I'm wondering about the flight attendants. They didn't stop a situation that traumatized passengers who were ready for the flight to begin. They didn't call the real police when airport security thugs beat up a passenger in their charge. I thought the flight crew is responsible for the safety and well-being of the passengers.
This isn't going away. It just might be a pivotal moment. We've been reduced to slavery by the corporate elite. Dr. Dao is someone who had the guts to say ENOUGH!! In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to take a seat in the back of the bus. (at least she was offered an alternative seat). She's the symbol for demands for equality. Is Dr. Dao going to be the symbol for us "little folk" saying ENOUGH to corporate thuggery?
Yeah, I think it's potentially that huge.
The practice of overbooking flights or bumping passengers for crew members is going to stop. This sounds like a good thing until you realize that the standard practice will be for airlines to sell you a non-refundable ticket. So if something happens and you don't show up at the gate at the appointed time, then tough luck -- the flight leaves with your seat empty or the airline puts a standby passenger in it.
I'm kind of surprised this hasn't become the standard practice already. Most passengers aren't going to like this at all.
I also think we could see the advent of a new business model where airlines get out of the coach class altogether. Instead of selling 200 tickets for $350 apiece on a flight, the airline will sell 70 tickets for $1,000 apiece and cater to a different clientele completely. The days of cramming people into airplanes should have ended long ago.
Thinking back to my LAST flight, it was on American Eagle, also owned by Republic, similar plane, etc. There was ONE flight attendant.
It was an 8 am flight - so get up at 4, drive to the airport, return rental car, go through TSA, get to the gate to find that there was "something wrong with the plane" and we would have to wait until a replacement could be flown in (from wherever). That happened around 11 am. If anyone had tried to get anyone off of that plane when it finally boarded, I'm sure there would have been a similar incident.
Y’all need to read the carriage contract... United or its subsidary, in this case, Republic Airlines can’t remove you from the flight once you have boarded for other than an emergency or you are a threat to flight safety.... A mistake was made BIGLY, by not offering or preventing the boarding of the 4 paying passengers... once you have scanned your ticket the can’t remove you... Carriage Contract rules via several Hague conventions for Air Travel going back to the 1960’s...
That is why the offer up money or free tickets prior to boarding... or get really generous once you have been seated....
The lead gate agent and management of that Gate are the criminals here not the Doctor or the Pilots...or the flight crew... the gate agents own the passengers till the door is closed, and the beacon is turned on, then the flight crew is responsible.
The Gate Agent and Airport Police are going to get hammered big time... I bet the Airport Police get jail time and the Gate Agent does too...