United Airlines PR Disaster

Sadly, it's not all that uncommon to find doctors with these charges and convictions against their medical records. (If you haven't done so lately look up your personal doctors records on your respective state Medical Board site)

I'm ashamed that the news is digging into his record to be honest. Just doesn't matter. It's a poor example but similar to a woman being dressed provocatively and so she was asking for an assault.

 
So, are reporters going to dig into records for:

The security guys who dragged the guy off the plane

The cabin crew who made the call to oust customers

The deadheading crew who needed to get to Louisville

The passengers who recorded the incident

Because if not, this seems like someone's trying to stir up trouble rather than just reporting on facts.

 
Can't airlines remove/bump passengers from any flight based on airlines contract of carriage? (I am not advocating the manner in which the man was removed)

 
GM_Tood said:
Can't airlines remove/bump passengers from any flight based on airlines contract of carriage? (I am not advocating the manner in which the man was removed)
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Not positive, but I don't think they can do so AFTER the passengers have boarded the plane.

 
I'm going to add onto the speaking without really knowing here (I know, bad idea). I think I read somewhere that they can, but it's awkward to do so after boarding the passengers. It's also more costly: the compensation is several times what they pay volunteers.

And knapp is right. Sure, we can dig into everyone's past and perhaps turn up some dirt. It doesn't seem relevant at all to United's actions and perhaps chiefly what it reveals is the motivations of those who did the digging.

One thing I don't quite understand is how United's policy on this is materially different than that of other airlines. Could this incident have happened to any of them? Different company responses notwithstanding.

 
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NM11046 said:
GM_Tood said:
Can't airlines remove/bump passengers from any flight based on airlines contract of carriage? (I am not advocating the manner in which the man was removed)
Click to expand...
Not positive, but I don't think they can do so AFTER the passengers have boarded the plane.
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Yes, the contract of carriage gives them the right to remove anybody at any time for any reason. They were well within their legal rights to have the passenger removed. However, the manner in which they went about it and the apparent reason......well, we've seen how much good their legal rights are doing them. It's a PR disaster for sure but if an airline tells you to get off their plane, you best get up and walk off because they have every right in the world to drag your a$$ off.

 
GM_Tood said:
Can't airlines remove/bump passengers from any flight based on airlines contract of carriage? (I am not advocating the manner in which the man was removed)
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I am 99% sure the answer is yes.

On a side note: If that had happened to me, I'd be in jail right now because I would have been swinging on the first bad guy who tried to put his hands on me.

In that type of situation, if a passenger fights back, does she/he have a valid self-defense claim I wonder?

 
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NUance said:
Making Chimichangas said:
GM_Tood said:
Can't airlines remove/bump passengers from any flight based on airlines contract of carriage? (I am not advocating the manner in which the man was removed)
Click to expand...
I am 99% sure the answer is yes.
Click to expand...
Sure United was technically in the right. But they got creamed in the court of public opinion.
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As they should.

I get the "why" of airlines over-selling, to make sure every flight is full or as close to it as possible. But yeah, I think what happened was lesson 101 on how NOT to conduct business. LOL

 
Making Chimichangas said:
GM_Tood said:
Can't airlines remove/bump passengers from any flight based on airlines contract of carriage? (I am not advocating the manner in which the man was removed)
Click to expand...
I am 99% sure the answer is yes.
On a side note: If that had happened to me, I'd be in jail right now because I would have been swinging on the first bad guy who tried to put his hands on me.

In that type of situation, if a passenger fights back, does she/he have a valid self-defense claim I wonder?
Click to expand...
This makes no sense. If the answer is yes, which it is, and the airline ordered you to get off the plane, why would anyone have to put their hands on you? If you don't get up and leave on your own and they have the right to remove you....I don't understand how it comes to the type of physical removal we saw in this incident. Are you saying you would disobey their lawful order to get off their plane?
Don't get me wrong, I think United handled this extremely poorly on many fronts. But before we crucify them I think we should consider exactly what happened prior to the video snippets we've seen. I'm assuming (maybe wrongly) that they asked for volunteers, upped the offer for volunteers before they informed people somebody would be removed. And then I assume they asked this passenger to get off and then told him he would be removed forcibly, before they actually laid hands on him. United will lose in the court of public opinion but I don't see a scenario where the passenger was not in the wrong and being unnecessarily belligerent. Of course nobody wants to get off the plane. Everyone's time is important. But I'm guessing he had every opportunity in the world to prevent the melee we saw. I mean really, especially nowadays, who is going ignore a direct order from airline officials to get off a plane?

 
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Guys, this was just a misunderstanding. When the Dr said he needed to see patients in the hospital the police thought he said put me in the hospital. Alright I'll let the much more humorous people rightfully skewer United on social media. Funny stuff out there.

I'm glad Dr. Dao made a scene and I would probably do the same thing out of instinct. Pulling passengers once boarded to make room for their employees doesn't seem right so I probably would have forced them to drag me off the flight just to show to what lengths these airlines are willing to go to enforce their policies. I've been on several flights that were overbooked and I seem to remember volunteering but I can't recall if I took their deal. I didn't know that airlines could bump passengers. What seems incredible is that after getting bumped, airlines will offer vouchers to travel on their crappy airline. Personally I would never travel on that airline again since they are being greedy for both overbooking and not offering enough incentive for volunteers. Here is an article that I found stating that you can demand cash and what amounts the DOT require http://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2014-09-04/bumped-due-to-overbooking-airlines-owe-you-money-not-vouchers when bumped. I believe these numbers should be doubled to be adequate and to reduce the amount of overbooking. This would also prevent airlines from manufacturing "overbooking" situations as they did in this case and up the amount that they offer to volunteers. I would not accept $800 in vouchers (with all their conditions) in this case where travel would be delayed by 24 hours and obviously nobody else on the flight felt so either.

Thankfully my wife is a loyal American customer and has worked her way up their frequent flyer program. I don't know what we would do if it was United since I will never fly on United after this. I still minimize what I buy at Sears after their auto service was caught bilking people out of unnecessary repairs almost 30 years ago. Wells Fargo... forget about it.

 
Making Chimichangas said:
NUance said:
Making Chimichangas said:
GM_Tood said:
Can't airlines remove/bump passengers from any flight based on airlines contract of carriage? (I am not advocating the manner in which the man was removed)
Click to expand...
I am 99% sure the answer is yes.
Click to expand...
Sure United was technically in the right. But they got creamed in the court of public opinion.
Click to expand...
As they should.

I get the "why" of airlines over-selling, to make sure every flight is full or as close to it as possible. But yeah, I think what happened was lesson 101 on how NOT to conduct business. LOL
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True dat. You can bet the next time United gets caught overbooking, there's gonna be some passenger who makes out on a sweet deal to get off the plane and take the next available flight. WIN!

 
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