwhile, some good news. Mission accomplished. At 29 minutes before the top of the hour. It seems yesterday, when we brought up that airlines were charging additional bag costs to military people being deployed overseas — sometimes costing them as much as $300. Outrage was through your e-mail, through communications with us, and I guess through the right people, because there’s going to be a change in procedure, at least when it comes to American Airlines and our military.

Brian Kilmeade also praised Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) for sending a letter yesterday to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, writing that “any reimbursement request should be submitted by the airlines directly to the Pentagon in order to alleviate the burden on our troops in seeking repayment.” However, he claimed that Obama likely had the idea to write the letter after watching Fox and Friends: “So he might have been watching our show yesterday. You know why? Because after all, it is at 6:00 at night in Hawaii, isn’t it? Twelve hours ahead of time?” Watch it:   Carlson and Doocy were then forced to awkwardly point out to Kilmeade that Hawaii is actually five hours behind the East Coast time zone, not 12 hours ahead. Unshaken in his belief in Fox and Friends’s gigantic influence, Kilmeade asked Obama to e-mail them: “Barack Obama, if you’re watching, friends@foxnews.com.” (HT: Raw StoryDigg It!

Transcript:

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KILMEADE: Meanwhile, some good news. Mission accomplished. At 29 minutes before the top of the hour. It seems yesterday, when we brought up that airlines were charging additional bag costs to military people being deployed overseas — sometimes costing them as much as $300. Outrage was through your e-mail, through communications with us, and I guess through the right people, because there’s going to be a change in procedure, at least when it comes to American Airlines and our military.  DOOCY: It’s automatic and instantaneous. American Airlines said from now on, we’re not going to charge service personnel heading over to the war zone for that third bag. The third-bag charge is pretty standard industry-wide.  CARLSON: American’s charging for every bag now, aren’t they?  DOOCY: American had made a good point. They said, look. We know they are being reimbursed. So we know it’s not coming out of their pocket. But it was a hassle. So what American has decided to do — and they were pressured a little bit by the VFW and stuff like that — said we’re not going to charge them anymore.  And this is a great day for American Airlines that they’re able to do that, and for the people who are heading over there. They’re not going to be hassled. KILMEADE: Barack Obama sent a letter out immediately to Defense Secretary Gates, saying, find a way to reimbursed these men and women quickly, because they need the money. This is wrong. So he might have been watching our show yesterday. You know why? Because after all, it is at 6:00 at night in Hawaii, isn’t it? Twelve hours ahead of time? CARLSON: No.  DOOCY: I think it’s five. Five hours behind us. CARLSON: Hawaii’s behind us. KILMEADE: Barack Obama, if you’re watching, friends@foxnews.com. Okay. CARLSON: Alright. In case he’s having a late night there. KILMEADE: He might do it. DOOCY: You never know.