Man forcibly thrown off United Flight (with Video)

Airport security in action against a guy who was picked to be bumped off an overbooked flight. Looks like it hurt too.

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United said four-stand-by staff needed to be in Louisville for a flight the next day and the plane would not take off until they had seats.

Even when the offer was increased to $800, no one volunteered. Louisville is a four and a half hour, 300 mile drive from Chicago.

And

It took off later on Sunday night and landed two hours late.

Even if you have to rent a car, how much does it cost to drive 300 miles? More than 4 x $800?

Oh well, they saved 2.5 hours of travel time and significantly reduced the risk of being liked by people in general. :roll:

The flight wasn’t overbooked. United ejected a passenger after boarding to make room for one of its employees.

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The actions from the beginning were against company policy, basic human dignity, and overall logic.

The scariest thing is the police reports giving a completely false statement of what happened. But then Chicago PD has a very endemic system of blame and excessive force use that for decades has been a scourge. Cases of set up by police are rampant. Which explains this aura of immunity.

And he should thank his gods he is not black, or latino, otherwise, he’d be dead.

EDIT: he’s Asian. An Asian doctor. Whisky Tango Hotel?!

Overall, any US airline, US airport, US in general, should be avoided in this testing times…testing what they can get away with. What for? Don’t wanna know…

Someone offered to leave for a higher amount and from the reports was laughed at.
Technically the airline has the right to eject you at any time and you have to leave otherwise it’s a criminal offence so if it was me I would get off and file an ineffectual complaint afterwards.

But slamming someone’s head into the armrest and possibly giving him a concussion to a paying, seated, checked in customer is horrible no matter which way you slice it. And even if the airline was stupid enough to remove him, how does it deserve a head slam. Just get those 3 cops to each grab an arm and a leg, it didn’t require violence.

Apparently they needed the space to transport employees to work the next day. Seems like United didn’t plan very well. At a four hour drive to the destination, it would have been better just to drive the employees there or pay to rent a car one way.

Jayse Anspach was also on the flight. She said: 'United overbooked and wanted 4 of us to volunteer to give up our seats for personnel that needed to be at work the next day.

Perhaps most important: After years of mergers and consolidation, customers don’t have as many options as they used to for domestic air travel. United is one of the “Big Four” airlines that now control about 70% of the U.S. market, and for some travelers in some regions, the carrier is their best or even only option, no matter what controversies may erupt.

And that is the bottom line.The consumer’s rights are encroached as there is no actual choice, which is the weapon, prerogative and assumed right of every consumer.

Moreover, United, as many others, has been downsizing, for many reasons but mostly for stock market, especially letting go of experienced staff, replacing them with itinerant part timers subcontractors etc. hence, the people at the helm are not the most qualified but rather the cheapest, the lowest bidder. They do not repsent teh airline nor have the airline “mentality” engrained by training. rather, they have a stick on ID they use, morning United, afternoon AA, evening Continental.

Like Icon just said, there is little choice in the market.

Thank you for flying united, your last and no choice airline. We don’t care if you enjoyed the flight, but we know we will see you soon. On behalf of the airline crew and pilot, eff you and have a horrible day.

The entire situation should have been resolved before anyone was boarded. Bumping people is a decades-old practice, and you’d think they would have the protocols down pat by now.

Had I been there, I would have volunteered to be bumped for $800. I used to volunteer to be bumped quite frequently. It’s good money.

What most Americans don’t seem to realize is that there’s nothing new about the problem of getting standby flight crews to their destinations. What’s new is that airline personnel have become emboldened by the fact that they’re now deputized members of the budding police state and their newfound powers have gone to their heads.

What’s interesting about this episode is that apparently the Chinaman’s police state self-preservation instincts are still intact. Americans, on the other hand, are so used to having rights that they’re like Dodo birds in denial about what’s happening around them. The Chinaman knew instinctively that no one was coming to save him though and that he was on his own while the native Americans are apparently convinced it was all an aberation and help is on the way. Unfortunately that “help” is already in permanent exile in Moscow and won’t be arriving anytime soon.

Massive OWN GOAL by United. Can you imagine Singapore Air lines dragging off a screaming , bleeding fare paying passenger rightfully in their seats?

Would have been cheaper to raise the offer to 10,000 dollars. Someone would have taken that offer.

With the right lawyers we are going to be talking 15 MILLION dollars compensation here.

Meantime also on TV news tonight was Delta offering 11,000 dollars to a woman as compensation for delaying her flight twice over two days.

I know who I want to fly with and who NOT to fly with.

There’s been a regime change, Thomas, and “established procedures” have changed, so I wouldn’t count on help being on the way anytime soon. United’s CEO gets this.

If only a Jenner were on that flight to offer a can of pepsi.

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They have to label the guy as the guilty party, otherwise, they would be liable. That is their story and they will stick to it.

Fly right means on time departures within budget… no matter what. Crashes, passengers’ welfare my foot.

How is it that 3 police officers can fuck this up so badly. They are clearly used to handle the situation in this manner. And doing this in front of all these people not one of the officers was like wait, there has to be a better way.
And knowing the state of the US right now I wouldn’t be surprised that they picked a “obedient peaceful Asian name randomly”. United has always be awful, even my us domestic standards.

United stated that it was computer picked. Seeing as how there were four people picked, I doubt it was racism.

You might be able to make the argument that the Chicago PD roughed him up based on appearance since well, it’s Chicago, especially after claiming the man fell. That part is laughable after seeing the video.

what a nightmare for these guys. i respect the chinese guy for making it as awkward as possible. the scream was epic.

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Well that’s horrifying.