TheWorthyEdge
Member
Damn. That's straight fucked.
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United Airlines violently drags a doctor off a plane so employee could take his seat
- Thread starter Korey
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"If there is an excuse for me to NOT provide a high level of customer service, I will find it!"
-bloodydrake
yeah they smacked his head onto the armpit. That's totally different
No flipping way they did everything correctly. There's really only two options here that would have been "right"
1) Ask for volunteers with a cash incentive and keep bumping the incentive/rewards til some one bites or
2) Skip the volunteer incentive altogether and inform the passengers that 4 of them would be chosen at random to deboard and they'd be compensated accordingly.
You can't give people the option to do something and then when they decide not to opt in, you suddenly make it mandatory as a fuck you.
Zoe
Member
It's not that simple. There's a maximum number of hours a crew can work and a minimum number of hours of rest before they can work again. As mentioned earlier in the thread, any kind of travel would ding them on the latter.
First of all, not police officers, just security staff, but nice try at ginning up their bona fides.
Second, kudos to 1 man "forcing" airline staff (4-5 people at least, on most planes) and 3 additional security officers to consider violent force as somehow the only solution to their problem. Not just run the lottery again. Or to just not make the airline's scheduling problems for *another* flight the burden for respectfully paying customers on *this* flight, in the first place.
Yes, he alone chose that.
Listen, I can't offer any more than 800 corporate mickey mouse bucks that you will inevitably wipe your ass with because it's worth more as toilet paper, but what I can do is call in people who will come smash your face into the nearest armrest. That's the United advantage.
Right and all airlines overbook
ClosingADoor
Member
You make it seem like they did that on purpose. While a bad situation, it is not like they deliberately did that. They tried to drag him out of the seat after refusing to leave the plane and he got hurt in the process.
That said, the dragging him out after is completely fucked. They should have helped him up and have him walk out.
bloodydrake
Cool Smoke Luke
So your saying
"I call for the thought police to shut down all opinions I object to.. please I thought this was a safeplace..where was the trigger warning?"
You'll go far Comrade
peteykirch
Member
It's easier than bloodying and dragging a paying customer out.
If you wanted to be fair by the business standard you use the last in first out model a lot of companies use when there is downsizing or lay offs.
Find out who were the last 4 to check in, and they get the boot.
I don't know how early this guy got there, but if he showed up and was waiting for 3 hours for this flight and gets booted I'd understand why he just refused to move.
TromboneTony
Member
You make it sound like this is the last doctor on Earth.
While I don't condone the way he was removed from the plane, overbooking happens. And to those saying "when they found out he was a doctor they should have picked someone else", every other person asked to leave would find a reason they NEED to be on the plane.
Can't have thought police if there isn't any thoughts...
Why wouldn't they be authorized to call security?
bloodydrake
Cool Smoke Luke
actually they apparently were police not just security guards..go figure
Sevenfold
Member
Holy shit. If the airline have put themselves in a position where they have to remove people who have already boarded the aircraft. IT'S ON THEM!
Also everybody saying he was acting like a baby, how do you know his mental state? He might be terrified of flying, terrified of being singled out, of having armed men tower over him? Other passengers said he was disoriented after his return. Could it be the case that he was a bit anyway and no one noticed? Anyway all of that aside. He is a paying customer. What gives them the right to treat anybody that way?! The world is getting nuttier by the day!
The airline response is bizarre, terrible wording that isn't going to do them any favours in court, and seemingly nonplussed about the content of the video. I look forward to the follow up articles.
Miles Quaritch
Member
If United have to cancel a flight because four staff members can't catch a flight to staff it, United should probably look into how their business operates.
Why didn't they have standby staff incase something like this happened? Why should customers bend to their will and he happy to leave a flight because they choose to cut corners on staffing.
You've never heard of an oversold theatre?
Macho Madness
Member
yeah i guess the only option they had was to have the man beat up that was clearly the only option available
peteykirch
Member
For a movie? No I haven't.
As much as i disagree with the airline having to kick people off, you do make a good point. Once security is involved and the airline is asking you to leave, you don't have many options.
The airline did not handle that well and i would say neither did the passenger.
Veritigo_X
Member
Do you get United vouchers for defending them online or something? Goddamn.
TunaMarshmallow
Member
This thread is too funny. Am I on some sort of shadow version of NeoGAF run by the airlines? What is going on?
Let's suppose (for the sake of argument) that the guy didn't have any life-critical stuff going on that absolutely required him to make the flight at that moment. In that case, would it maybe have been best, at least from the standpoint of social etiquette, for him to accept his terrible luck and march off the plane? Yeah, maybe. I guess so?
But why on earth would that be the focus of discussion? Isn't the more interesting thing that airlines now run lotteries to remove ticket holders from flights on the runway when it's in the airline's financial interest to do so?
Let's suppose (for the sake of argument) that the guy didn't have any life-critical stuff going on that absolutely required him to make the flight at that moment. In that case, would it maybe have been best, at least from the standpoint of social etiquette, for him to accept his terrible luck and march off the plane? Yeah, maybe. I guess so?
But why on earth would that be the focus of discussion? Isn't the more interesting thing that airlines now run lotteries to remove ticket holders from flights on the runway when it's in the airline's financial interest to do so?
peteykirch
Member
Hell for $400 they could've booked an uber from Chicago to Louisville for that flight crew that had to be on that flight to work a flight out of Louisville.
Theatres aren't a mode of transportation that people rely on to get from place to place. They also have assigned seating where as theatres often don't.
TangoAlphaLima
Member
If that's United's policy, to only offer $800 and if no one accepts, pick random passengers and forcibly remove them, then that's an effed up policy. So yeah, it's still a United problem.
What? United offered compensation to get volunteers to leave the plane. These were all paying customers. They valued this flight and their inconvenience from staying an additional night at more than the $800 offered by United. Why do you not expect United to increase their offer over the $800 to get volunteers? Why is $800 some magical amount that they can't go over? It's dumb.
But that's not overbooking then. Overbooking is when you sell more seats than you have available. United didn't do that here, they just needed to take seats for crew of another flight from customers.
MultiCore
Member
Sure you can. The people buying tickets on a plane don't suddenly have an inanalienable right to fly on that particular flight, no matter the circumstances.
The 4 people chosen would be "compensated accordingly": with another flight. It's in the terms they agree to when they buy tickets.
Someone being kicked off a plane isn't predicated on them being offered enough money to feel good.
It's not even about that, people are just trying to look smart by saying that the airline was within their rights to refuse this guy a seat.
We know the airline could remove someone, it's just fucked that they did it this way.
peteykirch
Member
I will say around here almost every theatre has assigned seating.
Well you guess wrong then my man. No, that wasn't the only option. But it was the last option after the others were exhausted.
from the OP:
"and threw the passenger against the armrest before dragging him out of the plane."
they did not care that he got (kind of) unconscious and that he was bleeding from his mouth. While it is not known whether they did it on purpose or not - given their overall bevahiour I wouldn't suprised if they actually planned to knock him out.
They also stop selling tickets when sold out.
...
And also let the employees watch movies afterhours (aka taxi analogy).
Calamari41
41 > 38
I like this narrative that he forced United's hand, like he was some fucking criminal and United are the poor victims of his dastardly deeds.
Macho Madness
Member
sounds like a shitty ass airline that deserves to be sued then
Who here disagrees?
Not really.
But the way you phrase things does put this mighty kindly for United ^
Anyway no shit overbooking does happen... but the point was it really shouldn't anymore especially with how 'automated' the airline industry is - and I think professions like flight crews, doctors, and military/emergency personnel should have priority or at least be offered more than $800. What a fuck up and hopefully not a preview of our automated future lol
Goro Majima
Kitty Genovese Member
This is a big thread so I'm sure this was already discussed but this is what it sounds like to me. Sounds like it was a plane that was 100% sold with 100% showing up and no standby passengers were able to board. Usually the "overbooked" part is when you allow for standby passengers.
Like maybe United should have planned it out better to get their flight crew to Louisville in advance instead of them throwing random people off a plane with their own goons?
If you had to throw people off, why not do it by the most recently purchased tickets also instead of random? I feel like you'd have a stronger argument to nullify the last 4 tickets sold since they technically didn't exist.
Okay, point to you. Otherwise not helping your argument though.
Spartancarver
Member
And he's a physician. Our schedules aren't exactly flexible. Fuck United. Never flying with them again.
Apparently it was random chosen by the united software system.
I dunno! You and other's gotta get up in here reminding everyone that United was a-okay and it was actually the doctor who was evil so I legit don't know if someone disagrees.
Skellig Gra
Member
Probably helps explain why it escalated to him getting roughed up so quickly.
In the civilized world they do.
That the flight was full means that was a point where they sold more tickets than were available. It just so happened that the math on people cancelling worked out perfectly. If they didn't overbook to fill cancellations there would be empty seats.
Where did i say the doctor was motherfucking evil? What the fuck are you talking about?
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