When my outfit has been in a similar position once before (once only in my ten years), the ground staff have told me of the problem, so I found out what was on offer from the company and made a call for volunteers from the forward galley, initially there was nobody available so we upped the offer, eventually we got a taker. Simple as that, airline mistake so airline problem to fix.
There was never a discussion of randomly assaulting somebody regardless of what the ticket may or may not say. The law does NOT give any authority to assault somebody in these circumstances.
I suspect the good doctor will be lawyering up as we speak. Perhaps the airline does not endorse this behaviour but there initial statement is not exactly unequivocal in its apology and willingness to rectify what they have done. It smacks of obfuscation and not wanting to concede liability, who could therefore blame the good doctor for now putting his handout.
As rare as these sort of incidents are, they seem to happen an awful lot more in the US than anywhere else, perhaps that's my misperception.
Last edited by Willie Nelson; 11th Apr 2017 at 08:08.
Reason: Last line added.