Posted on 04/14/2017 10:48:36 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Perhaps you could have someone knock out two of your teeth and hit you hard enough to cause a concussion, refrain from yelling after such, and then, maybe, then, you might have some credibility to call the guy a drama queen.
4th Grade Math Problem # 1
Suzy’s father is a pilot on an airplane and it has 80 empty seats.
80 paid customers are standing in the pre-boarding line.
The airline owner/operator wants to put 4 of it’s employees on the flight.
How many passengers should the airline let on board the airplane?
Hint: 80 - 4 = ?
You refer to the passenger as a “scumbag” apparently based on some reports on a history that may or may not actually be him. Frankly, irrelevant, I think the rational freepers recognize that any one of us could have been in his position of being forced off a plane at a time we knew it was critical we stay on that flight.
“He was refusing to obey lawful directions from law enforcement officers”
The “officers” directions were not lawful - they had no legal authority to demand he leave the plane. Once he boarded, the contractual duty was for United to protect him, not harm him, and the only reason they could demand he deplane was for a violation specifically listed in United’s Contract of Carriage, Rule 21. There was no violation.
“they had him off the plane and he snuck back in”
He was dragged off the plane and apparently unconscious after being tazed... All three “officers” left him alone to get a gurney, he apparently awoke and in a dazed state went back on the plane - yesterday he didn’t even recollect going back on.
“He got what he deserved....”
Really. If the settlement isn’t enough, the lawsuit will result in a very big award. Guaranteed.
Stating a belief in what you think the law should be is no substitute for citing what the law actually says.
STOP PLAYING LAWYER
Not only did I win, but the judge threatened her lawyer with contempt TWICE in her efforts to get me to “act out” in court. Which I didn’t. But she did.
Law is not rocket science. You just have to understand legalese and parse sentences very carefully.
Well, I know this, the continent of Asia definitely thinks Asians should be protected so they are organizing a boycott of United. We’ll see how much that affects things. There are a lot of them, Asians.
A puddle jumper for a thousand bucks would have got them to Louisville long before that flight.
They opted for the 20 million dollar exercise.
Too bad so many people on this website don’t believe in capitalism.
They seem to think that it is OK to use extreme force on their customer instead of just negotiating something fair. No one has the right to bust another persons face up unless it was in self defense. This was clearly NOT the case here.
BTW, they would have gotten a lot more interest if they offered spending money instead of funny money.
Had it been military personnel who needed a seat, I’d have given my seat up for free! Not sure if it was airline personnel... I respect them, I listen and do as instructed, but it would have taken the fate of the lottery to get me off. And if in the chosen four, I’d go... most likely fighting tears but I’d go. I just think he should have gone...
To all the actual and amateur lawyers posting:
* Given the treatment of the GM and Chrysler secured bondholders
* Given sanctuary cities are widespread
* Given illegal immigrants are eligible for in state tuition
* Given a baker has to bake a particular type of cake with a particular message
How can you be comfortable opining on any law? Particularly contract law?
United as an airline stinks. I wish Continental had never agreed to the merger. They pull stunts like this all the time. Once a passenger is seated, they need to move their crew using a different flight, or offer so much money for someone to give up their seat, that the person volunteers. I hope the damage award is in the millions. It should come out of the bonuses of the POS management team.
Evidently if you turn into a screaming mee-mee you automatically win.
It takes this sort of thing for change to happen. One sheep refuses to comply.
I bet it would have cost a lot less to just charter a plane for those “important” crew members.
I am sorry but if I have paid for and am sitting in the seat, it should become my choice whether to give it up or not. I have volunteered before. But, it is always based on my convenience. If I have to be at work the next day, not going to happen. A wedding, nope, not giving it up. Funeral, you get the picture. I have purposely scheduled flights in order to be open to volunteering. Once, on an over booked flight, I gave my seat to a little girl going home. I would have done that one for free. lol
Piss poor planning on the airline’s part does not constitute an emergency on my part. They had other options.
Understood, and the Dao case is going to messy for a few reasons. Publicity, the lawyer wants more, UAL wants less. More than one potential defendant, UAL and the people who removed Dao from the aircraft. The possibility of a counterclaim (UAL lost money on account of Dao's refusal to take his involuntary ejection without being physically removed), and so on.
When the court gets involved, and the amount of money gets big enough, UAL will get tougher.
Dao's lawyer understands this and it touting elements of damage, including emotional distress, reconstructive surgery, etc. It'll be interesting to watch this play out. Dao's claim to millions isn't a slam dunk, by any stretch, even if UAL breached the contract of carriage.
Most people NEVER read the terms and conditions of their ticket and if they did, they'd be shocked to learn how few rights they actually have when flying.
The only place one has fewer rights IIRC is when taking a cruise ship registered in a foreign country. One can get robbed, beaten, raped, etc.. aboard a foreign registered cruise ship and have ZERO legal recourse.
Gee, almost the same amount of rights as one has on United Air Lines! ;-)
You realize that United has long distance flights to Asia and stupid behavior like this effects their ability to get contracts with airports in the region?
Although it has nothing to do with the issue of UA’s actions in this case, the guy’s not a saint. Few among us are.
I would start the offers to settle at 2 or 3 male prostitutes for a 3 day binge and go from there.
So you’re telling me that the crew decided they didn’t like this guy and they were going to beat the crap out of him and he DIN’T DO NUFFIN!
Whatever.
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.
The fact that the flight was not overbooked may seem trivial, or pedantic, but there is very important legal distinction to be made. There may not be a difference in how an airline (typically) responds when it needs additional seats, such as asking for volunteers who wish to give up their seat for a voucher or cash. But there is a legal difference between bumping a passenger in the instance of overselling a flight versus bumping a passenger to give priority to another passenger. Any thoughtful person can see the problem that arises if an airline were allowed to legally remove one fare-paying passenger to allow for another passenger it prefers.
Since the flight was not actually overbooked, but instead only fully booked, with the exact number of passengers as seats available, United Airlines had no legal right to force any passengers to give up their seats to prioritize others. What United did was give preference to their employees over people who had reserved confirmed seats, in violation of 14 CFR 250.2a. Since Dr. Dao was already seated, it was clear that his seat had already been “reserved” and “confirmed” to accommodate him specifically.
A United Airlines spokesperson said that since Dr. Dao refused to give up his seat and leave the plane voluntarily, airline employees “had to” call upon airport security to force him to comply. However, since the flight was not overbooked, United Airlines had no legal right to give his seat to another passenger. In United Airline’s Contract of Service, they list the reasons that a passenger may be refused service, many of which are reasonable, such as “failure to pay” or lacking “proof of identity.” Nowhere in the terms of service does United Airlines claim to have unilateral authority to refuse service to anyone, for any reason (which would be illegal anyway).