The United employees didn't assault the passenger the police did. United followed procedure by calling authorities to remove a non-compliant passenger. So, no protocol needs to change.
B.s. ERAUPRCWA, the key word in your comment is "procedure". Their procedure for this overbooking scenario is absolutely terrible. There are many things United could change and methods they could follow to avoid having to remove customers by use of force because of their abusive overbooking techniques. This is all their own fault.
+ERAUPRCWA Really? If I follow a protocol, _any_ protocol for any reason and it ends up with a man who minutes previously was sitting down minding his own business beaten and bloodies then yes, I'm going to have a look at said protocol. Considering how often police escalate issues, often fatally, I would look into getting private security.
legomypancakes - apparently they needed the 4 seats for United employees. What a piece of shit company, profiting by charging multiple people for the same seats, then kicking a few of them off to actually board their own employees.
" they needed the 4 seats for United employees " - That is actually great news for Dr Dao , according to the UA own rules they can not remove passangers after they got a boarding ticket and got seated on the plane,trying to do so i breach of contract. Their own rules of overbooking a plane have rules with overbooking other passengers, not United employees. The smear campaign trying to connect Dr Dao with the criminal other Dr Dao will also add in his favour - Ill bet his phone is ringing right now with lawyers wanting to take his case to court.
Her removal didn't seem to show any violence. Force yes but no violence. I haven't seen any report of her being hurt, and she has pleaded guilty. She didn't check-in; that was the issue. This guy followed all rules but still got broken teeth. That's a much more severe issue.
drstalone - His removal wasn't violent either. He ran back on again acting all insane. Is THAT the kinda passenger YOU want your family riding high with?
The problem is not the overbooking. The problem is kicking out a passenger who had already checked-in. Two different things. This was pure incompetence.
Ospin Tello They're both problems. It's pure stupidity to try to book more people for a flight that's already full to the max just because you think some people will be no shows, and then you have to take into account the flight attendants as well. It's like taking crayons and trying to shove them into a box that's already full. They simply won't fit and to make space some have to be removed which could cause problems later.
so basically the CEO is saying that because the way the doctor was treated falls within protocol, that it somehow makes it ok to treat a paying customer like sh*t and the assault was justified! kinda like how cops beat the sh*t out of us and the beatings are considered "justified"? I see
Spliffer45 then let's see who the doctor Sue's, United or the police? I get what you're saying from a pernicious legality point of view, but they were Aviation officers and therefore fall under the same the same umbrella as an aviation employee as to which a Northwestern, Southwest, JetBlue and many more Airline brand names use Aviation officers and therefore are liable for anything that the aviation officers may do to any customer on any particular Airline.
the CEO should resign but he sounds like the kind of asshole that wouldn't and force shareholders to fire him. that was not only being a real asshole by digging for dirt on the doctor but it was a stupid move as well. that isn't going to sway ANYONE and only make people even more irate against united airlines. for him not to realize that is beyond out of touch with your customer base.
To be fair, if the other passengers would have left, they would have to reschedule another flight and pay for that ticket too (along with the original United ticket) and then United would have just had other people replace them by selling them more tickets, so protesting it by leaving the plane only benefits United.
This is my point.... Employees fly for free..... The general public pays for the seat...... Who should be held on a higher priority??? The person who pays to fly or the person who flies for free...... I'll gladly take the bus when i come back to the US.... If that day ever comes.....
Not necessarily. Crew get priority if they're being deadheaded to a destination to continue a flight. It's better to inconvenience a few passengers than having to cancel a flight and inconvenience several hundred... Flight crew always get priority for this reason.
There are ways to inconvenience passengers that do not result in a PR nightmare like this. I wonder how many of those scenarios where their employees get priority is just *absolutely necessary to not have to cancel some other flight* and not just straight up abuse of their idiotic rule book.
Dustin Name me another developped country that has mass shootings, police brutality and a general lust for violence and agressiveness (just look at the way your TV shows and "news" are presented) on the same level as the US. There is a clear difference between the US and other developped countries.
Dustin ISIS doesn't occupy any countries. It occupies some regions in different middle eastern countries. These regions don't count as "any other country". And if you have to reach as far as "any ISIS occupied country" to compare the US to in terms of violence, then you prove that you really have a problem.
LOL exactly. Or say that they'll offer business class on the next available flight. I'm sure people would have jumped at the chance. But NOPE. The decide to beat up some innocent passenger.
The truth is (1) the flight was NOT overbooked. "Excess" passengers were already turned away at the gate. All passengers were already seated (2) United wanted 4 employees - 2 pilots & 2 air hostesses to board the plane so that they can meet another plane at the destination. - getting another United flight off the destination airport means more revenue for United. (3) The crew did not "randomly" select the passengesr to thrown off, they based it on names, thinking that some Asians may not speak English well and unlikely to protest. Given this "profit" motive of United Airline, I think the court should have United Airline pay a punitive damage at least equivalent to "one day sale/revenue" of the airline.
The crew didn't randomly select anything or anyone. The United Airlines booking system computer [supposedly] was used to randomly select 4 passengers. They were not all Asian. The other 3 left the plane peacefully when requested to do so. This has nothing to do with racism. This "doctor" is crazy and an idiot, who is a convicted felon. Regardless, his character or criminal past has nothing to with this issue. United Airlines is totally responsible for reasons you mentioned (or even if it was actually an issue of overbooking). Overbooking should be made illegal by Federal law, and United should be sued for this incident. They are already going to lose $Billions over this. Those cops should be fired also (maybe).
You should not comment on someone mental state and whether he is a felon without any proof to side track the issue. Why not call that the Doctor a "terrorist" too???? Please read the Wall Street Journal of 4/12/17 front and second page your will see the facts which the Journal discovered. "Overbooking" means overbooking by fee paying passengers before the flight i.e. NOT by the 4 off duty United Airline crew members - who do no need to book tickets to get on United flights. These crew members should have taken other flights of United or other airlines which give them "free flight" under reciprocal arrangement between airlines if they wish to get on a plane at the destination to allow United to make more flights and revenue/profit. United was not truthful in using "overbooking" to cover up its illegal action. I would like the court to find out what "randomly" means. I do not petty United Airlines for losing Billions - United Airlines deserves it.
Do not side track the issue and say that someone is "crazy" or a "convicted felon" without proof. Why not say that the Doctor was a "terrorist" too?. If you read the Wall St Journal of 4/12/17 1st& 2nd pages, you will see facts uncovered by the Journal. "Overbooking" means overbooking by fee paying passengers. NOT by United crew members who do not need to book tickets. The 4 crew members were directed by United to pick up another plane at destination & they want to get on AFTER all passengers were seated & the plane filled (i.e. other overbooked passengers have already been turned away). United Airline is not truthful in using "overbooking" as the excuse for its illegal action. The 4 OFF DUTY CREW MEMBERS should have used the airlines reciprocal arrangement to get on other flights of other airlines. "Randomly" by United Airline's standard and practice is to simply glance at the name list. I would highly recommend that the court find out how "randomly" it was. United not raising the offer for passengers to free up their seats to beyond $800 (unlike Delta Airline which raised it to $1370) and the need for that 4 United crew members to catch and man another flight at destination shows the "expense-saving" and "profit" motive of United Airline for this particular action. That is why, like some previous cases in court, United Airline should be fined and pay actual damage to the Doctor plus punitive damage to all those previously- illegally-evicted passengers, which are in the thousands (according to the newspapers) for an amount equivalent to one-day SALES of United Airlines. I do not feel sorry for United Airline. It deserves it. BAD MANAGEMENT.
Michael Wong the doctor and his wife both chosen, what a coincidence! They have the cheek to call it " randomly / computerised selection" in this case.
The Wall St. Journal today 4/13/17 says that the 46-page US Contract of Carriage guideline in selecting which passenger to evict in the event of OVERBOOKING is based on (1) disability, (2) unaccompained minors (3) fare , (4) itinerary (5) frequent flier status (6) check-in-time. First of all (a) This case is not OVERBOOKING - United Airline simply wish to make more money and directed its own Crew Members to board so that they can man another flight the next morning. The flight was full but NOT overbooked. The CEO lied to the public and to his own employees saying that it was United "policy" to carry out this illegal ac due to "overbooking".Not offering the highest amount of compensation i.e. $1,350 is United effort to save costs (to make more profits). Secondly, United said it selected the passenger "RANDOMLY" - the public will find out what "randomly" means. If someone at United look at the passengers names - they can easily tell which names are Asian, which names are African, which names are Jewish, I am sure that bias and discrimination would set in. Will be interesting to find out when this case go to court who the other 3 passengers that were evicted were. The one-day Sales punitive damage, I indicated is based on precedent. I recall a certain pizza company advertised free pizzas to purchasers if it was late in delivery. Traffic accident happened. The court found that the pizza company encouraged its delivery persons to drive fast in order to avoid giving away free pizzas. ignoring PUBLIC SAFETY. The punitive damage or fine was, if I recall correctly, "one-day-sale" of that pizza company.. Similarly, United Airlines lied to and misled the public (saying it was "Overbooking" when it was not), ignoring PASSENGER SAFETY for its own profit- a minimum penalty of one-day sale (in the millions of dollars) appears to be appropriate.
Nihilanth1982 it is part of the culture here that the rich are morally superior based on their bank account. The poor are demonized constantly by the media and the rich, police, and corporations are praised constantly. The corporation will also play up the "I'm the true victim" even though they did some thing wrong all the time. A man that sides with Corporations in every case was just put on the Supreme Court. Sooo....yea put two and two together and you have a population ripe for abuse, and a willing population who will abuse anyone who speaks out and blame the victim.
I'm annoyed that nobody immediately got off the plane after seeing that. They all were so shocked and worried for the man, yet not one person was willing to give up their seat for him. Hypocrisy, thy name is America
America is so F#### in so many ways. Add airlines on that list. I'm from Australia. This would never happen here. You pay for a ticket, you get your seat. No one ever gets removed for 'overbooking'.
I am honestly heartened by all the furor over this assault and the dehumanizing way we've seen the Airline react. If things are going to change, we need to see a lawsuit and not let up in social media with pressure on these airlines. Things don't change because garbage companies like most of these airlines are know they can just wait for the storm to blow over and they get back to business as usual.
Jeff Ramos Well, Trudeau stands as one of those few politicians in the world to be admired for intelligence, character, and policy ... so I imagine you won't have to wait too long. :)
I have quite a few friends who work for different airlines, and they always over book, but the rule of thumb is once you are on the plane, they can not remove you. They forcibly removed him, which is illegal and the man can sue. However, they can stop you from boarding a plane that is full, but they are supposed to put you on another flight, and compensate you cash, not United dollars.
Translation of the CEO's first message: "Unfortunately, one of our customers refused to deplane, so we called our gestapo to come beat the shit out of him"...
They will lose at least 1 billion dollars from this mistake just in asians choosing to fly with other airlines alone, and the CEO's poor response. Big mistake, huge.
so let me get this straight.person pays for ticket,was on the plane and gets dragged off because he tells them fuck you i paid for this seat. cue lawyer and lawsuit...
United should also apologize to all the other passengers. Notice how horrified and distraught that lady was as she saw a fellow passenger being dragged away. Subconsciously they must all have felt insecure even while they managed to retain their seats. Pretty unsettling for all the passengers. Don't think the rest of them had a restful flight.
Passengers are not loyal to airlines, they hate every one. How dare the airline charge me a dollar to fly attitude. Passengers book flights just to save one dollar. Passengers book also for the best flight time that works for them. And no, airlines do not get double the money for one seat. When they bump passengers they usually end up paying more for the inconvenience to the passengers than the seat is worth. Travel agents have been recommending passengers book early, confirm as soon as they can, and book a flight to reach their destination and home a day early, not on the first and last flight possible. The doctor booked a flight on the last flight possible, and then panicked when he was bumped. Travel smart, not dumb. You don't expect a table at a busy restaurant at 7 PM on Friday night without waiting for a half hour to a hour, why do you expect a seat on a airliner knowing weather delays flights and maintenance issues can cancel flights? Keep in mind not necessarily the weather at your airport, but at the previous airport for that jet. How can a airline guarantee a seat when they can't even guarantee a flight? www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-11/can-airlines-really-do-that-bumping-and-the-law-quicktake-q-a
Ron Clark that guy was a doctor with multiple patients waiting for him , he could not leave the flight , people's lives were on the line , you imbecile
If he was so concerned about his patients, he would have booked a earlier flight that day or a day before. In the travel business, ask any travel agent, you don't book the last flight on the last night.... Doing so is STUPID. Shit for brains. He would have most likely enjoyed six days of his vacation instead of being greedy trying to enjoy seven days. A long time ago Amtrak cancelled a train, which put me back a entire day for the entire vacation, forcing me to rebook two hotel nights. Instead of booking a sleeper first class, I had to book a coach seat the next day. Hint: Book a day early, flights are canceled, trains are canceled, and ports of calls are cancelled for a number of different reasons. So please don't lecture me about travel arrangements.
He wasn't kicked because they were overbooked, he was kicked because theywanted four employees without tickets to be on that flight and he refused to give up his seat.
1. No one is saying that this was the airlines fault for overbooking. And why did the people that didn't have seats not the ones who were asked off the plane first?
i know right. my luckiest break ever in the US, being hit by a city bus. that was my lucky day... seriously. thats the best thing thats happened to me. hard work never paid off as much as being hit by a bus. the modern world is stupid.
united failed to follow its contractual obligations with this passenger by not advising him in writing of instructions/protocal to be followed in the case of overbooking and the compensation he would be entitled to. The ceo then made the situation even worse by praising how employees handled the situation, which was actually done in the most incompetent way possible. Would anyone who purchased a ticket from any airline want to be treated like this? I hope this costs United a great deal in terms of damages Dr. Dao receives; lost market share and stock value; and lost opportunity as it tries to expand, especially in china where this has also gone viral. My small airport only has two other airlines besides united, but I've emailed united and told them that I will never fly with them again. With utube and social media, no company can treat a customer like this. Just incredibly stupid on united's part.
Tonight on the news they tried to discredit the doctor because he had temporarily lost his medical license and liked to gamble..Which has has nothing to do with what just happened to him.
Zoey Kneebone by the time the fight started at that point he was already combative and had to leave regardless. And why would someone give up their seat if they hadn't already? Fun fact if they overbook flights and you get taken off or volunteer for another flight you generally get comped a hotel for the night, money for food, and at worst half price off your next trip. I understand if you were on vacation and had reservations or a meeting you had to be at but some people honestly can afford to stay back and often do. I was once taken off against my will fighting to try and stay on and because it was overbooked and I was angry I got a free first-class trip to anywhere in the US my next trip plus my taxis hotel and next days flight covered and it was in Chicago and I think it was United to actually but one of their partners... American eagle maybe. it was a 2 by 2 plane about 40 rows. anyways it was worth it for me. This guy should have just listened and argued at the gate and they would have gotten him reimbursement for all his trouble and if he needed to be somewhere that night even gotten him on a later flight with a different company and covered it plus again like I said likely also a free flight another time for his trouble. Yes it sucks and is stupid but why not be a reasonable adult about the shitty situation you are in and handle it at the gate. worst case scenario you pay out of pocket for another flight or something and then you sue them for that instead of this situation now. I guess innhisncase he will get more money now because he acted like a child and fought the people just doing their jobs and now they have to pay for it but I guess the guy gets what he wanted now. moral of the story if this happens to you just take the free 1st class trip and the hotel that night and take it as a long term blessing for a short term hassle. But what do you expect from the liberal society we love in where everything has to be given to you or else you fight cops and call foul when they fight back.
dick casablancas absolutely not. why should anyone accept being thrown off a plane for a mistake on Uniteds part. United shouldn't sell seats they don't have. simple. certainly don't resist in an aggressive way but you have no obligation to be assaulted and dragged like a piece of meat. a first class flight and a hotel for the evening is not enough compensation for being ejected. you stand your ground and they will negotiate better deals.
Ppl keep saying that but what can civilians do against police? Like honestly, if a civilian lays a hand on law enforcement they're asking for trouble. The most ppl could do in that specific situation was record for evidence
This is only an issue because a manchild had a tantrum when he was asked to leave a plane. I'm sure this would have happened before and the person asked to leave probably would have left the plane, maybe not happily, but without kicking and screaming. And I would assume that being asked to leave the plane is in the fine print of your ticket when you purchase it, so if you don't want to follow their rules, don't fly on their plane.
That may be ok if youd get your money for the ticket back Or compensation BUT They cant just take your money and then kick you off and not giving you your money back or nothing , wich is basically scamming them
I fly 737's for Southwest, and I think this is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE! Everyone boycott United, and fly with us for a comfortable flight-And you won't have to worry about getting beat up on it!
As you read that second statement from the CEO, you can tell that he was thinking 'shit, now I've gotta pretend to care...should have gone with this initially!'
The airline offered $500 to anyone willing to give up their seat, but didn't find any takers so they dragged the guy off. They should've offered more money and avoided this debacle. It wasn't a case of the plane being "overbooked." The airline wanted to put some of their own people on the plane to get them somewhere. There were other ways of handling that problem.
Lou Montana Yes you're absolutely right. Minorities should not have any rights in America. Throw that Oscar Muñoz, CEO guy and his Latin American parents off the wall, the way he threw that Asian fellow.
Why all these comments about other stories unrelated to this? Why all these hateful comments about the young Turks? If you hate them so much, why are you here? This man was a Chinese american DOCTOR! He had a patient to see the next day, going on another flight was not an option, another passenger should have been removed but why should PAYING PASSENGERS be removed to seat STAFF? Forcibly dragging from the plane the only Chinese passenger stinks of RACISM!
LOL. You blame the free market for this, when the airline industry is one of the most regulated industries in our country. It's brain dead. I cannot start a competing airline. It is a defacto arm of the govenrment. Airlines are monopolies.
Regulatory capture is the norm, not the exception. Corporations pretty much always wind up writing the rules used to regulate them or those rules are usually selectively enforced.
As a former airline employee. how about you take into account all the factors it takes to getting a got dsmn airplane out and off the ground on time. you aren't the only person on the flight. this is in regards to Anna showing up 20 minutes before the flight leaves. the plane is boarded and being checked at that time. luggage is packed and the cargo doors are shut. how about respect time lines other than your own
I disagree with Ana here. IMHO, Airlines should still be allowed to overbook at their own risk/peril. Capitalism should be able to solve this problem with free tickets & voucher/cash, which they currently already do. However if no one takes $500, then United & other airlines should keep raising the stakes of the compensation for example, $1000, and if no one bites on that, they can just keep upping the offer until someone gets tempted. It's the airlines fault for causing the conflict, so it's their responsibility to resolve it, even at the expense of profit (because the whole point of overbooking is for profit). An airline forcing a paying passenger off their plane is a breach of contract IMO, and a lawsuit should be able to be litigated.
I heard this but can no longer remember the source. What United offered to those passengers, when it stopped at $800, is that only $50 may be used at a time, and whatever does not get used within 12mo is then forfeited. That means you need to fly 16 times over the next year to have used this compensation. Who in their sane mind would take this rotten deal?
Federal regulation require them to ask for volunteers first, But if there are none, it defines fairly clearly what the booted passenger is entitled to. But nowhere does it say that the passenger has a right to remain onboard if the airline wants him off. While I think this could have been handled better by the security personnel, in the end the guy is at fault too. When security shows up and tells you your getting off the plane, defying them is the wrong choice.
Siegfried Gust At worse what this passenger did was a civic offence. What the fake cops did was a criminal offence. Criminal law trumps civic law when two crimes are committed at the same time. So, the whole discussion about whether the passenger had a right not not to stay seated is just attempting to take the heat off the fake cops. People who protect these fake cops are protecting criminals.
Siegfried Gust If any member of law enforcement makes an unlawful, illegal request, you do not have a legal obligation to comply with the illegal request. King Henry signed an order, a bunch of governors tried to carry it out, and it led to the independence of America. As far as legality of things, I think that history lesson serves us well. I would agree with you from "avoiding bodily harm" standpoint: the three uniform-wearing thugs have guns, the poor Vietnamese Doctor did not. But then again, he was expecting these uniform-wearers to actually operate within the lawful framework represented by their uniform. Yes, I agree Federal Aviation law gives very clear pathway for airlines to "deny boarding in a overbooking situation". This is NOT such a situation. So the aviation law you are quoting is not relevant here. In case of questions or disagreements, please can you first read United's own Contract of Carriage, before asserting further interpretation: www.united.com/web/format/pdf/Contract_of_Carriage.pdf According to this contract, the only clause United could have invoked at this point (all passenger boarded & seated, not overbooking), is Refusal of Transportation. But still, none of the conditions under that clause is applicable to this situation. (Intoxication, inability to follow safety instruction, national security, etc...)
I disagree with Ana. Yes, removing paid customers due to overbooking is an awful practice. Especially when it happens like it did in this case. But it makes sense from the economy perspective. Unlike a theater or a restaurant, which doesn't have all costs of flying airplanes, the profit margins on airfares are tiny. If they stop overbooking then airlines would either have to cut costs somewhere else, which will make it unsafe to fly, or lose profits, or raise prices. So they'd have to raise prices; which would bankrupt them within months since their customers would go to competitors. Instead, the system calculates the statistical probability of people missing flights, based on the historical data on every route, and allows a certain number of overbookings. And with time it becomes more and more accurate. Hence cases of passenger removal are extremely rare. Finally, there's an option of a government to intervene and put regulation on NOT overbooking. In that case, all airlines would have to raise prices. So now we are left with a dilemma, would you rather have everyone save money on airfare, be able to travel more often, have airlines employ people, etc, for the price of a few passengers removed from flights, while being "fairly" compensated; or increase prices, have everyone suffer and have a potentially negative impact on the economy?
Lots of companies have to take risks. Restaurant orders a bunch of perishable food. They have to sell they food before it goes bad or else they will take a loss. When they make a food order, they take the risk they will not sell it before it goes bad. They usually factor that risk into the prices of the food. In the case of the airlines, they are pushing that risk onto the passenger. It is the business that should be the ones taking the risk, not the passenger. When you pay for a service, you should have to take a chance that you won't actually get the service that you pay for. I know that if they don't over book, then prices will go up, but I am okay with that. But there has to be an overall rule that bans overbooking for all companies to make it fair. I would be happy to pay 20% more for a plane ticket if it meant that there is a 0% chance that I can get bumped from my flight. People would eventually get used to the price increases and eventually, they won't even notice it. I don't think people will fly less just from a 20-25% increase or something like that. If it's like a 300% increase, then yes, but I don't think they would have to raise the price that much.
I mostly agree but United is making 6-7% profit margin with a PE under 10. Making 6-7% profit when there is competition that does essentially the same exact thing is too much.
Valentin Tsay - As nearly all airlines overbook, I don't really see how stopping the practice across the board would cause any of them to lose much business. The thing that really bothers me is that the seat is bought and paid for already. If you don't show, you get zero refund. If you cancel or change your ticket, even with plenty of notice, you either get nothing or get a small voucher toward another flight most of the time. Airlines act like a no show costs them the price of the ticket, when it is usually just one less ass weighing down the plane and one less bull bawling in the cattle car (can't have that!) So they overbook and sell seats they actually do not have, even for flights where there are nearly always standby passengers waiting for those no shows. Imagine if restaraunts (many of which are barely making it) tried this crap, and you don't pay in advance at a restaraunt!
If I purchase and procure a seat on the plane, unless I violate the terms of service in some way, you should legally have to find a way to purchase the seat back from me to get it back, and if you can't convince me to sell it back, offer more, and if that doesn't work, then kick rocks and buy your staff available tickets through another airline or flight. If someone thought this would save United a little time and money, that short-sighted person clearly sucks at math...financially, I don't think I've seen a corporate suicide of this magnitude in decades. If we don't start showing corporations that we aren't about to tolerate this shit, they'll just keep doing what they can get away with...we have to hurt them in their profits, otherwise they don't even notice whether their passengers are happy or bleeding...but when their profits drop, everybody starts paying attention...hopefully it will be too late by the time United gets its head out of its own ass.
Airlines should be made to offer the highest amount of $1300 to all passengers to find volunteers before they are allowed to bump someone from a flight.
Yes, The goons handled that situation about as badly as possible, but it was United Airlines staff that called them in and said that passenger was "unruly and belligerent" in order to get their way. "unruly and belligerent" are trigger words that airlines use for justifying a world of bad options for paying customers that they don't want to deal with. SHAMEFUL
Ana should have explained it better by making the point that the airline workers were not there to(work the flight in question)they were hoping a flight to work somewhere else.They DIDNT HAVE to be on that specific flight
I wish people would quit saying the flight was overbooked. It wasn't overbooked, United decided that they needed to bump paying passengers to make room for their own employees.
It is disgusting to see the way an American airline treated its passengers like sheep in a slaughterhouse. Is it their standards? How long have they been training for that practice?
The real scandal is United letting the passengers board the plane when it was overbooked, they must have known at the gate that there were more passengers then available seats yet let the people board the plane and sit down.
Overbooking the flight was not the problem. The problem comes from the Airline having seated everyone then realising they had to get 4 crew members to Kentucky. So had to boot customers. Umm according to Rule 25 you can decline seating to passengers as long as they have not boarded the flight. Once they are ON the flight it is too late. Try another flight for your crew, one that hasn't boarded, another airline, a train or bus.
I think we need to get something clear: This isn't United's fault that the man was unfortunately brutalized as he was ripped out of his seat. It was the security officials called in to hopefully "peacefully" remove the man. It is absolutely 100% in the right of the airline to remove anybody they want off their plane, and if they need to ask security to do it if the passenger refuses, its their right. People are getting mad at United for this. It was the SECURITY that went well beyond reasonable action in removing the man, not United. Get mad at the security of that Chicago airport.
"Passengers chosen at random to lose their seat" is not random at all. As I understand it, the person who paid the lowest fare and arrived the latest are the first to be chosen to leave. So...first and business class passengers are not touched....literally. Bottom line is that the first statement given by the CEO was to blame the victim. Then when stock prices took a hit, then he apologized. The paying public needs to remember this. You want better treatment from corporations? Make them lose money. I'll never fly United. They obviously hate coach class customers, and treat them worse than luggage.
I hope that doctor sues the shit out of United.
Get Rekt you're a dumbass.
Dont... hes a piece of shit. selling drugs to kids, writing fake prescriptions for sex, etc. Almost 58 counts of drug related crimes.
Get Rekt They definitely are full of shit, should have some to spare.
Log0ut Does he work for the DEA?
Log0ut 103 convicted felony counts
What a disgusting attitude from United
If the United employees were properly following protocol, and this happened, then the protocol needs to change.
The United employees didn't assault the passenger the police did. United followed procedure by calling authorities to remove a non-compliant passenger. So, no protocol needs to change.
B.s. ERAUPRCWA, the key word in your comment is "procedure". Their procedure for this overbooking scenario is absolutely terrible. There are many things United could change and methods they could follow to avoid having to remove customers by use of force because of their abusive overbooking techniques. This is all their own fault.
+ERAUPRCWA Really? If I follow a protocol, _any_ protocol for any reason and it ends up with a man who minutes previously was sitting down minding his own business beaten and bloodies then yes, I'm going to have a look at said protocol. Considering how often police escalate issues, often fatally, I would look into getting private security.
ERAUPRCWA Chicago aviation security officers are not police, but private security.
GJMEGA1 well thsts extra tickets extra risk hope you got the money and time
that must have been an awkward flight for the guy who took his spot
legomypancakes ha ha . I wanna c his face as he was flying
legomypancakes - apparently they needed the 4 seats for United employees. What a piece of shit company, profiting by charging multiple people for the same seats, then kicking a few of them off to actually board their own employees.
" they needed the 4 seats for United employees " - That is actually great news for Dr Dao , according to the UA own rules they can not remove passangers after they got a boarding ticket and got seated on the plane,trying to do so i breach of contract. Their own rules of overbooking a plane have rules with overbooking other passengers, not United employees.
The smear campaign trying to connect Dr Dao with the criminal other Dr Dao will also add in his favour - Ill bet his phone is ringing right now with lawyers wanting to take his case to court.
hell yeah.... i wonder if they got to eat the doctors meal, I hope he wasnt vegan
kiwicant LOL that you think United serves meals on domestic flights. Probably didn't even have drink service.
Southwest Airlines: We beat the competition. Not our passengers.
Delta Airlines: We may loose your luggage but we won't beat your ass.
Dennis Duncan LOL
Someone needs to create meme for that. I love it.
Her removal didn't seem to show any violence. Force yes but no violence. I haven't seen any report of her being hurt, and she has pleaded guilty. She didn't check-in; that was the issue. This guy followed all rules but still got broken teeth. That's a much more severe issue.
drstalone - His removal wasn't violent either. He ran back on again acting all insane. Is THAT the kinda passenger YOU want your family riding high with?
drstalone ???????????
it wasn't overbooked. It was fully and correctly booked and boarded. Spinning it as overbooking is agreeing to their lies
The problem is not the overbooking. The problem is kicking out a passenger who had already checked-in. Two different things. This was pure incompetence.
It was pure criminal activity which proves the law isn't used
Ospin Tello They're both problems. It's pure stupidity to try to book more people for a flight that's already full to the max just because you think some people will be no shows, and then you have to take into account the flight attendants as well. It's like taking crayons and trying to shove them into a box that's already full. They simply won't fit and to make space some have to be removed which could cause problems later.
CRIME! NOT INCOMPETENCE. the guy had the right to kill the criminals in self defense.
I guess united isn't so united after all! time for a boycott!
so basically the CEO is saying that because the way the doctor was treated falls within protocol, that it somehow makes it ok to treat a paying customer like sh*t and the assault was justified! kinda like how cops beat the sh*t out of us and the beatings are considered "justified"? I see
Spliffer45 then let's see who the doctor Sue's, United or the police? I get what you're saying from a pernicious legality point of view, but they were Aviation officers and therefore fall under the same the same umbrella as an aviation employee as to which a Northwestern, Southwest, JetBlue and many more Airline brand names use Aviation officers and therefore are liable for anything that the aviation officers may do to any customer on any particular Airline.
***** Did TYT cover it?
***** I don't watch every news story ya know! I'm actually kind of offended that you ask me such a question!
First, the CEO is a disgusting human being.
Secondly, why didn't they all stand up and get off the plane?
Well, maybe they had places to go? Also, they paid for their ticket and were happy to keep their seat.
Thats humans for you. Yell and gasp but stay in their seats and keep eating their pretzels.
the CEO should resign but he sounds like the kind of asshole that wouldn't and force shareholders to fire him. that was not only being a real asshole by digging for dirt on the doctor but it was a stupid move as well. that isn't going to sway ANYONE and only make people even more irate against united airlines. for him not to realize that is beyond out of touch with your customer base.
HackTheTruth They don't come to black people rescue, what so special about Asian people?
To be fair, if the other passengers would have left, they would have to reschedule another flight and pay for that ticket too (along with the original United ticket) and then United would have just had other people replace them by selling them more tickets, so protesting it by leaving the plane only benefits United.
This is my point.... Employees fly for free..... The general public pays for the seat...... Who should be held on a higher priority??? The person who pays to fly or the person who flies for free......
I'll gladly take the bus when i come back to the US.... If that day ever comes.....
Not necessarily. Crew get priority if they're being deadheaded to a destination to continue a flight. It's better to inconvenience a few passengers than having to cancel a flight and inconvenience several hundred...
Flight crew always get priority for this reason.
There are ways to inconvenience passengers that do not result in a PR nightmare like this. I wonder how many of those scenarios where their employees get priority is just *absolutely necessary to not have to cancel some other flight* and not just straight up abuse of their idiotic rule book.
The employees make the company a lot more money than 1 customer's ticket
don't go back, it's shite over there
Unfortunately for me i am an american and my family is there..... So i am torn about staying where i am and going back....
United Airlines: We put the hospital in hospitality
Give him a pepsi!
That only works if Kendall does it
CATWOMAN Join the Conversation!
Munoz did join the conversation but that didn't seem to help anything.
CATWOMAN lmao 👏
I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony...
What is it with the US and violence? Why is your society so violent? Where does it come from?
The genocide of native Americans?
Please, like any other country is violent.
Dustin Name me another developped country that has mass shootings, police brutality and a general lust for violence and agressiveness (just look at the way your TV shows and "news" are presented) on the same level as the US. There is a clear difference between the US and other developped countries.
I'm talking about all of the countries occupied by ISIS.
Dustin ISIS doesn't occupy any countries. It occupies some regions in different middle eastern countries. These regions don't count as "any other country". And if you have to reach as far as "any ISIS occupied country" to compare the US to in terms of violence, then you prove that you really have a problem.
United Airlines' new slogan: "If there's not enough seating, you get a beating!"
Why not simply hold a quick auction? If the price is right Ill be happy to give up my flight
LOL exactly. Or say that they'll offer business class on the next available flight. I'm sure people would have jumped at the chance. But NOPE. The decide to beat up some innocent passenger.
dochmbi 😂😂😂😂
The truth is (1) the flight was NOT overbooked. "Excess" passengers were already turned away at the gate. All passengers were already seated (2) United wanted 4 employees - 2 pilots & 2 air hostesses to board the plane so that they can meet another plane at the destination. - getting another United flight off the destination airport means more revenue for United. (3) The crew did not "randomly" select the passengesr to thrown off, they based it on names, thinking that some Asians may not speak English well and unlikely to protest. Given this "profit" motive of United Airline, I think the court should have United Airline pay a punitive damage at least equivalent to "one day sale/revenue" of the airline.
The crew didn't randomly select anything or anyone. The United Airlines booking system computer [supposedly] was used to randomly select 4 passengers. They were not all Asian. The other 3 left the plane peacefully when requested to do so. This has nothing to do with racism. This "doctor" is crazy and an idiot, who is a convicted felon. Regardless, his character or criminal past has nothing to with this issue. United Airlines is totally responsible for reasons you mentioned (or even if it was actually an issue of overbooking). Overbooking should be made illegal by Federal law, and United should be sued for this incident. They are already going to lose $Billions over this. Those cops should be fired also (maybe).
You should not comment on someone mental state and whether he is a felon without any proof to side track the issue. Why not call that the Doctor a "terrorist" too???? Please read the Wall Street Journal of 4/12/17 front and second page your will see the facts which the Journal discovered. "Overbooking" means overbooking by fee paying passengers before the flight i.e. NOT by the 4 off duty United Airline crew members - who do no need to book tickets to get on United flights. These crew members should have taken other flights of United or other airlines which give them "free flight" under reciprocal arrangement between airlines if they wish to get on a plane at the destination to allow United to make more flights and revenue/profit. United was not truthful in using "overbooking" to cover up its illegal action. I would like the court to find out what "randomly" means. I do not petty United Airlines for losing Billions - United Airlines deserves it.
Do not side track the issue and say that someone is "crazy" or a "convicted felon" without proof. Why not say that the Doctor was a "terrorist" too?. If you read the Wall St Journal of 4/12/17 1st& 2nd pages, you will see facts uncovered by the Journal. "Overbooking" means overbooking by fee paying passengers. NOT by United crew members who do not need to book tickets. The 4 crew members were directed by United to pick up another plane at destination & they want to get on AFTER all passengers were seated & the plane filled (i.e. other overbooked passengers have already been turned away). United Airline is not truthful in using "overbooking" as the excuse for its illegal action. The 4 OFF DUTY CREW MEMBERS should have used the airlines reciprocal arrangement to get on other flights of other airlines. "Randomly" by United Airline's standard and practice is to simply glance at the name list. I would highly recommend that the court find out how "randomly" it was. United not raising the offer for passengers to free up their seats to beyond $800 (unlike Delta Airline which raised it to $1370) and the need for that 4 United crew members to catch and man another flight at destination shows the "expense-saving" and "profit" motive of United Airline for this particular action. That is why, like some previous cases in court, United Airline should be fined and pay actual damage to the Doctor plus punitive damage to all those previously- illegally-evicted passengers, which are in the thousands (according to the newspapers) for an amount equivalent to one-day SALES of United Airlines. I do not feel sorry for United Airline. It deserves it. BAD MANAGEMENT.
Michael Wong the doctor and his wife both chosen, what a coincidence! They have the cheek to call it " randomly / computerised selection" in this case.
The Wall St. Journal today 4/13/17 says that the 46-page US Contract of Carriage guideline in selecting which passenger to evict in the event of OVERBOOKING is based on (1) disability, (2) unaccompained minors (3) fare , (4) itinerary (5) frequent flier status (6) check-in-time. First of all (a) This case is not OVERBOOKING - United Airline simply wish to make more money and directed its own Crew Members to board so that they can man another flight the next morning. The flight was full but NOT overbooked. The CEO lied to the public and to his own employees saying that it was United "policy" to carry out this illegal ac due to "overbooking".Not offering the highest amount of compensation i.e. $1,350 is United effort to save costs (to make more profits). Secondly, United said it selected the passenger "RANDOMLY" - the public will find out what "randomly" means. If someone at United look at the passengers names - they can easily tell which names are Asian, which names are African, which names are Jewish, I am sure that bias and discrimination would set in. Will be interesting to find out when this case go to court who the other 3 passengers that were evicted were. The one-day Sales punitive damage, I indicated is based on precedent. I recall a certain pizza company advertised free pizzas to purchasers if it was late in delivery. Traffic accident happened. The court found that the pizza company encouraged its delivery persons to drive fast in order to avoid giving away free pizzas. ignoring PUBLIC SAFETY. The punitive damage or fine was, if I recall correctly, "one-day-sale" of that pizza company.. Similarly, United Airlines lied to and misled the public (saying it was "Overbooking" when it was not), ignoring PASSENGER SAFETY for its own profit- a minimum penalty of one-day sale (in the millions of dollars) appears to be appropriate.
why is america so pro-corporation and anti-employee/consumer?
Nihilanth1982 it is part of the culture here that the rich are morally superior based on their bank account. The poor are demonized constantly by the media and the rich, police, and corporations are praised constantly. The corporation will also play up the "I'm the true victim" even though they did some thing wrong all the time. A man that sides with Corporations in every case was just put on the Supreme Court. Sooo....yea put two and two together and you have a population ripe for abuse, and a willing population who will abuse anyone who speaks out and blame the victim.
Theyre capitalists and also if you dont comply you will be shot or bombed into oblivion.
+Lorenz S
You bring up Venezuela but not Canada, Norway, Sweden, Australia, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, etc...
Capitalism and greed.
Nihilanth1982 it CLASSISM. American is against poor and pro RICH.
I'm annoyed that nobody immediately got off the plane after seeing that. They all were so shocked and worried for the man, yet not one person was willing to give up their seat for him. Hypocrisy, thy name is America
America is so F#### in so many ways. Add airlines on that list.
I'm from Australia. This would never happen here. You pay for a ticket, you get your seat. No one ever gets removed for 'overbooking'.
No one should be flying United Airlines after this.
I am honestly heartened by all the furor over this assault and the dehumanizing way we've seen the Airline react. If things are going to change, we need to see a lawsuit and not let up in social media with pressure on these airlines. Things don't change because garbage companies like most of these airlines are know they can just wait for the storm to blow over and they get back to business as usual.
Gangrel Aussie
Here in Canada, Trudeau's government , said they will make a "chart" or " rights" of the passenger. Hope will do it soon.
Jeff Ramos Well, Trudeau stands as one of those few politicians in the world to be admired for intelligence, character, and policy ... so I imagine you won't have to wait too long. :)
BOYCOTT
I have quite a few friends who work for different airlines, and they always over book, but the rule of thumb is once you are on the plane, they can not remove you. They forcibly removed him, which is illegal and the man can sue. However, they can stop you from boarding a plane that is full, but they are supposed to put you on another flight, and compensate you cash, not United dollars.
The CEO only said he was sorry because of his stock, everybody knows he not sorry.
Translation of the CEO's first message: "Unfortunately, one of our customers refused to deplane, so we called our gestapo to come beat the shit out of him"...
Let's make sure that United is going to fly empty planes
If any one of us behaved like these cops, we'd be arrested.
Why are police behaving like criminals???
who feels bad and sad for that man
They will lose at least 1 billion dollars from this mistake just in asians choosing to fly with other airlines alone, and the CEO's poor response. Big mistake, huge.
They lost over $800M in stock already and had to do some massive buyback just to stop the hemorrhage.
so let me get this straight.person pays for ticket,was on the plane and gets dragged off because he tells them fuck you i paid for this seat. cue lawyer and lawsuit...
United should also apologize to all the other passengers. Notice how horrified and distraught that lady was as she saw a fellow passenger being dragged away. Subconsciously they must all have felt insecure even while they managed to retain their seats. Pretty unsettling for all the passengers. Don't think the rest of them had a restful flight.
my UNITED airline mileage plus account....CLOSED!!!! NEVER EVER TO FLY UNITED!!!!!
Smokey Rosario - You'll be back next week
Passengers are not loyal to airlines, they hate every one. How dare the airline charge me a dollar to fly attitude. Passengers book flights just to save one dollar. Passengers book also for the best flight time that works for them. And no, airlines do not get double the money for one seat. When they bump passengers they usually end up paying more for the inconvenience to the passengers than the seat is worth. Travel agents have been recommending passengers book early, confirm as soon as they can, and book a flight to reach their destination and home a day early, not on the first and last flight possible. The doctor booked a flight on the last flight possible, and then panicked when he was bumped. Travel smart, not dumb. You don't expect a table at a busy restaurant at 7 PM on Friday night without waiting for a half hour to a hour, why do you expect a seat on a airliner knowing weather delays flights and maintenance issues can cancel flights? Keep in mind not necessarily the weather at your airport, but at the previous airport for that jet. How can a airline guarantee a seat when they can't even guarantee a flight? www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-11/can-airlines-really-do-that-bumping-and-the-law-quicktake-q-a
Smokey Rosario go with Alaska or Sun Country, they are the real airlines
Ron Clark that guy was a doctor with multiple patients waiting for him , he could not leave the flight , people's lives were on the line , you imbecile
If he was so concerned about his patients, he would have booked a earlier flight that day or a day before. In the travel business, ask any travel agent, you don't book the last flight on the last night.... Doing so is STUPID. Shit for brains. He would have most likely enjoyed six days of his vacation instead of being greedy trying to enjoy seven days. A long time ago Amtrak cancelled a train, which put me back a entire day for the entire vacation, forcing me to rebook two hotel nights. Instead of booking a sleeper first class, I had to book a coach seat the next day. Hint: Book a day early, flights are canceled, trains are canceled, and ports of calls are cancelled for a number of different reasons. So please don't lecture me about travel arrangements.
United: Just give up. Close your doors. Go bankrupt. Go away.
I "USED" to be a loyal united customer....but who wants to pay to end up like this guy?
He wasn't kicked because they were overbooked, he was kicked because theywanted four employees without tickets to be on that flight and he refused to give up his seat.
Neil Gorsuch will decide in favor of United.
You know what is really disturbing about that video? Everyone there knew what was happening was wrong and yet not one person bothered to intervene.
just boycott their company out of existence
1. No one is saying that this was the airlines fault for overbooking. And why did the people that didn't have seats not the ones who were asked off the plane first?
I wish this happend to me, would've made me a millionaire instantly
i know right. my luckiest break ever in the US, being hit by a city bus. that was my lucky day... seriously. thats the best thing thats happened to me. hard work never paid off as much as being hit by a bus. the modern world is stupid.
Elegast wow well if u r White u r right
immortal9922 W
Shawn O'Regan A settlement = cash
Being rewarded for throwing a tantrum about being picked randomly to leave a plane. The modern world really is stupid.
The CEO only apologized after United lost 250 million in stocks, I hope the Doctor collects the other 250 million from this crap airline.
'"no one should be mistreated this way." Okay, in what way should they be mistreated?
That CEO should be bloodied and pulled out of every place he goes until he starts to understand how brutality for a buck is wrong.
united failed to follow its contractual obligations with this passenger by not advising him in writing of instructions/protocal to be followed in the case of overbooking and the compensation he would be entitled to. The ceo then made the situation even worse by praising how employees handled the situation, which was actually done in the most incompetent way possible. Would anyone who purchased a ticket from any airline want to be treated like this? I hope this costs United a great deal in terms of damages Dr. Dao receives; lost market share and stock value; and lost opportunity as it tries to expand, especially in china where this has also gone viral. My small airport only has two other airlines besides united, but I've emailed united and told them that I will never fly with them again. With utube and social media, no company can treat a customer like this. Just incredibly stupid on united's part.
I find it disturbing that the police were used to do the bidding for a corporation, this was a commercial issue, not a criminal one.
I hope United Airline go bankrupt.
WangQiang JOHN me too
Overbooking is the United Airline's problem, should not let passenger to face it.
Tonight on the news they tried to discredit the doctor because he had temporarily lost his medical license and liked to gamble..Which has has nothing to do with what just happened to him.
The incident was unfortunate but the CEO's response was appropriate, because that drug dealing quack was disruptive.
He bought a ticket for a reason. Why didn't someone say, "Alright, take my seat"? They are all yelling but no one tried to get off to help the guy.
They all we trying to get somewhere
Zoey Kneebone by the time the fight started at that point he was already combative and had to leave regardless. And why would someone give up their seat if they hadn't already? Fun fact if they overbook flights and you get taken off or volunteer for another flight you generally get comped a hotel for the night, money for food, and at worst half price off your next trip. I understand if you were on vacation and had reservations or a meeting you had to be at but some people honestly can afford to stay back and often do. I was once taken off against my will fighting to try and stay on and because it was overbooked and I was angry I got a free first-class trip to anywhere in the US my next trip plus my taxis hotel and next days flight covered and it was in Chicago and I think it was United to actually but one of their partners... American eagle maybe. it was a 2 by 2 plane about 40 rows. anyways it was worth it for me. This guy should have just listened and argued at the gate and they would have gotten him reimbursement for all his trouble and if he needed to be somewhere that night even gotten him on a later flight with a different company and covered it plus again like I said likely also a free flight another time for his trouble. Yes it sucks and is stupid but why not be a reasonable adult about the shitty situation you are in and handle it at the gate. worst case scenario you pay out of pocket for another flight or something and then you sue them for that instead of this situation now. I guess innhisncase he will get more money now because he acted like a child and fought the people just doing their jobs and now they have to pay for it but I guess the guy gets what he wanted now.
moral of the story if this happens to you just take the free 1st class trip and the hotel that night and take it as a long term blessing for a short term hassle. But what do you expect from the liberal society we love in where everything has to be given to you or else you fight cops and call foul when they fight back.
dick casablancas absolutely not. why should anyone accept being thrown off a plane for a mistake on Uniteds part. United shouldn't sell seats they don't have. simple.
certainly don't resist in an aggressive way but you have no obligation to be assaulted and dragged like a piece of meat.
a first class flight and a hotel for the evening is not enough compensation for being ejected. you stand your ground and they will negotiate better deals.
Ppl keep saying that but what can civilians do against police? Like honestly, if a civilian lays a hand on law enforcement they're asking for trouble. The most ppl could do in that specific situation was record for evidence
You said it yourself. They bought tickets for a reason, too...
Any kids witnessing this incident would be traumatized to ever fly again.
I wonder why he didn't want to give up the seat, when he paid for it. United is in for a huge lawsuit.
The guy isn't a doctor anymore and was asked many times to leave. He deserved what he got.
This is only an issue because a manchild had a tantrum when he was asked to leave a plane. I'm sure this would have happened before and the person asked to leave probably would have left the plane, maybe not happily, but without kicking and screaming. And I would assume that being asked to leave the plane is in the fine print of your ticket when you purchase it, so if you don't want to follow their rules, don't fly on their plane.
That may be ok if youd get your money for the ticket back Or compensation
BUT They cant just take your money and then kick you off and not giving you your money back or nothing , wich is basically scamming them
Why is America so unorganized in so many ways?!
I fly 737's for Southwest, and I think this is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE! Everyone boycott United, and fly with us for a comfortable flight-And you won't have to worry about getting beat up on it!
Police has no right to get in the plane to drag out any passenger who paid his ticket and makes no trouble.
As you read that second statement from the CEO, you can tell that he was thinking 'shit, now I've gotta pretend to care...should have gone with this initially!'
He continues to be hurt - right in his pockets. Its disgusting how transparent that man is.
If it was me I'd sue for assault/grievous bodily harm, among other things.
The airline offered $500 to anyone willing to give up their seat, but didn't find any takers so they dragged the guy off. They should've offered more money and avoided this debacle.
It wasn't a case of the plane being "overbooked." The airline wanted to put some of their own people on the plane to get them somewhere. There were other ways of handling that problem.
Should've had a Pepsi. That's what happens when ya sheep-people don't bring your daily Pepsi with you...
knocked the 69 year old unconscious is an act of terror
This is the world of Donald J. Trump! Minorities have no rights.
Lou Montana
Yes you're absolutely right. Minorities should not have any rights in America. Throw that Oscar Muñoz, CEO guy and his Latin American parents off the wall, the way he threw that Asian fellow.
amfe52 In this day and age, "minorities" means "people without money and influence" - which ironically is actually the majority.
Dragon1717 ... Ignorance is bliss isn't it.
this has nothing to do with trump... stuff like this has been going on for years... trump is still fairly new to being president...
Seriously. What does this have to do with Donald Trump?
United they stand, United they fall. Rather negative prognostication for a airline carrier.
Why all these comments about other stories unrelated to this?
Why all these hateful comments about the young Turks?
If you hate them so much, why are you here?
This man was a Chinese american DOCTOR! He had a patient to see the next day, going on another flight was not an option, another passenger should have been removed but why should PAYING PASSENGERS be removed to seat STAFF?
Forcibly dragging from the plane the only Chinese passenger stinks of RACISM!
Apparently the next time I take a United flight I need to wear my hockey helmet and mouth guard if that is industry standard.
The thumbnail, it looks like a group of guys struggling to kick Jenk out. lol
LOL
Down vote for no ceo fist fighting footage
LOL. You blame the free market for this, when the airline industry is one of the most regulated industries in our country. It's brain dead. I cannot start a competing airline. It is a defacto arm of the govenrment. Airlines are monopolies.
TheGnarlyDoug There's a big difference between consumer protection, and corporate protectionist regulations. Is it that had to understand?
Cool, name calling but no arguments. U are so smart.
Regulatory capture is the norm, not the exception. Corporations pretty much always wind up writing the rules used to regulate them or those rules are usually selectively enforced.
As a former airline employee. how about you take into account all the factors it takes to getting a got dsmn airplane out and off the ground on time. you aren't the only person on the flight. this is in regards to Anna showing up 20 minutes before the flight leaves. the plane is boarded and being checked at that time. luggage is packed and the cargo doors are shut. how about respect time lines other than your own
I disagree with Ana here. IMHO, Airlines should still be allowed to overbook at their own risk/peril. Capitalism should be able to solve this problem with free tickets & voucher/cash, which they currently already do. However if no one takes $500, then United & other airlines should keep raising the stakes of the compensation for example, $1000, and if no one bites on that, they can just keep upping the offer until someone gets tempted. It's the airlines fault for causing the conflict, so it's their responsibility to resolve it, even at the expense of profit (because the whole point of overbooking is for profit). An airline forcing a paying passenger off their plane is a breach of contract IMO, and a lawsuit should be able to be litigated.
I heard this but can no longer remember the source. What United offered to those passengers, when it stopped at $800, is that only $50 may be used at a time, and whatever does not get used within 12mo is then forfeited.
That means you need to fly 16 times over the next year to have used this compensation. Who in their sane mind would take this rotten deal?
This has nothing to do with overbooking.
Federal regulation require them to ask for volunteers first, But if there are none, it defines fairly clearly what the booted passenger is entitled to. But nowhere does it say that the passenger has a right to remain onboard if the airline wants him off. While I think this could have been handled better by the security personnel, in the end the guy is at fault too. When security shows up and tells you your getting off the plane, defying them is the wrong choice.
Siegfried Gust At worse what this passenger did was a civic offence. What the fake cops did was a criminal offence. Criminal law trumps civic law when two crimes are committed at the same time.
So, the whole discussion about whether the passenger had a right not not to stay seated is just attempting to take the heat off the fake cops. People who protect these fake cops are protecting criminals.
Siegfried Gust If any member of law enforcement makes an unlawful, illegal request, you do not have a legal obligation to comply with the illegal request. King Henry signed an order, a bunch of governors tried to carry it out, and it led to the independence of America. As far as legality of things, I think that history lesson serves us well. I would agree with you from "avoiding bodily harm" standpoint: the three uniform-wearing thugs have guns, the poor Vietnamese Doctor did not. But then again, he was expecting these uniform-wearers to actually operate within the lawful framework represented by their uniform.
Yes, I agree Federal Aviation law gives very clear pathway for airlines to "deny boarding in a overbooking situation". This is NOT such a situation. So the aviation law you are quoting is not relevant here. In case of questions or disagreements, please can you first read United's own Contract of Carriage, before asserting further interpretation: www.united.com/web/format/pdf/Contract_of_Carriage.pdf
According to this contract, the only clause United could have invoked at this point (all passenger boarded & seated, not overbooking), is Refusal of Transportation. But still, none of the conditions under that clause is applicable to this situation. (Intoxication, inability to follow safety instruction, national security, etc...)
We need to get antitrust laws back, here. Also, the man was not denied boarding, he was removed from the aircraft.
I disagree with Ana. Yes, removing paid customers due to overbooking is an awful practice. Especially when it happens like it did in this case. But it makes sense from the economy perspective. Unlike a theater or a restaurant, which doesn't have all costs of flying airplanes, the profit margins on airfares are tiny. If they stop overbooking then airlines would either have to cut costs somewhere else, which will make it unsafe to fly, or lose profits, or raise prices. So they'd have to raise prices; which would bankrupt them within months since their customers would go to competitors. Instead, the system calculates the statistical probability of people missing flights, based on the historical data on every route, and allows a certain number of overbookings. And with time it becomes more and more accurate. Hence cases of passenger removal are extremely rare. Finally, there's an option of a government to intervene and put regulation on NOT overbooking. In that case, all airlines would have to raise prices. So now we are left with a dilemma, would you rather have everyone save money on airfare, be able to travel more often, have airlines employ people, etc, for the price of a few passengers removed from flights, while being "fairly" compensated; or increase prices, have everyone suffer and have a potentially negative impact on the economy?
JetBlue doesn't overbook. Its a company policy. They also have competitively priced tickets.
Lots of companies have to take risks. Restaurant orders a bunch of perishable food. They have to sell they food before it goes bad or else they will take a loss. When they make a food order, they take the risk they will not sell it before it goes bad. They usually factor that risk into the prices of the food. In the case of the airlines, they are pushing that risk onto the passenger. It is the business that should be the ones taking the risk, not the passenger. When you pay for a service, you should have to take a chance that you won't actually get the service that you pay for. I know that if they don't over book, then prices will go up, but I am okay with that. But there has to be an overall rule that bans overbooking for all companies to make it fair. I would be happy to pay 20% more for a plane ticket if it meant that there is a 0% chance that I can get bumped from my flight. People would eventually get used to the price increases and eventually, they won't even notice it. I don't think people will fly less just from a 20-25% increase or something like that. If it's like a 300% increase, then yes, but I don't think they would have to raise the price that much.
I mostly agree but United is making 6-7% profit margin with a PE under 10. Making 6-7% profit when there is competition that does essentially the same exact thing is too much.
Valentin Tsay slaves make sense from an economic perspective too
Valentin Tsay - As nearly all airlines overbook, I don't really see how stopping the practice across the board would cause any of them to lose much business.
The thing that really bothers me is that the seat is bought and paid for already. If you don't show, you get zero refund. If you cancel or change your ticket, even with plenty of notice, you either get nothing or get a small voucher toward another flight most of the time. Airlines act like a no show costs them the price of the ticket, when it is usually just one less ass weighing down the plane and one less bull bawling in the cattle car (can't have that!) So they overbook and sell seats they actually do not have, even for flights where there are nearly always standby passengers waiting for those no shows.
Imagine if restaraunts (many of which are barely making it) tried this crap, and you don't pay in advance at a restaraunt!
They didn't even do this legally, they are supposed to offer up to 1000 dollars before picking people to kick off
If I purchase and procure a seat on the plane, unless I violate the terms of service in some way, you should legally have to find a way to purchase the seat back from me to get it back, and if you can't convince me to sell it back, offer more, and if that doesn't work, then kick rocks and buy your staff available tickets through another airline or flight. If someone thought this would save United a little time and money, that short-sighted person clearly sucks at math...financially, I don't think I've seen a corporate suicide of this magnitude in decades. If we don't start showing corporations that we aren't about to tolerate this shit, they'll just keep doing what they can get away with...we have to hurt them in their profits, otherwise they don't even notice whether their passengers are happy or bleeding...but when their profits drop, everybody starts paying attention...hopefully it will be too late by the time United gets its head out of its own ass.
why not giving a passenger 2000,00 before attacking in such inappropriate way?
Airlines should be made to offer the highest amount of $1300 to all passengers to find volunteers before they are allowed to bump someone from a flight.
Yes, The goons handled that situation about as badly as possible, but it was United Airlines staff that called them in and said that passenger was "unruly and belligerent" in order to get their way. "unruly and belligerent" are trigger words that airlines use for justifying a world of bad options for paying customers that they don't want to deal with. SHAMEFUL
Once you're on the plane there should be no way they can force you off.
Ana should have explained it better by making the point that the airline workers were not there to(work the flight in question)they were hoping a flight to work somewhere else.They DIDNT HAVE to be on that specific flight
United did not over book the flight, the employees arrived late and did not have tickets.
Over booking is ridiculous!!
We need to choose a company to boycott until they're gone, because all the airlines will keep doing this.
If this kind of treatment is not stopped it will become the norm. Wake up America...
Why didn't united airlines tell the man/women who wanted a seat but didn't have one to leave instead of kicking someone out of there seat ?
I am pretty sure it was United employees who needed to fly to the destination so they could man a plane to leave late that day.
Flight Club is an exclusive sneakers store,
Are u advertising it? Lol
I hope that passenger sues the hell out of United.
I wish people would quit saying the flight was overbooked. It wasn't overbooked, United decided that they needed to bump paying passengers to make room for their own employees.
Apparently, it turns out the flight wasn't booked. Can't wait to hear their response now
It is disgusting to see the way an American airline treated its passengers like sheep in a slaughterhouse. Is it their standards? How long have they been training for that practice?
People don't realize that the public wants over booking for cheaper flights.
Never flew United, and unless there are zero other options, I won't be flying in the future
Hotels have been doing this for years and no laws have been changed. don't expect anything different
I wanna applaud not just those who filmed it, but the women in the video who protested on his behalf
The real scandal is United letting the passengers board the plane when it was overbooked, they must have known at the gate that there were more passengers then available seats yet let the people board the plane and sit down.
Overbooking the flight was not the problem. The problem comes from the Airline having seated everyone then realising they had to get 4 crew members to Kentucky. So had to boot customers. Umm according to Rule 25 you can decline seating to passengers as long as they have not boarded the flight. Once they are ON the flight it is too late. Try another flight for your crew, one that hasn't boarded, another airline, a train or bus.
I think we need to get something clear: This isn't United's fault that the man was unfortunately brutalized as he was ripped out of his seat. It was the security officials called in to hopefully "peacefully" remove the man. It is absolutely 100% in the right of the airline to remove anybody they want off their plane, and if they need to ask security to do it if the passenger refuses, its their right.
People are getting mad at United for this. It was the SECURITY that went well beyond reasonable action in removing the man, not United. Get mad at the security of that Chicago airport.
"Passengers chosen at random to lose their seat" is not random at all. As I understand it, the person who paid the lowest fare and arrived the latest are the first to be chosen to leave. So...first and business class passengers are not touched....literally.
Bottom line is that the first statement given by the CEO was to blame the victim. Then when stock prices took a hit, then he apologized. The paying public needs to remember this. You want better treatment from corporations? Make them lose money. I'll never fly United. They obviously hate coach class customers, and treat them worse than luggage.
United just said they aren't going to get police to remove overbooked passengers anymore
Deplane! Deplane!
They kicked off a paying customer for employees to fly for free.....