I'm really glad I quit flying United years ago

Don

Don

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VIDEO: SECURITY DRAGS SCREAMING UNITED AIRLINES PASSENGER OFF OVERBOOKED FLIGHT — LITERALLY:

Bridges said the man became “very upset” and said that he was a doctor who needed to see patients at a hospital in the morning. The manager told him that security would be called if he did not leave willingly, Bridges said, and the man said he was calling his lawyer. One security official came and spoke with him, and then another security officer came when he still refused. Then, she said, a third security official came on the plane and threw the passenger against the armrest before dragging him out of the plane.​

I’m so old, I remember when United called themselves the Friendly Skies. By the way, note all of the passengers who pulled out their cell phones and started recording the moment the passenger began screaming; a pack, not a herd, to coin a phrase.

Posted at 12:01 pm by Ed Driscoll

Related:

UNITED CEO AND PRWEEK COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR PITCHES IN TO HELP DIG AIRLINE’S HOLE EVEN DEEPER.

Posted at 9:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

And let's not forget this little ditty from 9 years ago:

 
And guess who had to fly united this week too... joy
 
I flew American Airlines and they're not much better. Luggage fees were a reasonable $35 to fly out to PHX, coming back they forced me to ransom the exact same luggage for $325 for the return flight. Airlines are 1st order scam artists.
 
Matt.Cross said:
I flew American Airlines and they're not much better. Luggage fees were a reasonable $35 to fly out to PHX, coming back they forced me to ransom the exact same luggage for $325 for the return flight. Airlines are 1st order scam artists.
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??? I'd like to hear their reasoning for that. Also the results of your complaint!

I'll be flying American soon...
 
I think they will find out it would have been far cheaper doing a reverse auction for the bump spot and paying someone off. Can't understand whey they didn't do that. I had a friend the used to figure bump times into her travel and paid for multiple round trips home with them.
 
chiefjason said:
I think they will find out it would have been far cheaper doing a reverse auction for the bump spot and paying someone off. Can't understand whey they didn't do that. I had a friend the used to figure bump times into her travel and paid for multiple round trips home with them.
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From the article I read they did offer $800 and received no takers they chose some theoretically at random and one of the guys refused. According to the news (on right now) they didn't even tell the guy they were required to compensate him.

They simply should have chosen someone else, but of course they'll insist they were in the right. Unfortunately with so little competition, even the market can't correct behavior like this.

Personally, this is one of those cases where I would have loved to see the citizen, or even better a large number of them, hand the cops their broken asses. When there is a real risk that the sheep aren't sheep, but werewolves that paycheck starts looking a lot smaller. Once again we have thugs behind badges.
 
My question is for all of those other passengers recording and talking about how awful it was, Why didn't you offer to give up your seat for him?
 
Geezer said:
My question is for all of those other passengers recording and talking about how awful it was, Why didn't you offer to give up your seat for him?
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First, no one should have had to give up any seat in the first place.

Second, the reason they removed the man(he is a Dr.), the reason they were overbooked was that some united employees needed the seats to fly wherever for work.

A couple already gave up their seats when they asked to start with, and no one else was willing after that.

Just because they needed to fly an employee to work and the passengers were having none of it.

United needs their @$$ handed to them.
 
Shrek said:
First, no one should have had to give up any seat in the first place.

Second, the reason they removed the man(he is a Dr.), the reason they were overbooked was that some united employees needed the seats to fly wherever for work.

A couple already gave up their seats when they asked to start with, and no one else was willing after that.

Just because they needed to fly an employee to work and the passengers were having none of it.

United needs their @$$ handed to them.
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So then another flight is shorthanded, possibly gets cancelled depending on if the employees are pilots, and we have another flight getting overbooked from extra passengers. Not saying it is right, but nobody else wanted to give up their seat for him. My thing is why are so many making this a racial issue?
 
ChickenHawk said:
So then another flight is shorthanded, possibly gets cancelled depending on if the employees are pilots, and we have another flight getting overbooked from extra passengers. Not saying it is right, but nobody else wanted to give up their seat for him. My thing is why are so many making this a racial issue?
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What if you bought an item that you desperately needed. Just before shipping that company said it can't produce because of bad planning?

The whole fuss should not focus on the person, just on the company.

-R
 
ChickenHawk said:
So then another flight is shorthanded, possibly gets cancelled depending on if the employees are pilots, and we have another flight getting overbooked from extra passengers. Not saying it is right, but nobody else wanted to give up their seat for him. My thing is why are so many making this a racial issue?
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I have heard nothing about race, at all.

Must've missed that one. I didn't read anything that said anything about race being a factor.
 
He got his ass kicked and spread all over TV and the web....and he still didn't fly.
 
rdinatal said:
What if you bought an item that you desperately needed. Just before shipping that company said it can't produce because of bad planning?

The whole fuss should not focus on the person, just on the company.

-R
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I've been in that guy's exact situation. I get miffed, but take the money and call it good. Airlines usually don't boot people just to get employees on board. I have family that works in the industry.
 
Shrek said:
I have heard nothing about race, at all.

Must've missed that one. I didn't read anything that said anything about race being a factor.
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A whole lot of people are screaming that he was booted due to being Asian and it is whitey's fault.
 
Shrek said:
They did in this case, and smacked him around while doing it.
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Have we heard why they were getting those employees on the airline? If they were replacement pilots for elsewhere I can honestly understand. Their hours are extremely restricted. One of my friends flights just got cancelled because there weren't enough pilots to go around in Atlanta.
 
rdinatal said:
That's what I can't understand. Why would the airline do that?!?

-R
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That's what I'm trying to understand. I'm not going to blame the airline. Could have been replacement pilots for elsewhere that were needed. Flights get cancelled more than a lot of people know due to pilot's hours being restricted. If it was just because they wanted to help out employees then it's wrong. If they had a good reason I can understand.
 
That man wasnt Asian. The vid of the Asian guy running up and down the aisle saying "I have to go home" IS NOT the same man they knocked out and drug off the plane.

Thats some more of people falling for fake news.
 
ChickenHawk said:
That's what I'm trying to understand. I'm not going to blame the airline. Could have been replacement pilots for elsewhere that were needed. Flights get cancelled more than a lot of people know due to pilot's hours being restricted. If it was just because they wanted to help out employees then it's wrong. If they had a good reason I can understand.
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I can understand them asking and offering, but because they have manning issues does not give them the right to knock out a passenger and toss him off the plane so they can use his seat.

Uh-huh. Ain't buying it. Not even a little.
 
Shrek said:
I can understand them asking and offering, but because they have manning issues does not give them the right to knock out a passenger and toss him off the plane so they can use his seat.

Uh-huh. Ain't buying it. Not even a little.
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That was the police that did that, not the airlines. Blame the police for how they knocked him out.

Shrek said:
That man wasnt Asian. The vid of the Asian guy running up and down the aisle saying "I have to go home" IS NOT the same man they knocked out and drug off the plane.

Thats some more of people falling for fake news.
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This guy isn't Asian?

 
I used to fly a lot. Now I just take the extra time and drive or ride my bike. When we go to see our grandkids in Colorado we leave on Friday afternoon and arrive on Saturday afternoon. It's only about a 25 hour drive( we drive straight through) and I can stop when I want, eat what I want, take whatever I might need with me and see a lot of beautiful country.
 
Shrek said:
I stand corrected. It looks like he was Asian. I apologize.

I still don't think it was racially motivated, though.
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I concur. They said that the three they asked to get off the plane were randomly generated by number. 2 of the 3 were Asian, so of course people are going to whine about what they want to whine about.
 
Shrek said:
Those men were not airline security? Honestly, is this a case of police brutality? Is that what your saying?
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Can't tell if this is sarcasm or not, but from the first I saw said they called the police. I can't find my original source now, but the most recent says "security officers." Like I said, if there was a good reason, I back it. If not, I don't back it. Just like removing a belligerent customer from a restaurant.

Edit: Found this from the New York Times.

“Since that customer refused to leave the aircraft, we had to call” the police, and they came on board, he said.

The Chicago Department of Aviation said in a statement on Monday that the incident “was not in accordance with our standard operating procedure” and that an officer had been placed on leave pending a review of the matter. The department declined to identify the officer."
 
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Basic rule of leadership: You take care of the people before you take care of yourself. Those employees could have been put on a different flight; or, United could have used that big $ to rent a car for them to drive the four hours to Louisville.

That was a big ass fail sandwich, and United, CPD, and the Aviation Police will all be taking a bite.
 
GoWolfpack said:
FIFY
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Don't think they ordered the guys to knock him out. I figured he was just limp by choice as that was the last form of resistance he had. I could easily be mistaken.
 
ChickenHawk said:
Can't tell if this is sarcasm or not, but from the first I saw said they called the police. I can't find my original source now, but the most recent says "security officers." Like I said, if there was a good reason, I back it. If not, I don't back it. Just like removing a belligerent customer from a restaurant.
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Sorry if came over as sarcastic. I was going for brevity because I type slow :(.

When I read "security", I thought "airline security".

If this was LEO's called to the plane, it changes the dynamic slightly, but the onus is still on the airline for ordering this.
 
Shrek said:
Sorry if came over as sarcastic. I was going for brevity because I type slow :(.

When I read "security", I thought "airline security".

If this was LEO's called to the plane, it changes the dynamic slightly, but the onus is still on the airline for ordering this.
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Just edited a previous response. The New York Times had this:

“Since that customer refused to leave the aircraft, we had to call” the police, and they came on board, he said.

The Chicago Department of Aviation said in a statement on Monday that the incident “was not in accordance with our standard operating procedure” and that an officer had been placed on leave pending a review of the matter. The department declined to identify the officer."

I can't tell if that means they are police, or security personnel from the airport.
 
ChickenHawk said:
I've been in that guy's exact situation. I get miffed, but take the money and call it good. Airlines usually don't boot people just to get employees on board. I have family that works in the industry.
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I'm certain a cancelled flight like that costs a lot of $$$, in which case they could have offered up a hell of a lot more than $800 in future flight vouchers and at some point they would have had a taker and been money ahead.

As far as police brutality, when they start acting like thugs and bullies they need to be dealt with as thugs and bullies.
 
noway2 said:
As far as police brutality, when they start acting like thugs and bullies they need to be dealt with as thugs and bullies.
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It was a civil freaking matter; not a criminal one. I think that's one of many reasons this thing has exploded....those cops' actions are beyond the pale. The only thing that would have been worse was for him to be tazed. They were drunk on their own authority.

What's next? A line at a popular restaurant so they tell you you're done eating and you have to go? You say, "let me finish my meal," but they call the cops? Or instead, they call the cops after you have ordered but before you received the food?
 
Chuckman said:
It was a civil freaking matter; not a criminal one. I think that's one of many reasons this thing has exploded....those cops' actions are beyond the pale. The only thing that would have been worse was for him to be tazed. They were drunk on their own authority.
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Very good point, and I absolutely agree that this is and should have remained a civil matter, no pun intended. I have seen the arguments, though, that by refusing to obey a flight crew it became a federal criminal matter, which is a complete and total crock. I have also seen the argument that by "agreeing" to the contract / terms of the ticket that they were justified. Again, I disagree, as those "contracts" aren't really a mutual contract or agreement but rather a take it or leave it ultimatum when there is no sufficiently viable alternative in many cases.

It disgusts me no end to see cops behaving in this manner and getting involved on the behest of corporations. It shouldn't surprise me because that is actually how the police originated, at least in the north, as hired enforcers to break the labor unions. It really makes that badge and what it represents an affront.
 
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