USA Today: UA forcibly remove random pax from flight
Avoid imitations
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
Posts: 12,981
All I can say, after 40 years in the professional aviation business, is that I'm appalled by these UA thugs.
The man bought a ticket, paid for up front. As far as I can see, it's a legally binding contract. He saw his need to be on that particular flight as greater than that of the airline staff, who could have used other means. For him to be assaulted in that way was totally uncalled for.
United Airlines? They can stuff it.
The man bought a ticket, paid for up front. As far as I can see, it's a legally binding contract. He saw his need to be on that particular flight as greater than that of the airline staff, who could have used other means. For him to be assaulted in that way was totally uncalled for.
United Airlines? They can stuff it.

Join Date: May 2000
Location: London, UK
Posts: 366
What's the significance of him being Asian, 69 and male?
If he was white, female and 25 would that make a difference?
'How was work, honey?'
'Same old same old: just beat the crap out of some old foreign guy who wanted to go to work.'
If he was white, female and 25 would that make a difference?
'How was work, honey?'
'Same old same old: just beat the crap out of some old foreign guy who wanted to go to work.'

Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: England
Posts: 286
Don't equate the man being pulled off the plane as a failure of protocol. 3 of the 4 people to be removed did so, the fourth didn't comply with lawful order from the police officer and you saw the result. The aircraft isn't a public place, if those responsible and with the authority to remove the pax did so properly, then it's incumbent upon the pax to leave.
Looking at what we know at the moment, the jury is still out on a number of assumptions you have made. For instance the Department of Transport rules say:
DOT requires each airline to give all passengers who are bumped involuntarily a written statement describing their rights and explaining how the carrier decides who gets on an oversold flight and who doesn't.
Equally:
DOT rules require airlines to seek out people who are willing to give up their seats for compensation before bumping anyone involuntarily. Here's how this works. At the check-in or boarding area, airline employees will look for volunteers when it appears that the flight has been oversold.
What marks this case out is that the pax was already on the plane and had a seat. So he was being forceably removed to accommodate someone else.
UA is going to have to provide some really strong reasons, in accordance with the policy, the DoT mandatorily requires, to justify their action.
We all wait with baited breath to hear their justification.

Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: oakland
Posts: 28
From reports they got to $800 and a hotel.
CFR 250.5 fixes compensation for denied bording at 400% of the fare, with a maximum of $1350. (Can be less if they get rerouted to arrive within an hour or two)
Perhaps if they fixed it at $10,000, (not a percentage of the fare) there would never be another denied boarding.
CFR 250.5 fixes compensation for denied bording at 400% of the fare, with a maximum of $1350. (Can be less if they get rerouted to arrive within an hour or two)
Perhaps if they fixed it at $10,000, (not a percentage of the fare) there would never be another denied boarding.

Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: surfing, watching for sharks
Posts: 3,704
indeed. However it does raise the question why the police were called?

Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: surfing, watching for sharks
Posts: 3,704
all wait with baited breath to hear their justification.

Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Hotel Gypsy
Posts: 2,831
But they invited him onto their 'property' in the first place.
It would be interesting to see if airline such as UA were regularly off-loading passengers.
West Coast - clearly it is business. Wiki Gerald Ratner.
It would be interesting to see if airline such as UA were regularly off-loading passengers.
West Coast - clearly it is business. Wiki Gerald Ratner.


Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Between a Rock and a Hard Spot
Posts: 199
Waiting for proof from UAL that a crew was being re-positioned, and not just a commuting crew that were being accommodated by their co-workers.

Join Date: Nov 1999
Posts: 2,302
The police were called because the passenger refused to leave. The pax doesn't have some absolute right to remain on private property. Thisis UA's property, if you're booted out of someone's business and refuse, do you honestly think management is just going to say, ok, you can stay.

Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: surfing, watching for sharks
Posts: 3,704
onto their 'property' in the first place.
Name one thing from a legality perspective UA did wrong.

Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Isla Grande
Posts: 957

Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: England
Posts: 286
It's not as salacious as you make it out to be, a DH crew needed to be on the plane. Moving crews, causing pax to be bumped is a daily occurrence. You may not like it, but that's business.
If an airline send a message that us fare paying passengers are just scum to be beaten up for their corporate convenience then that makes our fare buying decisions easy when considering where to spend our money.

Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: surfing, watching for sharks
Posts: 3,704
Yes. I can envisage a sensible solution where you do just that and look for another solution. Sometimes the "red mist" or " I must show you who is the boss" is provoked to the forefront and the result deteriorates into something like this. There are times when you lose the battle to win the war. In a customer focused business this often happens.

Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Wor Yerm
Age: 64
Posts: 0
Hitchens has it spot on. But PR boo-boos are UA's standard fare. This organisation are probably run by gifted people who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing. Here is another classic. They fail to realise that it is cheaper to cough up what appears large sums of cash on the day rather than exorbitant amounts later on. This will only cost a few million. If the powers that be took their hands out of their trousers and considered real life they might save themselves millions in the long run. Serves them right.

Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Rockytop, Tennessee, USA
Posts: 5,862
This 'doctor' doesn't appear to be mentally stable as he races down the aisle after reboarding the plane and chants 'I have to go home, I have to go home':
https://twitter.com/Tyler_Bridges/st...28695360663552
https://twitter.com/Tyler_Bridges/st...28695360663552

Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: surfing, watching for sharks
Posts: 3,704
Waiting for proof from UAL that a crew was being re-positioned, and not just a commuting crew that were being accommodated by their co-workers.
You can cling to the idea or accept that your idea isn't a starter.
