Passenger Forcibly Removed From Overbooked UA Flight

[suze2000]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

I hope they were able to put his teeth back in, but given his age, I suspect not.

 

[cove]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

It will be interesting to see what actions United take to get their brand back out of the dumpster.

 

[get me outta here]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

By a wonderful coincidence I noticed on another thread elsewhere that United around about the same time as this disaster put out an advert to recruit a public relations specialist. Seemingly this is a make or break career opportunity, and whatever they were thinking of offering by the way of remuneration they can triple it now.


http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2017/04/13/united-airlines-public-relations-job/

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

I'm on UA LAX-MEL in a month (J). I know, but its a terrifically priced LH RTW ticket, so no avoiding it, unfortunately.

Just hoping they are still in a post incident "be kind-ish to passengers" type of mode then.

 

[cove]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

RooFlyer I feel certain your experience will be very good now that United are in damage control.

 

[anat0l]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

A man gets dragged off, beaten and bloodied, because he wouldn't give up a seat, conditions of carriage horse manure blah di blah.

About one month earlier, a drunkard of ill character and conduct is allowed to remain on board, is served alcohol and allowed to grope and harass a woman...

You're Gonna Have a Bad United Flight When Flight a Drunk Man Sits Next To You, Writes on Your Note Pad - View from the Wing (article also linked from within the blogpost)

...with no. Consequence. Or. Punishment. What. So. Ever!

Of course, probably helps that no other passenger seems to have been disturbed enough by such an incident, because it mustn't have been filmed.

Work out the <expletive> logic in this system... and society (no one is really horrified that a woman was allowed to be harassed and that an airline served alcohol to an already clearly intoxicated person?)

I guess it's legally wrong to wish violence on a person, but in the case of this drunk idiot, care factor is zero here.

 

[Tiki]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

I'm on UA LAX-MEL in a month (J). I know, but its a terrifically priced LH RTW ticket, so no avoiding it, unfortunately.

Just hoping they are still in a post incident "be kind-ish to passengers" type of mode then.

Just in case, maybe wear a helmet?

 

[Quickstatus]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

Cheap ticket? Definitely wear a helmet

 

[TheRealTMA]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

Cheap ticket? Definitely wear a helmet

Don't think they'd let you on at all with a helmet.

 

[Quickstatus]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

Dao's resistance has scraped off the scab hiding a lot of resentment brewing over many years within the American travelling public.
Hopefully the disrespect will reduce and passengers will no longer be self loading freight to be loathed.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

This is hilarious!

https://thepilotwifelife.wordpress....thoughts-from-a-pilot-wife-about-flight-3411/

 

[eastwest101]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

Dao's resistance has scraped off the scab hiding a lot of resentment brewing over many years within the American travelling public.
Hopefully the disrespect will reduce and passengers will no longer be self loading freight to be loathed.

Agree with those comments - I would assume that UA will do nearly everything possible to keep this out of courts because once the courts and or any potential regulatory reviews start to look into all the issues around pax rights/voluntary and involutary denied boarding compensation, one-sided conditions of carriage and contract law matters, refund policies, fare difference calculations and not to mention all the changes to aviation security and aviation law post 9/11, where the increase of power exercised over the passengers/genral public is starting to feed into a perception that airlines and their subcontractors/staff seem to have the apperance of operating above the law, or at least making it up to suit themselves as they go along. Too big a can of worms for the airline industry to want to open.

You would think that UA would realize now that it has a problem that stems originally from their own bad luck or timing / crew out of position/ urgency/incompetence through to a lack of policies and/or procedures to persuade/induce passengers to voluntarily leave an aircraft. Seems that UA then called in the police to what may eventually turn out to be a civil/contractural problem which resulted in an assault happening with all the consequential social media kerfuffle and then public relations mess that came after that.

Obviously UA first tried to play the "we stick up for our staff but will investigate ourselves" card first followed by some "spurrious/fellacious overbooking arguments" and then the "safety card", followed by appeal to authority arguments, poosibly to be followed by resorting to hair splitting/legalese/relying on interpretations of their own one sided t&cs and contract of carriage.

Seems like legally - there may be many things here that have never been really tested properly or stricly defined, and hence the lively and informative discussion around this event. They could try to throw the Chicago Airport police (or the individual officers) under the bus to save themselves, but they will have massive problems and unintended cosequences galore if they try this on its own. I bet there are heaps of other US airlines looking closely at their own policies and procedures

In some ways it might be good to actually see this all go to the courts (and it will take some time) but we might eventually get some more legal clarity around some of the issues raised by this case but I bet its settled very quietly indeed.

 

[straitman]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

This is hilarious!

https://thepilotwifelife.wordpress....thoughts-from-a-pilot-wife-about-flight-3411/

A lot of what she says makes sense though her dialogue is as one sided as the articles she complains about.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

A lot of what she says makes sense though her dialogue is as one sided as the articles she complains about.

It's convincing... except that almost all of what she says is factually incorrect. None of the fine print she talks about exists, or is applicable to the current situation. The stuff about federal regulations relating to 'must fly' are completely false. I'm actually surprised she hasn't withdrawn the article as it's potentially libelous by stating the passenger broke laws.

 

[suze2000]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

I'm on UA LAX-MEL in a month (J). I know, but its a terrifically priced LH RTW ticket, so no avoiding it, unfortunately.

Just hoping they are still in a post incident "be kind-ish to passengers" type of mode then.

RooFlyer, I think I may have flown this same LH fare last year. United was outstanding. You'll enjoy your flight.

 

[anat0l]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

I'm actually surprised she hasn't withdrawn the article as it's libelous by stating the passenger broke laws.

Well, that's for the courts to decide, though that would rely on the Dao team actually taking an action against her, and proving that her remarks caused damage (and how much).

 

[Quickstatus]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

Agree with those comments - I would assume that UA will do nearly everything possible to keep this out of courts because once the courts and or any potential regulatory reviews start to look into all the issues around pax rights/voluntary and involutary denied boarding compensation, one-sided conditions of carriage and contract law matters, refund policies, fare difference calculations and not to mention all the changes to aviation security and aviation law post 9/11, where the increase of power exercised over the passengers/genral public is starting to feed into a perception that airlines and their subcontractors/staff seem to have the apperance of operating above the law, or at least making it up to suit themselves as they go along. Too big a can of worms for the airline industry to want to open.

You would think that UA would realize now that it has a problem that stems originally from their own bad luck or timing / crew out of position/ urgency/incompetence through to a lack of policies and/or procedures to persuade/induce passengers to voluntarily leave an aircraft. Seems that UA then called in the police to what may eventually turn out to be a civil/contractural problem which resulted in an assault happening with all the consequential social media kerfuffle and then public relations mess that came after that.

Obviously UA first tried to play the "we stick up for our staff but will investigate ourselves" card first followed by some "spurrious/fellacious overbooking arguments" and then the "safety card", followed by appeal to authority arguments, poosibly to be followed by resorting to hair splitting/legalese/relying on interpretations of their own one sided t&cs and contract of carriage.

Seems like legally - there may be many things here that have never been really tested properly or stricly defined, and hence the lively and informative discussion around this event. They could try to throw the Chicago Airport police (or the individual officers) under the bus to save themselves, but they will have massive problems and unintended cosequences galore if they try this on its own. I bet there are heaps of other US airlines looking closely at their own policies and procedures

In some ways it might be good to actually see this all go to the courts (and it will take some time) but we might eventually get some more legal clarity around some of the issues raised by this case but I bet its settled very quietly indeed.

Your comments accurately and succinctly sums up the issues in the industry that have caused much grievance for so many.
Your prose is excellent!!. Thanks

 

[kpc]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

The Chicago attorney is certainly upping the heat against United forcing another UA press release:http://newsroom.united.com/news-releases?item=124756

[h=1]Statement on Press Conference[/h] April 13, 2017
We continue to express our sincerest apology to Dr. Dao. We cannot stress enough that we remain steadfast in our commitment to make this right.
This horrible situation has provided a harsh learning experience from which we will take immediate, concrete action. We have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what’s broken so this never happens again.

First, we are committing that United will not ask law enforcement officers to remove passengers from our flights unless it is a matter of safety and security. Second, we’ve started a thorough review of policies that govern crew movement, incentivizing volunteers in these situations, how we handle oversold situations and an examination of how we partner with airport authorities and local law enforcement. Third, we will fully review and improve our training programs to ensure our employees are prepared and empowered to put our customers first. Our values – not just systems – will guide everything we do. We’ll communicate the results of our review and the actions we will take by April 30.

United CEO Oscar Munoz and the company called Dr. Dao on numerous occasions to express our heartfelt and deepest apologies.

By releasing some information about Dr Dao's injuries, the attorney is certainly feeding the anti UA sentiment. He also raised the Q as to whether his concussion may lead to ongoing issues. If they claim (and prove) that Dr Dao can no longer work after this incident, the claim againt UA, as a guess, would be >10 million! Some interesting stuff at the boittom of this link: David Dao’s Family: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com

 

[JohnK]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

I'm pretty sure his "alleged" criminal record is in the public domain and much like any of the rest of us is liable to be raked over and published by the media in the event of anything that puts us on the front page.

I'm still not convinced his past has anything to do with United and law enforcement botching up this situation.

That's what we need to focus on to ensure this is not repeated.

 

[amaroo]

Re: Pax forcibly removed from United overbooked flight

Dr Dao will probably be renamed "Dollar Dao" after his lawyers take United and coppers to the "Mother of all Payouts" ... Good luck to him and his family!