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.

"Yeah, $50,000 would have been a whole lot cheaper in this instance, but word gets around and lots of people start holding out for more; that turns in to million$ really fast."

That may be true, but I just don't see it. After all, if you're holding out for a million, you are betting that no one will be willing to take far less than that; if someone takes the lower amount, all you get for holding out is ride your plane to the destination. That's really high-stakes gambling.

I would have been one of the volunteers had they gotten to a refund of fare plus $5000 (actual currency, not vouchers) .. and I'm sure that it would never have gotten to me because someone else would have taken $1000 or $2000 long before the bidding got higher.

In the end, I think cash talks ... there are just too many people out there willing to take the money in-hand ($1000 or $2000) against gambling at losing a higher amount.

Overlooked is that EVERYONE on that plane was unconstitutionally searched, many offensively, _before_ being herded into cramped quarters, delayed for hours by aggressive scheduling, and being bumped because the airline didn’t plan ahead for contingencies.

Insofar as there is legal recourse, I’m increasingly of the opinion that meek compliance is unlikely to work: you obeyed, there isn’t a problem, ...there isn’t a problem, now please go away before we drag you away. I’ve had a slam-dunk airline case before, but couldn’t garner any interest in prosecuting it because I was ultimately compliant.

There is, apparently, legal rights that were violated, to wit: once you’re paid & seated, it’s yours. They can offer you incentives to leave, or compensate the person who isn’t in that seat because you are, but physically hauling you out only works if there’s objective cause to remove _you_. Still waiting for that one to get settled.

May be a case where the proliferation of laws has obfuscated the fundamental point:

This is the captain’s plane.
He has absolute authority over it.
If the captain tells you to get off, you get off - quietly or violently, you’re getting off.

Might work if the captain were to make a statement to the effect. Without his apparent involvement, it’s “the airline” and “the cops”, not the fiat of a recognized jurisdictional sovereign.

Why is this even a issue?

Answer:

Yentas with iphones, college sluts & yentas in the news, and yentas on social media...

It’s cut and dried. The mentally ill obstreperous ahole was interfering with a flight crew. <—The reason does not matter. Say that 10 times.

Our entire fed gov is corrupt and morphed into a police state and morons are more concerned about this? Worse...getting it wrong. I must have missed the brown acid going around...

Ah the read the fine print excuse. Okay, so it was in the fine print that you buying a ticket and being seated really doesn’t mean anything. So until you are in the air you really can plan anything like connecting flights, reservations etc... because the airline reserves the right to cancel the contract you made between you and them at any point of the process and you have no say. Right and as long as the passengers put up with the crappy way they are treated by the airlines and the FAA this will continue dumping on the flying public. Overbooking flights is the culprit, why not give a certain point of cut off to cancel otherwise you pay for the flight whether you are on the plane or not?

Ditching paying, seated customers to move employees is the height of arrogance and piss poor customer service and poor planning on the part of the airlines. If you can’t fulfill your obligations then perhaps you should cut back on your flight offerings to the public in order to meet your obligations.

My brother was a mechanic for the old Comair airline and as an employee he always had to wait until all paying passengers were seated before getting to fly anywhere. Once he was sent to Miami to work on a plane for some small maintenance issue. He caught a flight out of Orlando, made the repairs and was bumped off a couple of flights back to Orlando and he was going to be bumped the next two flights so the airline told him to go rent a car and drive back he would be on the clock and they reimbursed him for the rental.

She’s absolutely right to the point of technical but, I’ve been on flights where not enough people volunteered so, they basically did a lottery, which would have been more prudent.

A flight in was on required 3 people to rebook for whatever reason.

Only one person volunteered.

They then called out names and had then come tongue front of the plane.

I happened to be sitting one row back from the front and heard them up the ante each time a person said “No can do”.

Eventually the last person was offered $1,200, a coupon toward another flight, hotel accommodation and some other stuff I can’t recall.

The person just kept saying no until they made the offer too good pass up.

The fact this fellow was allowed to reboard belies their supposed imperative and that alone, besides what the CEO has said and done puts them at risk of a lawsuit they probably won’t win.

They need to quickly write that check and move on.

Local news said that the offer to deplane got up to $1000 per person, and Dao didn’t take that offer.

IF he WAS flying with his wife-—they both could have taken the $1000 each, rented a car, and DRIVEN to Louisville in less than 5 hours. He had plenty of time to get to his ‘patients’ on Monday AM.

NOW-—He didn’t get to ‘his patients’ at all......And after seeing his behavior over & over again on the news, I wonder how many of his ‘patients’ will stay with him as their ‘doctor’. He also lost his license for about 10 years, but the reason was murky on the TV.

I side with the airlines on this.

This person decided to be a complete jerk. If his wife was with him, apparently she couldn’t talk any sense into him, either.

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.

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.

Better to go by auto if you can drive it in less than 3 hrs.

I live 80 minutes from the parking area of DTW. I have to plan to arrive at least 90 minutes prior to my flight and because TSA likes me extra special I try to arrive 2 hours before my flights in order to deal with enhanced searches and lines. A typical flight to the east coast (NYC, DC, Philadelphia) takes about 3 hours flight time, plus 20 minutes to deplane, 5-15 minutes to get to baggage, 0-20 minutes to get my bags, 10-20 minutes to get a car or uber, and another 30-45 minutes to get where I'm going. Total for a normal east coast trip is 7-8 hours. If everything goes right. If I have a connection, add another hour.

On the way back, I'm at the mercy of the airline schedule so when my meetings are done (as happened last month), I may have 6-7 hours sitting around waiting for my flight home. Round trip then in terms of sunk time is about 22 hours on average. This doesn't count the aggravation of being x-rayed, pawed, having to pay $25 for a mediocre burger and beer at the airport, being cramped next to a fat sweaty farting slob who spreads into my seat, etc.

In contrast, if I drive, I can carry a real firearm (flying, I usually just take a small .380 in checked luggage which is now prominently flagged as containing a firearm on Delta), I don't have to worry about whether my carry on happened to be with me when I traveled to my last shoot or hunting trip and still has ammo in it, I can stop any time I want and not have to wait for a bathroom, the air is clean, etc.

As a result, even before this United debacle, I was always drive if the trip was something I could drive in 11 hours or less, and occasionally I'd bump it up to 13 hours. While I am betting that United (as well as the other airlines) will be on extra special good behavior going forward for the next six months or so, I'll probably presume that I will drive if I can do it in 13 hours, which is pretty much my limit for a day of driving.

We need people who are comfortable asserting their authority in some situations; we need cops. I respect them and their service. But with authority comes responsibility and accountability and our society has not been following through on drawing those lines. We need to recognize the tendency you refer to and guard against its expression as a power trip not a regrettable occasional necessity.

These guys should not have had the authority for those actions. Their boss says they didn’t and he will be dealing with it. They were under trained for their duties and the passenger paid the price.

United should not have called in cops for an administrative problem. They bear culpability. The crew wanted to accommodate the other airline’s flight crew. But they also lacked the training about what they could and couldn’t do legally to seat those extra flight crew members. The passenger paid the price.

What irks me is people saying the passenger deserved what he got because he didn’t just give up his rights and disappear. He even made noise and made other people uncomfortable by not letting the airline personnel ruin his plans and illegally deny him passage.

They should have not used the computer to pick people. Just keep upping the offer and there are people who would take the deal. Now the doctor I can understand, he needed to get back. But there is a magic number to get to that people will take.
Say $2000, a great hotel, unlimited room service, etc.. It’s all about the magic number.

Considering what it will cost now, that would be chump change.

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