Man, it's inconvenient sometimes to travel. It's understandable to me that he may have felt like he and his wife were not randomly selected and they picked the quiet Asian couple on purpose. also, he is a doctor and maybe just maybe $800 is nothing to him because he makes that like its nothing. if I was on the flight, I probably would've taken that deal. Or I would've held out until the next offer. But once I saw they started kicking people out like that I probably would've stepped up and took the deal since i only travel for vacations and one more day is not a big deal since i could just tell my employer what happened.
You can sue too if they refuse to serve you chicken adobo because that would be discriminatory to you.
He won't win a lawsuit. Doubt it goes to court. Public is clearly on his side and UA is going to want this **** to go away. They'll probably settle, he'll probably get paid.
Doubt it was truly random. Probably had to do with fare class, MileagePlus status and possibly even check-in time. They probably can't admit that but I really doubt it was random. There has to be a variety of factors as to why he was selected. Just factors they can't admit as it would be a PR disaster.
It is messed up that he was asked to leave the plane after he had already boarded BUT it is in the terms and conditions of the tickets that the ticket could be rebooked in the case of a situation like the one which happened. It's difficult for me to blame law enforcement in this particular case because the airline asked law enforcement to remove him from the plane (which they have every right to do). Law enforcement asked him to leave but he would not comply. What else are they supposed to do in that instance? Their job is to get him off the plane and he was not willing to get off the plane, force was necessary. It probably would have been much smarter/easier just to handcuff him and walk him off the plane but it is difficult to blame them given the circumstances. He was clearly acting out of line. Nobody took their offer of $800 in vouchers (which is a damn good offer for a one-way flight from Chicago to Louisville which is like a 4 hour drive lmao) so the airline had to find people to remove from the plane (which they have every right to do. The airline has the right to remove a passenger from a plane for any reason. If you don't like that, don't fly). I'm willing to bet that he had a low fare class ticket, no MileagePlus status and possibly was amongst the last to check-in. Like ****, he could've just taken the $800 and demanded a one-way rental car and gone to Louisville if it was so damn important that he be there that night. When the airline staff and/or law enforcement ask you to leave an airplane, you have to leave the airplane. That is an argument you will NEVER win. It's possible he wanted them to forcibly remove them so he can try and sue. He probably will sue and given how horrific the video looks, he probably will get a nice settlement out it (he doesn't deserve it BUT it is the likely outcome as the public is clearly mostly on his side. The video was not easy to watch). All that being said, I'm shocked that no other passenger was willing to take the $800 offer especially after seeing how much this guy was arguing and talking about how he is a doctor who needs to be back in Louisville. The most messed up part of the story was after he was taken off the plane, he found a way to get back onto the plane. The flight was delayed over 2 hours because of his selfish actions.
Why was he specifically chosen though? It was at random? They definitely should have kept raising the price of incentives until someone else volunteered. To A doctor with scheduled appointments, it certainly wasn't worth 1k or 2k. That being said even with their choice of removing him, they handled it very poorly, add on that they created the mess by overbooking. They made 3 terrible mistakes. 1. Overbooking, 2. Not offering more incentives, 3. Removing a passenger in such manner
None of that is relevant though. He can feel however he wants to feel but he doesn't have a right to stay on a plane that he's been ordered off of. The plane needed to leave, he wasn't allowed to be on it anymore. I mean, in a perfect world, the people you select to get off the flight are mature adults that will be bummed, but will just calmly exit the plane and go inside to b**** about it. Unfortunately, they picked someone who wanted to throw a tantrum to the point where he had to be dragged off of the plane. Just bad luck really. I'd imagine in most scenarios you'd find someone willing to take the deal and volunteer and in most scenarios where you failed to get a volunteer you'd still have someone that is dignified enough to leave on their own when informed of the bad news. This incident is what happens when you fail to find a volunteer and you fail to pick a person with enough self respect to not make an ass of themselves.
but you keep failing to mention the obvious. Why didn't they up the deal? People in this very thread have gotten $3000 for doing this.
That's why I put the word randomly in quotation marks. I was being sarcastic. An ex-ceo of an airline said these type of things are never random.
Point is sometimes policies/laws are bad, and should be questioned. Everything is relative. American colonists actually enjoy [entitled to] far more than other British subjects around the world [source]. That still doesn't mean taxation without representation should be followed even if it's the law. Look, I'd personally comply and file a complaint about the UA policy of over booking by 20% without alternative routes (actually did in similar situaton). That still doesn't mean the policy is A good policy Fair policy Sufficiently statistically random in it's enforcement This person decides to make his complaint more public. One thing I know they do is treat customers booking with miles worse on standbys. They also treat those that booked with lower fares/not rewards members worse. What they could be required to do is the future is to Make the fact prominent in the advertisement (both their own and partners) Make public % of customers booked/delayed When purchasing a ticket, give the relative likely-hood of a customer, vs. other booked customers of being kicked off the planes so customers can make an informed decision when they see a "good deal" on a flight. %of fares sold, and if it goes above a certain %, ability to guarantee the flight or back out Track and publish % of overbooked flights by distance and category. If I was the guy's lawyer, while the beating will get headlines, I think there could be more mileage [pun intended] in pushing for a class action suit using truth in advertising laws as basis. Not a lawyer so maybe some lawyer on this bbs can fill in whether or not that's feasible. Still think it makes good policy.
They'll "probably" settle"? He'll "probably" get paid? Do you know how much this has already cost United? If they (United) have any sort of wise legal representation they'll be advised to pay WHATEVER it takes to end this debacle and start the process of getting this out of the news. He'll get paid and paid well and deservedly so!!
I think the ****-stain still comes down to overbooking paying customers vs. overbooking employees. Obviously those employees were not expected to have to be on that flight. It was a last second accommodation due to some other extenuating circumstance. You combine that with the unfortunate use of violence in this situation (beyond him being a doctor and being of a different ethnicity)... and you get a really terrible story that the airlines will never look good with. THAT is why they will do what it takes to make it go away.... and its going to have to be more than simply putting that officer on leave.
Wait, this guy was "an entitled prick" for wanting the airline to fulfill the contract he had paid for, after he had already boarded the plane and was in his seat? That does not make him an "entitled prick". From another website: Lawyer here. This myth that passengers don't have rights needs to go away, ASAP. You are dead wrong when saying that United legally kicked him off the plane. First of all, it's airline spin to call this an overbooking. The statutory provision granting them the ability to deny boarding is about "OVERSALES", specifically defines as booking more reserved confirmed seats than there are available. This is not what happened. They did not overbook the flight; they had a fully booked flight, and not only did everyone already have a reserved confirmed seat, they were all sitting in them. The law allowing them to denying boarding in the event of an oversale does not apply. Even if it did apply, the law is unambiguously clear that airlines have to give preference to everyone with reserved confirmed seats when choosing to involuntarily deny boarding. They have to always choose the solution that will affect the least amount of reserved confirmed seats. This rule is straightforward, and United makes very clear in their own contract of carriage that employees of their own or of other carriers may be denied boarding without compensation because they do not have reserved confirmed seats. On its face, it's clear that what they did was illegal-- they gave preference to their employees over people who had reserved confirmed seats, in violation of 14 CFR 250.2a. Furthermore, even if you try and twist this into a legal application of 250.2a and say that United had the right to deny him boarding in the event of an overbooking; they did NOT have the right to kick him off the plane. Their contract of carriage highlights there is a complete difference in rights after you've boarded and sat on the plane, and Rule 21 goes over the specific scenarios where you could get kicked off. NONE of them apply here. He did absolutely nothing wrong and shouldn't have been targeted. He's going to leave with a hefty settlement after this fiasco.
