Here’s a Katrina story I haven’t heard tied together anywhere: airline volunteers.

“None of the airlines involved required a contract or any written guarantee of payment before sending their planes and volunteer crews,” Simon wrote of the American Airlines flights. “One official said if Gore promised to pay, that was good enough for them.”
— Gore airlifts victims from New Orleans Former vice president chartered two private aircraft Saturday, September 10, 2005; Posted: 7:22 a.m. EDT (11:22 GMT) CNN.com
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — Al Gore helped airlift some 270 Katrina evacuees on two private charters from New Orleans, acting at the urging of a doctor who saved the life of the former vice president’s son.

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