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What about the other passengers that had to give up their seats? This guy resists the police and doesn't comply and he is the victim/hero? The other people were just as inconvenienced. Just like anyone who gets bumped. It is his fault he got banged up, if he had left like the others he would not have been hurt. Pretty much anyone resisting the police will get hurt.
What about the other passengers that had to give up their seats? This guy resists the police and doesn't comply and he is the victim/hero? The other people were just as inconvenienced. Just like anyone who gets bumped. It is his fault he got banged up, if he had left like the others he would not have been hurt. Pretty much anyone resisting the police will get hurt.
But then we wouldn't get to be outraged. Where's the fun in that?
What about the other passengers that had to give up their seats? This guy resists the police and doesn't comply and he is the victim/hero? The other people were just as inconvenienced. Just like anyone who gets bumped. It is his fault he got banged up, if he had left like the others he would not have been hurt. Pretty much anyone resisting the police will get hurt.
I mostly agree. I won't defend the airline, it was their screw-up. But the 69 year old doctor refused to cooperate peacefully and civilly and it led to the ugly scene we all saw. It also could have gotten others hurt while he bunkered down in his seat and started screaming. He was not being dragged into a cattle car headed for Auschwitz and near-certain death, he was being bumped from a relatively short domestic flight (poor baby).
He was not being dragged into a cattle car headed for Auschwitz and near-certain death, he was being bumped from a relatively short domestic flight (poor baby).
He was flying out of Chicago, late in the day on the 5:40pm flight, so the odds are high that was on a longer trip with a connection in Chicago. They were going to put him on another flight - the next day at 3pm. A whole day wasted.
Arrest? He was sitting on the plane, not causing problems, they couldn't find volunteers, and because they didn't do their job correctly, they're trying to force him off...after he has paid for that ticket, checked his bags, and was seated...that's grounds for arrest?
Are you fricken kidding me?
Why didn't they just go to someone else instead of manhandling him and dragging him down the aisle? Why not pick someone else? Why did it have to be that guy?
It says "denied boarding". He was not denied boarding. He was already boarded and seated. Their own contract shows that they didn't a) do their job correctly and b) violated the contract between them and that customer. Denying boarding means BEFORE THEY GET ON THE PLANE.
You can quote and cite every legal expert and contract in the world, but you aren't going to find one that gives someone to right to on the spot defy the wishes of a private business owner because they don't agree with the contract they entered into with them, and then the more important point, get to physically resist what law enforcement officials are requesting of them. I fully support anyone being arrested if they ignore the wishes of law enforcement, and make them get physical. Not saying the cops should have let it get to this point, but that man seems unstable, and he needed to comply with what they were asking, period.
As was previously said, United screw up by letting people on the plane, then asking to leave.
Overbooking happens all the time, once in a while they won't find enough volunteers no matter how high they go with their "compensation". I've never heard any airlines offering more than $800. I think it's a standard price, and people who fly often and are open to volunteering don't take anything less than $800. (Don't be a sucker!)
Worst case scenario - they bump people who are last to check in/don't have a seat assigned due to the flight being the last leg of their multi-stop itinerary etc. But this never happens while people are already in their seats - always at the gate.
Once people were in their seats, United should've found another way to get their employees to Louisville. A taxi would be fine and cheap. They also could get them on a flight from a different airline. They have deals going all the time: I wanted to volunteer to stay behind and take a later flight, and was offered a flight on another airline.
The overbooking policy can be implemented successfully... or there can be major screw ups, like in this case.
Having lived in the Chicago area for over 30 years (at different times in my life), let me explain how airlines, especially United, get around the seat assignment issue when they overbook a flight: They just simply don't let anyone choose a seat (or assign a seat) until the passenger is actually physically present at O'Hare and printing their boarding pass.
When asked why one should fork over $1,000+ to buy coach class round trip flight tickets for 2 to another destination, United "claims" this is airport security policy. It's not. It's United's way of dealing with their own overbooking. Guess what happens when your connecting flight is late? Yep, the flight is overbooked, and you're bumped, screwing up the rest of your travel itinerary and causing lost time at prepaid vacation destinations, and hotel, car and a host of other frequently non-refundable overbooking bumpings.
And the opposite has happened, as well. I was once booked on a non-stop flight from O'Hare to the Caribbean for a pre-paid 4-day vacation package, again... United, but about 30 passengers on a connecting flight from Europe were delayed by 16 hours, so they also delayed our flight. I lost a day of that vacation, and United never reimbursed me for that.
You can quote and cite every legal expert and contract in the world
You can quote and cite every legal expert and contract in the world but being "right" in this case will damage United's reputation and revenues. I may have the legal right of way but I'm not going to walk out in front of a speeding truck.
Here's a little more of the way it went down by another passenger. Since they started looking for volunteers at the gate with an offer of $400 - they should have never let the passengers board until 4 volunteers were found or they did random picks before they boarded.
It may be an airlines right to bump - but there's also a right way and a wrong way to do it.
You can quote and cite every legal expert and contract in the world but being "right" in this case will damage United's reputation and revenues. I may have the legal right of way but I'm not going to walk out in front of a speeding truck.
Fantastic, but hat isn't my point. My point from the very beginning has been that I don't agree with the United policy, but its their policy and the man in question needs to comply with it and more importantly comply with the law enforcement officials asking him to leave the plane, that is not optional under any circumstance.
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