United Airlines - not enough seating? Prepare for a BEATING
- Thread starter wetnose
- Start date
Saw this literally minutes after it happened, it was on twitter and imgur.
At least three different people were live posting videos from the plane!
United keep saying it was overbooked. AFAIK that is not true. In fact they wanted to shuttle four employees so decided to boot four passengers.
United claims they were picked at random by computer, some say the crew picked them and are just blaming a computer.
Whatever, the guy had things to do...he is a doctor and he had patients to see.
He paid, had a right to his seat, and was not belligerent at all.
Hopefully he sues the fuck out of United.
I bet the chairman and execs all get big bonuses anyway
At least three different people were live posting videos from the plane!
United keep saying it was overbooked. AFAIK that is not true. In fact they wanted to shuttle four employees so decided to boot four passengers.
United claims they were picked at random by computer, some say the crew picked them and are just blaming a computer.
Whatever, the guy had things to do...he is a doctor and he had patients to see.
He paid, had a right to his seat, and was not belligerent at all.
Hopefully he sues the fuck out of United.
I bet the chairman and execs all get big bonuses anyway
One of the most ridiculous things I read was that this passenger has "past history".
I do not care if he has been convicted of murder. He paid for the ticket, he is in his seat and he has the right to be there. If UA overbooks intentionally, then they better have a solution as well. Dragging a citizen off the flight is certainly not one of them. I heard that now they are offering extra compensation to EVERY person on that flight. Talk about trying to cover your butt.
My parents were once in this situation at YVR (with Air Canada on an across the globe flight) and they were offered free transportation to home and back OR accommodations at a hotel. If they accepted either one of those, they were also going to be travelling in business class on the next day. They refused it, and guess what, they were NOT dragged off the plane.
Shame on UA.
I do not care if he has been convicted of murder. He paid for the ticket, he is in his seat and he has the right to be there. If UA overbooks intentionally, then they better have a solution as well. Dragging a citizen off the flight is certainly not one of them. I heard that now they are offering extra compensation to EVERY person on that flight. Talk about trying to cover your butt.
My parents were once in this situation at YVR (with Air Canada on an across the globe flight) and they were offered free transportation to home and back OR accommodations at a hotel. If they accepted either one of those, they were also going to be travelling in business class on the next day. They refused it, and guess what, they were NOT dragged off the plane.
Shame on UA.
G
GrandMarnier
One of the most appalling thing I thought of and surprisingly, nobody has said anything is the fact that even though there were plenty of outrage among passengers on the plane, nobody stepped in to try to stop or interfere with the act of violence. Passengers can easily just stand and block the aisle, voice their did-satisfaction and create a mutiny on the plane. But nobody did that. It's like witnessing a rape but never stepped in to help. I think it's wrong.
Turns out the UA wasn't overbooked on the flight. They decided to transport 4 crew to another location and booted 4 paying passengers to do so. Anyone that flies UA now knows where their priorities are.
The thing is all airlines pull this stunt on a daily basis. Although I've never heard of a beating like this poor guy got which has gone viral. Usually the passenger never gets into the seat and is bumped at the gate. Clearly they fucked up this time.
I used to fly regularly once a month to Montreal with Canadian Airlines before it was pushed onto Air Canada. I had at one point nearly 800 K points which I regularly converted to biz class upgrades for the long flight.
One time I got bumped from my biz class upgrade to economy and it was so a Capt from AC could use the big seat I made warm for him when dead heading home. I was basically told tough shit and my patronage meant zip to them. I had no allegence to their brand ever again after that event.
Ironically, when flying east coast USA, I've been making sure the routing was on UA.
I used to fly regularly once a month to Montreal with Canadian Airlines before it was pushed onto Air Canada. I had at one point nearly 800 K points which I regularly converted to biz class upgrades for the long flight.
One time I got bumped from my biz class upgrade to economy and it was so a Capt from AC could use the big seat I made warm for him when dead heading home. I was basically told tough shit and my patronage meant zip to them. I had no allegence to their brand ever again after that event.
Ironically, when flying east coast USA, I've been making sure the routing was on UA.
Turns out he never had a past history, it was another Vietnamese Doctor with the same "David Dao" English name, but the Vietnamese name makes them two, uniquely separate people.
You don't see the mainstream media reporting on that though...I hope this doctor also sues for libel or defamation.
You don't see the mainstream media reporting on that though...I hope this doctor also sues for libel or defamation.
Considering these were gun-tottin' police officers doing the violence on Doc. Dao trying to interfere might not have been the best course of action. Had it been strictly airline staff, I could see myself really needing to get something out of the overhead....but.......
Wow United Airlines what a joke , they acted like a gang in the uniform. I hope that passenger gets a very good injury lawyer and sue that airline for big bucks to teach them a lesson, of course that CEO out !! I fly a lot and if I m already in my designated seat there would be a fight to get me from the plane. OK if at the check in counter they bump you or they had a another second opportunity before you actually entering the plane where you have to show your boarding pass they bump you there i would maybe understand but i m not moving from my seat ... (unless passenger is acting strangely or something OK that's another thing )...
Never interfere with cops in US. Federal Offence and very big trouble. To even suggest it is idiotic.
If I heard correctly, it was an airport police that dragged Dao. There might be different pieces to this in that what did the or an UA crew ask the cop to do? To remove Dao? Or to remove him no matter what you have to do? etc.
One piece is UA's policy itself. Another is how the whole thing was carried out.
How the cop handled it definitely exacerbated the situation. Does anyone know if he over-acted on his own or..? (I heard he was suspended.)
It also seems that he's put in a tough (moral?) situation. If we had his job, I guess that some of us will try to remove Dao as diplomatically as possible (myself included). But when the passenger refuses, then what do you do?
I don't like what happened neither. Just bringing other pieces/aspects to light.
One piece is UA's policy itself. Another is how the whole thing was carried out.
How the cop handled it definitely exacerbated the situation. Does anyone know if he over-acted on his own or..? (I heard he was suspended.)
It also seems that he's put in a tough (moral?) situation. If we had his job, I guess that some of us will try to remove Dao as diplomatically as possible (myself included). But when the passenger refuses, then what do you do?
I don't like what happened neither. Just bringing other pieces/aspects to light.
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Apparently all three police are suspended.
The police only knew what United told them. We need to know what United told the police. United claimed he was belligerent and had a past history. Maybe they greatly exaggerated the situation and misled the cops?
When the lawsuit is filed the police will no doubt release any information to cover themselves.
Considering the abrupt change of tone form the CEO, my guess is that these 4 UA employees did not really have to make the destination to be ready for the next day's flights as UA initially claimed. They were probably flying on standby and realized that was the last flight out for the night. So they just showed up at the gate and got the ground staff to boot 4 people off the plane so that they would not have to wait till the next day. So, completely cowboy style not following policy and abusing the power that the ground crew manager has.
This sort of stuff probably happens all the time, just people don't know about it, but as a result of the actions of the airport police when they dragged this passenger off the spotlight is now on these four. If the case goes to court in the form of a lawsuit (which appears likely) then the exact circumstances of how and why these 4 staff members got the seats will be exposed. Aside from liability issues associated from this incident, if it becomes known that UA employees are doing this all the time to put their buddies who are flying standby on planes at the expense of paying customers, there will be a huge class action suit against UA and it could well end up being very expensive for them.
I think the CEO knows this, and that is why he is currently publically groveling.
G
GrandMarnier
This incident is wrong on so many levels. The fact that the airlines can (and) do this regularly boggles the mind. I can't wait to hear all the details when the law suits start. No doubt, UA will try to settle this out of court to save their embarrassment and bad PR. I hope everybody who's involved their ass sued, lose their jobs and go bankrupted.
How you guys think the doctor interfered I will not understand.
It was the doctor's seat because he was already checked in, allowed to board and take his seat. What did he do wrong? How did he interfere?
For me the bigger underlying issue here is, is this going to push lawmakers in both Canada and the US among other countries to make legislative changes to how the airlines have treated people like crap for years now?
We see this kind of thing all the time.
Something major and often tragic occurs, there is a big furore over it but a the end of the day nothing changes.
You can bet that when this is all over, the airlines will still be able to operate under their set of ridiculous rules such as being able knowingly over book flights and to bump/force paying customers off of flights when ever they feel like it, among as well, as a host of other ways they bone the customer up the ass.
Cheers
We see this kind of thing all the time.
Something major and often tragic occurs, there is a big furore over it but a the end of the day nothing changes.
You can bet that when this is all over, the airlines will still be able to operate under their set of ridiculous rules such as being able knowingly over book flights and to bump/force paying customers off of flights when ever they feel like it, among as well, as a host of other ways they bone the customer up the ass.
Cheers
I guess the silver lining to this will likely be better policies and practices, hopefully not just from UA.
And also perhaps better guidelines and training for airport police, at least in Chicago.
(Yikes, I just read that Dao's lawyer said that Dao got a concussion, broken nose, and lost two teeth. Since they've to proof these, they're probably true or not too far from it. This is from Detroit News/Associated Press.)
And also perhaps better guidelines and training for airport police, at least in Chicago.
(Yikes, I just read that Dao's lawyer said that Dao got a concussion, broken nose, and lost two teeth. Since they've to proof these, they're probably true or not too far from it. This is from Detroit News/Associated Press.)
Westwoodrow nor anyone else suggested the doctor interfered. Someone made a comment as to why other passengers did not interfere with the cops dragging this guy off the plane.
Which would be a huge mistake as WW pointed out.
Cheers
