Posted on 04/18/2017 5:06:52 AM PDT by pabianice
But we have to ask, do the facts really justify this level of outrage? After all, United approached this overbooked flight in the same way that airlines across the country do every day. Dao was given many chances to leave the flight peacefully, and blatantly refused to do so. In airports post-9/11, this type of behavior is not tolerated as there is a greater emphasis on the expectation to comply with the instructions of airline personnel for safety reasons. After Dao dug his feet in, all United did was call the airport police. Anything that occurred after that point was out of its control, and was the responsibility of the police department. Still, the injuries to Dao that have garnered so much outrage were probably not done intentionally, and were likely only sustained after he was accidentally dropped while being removed. No evidence in the video, or anything that has otherwise surfaced, has shown that anyone intentionally tried to harm Dao.
Despite the media’s best efforts to create a narrative, Dao was not an innocent doctor assaulted for trying to get to his patients. Christina Mora, a reporter for a CBS affiliate out of Louisville, tweeted that his office remained open through Monday morning, and that the staff there would not even confirm that he had patients scheduled for Monday. Dao belligerently defied airport security, and was met with an unintended consequence. And now, Dao will also be a man with a potentially quite lucrative lawsuit in the works.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycollegian.com ...
I thought the flight was not overbooked.
Except it wasn’t an overbooked flight, even by United’s admission. And even if it were that is not how those are dealt with by any other airline on any other day.
1) It was NOT an overbooked flight.
2) Other airlines block people from boarding, they don't remove people after boarding.
3) Other airlines follow their own policies. United didn't. United's policy is to offer up to $1300 as reimbursement for a bump. Dao was offered only $800 and then forcibly removed. The airline has no one to blame but itself.
Unfortunately, as happens across the country each day, the flight was overbooked — in other words, United had sold more tickets than it had seats available.
The flight was not overbooked with sold tickets.
“Except it wasn’t an overbooked flight, even by United’s admission. And even if it were that is not how those are dealt with by any other airline on any other day.”
United is exhibiting a profound ability to do stupid at every opportunity. Reportedly, some guy was asleep laying across three seats which included this couples two seats. So, United staff, instead of waking this guy up and telling him to sit up in his assigned seat. Tells the couple to go wake him up and tell him to get out of their seats. It’s not the passengers responsibility to police seat assignments. That’s the attendants job to do this. So, UA is legitimately earning all its bad publicity, law suits, etc, coming it’s way, fair and square. No sympathy here....
Libs love to present arguments in terms of ways they WISH things were.
Thus Obamacare sucks because the Democrats HAD to dilute it to meet with sufficient Republican approval to get it passed. Yep I hear this argument every week. Some will even tell you that it is the Republican input that made it sucky.
It was NOT a United airlines airplane. It was a United partner “Republic Airlines” .The mishandling was done by CHICAGO AIRPORT police. The stupid remarks were made by the UAL President/CEO. A lot is left to unravel. That is not to say that UAL hasn’t got internal housecleaning to do. They need a Mr. Clean and need him now. Their image is in the crapper.
And United has now changed their policy such that staff must arrive at the gate an hour before departure.
Apparently previously it was okay to arrive after the plane had been seated and revoke tickets.
If their employees can’t show up on time to work, that’s not my problem. Telling me that it was vital that these workers get sufficient sleep and to their jobs the next day does nothing to explain why the passengers who purchased tickets with sufficient travel time buffer were not afforded the same protections.
This man was removed from the flight then, somehow, got back on the plane. It looks to me like this was planned with the purpose of a lawsuit. He was on his phone with his lawyer as they were approaching him to remove him the second time, telling him to get a lawsuit ready.
When you board a boat or ship the captain is THE authority. Same goes for planes. You can be removed for any reason or no reason. The minute this swell head was asked to move he should have complied a any traveler would. We have all suffered inconvenience at one time or the other. This jerk saw a chance for a lawsuit the minute he was asked to leave. Any harm he sustained is his own fault and should NOT be compensated! Unfortunately, too many people love to bash anyone or anything and push our “Litigation is Fun” society. This creep doesn’t deserve a penny. He asked for what he got when he refused to leave. He threw himself in the ring when he refused to comply with the LEGITIMATE REQUEST. AND he is no gladiator.
Is this satire?
The outrage is justified. The outrage is not just about this event. If it was, this event would not have legs. People like me have watched the TSA and United Airlines spew rudeness and heavy handed business practices for over a decade. When this news story came out, we, the traveling public with experience of United, have all witnessed a United act of rudeness.
The original response of United’s president is the real feeling this airline holds. They believe the airline exists to feed the employees. And the employees are against the company, and barely tolerate the customers. There is a stark deference between Southwest and United. On southwest the employees seem happy to have a job. They are fun and friendly. At United, they are there to get a paycheck. They are unhappy and quick to use the most punitive rules to deal with customers. If customers had been treated well, this story would not have snowballed like it has.
And also, I believe airlines exist to garner enough money to pay off the loans on airplanes. If airlines didn't exist, Boeing and Airbus would have had to invent them. /S
Perception is the reality.
Try to explain it all away and you will discover people will believe the video before they believe the explanation.
At this point, regardless of the “truth” Untied is the one that is going to take the hit on all this.
A civil case will decide the truth by that time it will be a very old story and the only thing people will remember is thugs dragging a bloodied passenger off a plane so United could have his seat to an employee.
Even United admits it was a mistake and they changed their policies to correct the mistake.
It wasn’t the pilot.
It was the United gate agent accommodating employees of the affiliated company who had effectively showed up late to board.
It was breach of contract. Mr. Dao was right to call his attorney.
I’m not sure I agree with your interpretation of the phrasing, but I won’t push it. Let’s say that you are correct, and that offering an additional $500 was not required.
Beating a passenger into unconsciousness and forcibly removing him in an effort to save $500 turns out to have been a poor business decision. I’m just sayin’.
When you deal with a stressed United employee, they will inevitably separate themselves from the company. You will get lines like. “Well, the rules are.” Or, “I don’t know why they have us do it this way.” Or the one I really hate, “We are here for safety first.” Which is to say, being nice is not my job.
The employees act like storms are rare or flights are rarely late. Its like a daycare person complaining that a baby pooped. The reality is that storms and maintenance problems are common. Employees should excel at these times. They should be trained for them. This is when they can make a difference. Southwest does excel in hard times. They play with passengers, entertaining them and putting them in a better mood, all while being very professional.
The sad thing is, that Continental was a great service airline. They lost their President and executive staff. And the United union was able to control the rules of their staff. And United’s terrible service tradition was able to infect Continental rather than Continental’s good service setting the standard.
Probably right that it was a bad business decision. Certainly tone-deaf (not the first time they have exhibited that trait). I just get very wary when I see everyone piling on in demonizing a company, when it appears that there is no evidence that the widely mocked story-line (”united beats its customers”) has any truth to it.
I have no problem demonizing Target, or Macy’s, or Unilever, or any of the other companies that have made it official policy to insult, demean, and marginalize their customers, and to mock common decency. I do have a problem with this, however, since it seems awfully like the “hands-up, don’t-shoot”, or Freddy Gray, or Trayvon Martin, where someone is demonized over a story-line that doesn’t match what we know.
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