United airlines had police/security forcibly remove a passenger at random because they overbooked the flight and could not find passengers to voluntarily give up their seats to United employees. This man told them he was a doctor and had patients to see in the early morning and could not give up his seat, so the flight crew called security in instead of offering more compensation to find a volunteer. The police/security guard quickly escalates to violence and yanks him backwards out of the seat, hard, which slams him head first into the metal arm rest across the isle, knocking him unconscious, and then drags his bleeding limp body down the isle to the horror of other passengers.
To be clear, this man did absolutely NOTHING wrong to be removed from the plane, he simply refused to voluntarily give up his seat, reportedly to United employees that wanted to fly on that plane, like all the other passengers there who also refused to volunteer. There were a myriad of better ways the flight crew could have handled this, starting with not overbooking paired with accepting that a paid ticket is a contract and followed by not assuming their employees who were apparently flying without reservations or tickets should get first pick of seats over paid passengers, and ending with offering whatever it takes to get a volunteer instead of randomly kicking paid passengers off the plane.
This is going to cost United FAR more than it would have cost to buy a volunteer, hundreds of times more. There's no excuse for this. All involved need retraining at the least if not dismissal.
22 Comments
MilkmanDansays.../facepalm
...idiots. As if we needed more reasons to avoid flying as much as possible.
antI haven't flown since 1993!
/facepalm
...idiots. As if we needed more reasons to avoid flying as much as possible.
notarobotSort of related.....
https://videosift.com/video/Seinfeld-The-Car-Reservation
newtboyNow confirmed by United, this wasn't even an over booking, it was 4 United employees who had not made arrangements to get to work in Louisville kicking paid passengers off the flight with no replacement flight until 2pm today at best (if it wasn't full) and no lodging provided.
This will and should cost United millions both from the lawsuit he will win and all the bad press.
eric3579Jimmy Kimmel chimes in (the end bit of the video is the best)
https://youtu.be/HV28_ENzFog
Seems ALL reddit videos are currently United Airlines videos. A sampling.
Dog abuse https://youtu.be/qFfEngL2fj4
Dog death https://youtu.be/4VkyNQkAWh0
Kick off autistic child https://youtu.be/TqEZQxP1azM
United Breaks Guitars https://youtu.be/5YGc4zOqozo
transmorphersays...This is insane! He obviously had a concussion the way he was stumbling around and repeating himself.
So much incompetence - starting with the person that hired the guy who thought it was OK to assault a passenger.
How did the all of the other staff just standby and watch this happen?
My mind is blown.
I hope this poor gentlemen is compensated very well.
toferyusays...Oh boy this is getting entertaining ... well maybe not for United stockholders...
#newunitedairlinesmottos
https://twitter.com/hashtag/newunitedairlinesmottos
bcglorfsays...Truth be told, I don't have a problem with airlines over booking flights. The ONLY condition I would place on it, which I had wrongly thought was already the case, is that they must find volunteers if the flight ends up with too many passengers. Sorry, but if you paid for a ticket and your at the boarding terminal the airline doesn't get to just abandon the contract. They should be required to continue offering larger and larger incentives to volunteer until somebody does. Being able to just boot paying customers for no reason except that the airline screwed up while trying to maximize profit isn't acceptable. Make it volunteer only and the airlines have to balance what people are willing to pay to skip the flight against the profit from overbooking.
entr0pyThere is enough blame to go around, and it seems like Chicago o'hare should be getting a hell of a lot more of it. It's their security guards behaving this way.
eric3579About Oberbooking
bobknight33United Airlines Pilot: "FLYING IS A PRIVILEGE"
The Airlines were right in doing what they do.
CrushBugThis is really the key point here.
It is NOT overbooking, which means the rules and laws are different.
Also, I am completely disgusted by the victim blaming that is going on.
Now confirmed by United, this wasn't even an over booking, it was 4 United employees who had not made arrangements to get to work in Louisville kicking paid passengers off the flight with no replacement flight until 2pm today at best (if it wasn't full) and no lodging provided.
transmorphersays...This c*** of a pilot trying to make it sound as if the 69 year old was a potential security problem. WTF.
Man, what is going on in the USA? It's like everyone with a badge is power tripping. Is there a gas leak from all of the fracking? People seem to go straight to red about the smallest of issues.
What if they "randomly" chose someone that wasn't going to accept being manhandled. Would this have ended with the passenger getting shot?
United Airlines Pilot: "FLYING IS A PRIVILEGE"
The Airlines were right in doing what they do.
newtboyUnited Airlines Security: "Consciousness is a privilege."
Here's hoping you get volunteered the next time you fly. ;-)
United Airlines Pilot: "FLYING IS A PRIVILEGE"
newtboySome of the memes
dubiousPassengers have many legal rights. For instance they can't be left on the tarmac for over 3 hours. It's not a simple situation like "flying is a privilege". If there is no law that this is violating Congress should clearly pass more protections for airline passengers ASAP.
Furthermore, the "I was just following orders" type defense is pretty poor given certain historical contexts of its use ... people need to use their own judgment of a situation in the moment. The passengers refusal to move should not have gotten to the point of force, it should have gone up the chain, where I would hope a different course of action would have been decided. I know it's difficult in the moment, but clear thinking heads would have realized that.
United Airlines Pilot: "FLYING IS A PRIVILEGE"
The Airlines were right in doing what they do.
bobknight33The guy was removed once and then sneaked back on.
The Airlines were right in doing what they did.
Passengers have many legal rights. For instance they can't be left on the tarmac for over 3 hours. It's not a simple situation like "flying is a privilege". If there is no law that this is violating Congress should clearly pass more protections for airline passengers ASAP.
Furthermore, the "I was just following orders" type defense is pretty poor given certain historical contexts of its use ... people need to use their own judgment of a situation in the moment. The passengers refusal to move should not have gotten to the point of force, it should have gone up the chain, where I would hope a different course of action would have been decided. I know it's difficult in the moment, but clear thinking heads would have realized that.
newtboyUnited totally, 100% disagrees with your assessment. They say they were absolutely wrong and the passenger shares zero responsibility for what happened to him, something that never should have happened and never will again (according to the United President).
Edit: Also totally convinced United did the wrong thing, their shareholders. Ignoring any legal rights, the publicity this gained for them has cost United hundreds of millions in market value.
The guy went to the check in counter to discuss volunteering to fly later, and refused when he was told he would not fly until the next afternoon at best, not in a few hours. That was not acceptable and would cost him money and patients, which he told them. Then he got back on without incident.
Then he was forcibly removed.
Then he got back on again without incident, rambling and bleeding, now diagnosed with a broken nose, missing teeth, and a severe concussion.
And you support the company that had him attacked and concussed and let him back on the plane twice, not the one even United calls "the victim".
Also, why is no one upset that he managed to re-plane twice with no one even noticing?!? That's an insane security failure.
What the world must look like to you when you insist on being on the wrong side on every issue. You really must exist in a living hell.
The guy was removed once and then sneaked back on.
The Airlines were right in doing what they did.
eric3579Two of the officers were fired https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/airplane-mode/two-officers-fired-after-doctor-dragged-united-airlines-flight-n811546
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