BD: eye witnesses are saying he was dragged off, limply, because he was injured. At that point he may not have been capable of walking off the plane himself.
Most would not DRAG an incapacitated person–they would generally have removed the person so the person wasn’t incapacitated to begin, if said person HAD to be removed.
I see an SNL skit coming soon: “Fly the FU skies”
I once arrived in San Francisco after midnight after a very long ordeal of missed connections, rescheduled flights. being forced to sit in a middle seat between two chain smokers for 5 hours, etc to find that my “guaranteed” reservation at a boutique hotel was not being honored because they were overbooked. They sent me to a fleabag a few blocks away with one of their bellhops. I was literally afraid to sleep there. If I had not been in a stupor of total exhaustion and due to start teaching a class at 7AM I might have made a stink, to what end I do not know.
Another time, I arrived in Chicago only to find that my reserved rental car was not available because there had been a severe cold snap and they had rented all cars on hand, including the reserved ones, to locals whose cars would not start.
One wonders whether reservations, even “guaranteed” ones, are EVER honored, when push comes to shove.
^A similar situation happened at the Detroit Marriott a few weeks ago (we stayed there last week and heard the story). There was a widespread power outage due to bad weather. The hotel gave rooms to locals that had been reserved for out-of-towners! People were really ripped when they got to the hotel and were told they couldn’t stay there. Not sure if the hotel offered any compensation or not.
CNN is showing a video of the passenger returning to the plane after he was dragged off and injured. What is really stunning to me is the reaction of the passengers. He runs to the very back of the plane and seems to be clinging to the curtain in the back galley. There is blood literally all over his face and he is incoherent. They all just sit there stone faced looking forward – no one even attempts to help him. One woman appears to be flipping through a magazine.
Finally an arm appears on the video and hands him a napkin to wipe his face.
Good lord to think this CEO is making millions. His second memo was worse than the first!
Basically through mergers there are only 3 major airlines and they treat their customers like crap. United turned a customer service issue into a police issue. The police should take care of unruly passengers not be available to enforce United’s corporate greed.
Th passenger should also sue the officers because their response was over the top.
As if that wasn’t enough Chicago PD decided to weigh in, and they weren’t involved. Don’t they have enough to worry about in their jurisdiction?
I know a young lady who works on the tarmac for Southwest Airlines. She posted a new “motto” on her Facebook page - “Southwest Airlines. We beat the competition. Not you.”
How did he get back on the plane after 3 cops forcibly removed him?
@MaineLonghorn ouch. That was our biggest power outage in history. I wonder if they were giving them to senior citizens and others who, for medical reasons, needed power and heat.
Not excusing it- just wondering. Some people were out for way over a week in freezing conditions.
Any way you slice and dice it it was handled abysmally! United should be ashamed and embarrassed if this is their way of doing business. I have 2 flights coming up shortly and I’m so glad not one is with United. I would be caught between a rock and a hard place to fly with them right now.
This is an interesting article
http://lawnewz.com/uncategorized/battered-passenger-should-definitely-sue-why-united-could-be-in-deep-legal-trouble/
@suzyQ7 the linked article says he was escorted back on the plane which I thought was really odd.
Perhaps to get his belongings? I think he was dragged off with only his cell phone in his hand.
They drag him off, then let him back all bloody. Youd think they would get his bag for him. Crazy.
Poorly handled by United. They should have upped the buyout amount.
As I understand it the boarding process doesn’t end when you sit in your seat. It ends when the door of the plane closes and the plane pushes back.
So you can get IDB’ed even after you have taken your seat.
Not to excuse United’s behavior, they pretty much could not have handled this any worse. I hope he does sue and win some money. It would be nice to see a crappy airline be accountable for once.
I don’t know if anyone has posted this yet. FYI - you don’t ever have to accept their crappy vouchers. If you are involuntarily bumped, you are entitled to money. Federal law is federal law. They will talk a blue streak and try to convince you otherwise, but that is why they ask for “volunteers” to take their vouchers.
https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/fly-rights
There a lot more. The way things are going these days, it’s worth printing out your rights and brining it with you when you travel. Don’t rely on spotty airport wifi to allow you to go online and look it up at the time!
Yes as long as the plane is still at the gate anyone seated can still get IDB’d. Then apparently his refusal to heed the direction of the flight crew and de-board gave them the legal authority to have security remove him.
^ @DonnaL in #155 covers this quite convincingly:
Here’s what I read in an article entitled “Can They Really Just Yank You Off an Airplane” in Popular Mechanics:
I don’t have a lot of sympathy for United needing to move a crew. Their lack of planning (and appropriate staffing) does not constitute an emergency for the people who had already boarded that flight.
Also, someone said way at the start of this thread that all airlines overbook and that “they have to”. No --they don’t. Selling each seat once means they still get the money. Only greed makes them sell the same seat twice.
Delta had a lousy week last week, but they were compensating up to $1,350 a seat. There are carrots and sticks. Delta used a carrot; United used a stick.