Originally Posted by
Piltdown Man
I convinced I'm in a minority of one on this thread. Given that we know nothing of what tanspired before we saw this gentleman being dragged off, we assume that this was an unlawful and illegal act carried out by some pseudo law enforcement personnel. Why? I must be missing something. Will someone please tell me what it is.
It's not a question of being unlawful or illegal, just totally unnecessary. Here's what we know so far, about what transpired. The airline got 3 seats freed up at the $800 offer level, and stopped the bidding there without going higher. The person in question inquired about the offer, and declined after finding out he would miss being home by Monday morning. No drama, so far.
The drama started when they decided to haul this guy off the plane anyway, without taking the more reasonable step of continuing to raise the offer for anyone else who might volunteer.
We haven't heard that the passenger was unruly or belligerent before they reached this point. As far as we know (pending any details to follow), he was perfectly happy to sit in his seat and enjoy the flight until then. Did he go overboard, with shouting or threats when they insisted he get out of his seat? Maybe, but it doesn't matter. The airline had another option for dealing with it, and instead they lit the fuse for everything that followed.