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United Airlines violently drags a doctor off a plane so employee could take his seat

Why do you fly United?

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S

sakuori

Member
Geez United.

Merriam-Webster should throw a book in their faces and the only contents in it is the definition of volunteer... and related words.
 
Chittagong

Chittagong

Gold Member
KOP2yM3.jpg
 
M

Machina

Banned
The moment blood was drawn was when this became an unsalvageable PR nightmare for United. It seems they didn't realize that the 9/11 sympathy dried up a long time ago.
 
H

hydrophilic attack

Member
the one time i flew with united they managed to lose both of my checked bags

the first one was gone at the airport where i was doing a transit, and the second one was gone when i landed at my final destination
 
N

Noisepurge

Member
What a terrible airline, nowadays i straight up refuse flying with them as my company by default always goes for the cheap seats and it's often United.

Flying across the atlantic, and not getting any food as they just say "i'm sorry, but we ran out of food! would you like some salty crackers?" But again, maybe those cases were for the best as the food they serve is also the lowest tier :D
 
KarneeKarnay

KarneeKarnay

Member
For some reason my brain keeps thinking terrible airline = terrible anime. Then it got e thinking...

United are stand users and used their stand to force the dr off the plane!

...I'm going to go sit in the corner.
 
NekoFever

NekoFever

Member
Jam_Sandwich said:
Been all over UK news places this morning.

When mentioned it was because they needed to get staff to somewhere else the trend from the Breakfast Presenters were

"That's Uniteds problem not mine or another paying customers"
Click to expand...

That was my attitude when I saw it on the news this morning. Sorry, but the customer paid for that seat and has occupied it, so find another way.

I mean, you're a multinational corporation. If it's that important that you get your staff to Louisville, fucking charter a jet and do a better job of scheduling next time.
 
A

Amalthea

Banned
Imagine this was a thing in other service sectors: "So you have reserved a table at our restaurant and have already paid? Well bad luck, our waiters have lunch break now and want to eat here! Please leave the table in exchange for a voucher or we'll beat the crap outta you!"
 
B

BladeoftheImmortal

Member
Menchi said:
Still, the physical removal seemed very over the top but if he's refusing it's no doubt going to have to come to some physical removal. I mean, you get physically chucked out of any private business if you refuse to leave.
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You guys would have been great during the civil rights movement.
 
L

Lkr

Member
Seeing people defend United on certain areas of the internet is interesting. Of course most of them are over a certain age, but someone literally said the police weren't in the wrong they were just following orders...like someone seriously typed that and didn't stop and delete it due to realizing the conundrum of our society if "the police aren't in the wrong for following orders."
 
R

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
gamma said:
Sure, but why aren't you angry at the people who beat him instead? You think the CEO should rot in prison for being an ass?
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Yes, yes I do. Or at least he should be sued for a LOT of money, and lose. He didn't hit the guy, but he told his employees that they did the right thing. He told his employees that calling security on a guy who did absolutely nothing was OK, and that him being beaten to a pulp (figuratively speaking) is acceptable. To the CEO's eyes, the doctor was guilty, and he never apologized nor admitted fault. That's not being an ass, that's condoning and encouraging assault.

And why do you think that I'm not angry at the other employees and security involved in this crime? I am, very much indeed.
 
A

azyless

Member
I'm glad I never take the plane since apparently I can't even be 100% sure that the seat I pay for won't be shared by 3 other people or they'll suddenly decide they want their employees there and we'll have to decide who gets the seat Fight Club-style.
 
M

Mama Robotnik

Member
Obviously this is a horrible story, and United Airlines come across as Grade A Bastards. I hope the victim is okay.

Its always interesting to see how this goes down on social media, particularly with groups of people who work in the field. There's a large forum of cabin crew employees here, and while most of them are rightly condemning the actions of the airline, some are accusing the passenger of being responsible as he is committing a felony, and he should be punished accordingly. Others keep pleading "stop betraying your careers" and "stop throwing United under a bus!"

It takes a certain kind of mind to watch the video, and see that poor man as being the one in the wrong.
 
R

rickyson1

Member
Linkstrikesback said:
Why not? It's the kind of thing that would take a couple minutes to program at most and this won't be the first time they had to do this.

I'm all for sensible sceptism, but this is such an easy thing to implement (select a seat number from a list at random) that I don't see why it wouldn't be a thing that exists.
Click to expand...

could literally just go to random.org or something and plug it into a random number generator even
 
L

Lkr

Member
Mama Robotnik said:
Obviously this is a horrible story, and United Airlines come across as Grade A Bastards. I hope the victim is okay.

Its always interesting to see how this goes down on social media, particularly with groups of people who work in the field. There's a large forum of cabin crew employees here, and while most of them are rightly condemning the actions of the airline, some are accusing the passenger of being responsible as he is committing a felony, and he should be punished accordingly. Others keep pleading "stop betraying your careers" and "stop throwing United under a bus!"

It takes a certain kind of mind to watch the video, and see that poor man as being the one in the wrong.
Click to expand...
I think a lot of it comes from the fact that the crew of flights are severely overworked and undercompensated for the toll flying hundreds or thousands of miles a day has on them. Going out of town all the time for work, being away from their families, etc is all gonna go down the drain when they get laid off after united gets fucked by this incident.
So if you get in their heads you can see the real problem: US work culture is one where we are told our fellow man doesn't deserve any job (for example we are taught to belittle fast food employees as doing nothing important, but they're the ones running a multinational, multi billion dollar company) and everyone/thing is expendable for the CEO to get his multibillion bonuses every year.
 
R

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
Mama Robotnik said:
Obviously this is a horrible story, and United Airlines come across as Grade A Bastards. I hope the victim is okay.

Its always interesting to see how this goes down on social media, particularly with groups of people who work in the field. There's a large forum of cabin crew employees here, and while most of them are rightly condemning the actions of the airline, some are accusing the passenger of being responsible as he is committing a felony, and he should be punished accordingly. Others keep pleading "stop betraying your careers" and "stop throwing United under a bus!"

It takes a certain kind of mind to watch the video, and see that poor man as being the one in the wrong.
Click to expand...
We had people defending United in this thread. Nothing surprises me anymore.
 
M

Mama Robotnik

Member
Lkr said:
I think a lot of it comes from the fact that the crew of flights are severely overworked and undercompensated for the toll flying hundreds or thousands of miles a day has on them. Going out of town all the time for work, being away from their families, etc is all gonna go down the drain when they get laid off after united gets fucked by this incident.
So if you get in their heads you can see the real problem: US work culture is one where we are told our fellow man doesn't deserve any job (for example we are taught to belittle fast food employees as doing nothing important, but they're the ones running a multinational, multi billion dollar company) and everyone/thing is expendable for the CEO to get his multibillion bonuses every year.
Click to expand...

I do empathise with employees who had nothing to do with this - it isn't fair if stupid/greedy management policies cause them to be laid off for something that they had no involvement in.

Still, some of the comments from that group...:

He was a security threat! What if he wouldn't have listed to the flight attendants in the air? Cmon people, we are all about safety in this industry. I don't condone how the police were physically violent with him and injuring him, but I wouldn't want him on my flight either. Plus, he busted up his lip and nose a bit. Of course it's gonna look like a lot of blood even if there wasn't much damage. Another thing, something seemed off about him when he started shouting "just kill me" or "I need to go home". 3 other passengers got off without having to be forcibly removed like he was. He just chose to defy the orders from authorizes and act like a child
Click to expand...

Now everyones tryin to show this guy dragged out a victim...do u realise he must hv created some mischief to be treated so...
Click to expand...

Shame to criticize your own industry.. "Flying in the United States (and for the most part the rest of the world) is a PRIVILEGE NOT A RIGHT
Click to expand...

This man escalated it to a ridiculous level of embarrassment. Why let it get to that stage. Just get your stuff and leave
Click to expand...

I find it sad that for a Facebook page dedicated to crew, so many of you are so willing to throw United under the bus
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Had he followed Federal Air Regulations regarding directives from airline personnel, all of it could have been avoided.
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show so little empathy to the victim!
 
M

Mama Robotnik

Member
From PR Week

The Disastrous Response that Made Things Worse - UK PR Experts lay into United Airlines and its Precarious CEO

Interesting responses from the PR industry.

PR professionals have condemned United Airlines and its CEO for having "gotten everything wrong" and brought about "one of the most vitriolic online reactions to a communications crisis ever" in its response to news of a passenger being violently dragged off one of its planes.
Click to expand...

Francis Ingham, director-general of the PRCA, said: "This is a prime example of an organisation's response making the situation worse. United's belligerent defence, and frankly crazy use of language, has done the unthinkable - made a terrible situation even worse.

"I imagine that no PR person had a hand in the drafting of the CEO's comments - it will either have been him directly, on some misplaced adrenalin high, or it will have been United's lawyers. Either way, the impact on United's reputation will long-lasting, deep, and mightily expensive."
Click to expand...
 
B

boneyjangles

Member
Y2Kev said:
I don't understand why the amount of the incentive doesn't just keep going up. No takers at 800? How about $2,000 dollars worth of airline miles. No one at $2,000? $2,500. Eventually SOMEONE will take it.
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I think because this happens every day hundreds of times worldwide. If word got out that all you had to do was refuse and refuse in order to get multiple times your initially offered compensation, it's a new normal.
 
M

mid83

Member
boneyjangles said:
I think because this happens every day hundreds of times worldwide. If word got out that all you had to do was refuse and refuse in order to get multiple times your initially offered compensation, it's a new normal.
Click to expand...

Yeah I saw a chart somewhere that showed how many people were bumped off a flight in Q4 2016, and what percent were voluntary vs involuntary. The huge US carriers had each had between 10,000-20,000 total people bumped. Thats just in 3 months. So it happens quite often.
 
B

boneyjangles

Member
The alternative is he isn't forcibly removed from the flight after refusing to be bumped.

The airline capitulates and in light of only 3 of their 4 staff members getting to the destination. That flight they were due to work on is then cancelled due to staff shortage for safety reasons. Hundreds of people inconvenienced.

That's the problem in a nutshell. Cancelling one persons flight versus hundreds of peoples flights at the destination potentially, Sort of like a 'lite' version of the ethical "trolley problem" in a way.

But thinking about this makes me a 'psychopath', or 'absolute piece of shit despicable scum of the earth human being' according to some people on this thread.
 
M

Mindwipe

Member
boneyjangles said:
I think because this happens every day hundreds of times worldwide. If word got out that all you had to do was refuse and refuse in order to get multiple times your initially offered compensation, it's a new normal.
Click to expand...

Customers are competing against all the other passengers on the flight. It's always going to depend on what someone on the plane is willing to take, and the answer is probably that somebody will *always* take about four times their hotel cost.
 
S

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
Mama Robotnik said:
Obviously this is a horrible story, and United Airlines come across as Grade A Bastards. I hope the victim is okay.

Its always interesting to see how this goes down on social media, particularly with groups of people who work in the field. There's a large forum of cabin crew employees here, and while most of them are rightly condemning the actions of the airline, some are accusing the passenger of being responsible as he is committing a felony, and he should be punished accordingly. Others keep pleading "stop betraying your careers" and "stop throwing United under a bus!"

It takes a certain kind of mind to watch the video, and see that poor man as being the one in the wrong.
Click to expand...

Had a friend on facebook say the same thing. Stop making United as a Villain! They are doing us a service and he didn't read the ToS!

boneyjangles said:
I think because this happens every day hundreds of times worldwide. If word got out that all you had to do was refuse and refuse in order to get multiple times your initially offered compensation, it's a new normal.
Click to expand...

You know there is a very easy solution to that. Stop overbooking! It's United's fault, not mine.

And as I mentioned earlier in the thread, United is the highest in the world with .2% being bumped. They can afford to pay out more, if they are getting additional fares for the other 99.8%

So either two things, Stop overbooking, overbook less, or pay out more when it happens.
 
I

iapetus

Scary Euro Man
boneyjangles said:
I think because this happens every day hundreds of times worldwide. If word got out that all you had to do was refuse and refuse in order to get multiple times your initially offered compensation, it's a new normal.
Click to expand...

That's fine - it happens because the airlines choose to let it happen, because they make more money that way. If that works out more expensive than not overbooking the plane, I have a simple solution; don't overbook the plane.
 
D

darkhunger

Member
boneyjangles said:
I think because this happens every day hundreds of times worldwide. If word got out that all you had to do was refuse and refuse in order to get multiple times your initially offered compensation, it's a new normal.
Click to expand...
It's still a bidding process, so let it go as high as the customers are willing to without losing out on that money.

boneyjangles said:
The alternative is he isn't forcibly removed from the flight after refusing to be bumped.

The airline capitulates and in light of only 3 of their 4 staff members getting to the destination. That flight they were due to work on is then cancelled due to staff shortage for safety reasons. Hundreds of people inconvenienced.

That's the problem in a nutshell. Cancelling one persons flight versus hundreds of peoples flights at the destination potentially, Sort of like a 'lite' version of the ethical "trolley problem" in a way.

But thinking about this makes me a 'psychopath', or 'absolute piece of shit despicable scum of the earth human being' according to some people on this thread.
Click to expand...
It should NEVER have gotten to that point in the first place, and as a service provider it should have emphasized service first. This is nobody's fault but United's.
 
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