“And now you’re threatening a profitable retention program.”
Adrian said:
“Did Vivian know ER-9 existed?”
Mason froze.
The room noticed.
“Why is that relevant?”
“Answer.”
“She knew we had accommodations.”
“Did she know passengers could be moved?”
“She knew the company valued her business.”
“Did you ever tell her 2A would be handled regardless of assignment?”
Silence.
“Mason.”
He exhaled.
“I may have told her customer experience would take care of preferences.”
Adrian looked at Elliot.
“Did Mason contact you before Flight 287?”
Elliot hesitated.
Elena closed her eyes.
Bad answer already.
“When?”
Adrian asked.
Elliot said:
“Night before.”
“What did he ask?”
“That Vivian prefers 2A.”
“Did he give my name?”
“No.”
“Did he know who held 2A?”
“Not that I know.”
“Then what happened?”
Elliot looked at report.
“I forwarded request.”
“To?”
“Executive travel desk.”
“Which activated ER-9.”
“Yes.”
“Who chose passenger to displace?”
“System.”
Elena looked up.
“System does not choose automatically.”
Elliot stared.
She continued:
“A user manually selected target reservation.”
Adrian felt cold.
“Who?”
Elena said:
“Station manager Douglas Bell.”
“On what criteria?”
“We haven't interviewed him yet.”
Adrian said:
“Place Graves on administrative leave.”
The room erupted.
Elliot stood.
“You cannot be serious.”
Mason shouted from screen.
“This is insane.”
Adrian remained seated.
“Elena?”
She read from governance rules.
“As chairman and controlling shareholder, with legal concurrence and pending investigation into material compliance risk, executive suspension is within authority subject to compensation terms.”
Elliot stared.
“You planned this.”
“No.”
Adrian said.
“I prepared for facts.”
“This is retaliation.”
“No.”
“Retaliation would be firing you because my hoodie got wet.”
“This is preservation.”
Elliot looked around.
Some directors avoided his eyes.
He understood.
Mason said:
“I move to challenge.”
Another director spoke.
“Second.”
Vote.
Challenge failed.
Seven to five.
Mason's face turned hard.
“This is not over.”
Adrian looked at him.
“I hope not.”
“Because we have three hundred eighty-four cases to review.”
The investigation lasted seven weeks.
It was worse than Adrian wanted.
Better than he feared.
There had been no centralized instruction to target passengers by race.
That mattered.
There had been a scoring system.
That was almost as troubling.
The ER-9 tool calculated who was “least costly to displace.”
Factors included:
Ticket price.
Loyalty tier.
Travel frequency.