Jet Blue's offer of
free flights to police from across the country who'll attend the Saturday funeral of executed New York City Police Department officer Rafael Ramos riled some anti-police brutality activists, who took to Twitter to castigate the airline.
The Daily Caller, which first reported the backlash on Friday, noted that the airline was working "directly with the NYPD" to transport fellow officers from around the country.
JetBlue announced on Christmas Eve that its free flights were made available "to law enforcement agencies across our route network who wish to send representatives to New York to support their brethren . . . We are accepting up to two officers from each department (space permitting)," a spokeswoman told
CNN.
She said the airline had provided similar support in the past, but didn't provide any details.
Jet Blue's offer won immediate praise from many who posted their admiration on Twitter, including Andrew Hickey, who wrote with the hashtag NYPD Lives Matter, and Fox News Channel host Greta Van Susteren.
But those critical of the move were posting their rage as well.
One tweet said:
Other
tweets accused the airline of offering the free flights for "publicity" and "profit," and of supporting "police brutality."
Still another called for a boycott of the airline:
Ramos and partner Wenjian Liu were shot and killed last Saturday by gunman Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who then killed himself.
Brinsley had posted messages on social media suggesting the assassinations were in revenge for the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police.
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