Posted on 04/13/2017 9:36:43 AM PDT by Impala64ssa
f there’s one thing I have learned over the years, it’s that there are always two sides to every story.
On April 9th, a very unfortunate incident played out on United Flight 3411, the video of which has since gone viral causing a mass social media uprising with an ‘off-with-their-heads’ mentality. I mean, across the board. Fire ’em all and let the gods sort it out later.
Look, I get it. When I first saw the video I was appalled too. To say that it was inflammatory would be putting it mildly. But it was also a situation that was escalated far beyond the boundaries of necessity.
If a federal law enforcement officer asks me to exit a plane, no matter how royally pissed off I am, I’m going to do it and then seek other means of legal reimbursement. True story.
Knowing what I know about airport security, I’m certainly not going to run back into a secured, federally restricted area at an airport flailing my arms and screaming like a banshee…because, you know, that just happens to be breaking a major federal Homeland Security law.
But that’s just me. Obviously.
The moment I made that particular ill-advised choice, I would become an immediate and imminent threat to the aircraft’s security. That’s kind of a big deal. I mean, come on, I once actually had to remove my infant son’s socks because they mimicked little baby sneakers. These guys mean business.
I didn’t like it. I thought it was just plain stupid, honestly. But instead of pitching a massive fit, refusing to comply, and bolting through the TSA checkpoint like an out-of-control toddler, I did the big girl thing–sucked it up, removed the offensive socks, and went on with my happy life, sans being tackled and dragged through the airport in handcuffs by a bunch of big men with guns.
Because if you choose to take advantage of the services the airport provides, you play by their rules.
I know you’re all out there screaming that the ‘rules’ are unfair, but I am a pilot wife. I remember 9/11. Do you? I want my husband, the father of my children, to come home. I want you to get home. That law exists to protect my husband. And your wife. And your grandmother. And your child. And you. I, for one, am glad for the law.
I’m not here to dispute the facts of 3411 with you. I am not interested in getting into an argument of opinion with anyone. We’re all entitled to our own. I’m not arguing that what happened wasn’t completely terrible–it was, on multiple levels. But I am suggesting that the general public take another look at the situation, ask a few more questions, gather a few more facts, and then create a less hostile and more intellectually wrought opinion about what happened.
Because the media is giving you just enough information to keep you enraged–enough to keep their ratings up.
Things to consider:
1) “You can’t just kick a paying customer off the plane!” Psssst! It’s in the fine print. They can, indeed, do just that. And it’s not an airline specific rule, it’s a commercial aviation rule. Every ticket you purchase comes with a plethora of fine print–you know, the stuff we just click ‘next’ on without actually reading what we are agreeing to. Yeah, that. Well, it’s in there, and you checked the ‘I agree’ box when you purchased your ticket. You can read about it and oh-so-much-more here. Kind of makes you want to read all those tiny words on your next phone update before you click ‘I agree’, huh? You should. United did not break any law, and he agreed to the policy and possibility of involuntary bump when he bought his ticket. And so do you.
2) “Kicking a paying customer off an airplane!? I’m taking my business to Southwest!” Ummmm, okay. But just be sure you understand that every major airline, Southwest included, has a similar policy for involuntary bumping in a ‘must ride’ scenario. Don’t believe me? It’s called the contract of carriage. If you’re really bored, you can read Southwest’s here. Or Delta’s here. Believe me, it’s in there. This could have been any airline. In fact, it happens all the time. Most people just don’t wrestle the feds in the aisle.
3: “So what’s this ‘must ride’ nonsense anyway? They shouldn’t bump a paying customer for a free employee ride!” I’m afraid you’re going to have to take this up with the federal government, not United. And it’s actually pretty important to you as an airline traveler anyway. They were not ‘freeloading home’. That’s called non-rev and they have to wait in line behind your checkbook and often don’t make it home to their families if flights are booked (believe me, I know). No, this was a must fly, a positive space situation. In layman terms, it means that a crew must be flown to an airport to man a flight in order to avoid cancellation of said flight due to crew unavailability. This is a federal DOT regulation, not an airline one. The airlines are required to do so to avoid disruption of air traffic. In other words, if there are no willing volunteers and they need seats to get a crew somewhere to avoid disruption of aviation flow, they can, will, must by federal regulation bump people for the better good of the 1000’s. Why? Because one cancelled flight has a serious domino affect in the delicate, complicated world of connections and aviation law.
4: “It’s the airline’s fault for not planning better!” You obviously have no clue about the complexities of aviation travel and should do some research. There are about a million and one things that can cause a crew shortage including but not limited to weather, maintenance, weather, connecting fight delays, weather, FAA timeout regs, and did I mention weather? I wish I could control Mother Nature because I would be one filthy rich person. But I can’t. And neither can United. So they inconvenience one, or four, to keep hundreds on track. Do the math. And of course, if we were on the other end of this thing, we’d be tirading and blowing up the internet because United didn’t bump a passenger to make sure our flight didn’t get cancelled and left hundreds stranded. Damned if you do; damned if you don’t. We’re a fickle crowd, we social media folks.
5: They shouldn’t have picked the minority Chinese doctor! It’s racist.” That’s just silly. Though federal regulation demands they involuntarily bump to prevent interruption of flights when necessary, each airline does have the leniency to determine how they choose the bumped passengers. They did not play spin the bottle or walk down the aisle looking for the Asian guy. Use your heads, people! There is a computerized algorithm that takes into account price of ticket, how long ago it was purchased, whether or not they can get the passenger to their destination in a timely manner, etc. It wasn’t an ‘Asian thing.’ Stop, people. Just stop.
6: “United should go under for assaulting that passenger! Fire the entire crew!” Read the facts. United neeeever touched the passenger. In fact, by all witness accounts, the United flight crew remained calm and pleasant throughout the entire event, never laying hands on the passenger. They followed protocol as required by law. Once law enforcement became involved (also as required by federal protocol), United stepped out of the decision-making process. They had nothing to do with the rest. The passenger was forcibly removed by federal aviation security (the disturbing clip that everyone is talking about) after running back into the secured area after being escorted out once. Once he did that, like it or not, they (law enforcement) were under full discretion of the law to apply necessary force to remove the threat. I’m not saying it’s pretty, but the only one who actually broke a law was the passenger. There’s a reason for these laws–it’s called 9/11. We can’t have it both ways. But by all means, let’s berate and punish an entire flight crew–in fact thousands of pilots, FA’s, gate attendents, ground crew, etc.–because it makes us all feel a little better.
7: “You piece of **it!” I get that the passengers were upset, angry, maybe even confused. I get that you are too. After all, media is tossing you out chunks of bloody meat like you’re a pack of starving wolves. But I’m seriously disgusted that the poor must ride crew that had to take those seats after the unfortunate mess that unraveled were verbally abused and threatened. Can you imagine the very uncomfortable position they were in? Then they were demeaned, belittled, threatened. Along with many others all over the internet and airports today. They were and are men and women doing their jobs to feed their families. Just. Like. You. They didn’t have a choice. They didn’t ask for this. They didn’t assault anyone. They are not a corporation; they are individuals who need a job. They are my friends and maybe even my husband. There’s a very fine line between what you despise and becoming what you despise. Many of the comments and actions I have seen perpetrated against United employees cross it. Don’t become what you hate.
Like I said, I know you’re mad at United, but there’s much more to the story than hits the media fan.
I truly hope that this gives you something to chew on and gives you a smidgen more insight into the complexities of aviation. I’m not making excuses. I think there were bad decisions made on both sides. However, I am saying there are always two sides to every story. Make sure you consider them both.
Tailwinds.
***A correction to the previous article. Mr. Dao was indeed Vietmanese and not Chinese. That quote was verbatim from a comment off the internet. I apology profusely for the confusion.
Angelia (A Pilot Wife)
I thought they were Chicago Airport Security thugs, not Feds, like TSA or FBI..................
The thing they could have done is kept upping the price until someone took the deal.
“Those who would trade liberty for security deserve neither.”
Can’t wait until HyperLoop travel will make air travel obsolete. Flying anywhere is miserable these days. Better to go by auto if you can drive it in less than 3 hrs. The stupid clods at United could have chartered a jet for those four late arriving crew members and saved millions for the company. This is just common sense, which the cheap skates in charge should have considered when they offered such a measly sum to deplane.
The passenger that was pulled off the plane suffered a concussion, broken nose and he lost two teeth according to a FOX news report.
This whole incident, including the behavior of both the airline and the passenger, reinforces my dislike of flying.
With inconsiderate TSA perverts, inconsiderate crews, and inconsiderate passengers, if there is any reasonable alternative. I don’t fly.
Did screaming girly-’doctor’ actually get back onto the flight?
Let's see. Michael Brown robbed a store, assaulted a cop and tried to steal his gun, and then charged him, and was a huge dude. This passenger was reacting to United violating the law regarding removing a passenger already boarded and in his seat, did not offer any kind of physical resistance, and probably didn't weigh more than 130 pounds.
Yeah, I can see the similarities. /sarcasm
Needs to never happen again. Period.
Require the airlines to keep raising the offer until someone takes it, if that’s ten grand, then they shouldn’t have overbooked.
Spare me the “They’re just people doing a job” BS, that’s no excuse.
There is a market based solution to this.
For me- once you’ve taken my money you *ARE* going to fulfill your end of the contract OR I will make your existence as miserable as it deserves to be, which is going to involve whatever combination of lawyers, social media and physical action I think most appropriate.
If you don’t have the seat, don’t sell it, PERIOD. Anything else is fraud.
Absolutely correct. And they likely wouldn’t have had to have gone much further than the $800 already offered.
That, OR hire a car to DRIVE their employees (I hear it’s a 4.5 hour drive, for gosh sakes).
Either of those is a HUGE BARGAIN when compared to what they ended up “buying”.
That seems like the most obvious solution to the problem.
I understand the "thoughts from a Pilot Wife" but all of that is a reflection of our overly-lawyered society. Yes, I'm sure there are 37 pages of fine print behind every airline ticket, and yes, if I were to read and memorize all 37 pages of fine print I could probably avoid these unpleasant situations.
But the only people who want to live in THAT type of society are the lawyers who are paid to write the fine print.
Just pay people to get off the plane. It's simple. It's relatively cheap. It's easy for anyone to understand.
So how did he get back on the plane? Wasn’t he in the custody of the 3 aviation security officers?
we are not forced to fly the airlines...its our choice....
No, sorry lady, your husband can get a new career.
That's what engineering companies would do if they knew they wouldn't be able to just bring lots of engineers in from foreign countries to undercut the wages of American engineers.
But they have another way to handle the problem at lower cost, and they take it.
Same here. Why should they keep upping the price when they can just call in law enforcement? Cheaper. In the short run, anyway, which is all anyone at Dunder-Mifflin Airlines can focus on.
United has been a horrible, awful airline for a long time. I’m just very glad that I have been airline free since 2012. I hope it is forever. Much of the problem is government, but not all. United tries very hard to be a bad airline.
And then there’s the “Contract of Carriaige” the airlines use. Most are the size of small novels.
My immediate question is how do you get informed consent on a 35-40,000 word contract. . . .
They were Chicago airport security agents, not the feds.
According to the attorney at the news conference, Dao received a severe concussion, a broken nose that will require reconstructive surgery for sinus damage, and he lost two front teeth. Sounds like the thugs meant business when he resisted getting off. I don’t think receiving a beating when being bumped is in the contract of carriage fine print.
This airline shill is trying to polish an unconstitutional turd and make us think its a diamond. Assaulting folks because they have the temerity to insist on a company honoring a contract is flat wrong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.