Sunday’s incident where a man was dragged off a United Express plane and bloodied was terrible. It’s excruciating to watch the video of the incident unfolding, and later of the disoriented man mumbling “just kill me.”
#flythefriendlyskies @united no words. This poor man!! pic.twitter.com/rn0rbeckwT
— Kaylyn Davis (@kaylyn_davis) April 10, 2017
United is taking the bulk of the blame here, and that’s probably their own fault. Their PR response has been disastrous, with United CEO Oscar Munoz apologizing for having to re-accommodate passengers. As Jimmy Kimmel said last night,
“It’s like how we ‘re-accommodated’ El Chapo out of Mexico,” Kimmel said. “That is such sanitized, say-nothing, take-no-responsibility, corporate B.S. speak. I don’t know how the guy who sent that tweet didn’t vomit when he typed it out.”
This was a tough situation all-around for which there were no good solutions. And things turned from bad to worse when a passenger refused to get off the plane when told to do so by the airline and by police. And it became the source of worldwide outrage when the police overreacted, dragged him off, and bloodied him.
There are a lot of myths about the situation, and it’s leading people to some bad conclusions.
- This didn’t happen because United sold too many tickets. United Express (Republic Airlines) had to send four crew members to work a flight the next morning. The weekend was operationally challenging, this was a replacement crew, if the employees didn’t get to Louisville a whole plane load of passengers were going to be ‘bumped’ when that flight was cancelled, and likely other passengers on other flights using that aircraft would have their own important travel plans screwed up as well.
- United couldn’t have just sent another plane to take their crew even if they had such a plane it’s not clear they had the crew to operate it legally, or that they could have gotten the plane back to Chicago in time legally so prevent ‘bumping’ via cancellation the whole plane load of passengers it was supposed to carry next.
- If the passenger could have just taken Uber, why not the crew? because United doesn’t get to transport its crew any way it wishes whenever it wishes, they’re bound by union contracts and in any case they were following standard established procedures. We can debate those procedures, that’s productive, but United didn’t do anything out of the ordinary.
- United should have just kept increasing the denied boarding offer passengers didn’t willingly get off at $800, they should have gone to $1000 (would that have made a difference?) or $5000 or $100,000 — it’s not the passengers’ fault United didn’t have enough seats. Though the time this would have taken might have lost a takeoff window or taken time where the crew went illegal (and the whole flight had to cancel) or the replacement crew wouldn’t get the legally required rest.
More importantly, United didn’t do it because Department of Transportation regulations set maximum required compensation for involuntary denied boarding (in this case 4 times the passenger’s fare paid up to a maximum of $1350). So they’re not going to offer more than that for voluntary denied boardings, especially since the violent outcome here wasn’t expected and the United Express gate agent had no authority to do more.
I’m being called very terrible things in the comments that I won’t reprint here in this post. What happened to the man was terrible but it was a difficult situation all around, he should have complied when ordered off the plan by United and then by Chicago Aviation Police. It was a terrible situation for him, but one that at that point could foreseeably have gotten worse. I’m just glad he wasn’t accused of disrupting the flight as part of a terrorist plot that sort of thing can happen in confrontations like this.
The Chicago Aviation Police overreacted and appear to have used way too much force. One officer is already on leave because of the incident, the Aviation Police recognize some fault is likely there — and that’s a pretty high hurdle to climb considering the Chicago Police Department immediately stood up for an officer by claiming horribly that he had simply ‘fallen on his face’.
Is it possible that if circumstances were different — if different things had been done before Sunday — then the outcome would have been different? Sure. Although what those things are, what the consequences of those things would be, are debatable — and most people doing the debating don’t have much or even any information on which to base their judgments.
Fault here lies with:
- United for not having as many seats as they sold, although it wasn’t because they sold more seats than the plane held, it was because their operation became a mess and they needed to salvage that to inconvenience the fewest passengers overall. It wasn’t “to maximize their profits” although they certainly wanted to limit their losses by limiting passenger inconvenience.
- The passenger who should have gotten off the plane when ordered to do so. It sucked for him and wasn’t his fault, but refusing airline and police instructions unless designed to provoke a violent response for media attention to promote a civil rights cause is a bad idea.
- The Chicago Aviation Police shouldn’t have responded with the force they did. They’re the most to blame. If they hadn’t used as much force this whole thing would never even have been a story.
United’s statements backing their employee, refusing to name the victim, or acknowledge that the police really did hurt him are deplorable.
But the situation itself lands mostly at the feet of the police, who appear to recognize this based on actions thus far.
So what do we do to prevent this in the future? The truth is there’s not very much. Running an airline is hard. Weather and mechanical problems and back luck and IT problems cancel and delay flights, so they work hard to recover.
Maybe the maximum denied board compensation should be even higher, though that’s not clearly an issue. When the Department of Transportation began regulating denied boarding in the 1970s, there were about 150,000 involuntary denied boardings in the U.S. per year — and now with many more passengers the number there are in the 40,000s. As flights have gotten more full, the percentage of passengers denied boarding has gone down.
The real solution here is to change the culture of law enforcement in aviation. As soon as there’s even a misunderstanding between passengers and crew, that can trigger law enforcement. The assumption is that the passenger is always wrong, the airline backs its crew, and there’s tremendous risk to the public. Not every customer service situation is a crime.
This is in no way limited to being a United issue, it’s endemic to American society and aviation as a whole. It’s a function of the growth of the security state in response to 9/11. We’ve come to accept it, and indeed we get it from the TSA day in and day out. Until that changes, incidents like these are likely to repeat themselves.
Fuck those guys that took him off. He doesn’t deserve to get treated like that. Why did they not choose someone else.
One often wonders, what would Gary do in a situation like this. Then we realise that Gary would never be put in this position. The way he is defending United in this, makes it appear that he is getting some form of compensation from them. Of course, till Gary comes clean, we wont know either way.
As an ancient Indian sage said “He who flies at the front of the plane is God, he who flies at the back is to be beaten”
Trash of a situation, trash of a corporation, n trash as much seen over the past few decades of power hungry lawless police n politicians. Not all. But there is so much political corruption n police corruption it sickens me. Most stories are kept out of the press. N my mind this man being a physician who may have a life or death situation on his hands to save a life refused to give up his seat. Why not ask another passenger then to violently attack the man to the point of him saying ” just kill me”! Really? This nation which I’m born and raised values is going to shit. Money n corporate power is all it is now. People values yeah whatever. Founding fathers would literally if they could turn over in their Graves. This is not the country that they wanted. Sad so sad.
If he was a white dude nobody would say a thing about this incident. Also, if cops tell you to get off a plane for any reason, you get off the plane. I suppose he could have been targeted for being Asian, but who knows. If that’s the case then folks should get fired. By the way, this bizarrely behaving sociopathic creep was probably high when it all went down. Bottom line, I could care less about his bloody lip or the overreaction to this video. Get over it folks.
I think this man behaved like a child.
Lets put this into perspective, if someone asked to have dinner at your home and offered to buy the groceries, you say yes, the day of the dinner comes and they arrive with the groceries but something has come up and you cannot cook them dinner, …does that person have the right to refuse to leave your home, become belligerent so that you cannot deal with your issue? Your spouse or whomever else lives there says please leave we are sorry something came up we will cook dinner for you another time, the person refuses to leave and you are forced to call the cops to your own home, the cops ask the person to leave and they refuse the order of the cop and the officer is forced to drag this person out of your home, …. Who’s wrong??? You, for not honoring your deal to cook, your spouse or family member for also asking them to leave, the cop who asked him to leave, …OR is it the person who is being unreasonable behaving as if only their wants and needs matter. People are losing perspective, everyone believes they are the MOST important and life should cater to them. GROW UP!
This man was fine with everything going on, he didn’t have a problem with the first people being asked to leave who did, he felt superior and had a problem when his name was called. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. Get up, force them to make other arrangements even if it means switching carriers (they can do that) and let life go one. He thought nothing of the other passengers, the passengers on the other end, the people connecting. All he cared about was himself, and I am sorry I have never heard of a Dr. not having another physician covering his case load while out of town. This was for attention and I believe at some point he saw dollar signs.
I hope United payed you handsomely for writing this. Disgusting.
@Al – you made several very good points.
@Gerald – United didn’t beat up a passenger; a possibly overzealous police officer did. Please research your facts more thoroughly.
@mjs – Are you a lawyer who specializes in transportation law? If not, then please don’t tell us what constitutes “boarding” from the perspective of an airline. I would trust Gary and his knowledge of how airlines run more than you. He has demonstrated his knowledge on countless occasions. Just because he chooses to be rational doesn’t make him a shill or sell-out.
@Allison – Were you on the flight or were the people you asked on the flight? If not, what’s the point of telling us what your random sampling of friends/acquaintances said they would or wouldn’t do for $800?
@DarrenX – What is a “closet authoritarian?” Is that someone who hides his authority for fear of being outed? If so, I find it abhorrent that you would call Gary anything of the kind!
@Royce – absolutely right, no one does really care. They just want to join in the lynch-mob hysteria because they are jealous of the CEOs and other execs who earn a lot more than they do. Unfortunately, they fail to take into account the almost 100,000 employees of United who are trying to earn a living like the rest of them. They vow not to fly United because a passenger got forced off a flight and was horribly man-handled by a police officer. It’s too bad they aren’t as concerned with multi-nationals that wreak havoc on the environment and harm people all over the world.
@Robbo – my mum or dad would have listened to a police officer rather than delaying a flight and being forcibly dragged off a plane.
@Joel – Have you had experience with running an airline and crew scheduling in particular? Perhaps the airlines should just have private planes as part of their fleet to pull out of any hub to facilitate crew movement. I’m sure the $5,400 chartered plane could have been there within the hour.
@Emily – The airline had the guy roughed up? Seriously, was the gate agent a mafia boss who asked the cops in his precinct to take care of this passenger? I’m sure United really wanted to hurt a passenger, and they also wanted the PR nightmare that has ensued.
This whole thing was avoidable. The guy could have complied with police and airline direction and got off the plane. Bad on United for not having their act together and having enough seats but this guy acted like it was his God-given right to be flown from Chicago to Louisville. That plane was not his and any company can deny you service with a full refund. This guy got screwed but it was he that threw a tantrum and escalated the situation.
Garry,
Just as Munoz made a judgement error, you made one writing this article too. Your last paragraph correctly summarize the real cause of the incident. Unfortunately in the rest of the article, you seem to come across as apologist for United. United could have easily gone to 1350 and that would have taken 10 seconds. If they could not put crew in uber then at least they could have offered to put IDB pax on uber. But your badly written article did bring out some really idiotic comments and that my friend why police state now exist in US.
You wrote…
“Department of Transportation regulations set maximum required compensation for involuntary denied boarding”
This is just plain wrong. An airline can offer whatever compensation they like. There is no legal maximum. You haven’t read the regulations properly.
What the rules say is that an airline has to offer the maximum before they can IDB a passenger. So an airline can’t force a passenger to give up their seat unless they’ve already offered the maximum to entice a volunteer. Nothing in the regulations prohibit an airline from offering more than than that amount in order to avoid having to IDB.
I COMPLETELY AGREE with everything started in this article, and I have been communicating my agreement to everyone I speak to about this.. And BOY am I getting called all kinds of things for it.
I AGREE: bottom line- this man should have complied- AS WE ALL HAVE TO DO AT TIMES- and deplaned! I feel he was asking for a scene when he continually refused to get up from his seat.. Even when security came..
United is great, and I have NEVER EVER SEEN ANYTHING BUT POLITE REQUESTS FROM ALL UNITED CREW!
So what do I do when this happens to me? We’d like to think the marketplace will discipline any outfit that treats people like this, putting them at the mercy of cops trained to deal with violent criminals. But this is not a competitive market. More and more each year, each carrier is an oligopoly in its markets, with a hammerlock on routes, gates, and all of the advantages a smiling DoJ can confer upon mergers that suppress market dynamics. Even the conditions in the standard carriage agreement could be challenged in court as a contract made under duress.
Not saying there’s an alternative. Only that public policy ought to impose special obligations on a business to the extent that we give it a free pass from competition. Until it does, I’m going to act just like United’s victim when their goons try this.
What about the other three passengers who had to vacate? Did they vacate before or after the incident? What was their compensation?
This is a welcome article, with a level-headed analysis. Thanks for not further hyping the drama.
It’s very simple to book a small plane or rent a private plane to send the replacement crew alternatively, but stupid UA didn’t, their arrogance would ruin their business. Nobody could guarantee not to happen again unless federal government punishes such rampant behavior
The passenger who should have gotten off the plane when ordered to do so. It sucked for him and wasn’t his fault, but refusing airline and police instructions unless designed to provoke a violent response for media attention to promote a civil rights cause is a bad idea.
Seriously? This is disgusting.
Wow–corporate apologist much? One huge omission. While it may be true that United wasn’t able to offer more than $1350, THEY DIDNT EVEN TRY OFFERING THAT MUCH!!!! They stopped at $800. And some witnesses said the initial offer came attached to a pretty bad attitude. People are less willing to accept “offers” when they sound more like “demands”. United has a HORRIBLE corporate culture that comes from being allowed to be a near-monopoly on some routes. Yes, the police actions were ridiculously disproportionate. But your willingness to basically let United off the hook is similarly ridiculous.
I have to scroll down so far to write this comment but I did anyway. “It sucked for him and wasn’t his fault, but refusing airline and police instructions unless designed to provoke a violent response for media attention to promote a civil rights cause is a bad idea.”????!!!! You seem like someone who likes to provoke a violent response for media attention too so I hope one day this happens to you.
And wow, such a useless, and poorly researched article you wrote my friend and also so thoughtless when saying that nothing could be done to prevent this to happen in the future. “Running an airline is hard” Tell me about it!
Gary Leff
Your attempt to appear rational failed. One major flaw on your line of thinking: how do you expect that the passenger would know his rights if the airline never provided him with a written explanation? My guess is that the FEDERAL regulation addressing this exists for a reason. It is very telling how you FAILED to address that point. Needless to mention the countless opportunities where companies take advantage of costumers EVERY DAY. How would David Dao have known that the airline’s agents are acting on good faith? Should we take Gary Leff word for it? That is the EXACT REASON Gary Leff that the rights MUST be provided in writing to the customer by the airline before moving any further. With written proof of the rights the customer can go to the attorney if the customer reads something that doesn’t comply with the provided rights and/or if the rights themselves end-up being fake/bogus etc. The fact that the police is being sent IS NOT PROOF that the airline is acting properly, or you are going to tell us Gary Leff that over the last century we never heard of a situation where the courts have sided with the customer and have even imposed criminal charges on police officers for siding with the corporations that violated consumer rights? There are other flaws on your argument. I strongly suggest to continue your education. Your point of view is clouded possibly by personal bias. That I am not sure, however I am sure that you need to go back to school. It should be obvious to a person with a sound mind that given the circumstances you can fault everyone but the customer. Rational people know that calling police is a recipe for disaster. You only call police if there is an actual violent act or a big crime being committed. In other words Gary Leff you need to understand that there are risks involved when calling police. Police interaction with the public is a wildcard as decades of news and events have demonstrated this many, many times over. It is obvious that you don’t understand that part. Any sensible person is mindful of this. You don’t call police to expedite or facilitate your job.
Do you have a financial gain or support for writing this bullshit. I wish that you or your father or son got beaten up and dragged out the airplane like an animal corpse.
Fuck you. go to hell with United Airlines..
Maybe I missed it but no one seems to mention or comment on just why the 4 crew had to go on that particular flight. Is it common for airlines to not have enough crew in any particular city? I feel that once passengers BOARD an aircraft, its settled. Their bags are loaded and they fly. To ask anyone to leave once they have boarded is so silly. Bags must be unloaded, the particular bags of the affected passenger(s) must be identified and the flight would be delayed further. I think the problem really started at the crew level. Someone doing the schedules of the crew must have &%$*ed-up and called 4 crew in Chicago and expected 4 innocent passenger to give up their flights for this mistake. It went downhill from there.
Understanding the dumpster fire that this situation is, I am curious about one point. There are FAA rules regarding ensuring the identity the person in each and every seat. Once they begin seat assignments when issuing boarding passes I understood that no further changes were possible or permissible?
@Steve Not only are you correct, the airline had not offered the passenger the amount of money it was required to pay him for bumping him to a next day flight! They were offering him less than they are lawfully obliged to give him, and yes they can bid up the price. This blog is just trying to defend the indefensible.
The gook doctor should have complied with the flight crew. Instead he fought with police and got what he deserved.
I don’t understand why they were allowed on the plane in the first place. They had to have known they needed extra seats for crew before boarding. I would argue that once seated and baggage stowed, that spot is yours. If it was truly a very last minute need, then it is on United to fix. Find another crew that can get to Louisville, use another airline, etc… how did they get to the point that this was the only crew that could go to Louisville at this precise time? And if they did work themselves into this corner, then explain it that simply, offer the full benefit and ask for assistance from the passengers. I think they would have gotten their seats. This incident lies fully with United.
Your article is talking about “Denied boarding”. This man….and everyone else, was ALREADY BOARDED ONTO THE AIRCRAFT!!!!!! The time to take care of oversold flights is BEFORE you board the passengers!!! Did the gate agents NOT KNOW prior to boarding that there were employees that needed to travel…..or did they just come along at the last minute? United….get your shit straight BEFORE you begin boarding the aircraft.
Finally some common sense. The fault lies 90% with the man who is disobeying his contract with the airlines by not getting off the plane. He has inconvenienced everyone else by not following the rules and he is the primary person to blame for the fallout. I disagree they used excessive force. They used necessary force to get this nutter off the plane. Yes, it seems unfair your were boarded and then forced to get off. Grow up and follow the rules like everyone else. I hope the airline sues him.
This incident had many possible outcomes that could have been less traumatic for everyone involved if the airlines has done their due diligence, however they did not and now face a tremendous backlash caused by their own actions and inactions. While the author of the article maybe knowledge about business travel etc.,I did not see anyplace in the article mentioning the options all airlines have to get personnel and equipment, parts etc., from one airport to another without displacing paying passengers. Airlines have always had in place a means of getting pilots, co pilots, mechanics, attendants etc from point a to point b. This includes flying them on their own commercial flights, flying them on corporate jet, flying them on competitors flights, or even ground transport. While each comes with its own set of positives and negatives, bottom line is they usually base the decision on what mode to use on what is most expedient and least costly to the airline. While this on the face of it appears to be sound business basics 1010, if they were truly concerned with customer service they would also consider the impact on the passenger/passengers they displace to accommodate their flight crew. You can’t tell me this was done in this instance. No, this decision was for the convenience of the airline and that flight crew without consideration how it impacts their customers or those who witnessed the removal of the passenger from the flight. You can not tell me that there were no other flights from Chicago, a major hub airport to the destination airport that would have gotten the flight crew to that airport in plenty of time for the flight they needed to operate. I don’t buy it and the public shouldn’t either. As long as there has been commercial airlines there has been working agreements between airlines, yes even competitors airlines to move people and parts etc to help each other out. Of course the decision to utilize these options is usually based on one factor… Cost… Sadly it seems that it’s the flying public that usually end up paying it.
Gary, you are the Wall Street Journal of the travel industry. When something complicated happens, I know I can count on you for a thorough, detailed, well researched, well thought out and well written synopsis of what happened. You met expectations again with this article. Don’t let those that leave negative comments have you believe otherwise.
“More importantly, United didn’t do it because Department of Transportation regulations set maximum required compensation for involuntary denied boarding (in this case 4 times the passenger’s fare paid up to a maximum of $1350).”
But the incidence clearly took place AFTER boarding. He wasn’t denied boarding. So that does not apply in this case. United should have settled the overbooking issue at check-in.
@Bikeguy I really appreciate that coming from you.
@Anand Krishnan – they were flying in replacement crew for a flight, so they didn’t have to cancel that other trip (and travel plans for a full load of passengers)
@Bikeguy:
Well researched? Are you kidding me? Well, except that basically he got all the facts wrong is is probably well researched?
– Gary claims United could not have offered more – absolutely wrong
– Gary claims United offered the maximum amount – reports say they did not even do this even though they seem to be required by law to do this
– Gary claims United had the right to remove the passenger – the lawnewz.com analysis clearly says they did NOT have the right to do so!
@adam:
It really is not important if you beat someone up yourself or subcontract this job out to someone else. United did NOT have the right to remove the passenger (because he was already boarded he could not be “refused boarding” for the normal reasons) and used force do illegally do this.
Gary, it’s really amazing what mental gymnastics are possible when not understanding that beating up a paying customer is wrong is necessary to get your paycheck. Thanks for showing us this amazing feat.
Am i the only person, that thinks not enough info?…..yes we see him being dragged out….but not enough info…? Why…..he may be a Dr but he can still be a normal person having a breakdown?….Im told he wanted to fly because of his duty …something not right….here?
The footage of him saying kill me might be shock…or something else….i need more info
What I found the most amazing about this post is that A LOT of what was claimed in the post has been disproven and 100% directly contradicted by witnesses. Yet the author does not seem to care to correct his mistakes. Just like corporate culture at United does not admit mistakes and calls it “re-accommodation”.
I guess this very post and the “re-accommodation” letter were written by the same lawyer. Or the author just subscribes to a post-fact world and therefor is not even feeling guilty about spewing falsehoods…
@Gerald – I do not claim United couldn’t have offered more, just the gate agent couldn’t and that the airline wasn’t legally obligated to offer more. The ‘lawnewz analysis’ is incorrect and one of the author’s colleague’s sides with me on this 😉
The Transportation Department says airlines must “give all passengers who are bumped involuntarily a written statement describing their rights and explaining HOW the carrier decides who gets on an oversold flight and who doesn’t.” – For those who have been pillorying this man for refusing to give up his seat, how was the decision made? Also please note the rule above says “gets on” not “gets off”
Can united book their crew, or this Dr. Dao, onto an AA/DL/WN flight the same day?
Also, i think 4x up to $1350 is low, make it 8x and $3000, I am sure there will definitely takers. This will be in FAA’s hand I guess.
As a physician of any kind, his one-day work will worth anywhere from 1-10k, compensate for $800 will never cut it.
Arms flailing, feet kicking like a child throwing a tantrum. He could have injured himself easily.
The police were there to remove him, not to debate. The more he fought them off the more
physical they had to be. Hard to remove someone out into a 18-24″ isle with seats in front and behind. No place to have a officer to hold him by each arm and escort him out when he is being combative. Lets face it, if he was in China he would have left out the window!!
He should have left the plane and contacted his lawyer, the airlines etc., not hold the rest of the passengers up. Pretty please, pretty please, and the passengers and the plane would still be there today
Dear Gary Leff,
You yourself wrote an article about the family making $11000 from Delta Airlines when flight to Florida was delayed and now you trying to cover up that United is justified in not offering more than $800? Even if the United Airlines were to raise the compensation to $1350 (they would have enough volunteers, they did not go more than $800)
Please quit your job if you cannot be honest. Shame on you!
You make it so obvious that you get paid by United for writing this biased article. And if you have not been paid for writing this then it’s your ego writing this not you! You are probably trying to show us how smart you are!
Delete this article if you have respect for humanity!
Please find the link below which exemplifies how Delta Airlines paid $11000 to a family for a delayed-flight compensation.
http://viewfromthewing.com/2017/04/11/family-made-11000-getting-bumped-delta-watch-a380-spray-storm/
No. I disagree. United does NOT have the “right” to overbook a flight or to “bump” someone from a flight.
Yes, they can do that “legally” – but that is only because they (and other lobbyists / Airlines) have rigged the “rules” so they favor the industry over the consumer. In any other venture, knowingly selling more than what you have to sell is called, “fraud”. Some airlines, sadly, have made that part of their business model.
Once someone purchases a ticket – THEY OWN – that space and time.
They paid for it. They control it.
You can spout “rules” and “fine print” all you want – but that is what we consumers pay for when they purchase a ticket. People click a button and buy a ticket – they don’t hire an attorney to read through 20 pages of fine print and negotiate a contract. It’s a fairly simply deal – Airlines offer a service and sell a time and space to get somewhere – and when customers buy it, and often plan their lives around that decision.
Anything in the “fine print” is just corporate legalese designed to rig the system against consumers.
None of us who ever boarded a plane got a chance to “negotiate” the terms of our contracts – we rely on the government to do that for us and to protect us – but what has happened is that Airlines (and other large corporations in other fields) have manipulated that system to their “legal” advantage.
Mr. Leff argues that this action was necessary for the airline because not boarding their employees would have caused all sorts of problems down the line; flight cancelations. other consumers being inconvenienced, and perhaps “Union” problems if the employees were driven instead of flown to their destination – blah, blah, blah.
My question is – so what?
Failure of a business to plan properly does not constitute a legitimate reason to commit assault, and fraud.
Using thugs (dressed as police officers) – (and BTW thugs we the tax payer pay for so that Airlines can make more money as opposed to hiring security guards on their own dime) – to enforce their rules should be punished.
Make no mistake, this is ONLY a “police” situation because Airlines have managed to convince people that they deserve their own police force and we – the taxpayer – should pay for it.
This customer was not their illegally. He was not violent or disruptive (before they started an altercation. Their is no reason to involve “police” at all.
Mr. Leff implies (passive-aggressively) by his writing that this was perhaps “designed” by the passenger to be some sort of “civil rights” show. He might believe in corporate authoritarianism, but I am pretty sure this man did not board this plane thinking, “Oh, Gee. I hope I am asked to leave – I won’t do it – and then I will get to be beaten up and be able to make a civil rights point.”
The mental gymnastics required to follow this train of thought is perhaps worthy of a Gold Metal.
People make plans and have agenda’s based on their purchasing and paying for a ticket.
Airlines make money from this service – and they have an obligation to perform this service to a high standard which at the minimum requires they meet their obligations.
So what if people cancel at the last minute? The seat is already PAID for.
I own a dental practice – people cancel at the last minute all the time. Sometimes you have empty seats. That’s called “business” – and you can charge people a “cancelation fee” if they know about it up front (My business does not – because it is bad business – but Airlines can and often do). If someone doesn’t show up on time for their flight, then perhaps you can accommodate people who are on standby (and if you do – the person whose seat you resold – SHOULD – get a refund), but you cannot throw one person off a plane who has already purchased a ticket and shown up.
Of course Airlines and huge corporations have money and power – and they have rigged the rules so they can “honestly” claim they did nothing “illegal”. Mr. Leff claims that the Airlines are CAPPED at offering $1350 per ticket compensation. Really? Who wrote THAT rule?
What?
We the consumers woke up one morning and said, “Gee – we need to make sure that airlines don’t ever have to go out of pocket TOO much to pay for their fraudulent behaviors…” (Just in case you think that these rules are “fair” and were written with consumers negotiating for their best interests – this should clear that issue up).
Airlines wrote the rules. Certainly no one from United will go to jail for their crimes here. The industry has made sure of that.
This customers only recourse is a civil suit, which he should pursue IMHO – because if I were on a jury and heard this case – United Airlines would be owned by the person they treated this way.
Every stockholder should lose every penny they invested, every employee should fired. After a few of these types of incidents – corporations and Airlines would learn to respect their bosses – the consumers.
Sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the corporations have laws in place to cap such damages.
Again, make no mistake – there ARE Airlines – which do not do this type of thing.
United could have had more employees on stand-by, and other planes available. They could have upped the compensation until someone gave up their seat (They did not even offer the maximum they could have under their own “laws”) – they could have offered their employees compensation to take an “Uber” above and beyond their “Union Contract”.
United Airlines is not some “mom and pop” operation (which, ironically, would have been completely destroyed by this type of incident) this is a multi-billion dollar corporation which decided to drag out a paying customer – not for a security issue or any other reason – except for it’s bottom line.
With great power comes great responsibility – and the power to manipulate laws, use the police as private security guards, and commit fraud and deception on a daily basis – should be gravely punished when it does not serve the general public.
I thought there used to be a partnership among airlines, and the crew could have just flown on another airline in the jump seats.
The guy should have complied when asked to de plane. He should have manners especially since he is a doctor. It is said that he already had gotten off and then got back on. If he didbthis, he boarded illegally the 2nd time he got on. I have no sympathy for him. He was stubborn and got what he deserved. He should have been arrested for getting back on.. He trespassed.
Great article. Very objective. I agree fault lies with the police but since when has a police officer or agency ever owned up to the mess they make. Sorry for the heat you took. Again, very good article here
I call attention to your comment “involuntary denied boarding”. That is not what happened. He was boarded and took his seat. Hotels also face overbooked situations and deny customers with reservations from occupying a room. However, consumer protection laws make it illegal for the hotel to evict the guest from a room once it is occupied unless the guest is doing something wrong and inappropriate. Airlines should not be allowed to use their legal muscle given to them to maintain safety and security of passengers to impose arbitrary changes once a seat has been given to a passenger. They should have denied boarding and if they did not, deal with the business consequences of their mistake.
According to a TV report this morning (Wed, Apr 12) United lost $250 million over this in the drop in its stock. Hope they are satisfied with that result. It always pays to plan ahead, which obviously the airline didn’t do, so things got way out of hand. Most businesses fail to plan ahead in a lot of areas because they have feel they have the power and the right to do as they please. In this case, that high-handedness was very obvious in their treatment of this man.
It seems to me that the airline forgot that some people who travel by air not just for fun or for the hell of it. Some people have business to attend to. The doctor told them he would not leave his seat because he needed to make it to his destination so as to see his patients in the morning. The airline apparently didn’t care what his plans were and didn’t make any kind of judgment as to whether he had a valid reason to stay on the flight. Why was it so important to remove HIM? Couldn’t they have at least attempted to lure another person off the flight????
Stock price has recovered.
@Neil Schubert I’ve addressed this elsewhere but that’s a mistaken read of the regs, involuntary denied boarding rules don’t stop when a boarding pass is scanned or a passenger crosses an aircraft threshold, it’s what covers a situation when there are more passengers with confirmed reservations than seats available.