Posted on 04/13/2017 3:37:45 AM PDT by Zakeet
Beside the point. The point being, United’s payoffs look like an attempt to influence potential witnesses. A stupid move. Can you imagine what a good trial lawyer would do with it?
Here’s just one of several takes:
Men and women of the jury, the manhandling to which Dr. Dao was subjected was so brutal, so beyond the pale, so HORRIFYING, that even those who merely witnessed it were traumatized. Merely seeing and hearing the abusive treatment required United Airlines to pay compensation. Think about it, men and women of the jury; every passenger on the flight required compensation, just to make up for the horror they witnessed.
That would be the lamest argument I’ve ever seen in a courtroom. if I’m on that jury I would find for the plaintiff and award $1 in damages.
The United CEO - Oscar Munoz is an MBA making almost $6 million dollars a year in salary and bonuses.
He has exercisable stock options valued at more than ONE BILLION DOLLARS!!!
But the airline is run like it’s being managed by Josef Stalin and the Marx Brothers comedy team..
https://s15.postimg.org/4p14h0l5n/MUNOZ_BIO.png
“Any such actions need to be handled pre boarding or not at all”
Yep, I don’t fly a lot but the times I’ve seen this request to “volunteer” to get bumped it’s always happened at the gate. Haven’t seen a PR nightmare like this in a while.
“The airline reneged on the purchase agreement. Many believe that the airline did not have sufficient cause to revoke that agreement.”
Again, people can say this all they want, but THIS IS NOT A REVELATION THAT IT HAPPENS as it happens lots of times.
Here is a video on it. it isnt just a random thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqWksuyry5w
They should offer passengers a choice - vouchers for flights or Visa cash cards.
THEY - the airlines - also no, that due to their overbooking, there are folks who are taking advantage of that - making reservations on flights known to be frequently over booked, where they expect to volunteer for whatever is being offered to leave the flight when then check in desk announces the flight is over booked. The airlines have turned what they call a necessity into a “market” some people are exploiting.
Personally, I think the airlines over estimate how many people are likely to cancel or not show up. They should lower those estimates, lower their over booking, and depend on “stand by” and last minute travelers to fill seats from ACTUAL cancellations & no shows.
They have to get sleep before working; it’s a safety issue.
You wouldn’t be on the jury. Sky-high jury selection consultants would eliminate you almost before the judge started questioning you. That’s how jury consultants earn big bucks.
(I saw the jury consultant eliminate me after I had answered only one queston. I sat there and witnessed it. They may charge a lot, but they know what they’re doing.)
There is a point where United should have decided that "the ship had sailed" and made other arrangements. For example, what if the plane had backed out and was about to start to taxi? Would they have re-parked it in order to pull off 4 passengers in order to put their crew on board? If not, what would they have done? I think they probably would have let it go and they would have made other arrangements. Once everyone had boarded, and there were no takers, they should have regarded the plane as already started on its flight. Instead, they chose to immolate themselves as a company.
For elderly passengers, and Dr. Dao is age 69, they’re not as flexible in their joints and mobility as younger passengers. What may be seen as an inconvenience to younger folks may present a harrowing situation of stress and pain to older folks. It may have been a challenge for an older person to get mobility to take that flight. The long walk thru the airport, the check-in process, it’s something you only want to do once and then you want to sit and get your strength back. The extra aggravation of having to delay for another flight, retrieving luggage, who is going to watch your bags while you find a restroom, do you have clean clothes for an extra day and enough medications for that overnight stay, the quality of food may be poor for people on a low salt diet, etc. You just want to get home and back to familiar ground for the sake of your own good health and peace of mind. Otherwise your blood pressure will shoot sky high.
> Like it or not, private businesses have the right to ask you to leave. <
Not if you have a contract with them! If I rent a car from you for, say, a day, then that car is mine, for that day. You cannot decide to pull me out that car just because a friend needs that car.
The question here is just what is the nature of the contract between this passenger and United. I’ve read that United has the right to bump someone who has not yet boarded. But once someone has boarded, that seat is his (excepting some safety issue, of course).
‘Instead, they chose to immolate themselves as a company.’
I read an article that quoted a top executive at a big PR firm. He said United may never fully recover their reputation. One of the most unsettling videos got 6,000,000 views within hours of being posted—and new/more people are watching it all the time.
“Not if you have a contract with them! If I rent a car from you for, say, a day, then that car is mine, for that day. You cannot decide to pull me out that car just because a friend needs that car.”
You arrive there to pick it up, and they cant offer it to you (for whatever reason), but they give you a refund or compensation + an alternative car.
Yeah, they CAN do that.
Now if you want to stand there are pitch a fit and refuse the offer, they can ask you to leave because you have become a disturbance because you are holding up the line, and if you dont, they can have security or police toss you out.
And it’s getting very tiresome to keep hearing that the flight was overbooked, when in fact the airline opted to toss off paying passengers so that four employees could enjoy free travel.
...
Please clear this up for me. I read that United was repositioning flight crew for work purposes, and that they were offering compensation that would have been in the thousands of dollars for the four passengers. How is that free?
“Once everyone had boarded, and there were no takers, they should have regarded the plane as already started on its flight. “
Uh no. That’s when they go to bumping people. Which isn’t a new policy or practice.
People can like it or not, but they aren’t going to say “oh well, that whole other flight that needs to be staffed is just going to have to be cancelled because we are short one seat on this one to get the staff there”.
Other people took the offer. No they were not happy, but they still did it. This was the one person that they had to bump.
What I want to know is why none of the people on the plane that were so upset about it, like the loud blond lady, would offer up their seat? I would have except that I refuse to fly while the NSA exists.
> You arrive there to pick it up [the car] , and they can’t offer it to you (for whatever reason), but they give you a refund or compensation + an alternative car. <
Right you are. And the situation you describe is analogous to a person who has not yet boarded the plane.
But the passenger in the United case was already on the plane, and in his seat. A proper car analogy would be this: You have payed for the rental car, and have been given the keys.
You are now in the car, the doors are closed, and you’re ready to go. Then an employee pulls you out of the car just because someone else wants that car.
That’s indefensible.
Until you purchase an airline ticket, actively waive your rights as per the fine print on the back and try to board a Federally regulated airplane.
Once everyone had boarded, and there were no takers, they should have regarded the plane
as already started on its flight. Instead, they chose to immolate themselves as a company.
*****************
There were takers, 3 out of the needed 4 had already agreed to deplane. Now they may should
have went on down the line offering more, etc to get the 4th taker. Their Contract of
Carriage speaks to the process and will become a part of any court action.
Contract of Carriage - February 17, 2017 — United Airlines
https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/contract-of-carriage.aspx
“Right you are. And the situation you describe is analogous to a person who has not yet boarded the plane.”
But they paid for the use of the car, and they expected THAT car, and they were at the lot to get that car.
I think the question is whether buying a plane ticket gives you “ownership” of the physical seat.
“You are now in the car, the doors are closed, and you’re ready to go. Then an employee pulls you out of the car just because someone else wants that car.
That’s indefensible.”
Does not matter if they offer you a refund or alternatives. UA didnt tell the guy they would keep his money and he is on his own.
The car is not legally yours by title or purchase. You just paid to borrow it.
You can be angry, and should. But you cannot then refuse to leave the car, and demand to drive off with it.
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