Dear John: Flying by seat of your pants

Dear John: I’m hoping you can help me — the little guy — versus Delta Air Lines.

They gave me an awful seat for an almost six-hour flight to Denver and barely apologized after I complained. I have an e-mail chain and pictures of the terrible seat I had to sit in for a two-hour delay and four-hour flight using SkyMiles points. Thanks for considering. A.K.

Dear A.K. That seat looks like something I saw at my neighbor’s curb on trash day.

But, as you already know, Delta made it right. The airline apologized and refunded the 22,500 SkyMiles that you used for that leg of your round-trip flight.

Said a Delta spokesman: “As we discussed, Customer Care contacted [A.K.] to speak to him directly and to apologize if we did not meet his expectations on the first flight of his trip. We are passing his comments regarding his seat along to our Technical Operations team.”

Delta says it is spending $770 million over the next two years to fix up its aircraft, including the Airbus planes like the one you enjoyed so much.

By the way, Delta asked if I thought its offer was fair, and I said it was.

Dear John: We have all read how Mayor de Blasio is in favor of higher income taxes and against income inequality. I propose the following solution.

The mayor and all his progressive followers should donate money to the federal, state and city governments in excess of their respective income taxes. They can set a great example, which I’m sure the rest of the nation would surely follow.

Regarding income inequality, the mayor should declare that all city employees be paid the same amount. To keep it revenue-neutral, take the entire city payroll and divide it by the number of employees. Sure the higher earners will complain, but the lower earners will be ecstatic, and we will have true income equality in city government, no matter what each employee does for a living. It’s a start. M.G.

Dear M.G. OK, I get it. You woke up in a bad mood and decided to test my patience.

Income inequality is a big problem. It always has been, from the time that Roman emperors sat on their thrones eating fatted calves while the people were surviving on soggy bread. In fact, I bet some cavemen ate and lived better than others because they were better hunters — although I have not, in all honesty, been able to interview any cave dwellers about this.

So if you want me to go along with your little exaggeration, fine: I think everyone should be paid the same until all the talented workers leave government employment.

What really should happen is this: The city, state and federal governments should earnestly collect all the taxes that are legitimately due them. And they should cut down on waste — padded payrolls, contracts to cronies, deals that don’t produce the results intended.

But I’m starting to think that my crusade in favor of honest tax collecting and against waste is as big a fairy tale as the one you just spun.

Once the finances of the city de Blasio runs are in better shape, he can pay the lower rungs of workers more.

And once the mayor accomplishes that, private industry will follow his lead. Our mayor will be a hero!

Thanks for keeping me entertained.

Dear John: Great article on oil prices rising, except for blaming Clinton.

If I remember correctly, gas prices were as stable during his tenure as any other time in history. It wasn’t until George (dum-dum) Bush got into office that the prices started their massive swings that we see today. And by the way, the massive swings are normally in the upward direction. Tom.

Dear Tom: I’m not blaming anyone. But the fact is that deregulation of the banking industry happened under Clinton’s watch. If anyone’s to blame, it’s Robert Rubin, Clinton’s treasury secretary, who came from Wall Street and had a special place in his heart for his former industry.

Dum-dum Bush — as you called him — had massive chaos in the Middle East during his term. Can we really blame him for energy prices rising during that period?

Send your questions to Dear John, The NY Post, 1211 Ave. of the Americas, NY, NY 10036, or [email protected].