I Know You’re Mad at United but… (Thoughts from a Pilot Wife About Flight 3411)

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.

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.

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.

***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.

Totally agree. The last person I’d expect to be objective would be a United employees wife.

I doubt she has read the Contract of Carriage. Some of her statements are incorrect. There is much more educated opinion over on Flyertalk.

IF there IS a video with him calling a lawyer & setting up this confrontation, I would throw it out of court if I were the judge.

'Hey, Saul. I have a hunch that the flight I'm going to be on tomorrow will need to bump some passengers and that I'll be picked at random. With any luck, I'll get beaten and bloodied. We'll clean up!'

Above all, I sincerely hope that he is banned from flying on ANY airline for the rest of his life. A whole plane load of people shouldn’t be subjected to this kind of behavior.

I think he won't have any problem booking a flight on his fleet of private jets.

Do your doctors have to take hospital call? Because if you are assigned call, and you cannot make it back in time to take the call, then you can get your hospital privileges suspended. It is up to the physician on call to find a replacement, and it is very difficult to do that at the last minute.
This Dr. probably is not on call, but your statement that very few need to rush home is inaccurate in a call situation.

“According to a guy on Fox Business, the airline employees
getting the seats were Republic Airline crew.

****************

Which is a part of United Airlines...”

Don’t think so. Republic Airlines is a “commercial partner” of UA, but it is an independent company.

It is in the small print - the contract says they get to boot you if they need your seat for someone with higher priority.

But several lawyers on other sites have said that according to the FAA rules, they do not have the right to boot you once you are seated.

As I said on another thread, most of these are probably paid trolls.

An you don't belong on FR with your liberal-like insinuations.

No one pays me. I judge by what is morally correct according to the Judeo-Christian teaching I have received.

Maybe you should read this (and comprehend it):

https://accordingtohoyt.com/2017/04/12/flying-blind/
Pull quote:
"In the context of the airline, let’s dissect “entitled.” You’re d*mn right I’m entitled. When you pay for a service, you are entitled to that service. It is known as “contract”. And I don’t really care if the government says it’s legal for them to drop people involuntarily. The government is no arbiter of morals. The truth is that in any other industry, if I pay for something I’m ENTITLED to it. And if people revoke it after payment, it’s called fraud and there are all kinds of ugly consequences."

ML/NJ

The docs trade out being on call all of the time. And we have Hospitalists who work for the hospital and some of them are here all of the time.

There isn’t an organization that would not make an adjustment for being stuck in a airport. This guy isn’t a 28 year old resident.

A whole plane load of people shouldn’t be subjected to this kind of behavior.

I wonder how often you fly. I fly more often than once a month and I APPLAUD THE GUY for doing what he did.

The only reason I didn't fly last weekend was that UNITED kicked ALL OF US off the plane after we were boarded and seated. (They said the crew timed out, which was BS because the flight had been delayed and rescheduled more than three hours before; this at UNITED's hub.) None of us got anything.

ML/NJ

I am married to a surgeon. If he misses call, the responsibility is on him to find coverage. If no coverage, your hospital may not be happy with no surgical specialist call for the ED.They dont care about your reason, they care about who is going to cover the call, and missing flights does not have the same standing as being hit by a car. Trading out call ahead of time is way different ( and easier) than finding a person to cover you the following day.

I work in the telecom end. One of the things my staff does is maintain the myriad of on call lists, from the engineers who fix gas lines to surgeons, to PACU and OR clean up crews. The surgeons—general to ortho and Nuero generally have a primary and a back up.

My folks are the ones who coordinate emergency surgeries. We are not a trauma center, so it’s mostly appendicitis and broken hips.

What I see are the docs switching out their calls regularly. The Med Services office would usually be able to juggle the coverage for one guy for a night.

Every hospital is different, and I get that. But my experience has been that given a days notice, coverage isn’t a major deal.

That’s a long answer for a small part of this.

I believe it is very likely that other lawyers in Kentucky are currently actively pursuing some of Dr. Dao's patients who were scheduled to see him that day, and that some of them will probably be suing United Airlines also (on behalf of those patients), due to the serious damage to their health they will claim has ensued because of the absence of the doctor that day. (Dr. Dao's Chicago lawyers are probably trying to contact his patients in Kentucky about those health matters also.) United should be prepared to pay out a hefty bundle because of their utterly foolish handling of this matter.

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