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Avelo Airlines began operating deportation flights for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last week. The flights departed from Phoenix’ Mesa Gateway Airport (AZA). This has led to lots of controversy with strong opinions on both sides. A travel blogger and New Hampshire state legislator named Seth Miller put up billboards criticizing Avelo. The airline had them taken down and he has now filed a lawsuit in the District Court in Nevada over his right to publicly criticize Avelo Airlines.
In addition to covering the aviation space, Miller was elected to the New Hampshire state legislature and also runs an organization called the AvGeek Action Alliance. The organization raised $6,000 from 70 people to fund the billboards objecting to Avelo’s deportation flights.
The New York Times reports that days after they were put up, Miller received a letter from an attorney accusing him of trademark infringement and unfair competition. Apparently, Avelo felt that customers would be confused that the billboards were affiliated with the airline and said that it could recoup damages of $150,000 for each infringement. The letter further demanded that the billboards be taken down. While this was happening, Avelo convinced the billboard operator (Lamar Advertising) to remove the signs.
Now, Miller is fighting back with a lawsuit filed days ago. He asserts that he has the right to free speech and to object to Avelo’s actions. His lawyer, Charlie Gerstein, commented:
The First Amendment protects Miller’s speech here, and the principle underlying that is that Avelo can make its own speech. Avelo is free to respond to Miller in the marketplace of ideas but is not free to use baseless threats of litigation to silence him.”
We’ll have to wait to see how this plays out in court, but I applaud Miller for standing up for something that he believes in and not backing down when the airline began demanding the removal of the billboards.
Miller is hardly alone in his feelings about this issue. Around 38,000 people have signed a petition boycotting the airline. Aside from the petition, Avelo has faced backlash from the mayor of New Haven, CT. Avelo operates a base at Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport (HVN) and the mayor has requested its CEO to reconsider operating these deportation flights.
Anthony’s Take: This is a hot-button political issue and one that people are sharply divided on. Avelo sees this as a way to earn much needed revenue, but many take issue with its involvement and are questioning the legality of some of these deportations. I’m curious to see how this case goes in court and what is decided on here.
(H/T: Live and Let’s Fly.)
(Featured Image Credit: Avelo Airlines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
