A man, angry at US Airways for overbooking his flight to Jamaica, stripped naked and walked around the Charlotte airport for an hour before he was taken into custody. (He won’t face charges.)
Unedited photos come from Sherry Ketchie on Facebook. I’ve added a shaded box overlay because I don’t think anyone wanted to actually see this. Ever.
“He had his clothes on, at that point, and then he started standing there with his arms crossed and hollering at the lady at the desk,” she told WBTV. “He stood there for a moment and then started taking off his clothes. I ain’t never seen nothing [like that] in my life.”
She says the man didn’t say anything as he was taking his clothes off.
While an involuntary denied boarding, if that’s actually what happened, is frustrating.. there’s compensation for that. And I really wouldn’t want to be the next person to sit in an airline seat after Charlotte Naked Man.
(HT: Road Warrior Voices)
In the good old days, a one time Los Angeles Chief of Police publicly expressed the opinion that airplane hijackers when caught, should be immediately hung on a runway. Later as mayor, he sat on his hands while the locals looted and burnt LA.
IMHO, when this clown flies back into Charlotte, TSA should target him for a through cavity search to look for illegal drugs.
I don’t condone what this gentleman did in any way, however, this practice of bumping people off airplanes against their will (after having paid for their tickets) by the airlines has got to STOP.
No amount of money can compensate a person for a ruined vacation. Airlines must be held accountable for this practice which is rampant in the industry.
Airlines are now making money hand over fist, (nickel and diming most people) flights are fuller than ever in history, why the need to oversell a flight??!!
It’s all about greed.
Write to your senators and demand this practice to stop, we will be better for it.
OK so what the compensation for an overbooked flight?
A refund of the ticket for the price you paid? Whoa that is really useful to someone on day of departure…
Oh, MORE travel vouchers? Yep, that is also useful for someone who can’t sell them, doesn’t travel more than once a year by plane, if even that for a vacation.
Pretty much given the DOT new “enforcement” or the Supreme Courts recent ruling, or the way the airport has been militarized this is basically your only alternative isn’t it. Its peaceful, non threatening, they cant shoot you and plant a gun on you can they? I think its ingenious.
No laws to protect you, no government consumer protection, no due process, no airline alternatives for Hub captives, no competition, and no collective action alternatives.
Yep this is your only alternative people
While it sucks to be involuntarily denied boarding (and is quite rare) the compensation isn’t bad. I think you get 200% of your one way fare (in cash) if they get you there within 2 hours of your scheduled arrival time. If it’s later than that, 400%. There are some maximum caps, too.
We obviously don;t know the specific facts of this incident.
How about volunteers, they never seem to be needed any longer. I once could regularly get vouchers for taking a later flight, but now they always say they don’t need them. Surely as booked as flights are they’d need us more than ever now? What’s the story?
Whilst I wouldn’t take the same measures I can to some degree sympathise with the guy.
My experiences with US Airways are not good ones. They also have a tendency to overbook and show a great level of disrespect/lack of service to passengers. Not so long ago one of our executives was booked long haul Business Class with them. US Airways overbooked and didn’t have the courtesy to notify us or our booking agent. Their whole attitude was totally disrespectful and showed no intention of making things right. Little wonder they are now blacklisted.
That’s how I would protest the AA / US Airways merger too.