Officer on leave after dragging United Airlines passenger off plane

[Mosha]

Airlines such as United select passengers to be involuntarily denied boarding based on a number of factors, including the fare class of their tickets, frequent-flyer status, their itinerary, and when they checked in to the flight. No mention of race, sorry.
 
Anyway, at least it wasn't a white 'aviation security officer' that was responsible.

He wasn't denied boarding, he was already seated.

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[mommysboy]

It just seems incredible that a policeman should do such a thing.  I guess he had the law on his side, but it just stinks.  No, it does not surprise me that this happened in USA. 

 

 

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

Nice bit of victim blaming here, I bet you wouldn't be saying this if it was you they were dragging down an aisle of a plane. They shouldn't have done it full stop. If no one wants to get off, then tough titties,, suck it up and arrange for your staff to go another way. 

If it was me I would not be dragged off a plane I would deplane as soon as required, by law enforcement. How would you feel if your morning flight to Chigago was cancelled. And thus and your connection to Asia, was impossible and you had to stay over another day. All because one passenger refused a legal request to deplane and your flight crew was stuck overnight out of position in Chicago?

 

 

 

[SiamBeast]

And why isn't there (yet) a law against overbooking? Would avoid so much trouble.

[SiamBeast]

1 minute ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

I would not be dragged off a plane I woulf deplane as soon as asked.

How would you feel if your morning flight to Chigago was cancelled. And thus and your connection to Asia, was impossible and you had to stay over another day. All because one passenger refused a legal request to deplane and your flight crew was stuck overnight out of position on Chicago?

 

I'd blame the airline company for that, not the passenger. If you buy a ticket, you're in your right to get the service you paid for. The airline overbooking is THEIR problem, so their little princess staff will need to find another way to get there.

[PremiumLane]

3 minutes ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

I would not be dragged off a plane I woulf deplane as soon as required. 

How would you feel if your morning flight to Chigago was cancelled. And thus and your connection to Asia, was impossible and you had to stay over another day. All because one passenger refused a legal request to deplane and your flight crew was stuck overnight out of position in Chicago?

 

 

The airline screwed up, they should suck it up and deal with it - if your paying customers do not want to go on another flight, then deal with it in a professional manner - why is that so difficult to understand. Now they have done massive damage to their reputation. 

 

I would blame the airline not the customer if my flight was delayed. 

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

You would be moaning loud! They don't have crews positioned in every city and crew scheduled to operate flights are seated at the highest priority. We have people saying they should put the crew on a rental car or call a Lear Jet, that takes time too. Then when they get to their destination start a rest period at a hotel. This is why they are princessses, sometimes seen laid out in Business class seats while gold members are denied upgrades. No Buck no Buck Rodgers

 

 

 

[Kadilo]

Trying to defend their actions from a legal standpoint is one thing but with them already being in the media spotlight recently for the wrong reasons you would think they would have a bit more savvy then to do this.
Someone' s head will roll and the damage will cost the company far more than any compo numerous customers will ultimately claim.
Anyone trying to apportion blame on the Asian guy I assume are just trolling for a reaction. It's a sad day to see an old man bloodied and looking visibly in shock as if he's just been mugged on the streets, not for boarding an airplane.
The worlds gone mad.


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[PremiumLane]

6 minutes ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

You would be moaning loud! They don't have crews positioned in every city and crew scheduled to operate flights are seated at the highest priority. We have people saying they should put the crew on a rental car or call a Lear Jet, that takes time too. Then when they get to their destination start a rest period at a hotel. This is why they are princessses, sometimes seen laid out in Business class seats while gold members are denied upgrades. No Buck no Buck Rodgers

 

 

 

Yes, complaining to the people who caused the mess, the airline. 

 

Your logic - airline screw up so let's blame it on customers.

 

 Some of us live in the real world and don't think it is acceptable for people to be assaulted cos they don't volunteer to get another flight.

Edited April 11, 2017 by PremiumLane

[LPCustom69]

4 hours ago, pegman said:

Are you kidding us? Race you think needs to be in the rules for it to be used in a discriminatory way in that country? Get real buddy! What an absolutely pathetic place.

Seriously, Peggy?

[peterrabbit]

United Airlines is now the scourge of the travel industry and its 'brand' has been totally trashed.

 

If the shareholders have any sense, they will immediately call an emergency shareholders meeting and sack the whole board of Directors.

 

If not, then its only a question of time before they go bankrupt and the shareholders lose everything. 

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2017 by peterrabbit

[mommysboy]

4 minutes ago, SiamBeast said:

 

I'd blame the airline company for that, not the passenger. If you buy a ticket, you're in your right to get the service you paid for. The airline overbooking is THEIR problem, so their little princess staff will need to find another way to get there.

He was right to refuse, though probably for his own safety he should have folded sooner.

 

He was in the seat, the other people involved in the over booking were not:  it is easier just to tell them they could not board, than get a seated passenger to alight.

 

And it turns out the plane was not strictly overbooked- the 4 needed places were for airline staff, presumably they were not paying customers.

 

Hopefully, UA will not encounter this problem again, because with luck no one will fly with them.

 

It seems the passenger's biggest mistake was not having corporate clout !!

 

As for USA: Land of the free!! 

 

 

[dick dasterdly]

5 minutes ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

I would not be dragged off a plane I woulf deplane as soon as required. 

How would you feel if your morning flight to Chigago was cancelled. And thus and your connection to Asia, was impossible and you had to stay over another day. All because one passenger refused a legal request to deplane and your flight crew was stuck overnight out of position in Chicago?

 

 

 

Just now, PremiumLane said:

The airline screwed up, they should suck it up and deal with it - if your paying customers do not want to go on another flight, then deal with it in a professional manner - why is that so difficult to understand. Now they have done massive damage to their reputation. 

 

I would blame the airline not the customer if my flight was delayed. 

Exactly.  The airline should have realised that it was their problem and immediately offered a generous offer to passengers to take the next flight.

 

Instead, they started off with a paltry amount and gradually increased it before bringing in the 'heavies' to forcibly evict a fare paying customer....

 

But we're going round in circles and repeating the same thing over and over again.

[Guest]

Earlier today

- Twitter: United has been trending as top story

- 9 out of 20 reddit top threads were about United

- Weibo had 64 million views on their United article

 

Those numbers do matter.

 

This is one of the biggest PR disasters I have seen. The CEO's unempathic comments made it worse. I would not be too surprised if the CEO would be fired over this.

 

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

One thing not in the medianis this is one of the regional flights that major airlines like United operate through contractor airlines. They are the pits, cancel and delay all the time when whether is bad. Recently there is news they can't cover there flight numbers and cancel because they pay so bad they are actually short crews! This is a trick because weather delays get no compensation, if it is because of no crew you should get hotel/food vouchers but they shift

Blame around to mask it.

[Johpa]

1 hour ago, Dipterocarp said:

Wrong, passengers can be removed for any operational necessity.

 

Again, I have only seen wording noting the denial of boarding , and that without even to have any justification.  But although there maybe something in the fine print somewhere, I've yet to be shown anything about removing an already boarded and seated passenger apart from security or health.  This will head to the courts for final determination, perhaps to determine whether operational necessity goes beyond the necessity of the flight in question.  But the real question is whether the clear right to deny boarding can be retroactively applied to those already boarded and seated.  Whose to say that United didn't just go Thai to get some favored VIP somewhere for a party?

[mommysboy]

6 minutes ago, PremiumLane said:

Yes, complaining to the people who caused the mess, the airline. 

 

Your logic - airline screw up so let's blame it on customers.

 

 Some of us live in the real world and don't think it is acceptable for people to be assaulted cos they don't volunteer to get another flight.

 

"Volunteer".  I suggest some on this thread need to go to the dictionary.  In the event "Or else" would have been more appropriate.  Utterly disgraceful- whatever the reason.  Full stop.  End of.  Period.

[Flustered]

Antone who has frequently traveled on any American internal airline knows full well that the passengers have no rights and airline staff can act as they want. Having traveled on airlines around the world including Aeroflot internal from Moscow to Tyumen for a few months, I can say that the airline companies in America are the worst.

 

What is important here is that they were not overbooked as claimed, a fact that will help this passenger with his law suit. They wanted the 4 seats for staff members who were probably needed at the other end for another flight....bad organisational management.

 

Just watch the CEO of United eat humble pie over the next few weeks as the victim is invited onto many TV interviews to give his side of the story. This will cost United $ MILLIONS.

 

[kkerry]

 

[Kadilo]

One thing not in the medianis this is one of the regional flights that major airlines like United operate through contractor airlines. They are the pits, cancel and delay all the time when whether is bad. Recently there is news they can't cover there flight numbers and cancel because they pay so bad they are actually short crews! This is a trick because weather delays get no compensation, if it is because of no crew you should get hotel/food vouchers but they shift
Blame around to mask it.

Am I missing something?

What's that got to do with this thread?


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[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

Because there was no passenger overbooking. Suddenly the regional carrier had to get their princess crew on a flight, and thus passengers were asked to be offloaded. It may be due to their mismanagement, poor planning, and crew shortages.

 

 

 

 

[mommysboy]

7 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

Am I missing something?

What's that got to do with this thread?


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It's background information casting light on how things work (don't work).

 

Are you  missing something?...  Quite possibly the ability to move anywhere from the centre of the box.

[Kadilo]

 
It's background information casting light on how things work (don't work).
 
Are you  missing something?...  Quite possibly the ability to move anywhere from the centre of the box.

Ah right. Nothing.


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[Forethat]

If it's any sort of consolation the asian passenger who got dragged of the plane can pretty much name his price when they launch discussions around damage and compensation. Imagine the commercial damage if United choose to expose this even further in a public? They'll be prepared to settle this at almost any cost, otherwise the entire company could go bust.

[mommysboy]

“This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United,” airline CEO Oscar Munoz said in a statement to the Guardian. “I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers."

 

It was certainly upsetting for the paying customer!

 

"Re-accommodate"- someone needs to reaccommodate his head.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, ddavidovsky said:

Nobody else would get off. I don't know how far they upped the compensation, but I certainly would have taken it. The entire plane was full of selfish <deleted>.

 

In this situation the airline had to randomly choose someone to get off as they were entitled to do. Passengers don't have any say in this situation (unfortunately maybe, but that's the rule). In an airplane situation, discipline is necessary. This guy was exhibiting unacceptable behaviour, end of story.

 

It is 100% the fault of United. THEY overbooked the flight, not any of the passengers.

 

THEY had to get another crew down to Louisville, was there not one other crew nearer than Chicago?

 

THEY could have put the crew on the next available airline flight out of Chicago but THEY didn't bother.

 

THEY could have chartered a flight for far cheaper than what it will cost the airline now through THEIR own management stupidity.

 

The passengers had booked their flight and paid for it, baggage loaded and ready to fly until some idiot at United found that they needed another crew down at Louisville. Why SHOULD anybody be forced, and with violence too, to give up their paid for seat because UNITED management screwed up.

[rockingrobin]

1 hour ago, Johpa said:

 

Again, I have only seen wording noting the denial of boarding , and that without even to have any justification.  But although there maybe something in the fine print somewhere, I've yet to be shown anything about removing an already boarded and seated passenger apart from security or health.  This will head to the courts for final determination, perhaps to determine whether operational necessity goes beyond the necessity of the flight in question.  But the real question is whether the clear right to deny boarding can be retroactively applied to those already boarded and seated.  Whose to say that United didn't just go Thai to get some favored VIP somewhere for a party?

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/250.1

Confirmed reserved space means space on a specific date and on a specific flight and class of service of a carrier which has been requested by a passenger, including a passenger with a “zerofare ticket,” and which the carrier or its agent has verified, by appropriate notation on the ticket or in any other manner provided therefore by the carrier, as being reserved for the accommodation of the passenger.

Zero fare ticket means a ticket acquired without a substantial monetary payment such as by using frequent flyer miles or vouchers, or a consolidator ticket obtained after a monetary payment that does not show a fare amount on the ticket. A zero fare ticket does not include free or reduced rate air transportation provided to airline employees and guests.

 

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/250.2a

In the event of an oversold flight, every carrier shall ensure that the smallest practicable number of persons holding confirmed reserved space on that flight are denied boarding involuntarily

 

 

 

[mtls2005]

Pepsi appreciates United's efforts.

 

 

[chilli42]

6 hours ago, mesquite said:

They did.  No one volunteered.

Then they did not take the dollar value high enough.  When this guy is done with them in court they will fully appreciate what their penny pinching cost them.

[Flustered]

To reiterate....

 

The flight was not overbooked. The ground crew at United were approached after boarding by 4 air crew who needed to be in St Louis on Monday for another flight.

 

The passenger had boarded and taken his seat. he was not denied boarding but was forcibly ejected from the plane to allow the air crew the seat.

 

None of this will ever make the courts. United will settle out of court with the passenger as well as the now reported other passengers who are threatening law suits for trauma caused by United's actions.

 

A total PR disaster for United that will cost them $ millions when this could have been resolved for a few $ thousand . They could have charted a small plane for the air crew at a fraction of the cost this settlement will cost them.

 

The security guy (Policeman?) has been suspended which will further weaken United's case as he is acting on their behalf.

 

I see several resignations in the near future.