Clay "passengers comply with lawful crew instructions"
Astonishing.
Few facts, flight was not overbooked by paying passengers.
Passengers was not denied boarding, he had not been informed about anything until he was sitting peacefully in his seat.
What world do you Clay and West live in, SkyGod world I guess, who believe this is the right way to treat a paying customer, because the airline have problems to have crew for other flights.
Is the inconvenience of the passengers who are travelling to destination X, most likely because they have a reason to be there, are their lives less important than that of the crews DH, because the airline have their own logistical issues?
Can US pilots / crew not use jump seats? Or is that below their SkyGod status?
I once saw similar situation, gate staff made a mistake and allowed a standby passenger to board, before a Captain on positioning flight had taken his seat, suddenly the aircraft was full, jump seat was also full, Captain was told to stand down, there was never a question to have a passenger removed.
This situation is down to the airlines internal crewing issues, and showing disregard for the passenger.
Options available was upping the compensation price, or taxi for the crew, was within driving distance. However UA acted cheaply here, and the result is it has cost them a fortune already, and will cost them more during the next few months.
The Coffee Shop analogy is pretty good, the passenger was not a treat and had no obligation to remove himself after he had been placed in his seat.
I am fairly sure involuntary removal is either before you board the aircraft or if you are an unruly passenger, in this case he was neither.
If you have such disregard to your paying customer, the people who pays your salary, maybe you should start flying cargo instead. You can not forcefully remove a passenger who has legally fulfilled his obligations, the breach of contract is by the UA in this case, and it would be great to see this go all the way to court, unfortunately it probably will not. But I can imagine there will come some new legislation out of this, and it will not be in favour of the airlines.