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Van Johnston

Van Johnston

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Van Johnston
Singer Andrea Bocelli sues private jet firm

Andrea Bocelli, the Italian operatic singer, is suing New Hampshire-based Private Jet Services Group over breach-of-contract allegations that the firm gave him a noisy, cold private jet with personnel who warned of possible turbulence against his wishes.

Mr. Bocelli, blinded by a soccer injury in his childhood, has heightened hearing sensitivity, and he is particularly “sensitive to the elevated noise that an older airplane tends to make in flight, with such elevated noise causing him more anxiety,” the lawsuit stated.

Full article: http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2022/09/singer-andrea-bocelli-sues-private-jet.html
 
Boo-hoo.
I have a solution for Mr. Bocelli--earplugs!
Or an ANR headset.
Or both.

You'd think a guy with such sensitive hearing and such a fragile psyche would always carry his own.
 
Van Johnston said:
“sensitive to the elevated noise that an older airplane tends to make in flight, with such elevated noise causing him more anxiety,”
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To be sure ... "I am particularly sensitive to the elevated noise that an older opera singer tends to make, with such elevated noise causing me some anxiety." :biggrin:
 
Zeldman said:
How the heck did....

No... never mind.... I don't wanna know.
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I can not help myself.

Born with congenital glaucoma. Brain hemorrhage from a soccer ball.

They tried to cure the blindness with LEECHES.
 
I won't post this, because it's insensitive, but I want to post that perhaps he was never in a jet at all. I mean, maybe he was in a cheap hotel room in Newark, and they just told him he was on an airplane.
 
I can see his point. Regardless of how we may feel about "toughing it out", it sounds like the guy had a contract with the firm to fly in specific airplanes, and they violated the terms of the contract. I don't care if my demands are perceived by some people as unreasonable, if a company agrees to the terms and then doesn't meet them, they're in breach of contract -- and they should be liable for whatever I have to do to make other arrangements. I'm sure getting a private jet charter in specific newer planes on short notice is damned expensive.

Is the guy a little spoiled? Maybe. Lots of people at the pinnacle of their professions are, and like many his ability to perform at that level depends on a certain mental state. Can YOU perform like that? I can't, never could, even on the best of my best days.
 
There are plenty of examples where people did not have to honor the terms of the contract they signed.
 
Racerx said:
Born with congenital glaucoma. Brain hemorrhage from a soccer ball.

They tried to cure the blindness with LEECHES.
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Ok, that I can see.... (no pun intended)

I was thinking a ball to the groin might have caused the blindness.
 
frfly172 said:
A contract is a contract looks like jet services didn’t live up to their end.
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ateamer said:
The company signed a contract. They’re obligated to meet all terms.
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This, what probably happened here is someone signed the contract without reading it and/or not telling the crew the details. If you sign a contract and take the money, you need to live up to the details. While Andrea sounds like a whiner, I think he will get some money.
 
Not unlike Van Halen and the Brown M&M's - They asked for a dish of M&M's in the dressing room with the brown ones removed. If they were in the dish, they knew to double check all the rigging. If the set up crew missed the M&M's, who knows what else they missed.

If the guy was willing to pay for a new Falcon, then the company should have given him one.
 
Albany Tom said:
I won't post this, because it's insensitive, but I want to post that perhaps he was never in a jet at all. I mean, maybe he was in a cheap hotel room in Newark, and they just told him he was on an airplane.
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That is hilarious!
 
Deal's a deal. Honor it.
 
are there types of contract clauses that are actually unenforcable because, oh say, they would require grossly unreasonable actions or actions/inactions contrary to safety?

Were they required not to give the guy a safety briefing?

Were they required not to tell the guy to fasten his seatbelt (because they were anticipating bumps)?
 
This thread should have been titled "Contractor sued for breach of contract" with the subheading "Customer paid for services not received." That's what the article details.

When you buy a service with terms, they are there to protect both parties. The customer retained the services based on the provider's promised intent to deliver. This is exactly why I don't use Enterprise Rent-a-jalopy.
 
Domenick said:
Boo-hoo.
I have a solution for Mr. Bocelli--earplugs!
Or an ANR headset.
Or both.

You'd think a guy with such sensitive hearing and such a fragile psyche would always carry his own.
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Boo hoo? Is that what you tell everyone who pays tens of thousands of dollars and doesn't receive the promised service?
 
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I'm usually firmly in the Lighten Up Francis camp. But not finding a lot of humor in a kid going blind from a sports injury.
 
If you don't intend to or can't uphold your side of the bargain, don't sign the agreement. This really bugs me. A company says it will offer a certain service, and they come up short. They don't care. If the price is $100, and I pay $90, they won't perform at all or demand the difference. Why is the price held to the penny if the performance can be whatever the company wants to do?
 
The entire point of corporate/charter flying is meeting normally unreasonable demands in exchange for lots of money. Otherwise, they’d all just fly coach. It’ll get them there, right?

Honor the contract or pay the price.
 
If I charter a trip through a company and specify a certain type of plane, no brown M&Ms, three ice cubes in my drink, and no cabin announcements other than those legally required, and they agree to it, I expect them to comply. The main difference in this case though is that I can see if they're not complying and stop it right away.

Mr. Bocelli can't see, and at least from the article it appears that the company, at worst, basically used that to take advantage of him on the selection of airplane type. "Oh heck, he'll never know." At best they just ignored that contract provision.

Now I can't say I'm necessarily sympathetic to his complaints, but a contract is a contract. Breach the contract and there should be penalties, even if the breach seems "silly" to some.
 
Not to defend anyone (probably just the opposite, actually), keep in mind that “the company” probably had very little to do with the contract. More than likely the salesman agreed to the terms, and somewhere between there, scheduling, and the crew, the telephone game did what it is always does.

Most companies I’ve worked for had breakdowns in communication, some more intentional than others from my perspective. From the outside looking in, it’s pretty hard to tell where the breakdown occurred, but obviously it resulted in not fulfilling the contract in some ways that were important to the passenger.
 
LesGawlik said:
If you don't intend to or can't uphold your side of the bargain, don't sign the agreement. This really bugs me. A company says it will offer a certain service, and they come up short. They don't care. If the price is $100, and I pay $90, they won't perform at all or demand the difference. Why is the price held to the penny if the performance can be whatever the company wants to do?
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I agree with this, this will either get settled or decided by a judge or jury. It's probably not a case of don't care though.

MauleSkinner said:
Not to defend anyone (probably just the opposite, actually), keep in mind that “the company” probably had very little to do with the contract. More than likely the salesman agreed to the terms, and somewhere between there, scheduling, and the crew, the telephone game did what it is always does.

Most companies I’ve worked for had breakdowns in communication, some more intentional than others from my perspective. From the outside looking in, it’s pretty hard to tell where the breakdown occurred, but obviously it resulted in not fulfilling the contract in some ways that were important to the passenger.
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More likely it's this, a **** poor execution problem. Maule probably nailed it.
 
MauleSkinner said:
Not to defend anyone (probably just the opposite, actually), keep in mind that “the company” probably had very little to do with the contract. More than likely the salesman agreed to the terms, and somewhere between there, scheduling, and the crew, the telephone game did what it is always does.

Most companies I’ve worked for had breakdowns in communication, some more intentional than others from my perspective. From the outside looking in, it’s pretty hard to tell where the breakdown occurred, but obviously it resulted in not fulfilling the contract in some ways that were important to the passenger.
Click to expand...

I run a company that performs government services contracts. It is extremely difficult to consistently meet all contract terms, and takes a great deal of sustained effort to build management processes to ensure compliance at an acceptable standard.

It's the one-offs that get you. People have a natural inclination to do things the way they always have. Throw a curve ball into the fine print and you better have someone tracking it at each point in performance or it will slip through the cracks.
 
MauleSkinner said:
Not to defend anyone (probably just the opposite, actually), keep in mind that “the company” probably had very little to do with the contract. More than likely the salesman agreed to the terms, and somewhere between there, scheduling, and the crew, the telephone game did what it is always does.

Most companies I’ve worked for had breakdowns in communication, some more intentional than others from my perspective. From the outside looking in, it’s pretty hard to tell where the breakdown occurred, but obviously it resulted in not fulfilling the contract in some ways that were important to the passenger.
Click to expand...
Yeah. All of which adds up to, the company (of which the sales droid is an agent) made promises that were broken. Doesn’t really matter how it happens. Live up to your obligations, or pay the price for not doing so.
 
I’m curious if resolution was attempted prior to the lawsuit.
 
Van Johnston said:
Singer Andrea Bocelli sues private jet firm

Andrea Bocelli, the Italian operatic singer, is suing New Hampshire-based Private Jet Services Group over breach-of-contract allegations that the firm gave him a noisy, cold private jet with personnel who warned of possible turbulence against his wishes.

Mr. Bocelli, blinded by a soccer injury in his childhood, has heightened hearing sensitivity, and he is particularly “sensitive to the elevated noise that an older airplane tends to make in flight, with such elevated noise causing him more anxiety,” the lawsuit stated.

Full article: http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2022/09/singer-andrea-bocelli-sues-private-jet.html
Click to expand...


Wow! Man! Life is just really tough sometimes.:rolleyes:
 
I can't help the think that somewhere in the contract is a clause that states something along the lines of (company) reserves the right to substitute aircraft due to availability caused by unplanned and unforeseeable airplane problems...
 
Zeldman said:
I can't help the think that somewhere in the contract is a clause that states something along the lines of (company) reserves the right to substitute aircraft due to availability caused by unplanned and unforeseeable airplane problems...
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According to the suit, the contract called for specific types.
 
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