Man forcibly thrown off United Flight (with Video)

From Mr. Munoz:

“This will never happen again,” Munoz told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” in an exclusive interview.

He added: “We are not going to put a law enforcement official onto a plane to take them off … to remove a booked, paid, seated passenger; we can’t do that.”

The powers that be are pretending that this is just a standard “contract of carriage” issue that got a litttle out of hand and now justice is being done by giving someone a short paid vacation while stories are being changed “now that all the facts are clear.”

What’s not being addressed – for good reason – is what’s changed that would make airline personnel feel they could violently drag a seated passenger off an airplane for the first time in modern American aviation history without having to fear any consequences. It’s that fine line between admitting to the draconian powers the Patriot Act has bestowed on airline personnel in recent years and a PR disaster that UA is now trying to walk. Dr. Dao is just fortunate that his whole beatdown was captured on video because otherwise he’d probably be just another “belligerent and disruptive” airline passenger sitting in jail somewhere accused of domestic terrorism.

[quote]In 2001 Congress passed the Patriot Act which featured major changes in how airlines treat unruly passengers.

Included were two key provisions on airline security. The first defined disruptive behavior as a terrorist act, reflecting the seismic shift in airline security.

The second broadened the existing criminal law so that any attempt or conspiracy to interfere with a flight crew became a felony – a change that allowed flight personnel to act against suspicious passengers even if they hadn’t begun an actual assault.

The law gave flight personnel enormous latitude in determining what precisely posed a potential threat or disruption, and judging by some cases, there is no clear standard.[/quote]

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I think the situation could have been handled better by the airline and I’m surprised this situation occurred at all, but what is truly un-American about this was how the passenger was squealing like a stuck pig. When someone tells me at a restaurant that where I’m sitting is already reserved, I comply, even if the restaurant were totally wrong about it. I may seek justice later, or I may try to reason with staff, what I usually do is ask to see the boss and get a lot accomplished that way, but to just sit there because I think I’m right and let the situation fester to the point I might be dragged off, whether its staff or police, is not good resolution conflict procedure.

And to squeal while being dragged off is childish. At the point I know I’m going be dragged off, I would say, “Fine, fine, take your hands off, I’ll go, see you in court,” or something, but I’m not going to let myself be dragged off squealing. I don’t know anyone who would act like that. If he is an American citizen, he hasn’t assimilated very well.

Bingo.

Back in teh day, when we oversold, it was te employees teh ones who were given the boot. At the gate.

Once boarding started, you are against the clock. Tiem at the gatem, hooked up against a generator and a jetway, for which you have to pay for, was very expensive. You had to get teh plane out on time. Before even better.

So it makes no sense to suddenly make changes on board. As said, there is teh cost of bumping paying passengers plus delay time. Delay more and you may have two “illegal” crews and then you are royally *******.

Provisions to bump people were made for ON AIR situations where a rwody passenger cannot be tolerated. At 10 thousand feet, your available actions are limited, priority is to protect yor passngers while in that fragile bubble. This was a compleetely different situation. Guy was not drunk. he was not belligerent as to physically assault teh officers. On teh contrary. he was scared and rightfully so.

Moreover, there were other choices. Normal procedure says you use another carrier. Can’t believe all flights were booked. You fly jumpseat. That would be two people at least if memory serves me right. Problem was lack of planning. If they had to get on thsi flight or else, why didn’t they plan ahead and got the crew on board before as per schedule? So blind compliance in a situation that was not life or death nor teh passengers’ fault is not suitable.

The law, instead of making flying safer, has made it a nightmare.

Free market, my foot. UA has declared bankruptcy back in 2001 or thereabouts. So they may not be in a position to be giving out expensive vouchers. We are still living in a bubble since 2004, and it changes the mood of a country, more sour feelings, and more uptight people…hardly the operation of a free market. I doubt this situation would have occurred so much in the 80s or 90s when the dollar was strong.

Your point was

Since Walmart is known for treating its employees and offshore workers who make their products like crap to offer the cheapest deal, if your original statement is true, only people who like to buy cheap stuff, Asians, would visit it, regardless of the store location.

Why would people who don’t like to buy cheap stuff be a paying customer at Walmart especially knowing the fact that it treats people who works for it like dirt?

I believe the squealing occurred off-camera, and what I saw was his head smashing against the armrest across the aisle then him being dragged away semi-conscious (no more squealing).

Also, flight attendants say that Dr Dao’s clothes were caught in the middle seat armrest when he was grabbed. So, the squeals may have occurred then.

Actually, there is a lot of money being made. The bankruptcy allowed the company to unload its long-standing employees (those with more rights like pensions and travel stuff), and rehire/subcontract people with no health or pension plans nor responsibilities. UA acquired Continental and also squeezed the employee line. This made investors giddy as they watched “earnings” soar, stocks fly… while service goes out the window, not to mention safety.

So you have the usual US enterprise story, doing magic with the books, playing with the stock market and making gazillion zillion for top traders and CEOs. The rest… probably live in a trailer close to the airport and change shirts to change companies.

  1. They should not have bumped passengers for employees. The customer comes first.
  2. They should have resolved the entire issue BEFORE boarding. This is standard practice. I have never heard of this process being initiated AFTER people are seated.
  3. They should have considered alternatives, such as putting the employees on another flight, or even in a car… it was Louisville to Chicago, a drive I have done myself numerous times and it is not far.
  4. They should have sweetened the deal, offering cash instead of vouchers. I know airlines do this, because I have received cash (checks) for volunteering to be bumped.
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it was Louisville to Chicago, a drive I have done myself numerous times and it is not far.

Actually, it was Chicago to Louisville, but your point is well taken. I’ve done the same once upon a long time ago. They could have taken an Uber car.

He was probably just looking to sue at that point too, but probably figured getting beat up and dragged away would help his case.

He’s probably set for many years now. Smart.

I actually have cousins in Louisville, and their dad is a doctor there, so I wondered if they by any chance happened to know other Asian doctors (hey, ya never know… it’s a big city, but it isn’t THAT big). So I went to one of my cousin’s pages on Facebook and found this instead:

I hope my son doesn’t see that, cuz then he won’t stop bugging me to get him the set.

He was set for year by first becoming a medical doctor, and then set again for taking second place at a World Poker Championship tournament. You think it was a squeal, it probably was just a bluff.

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Except then they turn their power trip against you, you end up arrested with a criminal record and major lawyer bills. And worse they have the power of the law to back them up.

Seen on FB today:

I’m not in the market for a ticket to ‘maybe’ fly on an airplane.
Sell me a ticket to actually fly on an airplane.
If that means you’d make a little less money - to the tune of, perhaps, 4 tickets out of 200 - then by all means raise your ticket prices by 2%.
That seems like a small price to pay, to avoid what we’ve all just seen.

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Yeah, I haven’t flown on US airlines for a while, but they were uniformly shite. Absolutely awful customer service, rude and thuggish customs/immigration/security people, and expensive compared to Europe.

What with Trump’s new rubber-glove policy towards … well, about 70% of the rest of the planet, I doubt I’ll be sampling US hospitality anytime soon.

I wonder if people really will boycott United, or if they’ll win people back with bargain-basement fares? Like, an offer you can’t refuse? :slight_smile:

Dat poker squeal.

Apparently Dr. Dao was convicted of illegally trading pain killers in exchange for sexual favors from male patients back in 2003 and had his license suspended, and that’s why he joined the WSOP.

Not really relevant to what happened on the plane, but at least he wasn’t lying when he said he is a doctor, since his license is restored recently under certain conditions.

Is it bad of me to enjoy it when martyrs turn out to be sleazes (like Chen Wei-Ting)?