USA Today: UA forcibly remove random pax from flight

[WhatAStory]

Originally Posted by robdean

Here's a blogged analysis of the case by a Professor of Law (at Cornell):

Dorf on Law: United Airlines' Own Contract Denied it any Right to Remove Passenger

Thank you for that link. The article gives an important legal clarification to the term 'deny-boarding' and possibly explains why a number of professionals on here continue to misinterpret the phrase as 'refuse to transport'.

One might argue that Dao had not completed “boarding” until the cabin door was closed. This argument would be wrong. The term “boarding” is not defined in the definition section of the contract, and absent an explicit definition in the contract, terms are to be afforded their plain meaning. “Boarding” means that the passenger presents a boarding pass to the gate agent who accepts or scans the pass and permits entry through the gate to the airplane, allowing the passenger to enter the aircraft and take a seat.

It is possible in this regard to distinguish between the collective completion of the plane’s boarding process, which is not complete until all passengers have boarded and the cabin door is closed. But that is different from each passenger’s boarding, which is complete for each individual once he or she has been accepted for transportation by the gate agent and proceeded to the aircraft and taken his or her assigned seat.