"Not by myself," she answered. "I am a witness in one case. I should give my evidence and not make the final factual determination about that case. But the board is responsible for the systems that allowed fourteen complaints to be dismissed without adequate review. I can lead the governance response while the individual investigations are handled by people independent of my experience."
Margaret looked around the table. Several directors nodded.
The vote to confirm Imani Brooks as chair passed with the necessary majority. Margaret announced the result without theatrics, and the directors stood to congratulate their new colleague. Imani thanked them, but before she accepted the ceremonial pen placed beside the agenda, she asked for the board's first decision to be recorded. The airline would establish independent oversight of involuntary seating changes and reopen the complaints whose review histories appeared deficient.
"No single gate supervisor should be able to decide alone that one paying customer deserves another customer's confirmed seat," Imani said. "There are legitimate operational exceptions, and those should be documented, limited, and reviewed. But personal preference is not an exception, and passenger status does not erase a prior commitment made by the airline. I want our customers to know the difference without having to own shares in the company."
A director responsible for aviation safety asked whether a blanket rule could interfere with emergency aircraft substitutions or legal safety requirements. "It shouldn't," Imani said. "Draft it with those realities in mind. We can require an objective reason, notice to the traveler, and a second review where practicable without pretending every operational crisis offers unlimited time. What we must not do is leave an unexplained override in the hands of someone who can close the complaint about his own choice."
Margaret proposed a special committee to oversee the review of Doug Pruitt's regional complaint handling, separate from the team examining Gary's individual conduct. The motion passed. Doug would be notified and given a chance to provide the underlying records and explain his decisions, while the board suspended his authority to close similar complaints during the review. The company lawyer made sure the meeting minutes distinguished these temporary safeguards from any final employment outcome.
At the end of the session, the directors signed the resolution authorizing the broader review. Imani looked down at the fresh ink and felt the distance between the fragile boarding pass in her pocket and the machinery of corporate governance around her. Her father had never believed ownership meant avoiding ordinary rules. He had believed it meant accepting responsibility for the rules a company chose to follow.
When the meeting finally ended, Tasha brought Imani a cup of coffee that had gone cold while they worked. "Congratulations, Madam Chair," she said. Imani looked at her for a long moment, then smiled. "Now you can say it." Tasha laughed, but the emotion in her eyes was real. She had spent months helping Imani prepare for this role and had imagined a quiet ceremony, not an afternoon in which a customer complaint rearranged the board's entire agenda.
"Do you want the photographers back?" Tasha asked. Imani glanced toward the stage where Gary's unattended plaque had been removed to a storage cart.