Originally Posted by
Piltdown Man
The fact is any company can do whatever they want, whenever they want. If you have stuck to your side if the bargain, and the other side do not supply what they are contractually bound to do, then your remedy is to be found in the civil courts. Unboarded, deplaned, evicted, denied boarding it doesn't matter. So whether the positioning crew were late, no charge rebates, top priority - must fly is irrelevant. Someone somewhere decided this man had to get off. His status, rights and entitlement changed as soon as that decision was made. It is just a shame that some believe he had an absolute human right to insist that he was taken on that flight. That has never, ever been how this part of the world works.
That attitude is why United will lose billions in this case. Everyone in business is bound by laws in the countries they operate in. In this case the PAX was within his rights under federal law and under his contract with the company. I remember a quote from a business text I read near the start of my career. "Don't mess with the eagle". The eagle is this case is federal law. United stands to pay a heavy price for asserting that it's operational convenience trumps federal law.