magnumpi

Oh dear, most have seen this by now, my question is, will anyone ever book a United AirFlight again ? Or any American Airline

Video captures the argument moments before David Dao dragged off United Airlines flight - National | Globalnews.ca

Shard

Hope your detective work is more reliable than your BE postings! United not American!

magnumpi

Ha ha yeh I know, your fast, I had changed it as I ment to say any American Airline, as they may have put people off the whole industry down there

Crazy shit tho !!! I bet he gets a few 100,000 compensation now

not2old

Millions are at stake for everyone involved

How will this all 'shake down' between Dr David Dao & United?

Dr Dao allegedly has a criminal past, then again he has hired two prominent Chicago lawyers to take his case against United

Dr David Dao Finally Speaks Out About Assault On United Airlines Flight

Late night TV will have fun with this....

United Airlines will start offering seating in 'First class, Business class & fight club class'

Shard

Just seems to be the heavy handed US way of dealing with things. Hope he is well compensated for his trouble.

Almost Canadian

Or, he chose not to leave when asked, leaving them with no alternative but to forcibly remove him, and then cried like a baby when removed.

Perhaps Aviator can explain but, it is my understanding that when asked to leave, if a passenger does not do so, the airline is left with no alternative but to remove, with force, the passenger.

LouisB

Surely there should be a reasonable reason for it.

Requiring seated 'volunteers' to leave due to overbooking does not appear to be a valid reason to me.

Looked like the poor guy was knocked unconscious too.

Imagine if that were your partner, wife or dad or something.

Shard

He was chosen randomly as the airline had overbooked. Hard to believe out of 400 passengers United couldn't have raised the incentive voucher to a level where someone would bite. This guy was a doctor and ostensibly had a better reason (providing healthcare) than some other would have to fly. Heavy handed.

not2old

Wonder how many BE'rs would just say 'no problem' or stand firm with a'why me' after I've checked in, gone through the gate & now you are bumping me'?

Why did he get bumped?

Could it be that Dr Dao & other passengers seated on the aircraft had (low pecking order) basic economy tickets costing say a couple hundred dollars.

United Fare Class Chart

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...fareClass.aspx

The person at check in who has not yet gone through the process paid a higher fare of starts whinging that they have a confirmed ticket class that guarantees them a seat.

The airline looks through all the passenger list to see who has the lowest class fare & starts bumping them for those that have more 'right' to a seat

Almost Canadian

Maybe you are both right. I simply believe that there is more to this than meets the eye.

Why require someone to drag you out? Why not simply walk out yourself?

BristolUK

The report I read suggested some sort of balance according to price of ticket so that nobody gained any sort of privilege.

not2old

it's likely in the following United Airlines 'contract of carriage'

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/contract.aspx

Additional terms

"If you have purchased a restricted ticket, depending on the rules applicable to the fare paid, one or more restrictions including, but not limited to one or more of the following, may apply to your travel: (1) the ticket may not be refundable but can be exchanged for a fee for another restricted fare ticket meeting all the rules/restrictions of the original ticket (including the payment of any difference in fares); (2) a fee may apply for changing/canceling reservations; or (3) travel may be restricted to specific flights and/or times and minimum and/or maximum stay may be required.

Each United Carrier reserves the right to (1) refuse carriage to any person who has acquired a ticket in violation of any United Carriers’ tariffs, rules or regulations, or in violation of any applicable national, federal, state, or local law order, regulation or ordinance, and (2) change or modify any of its conditions of contract with or without notice to ticketed passengers".

CDNReturner

It isn't just the US. A friend of Libby Znaimer from Libby Znaimer Fights Back on AM 740 was kicked off of an Air Canada flight the weekend before last, because they needed her seat (she was a senior). The friend was then unable to get her connecting flight (to where I forget) because it took them 4 hours to find her suitcase. She was booked (and had fully paid for) a cruise to the Galagopos Islands with National Geographic (her flight was booked thru them too). There was an update yesterday that, after her complaint, she has so far only been offered $800. She was treated very badly by the lady at the boarding desk (yes, she got that far).

Also, last week in the local Guelph paper, there was a letter to the editor from a British couple who have lived in Canada for over 40 years, I think, and they were refused travel back from Florida, saying something about inadequate paperwork. I can't remember if it was Air Canada or an american airline. They finally went to Westjet who said their paperwork was just fine and they had to come back via Vancouver. I'm sure this was all at great expense. I believe they were travelling on EU passports.

So beware!!!

magnumpi

The CBC news last night reported that 4 United Air personnel needed the seats so they politely asked people to give up seats, no one did so 3 were selected plus the doctor #4. But he stated that he had to be at work at his doctors office 8am the next morning. So they dragged him off.

dave_j

The issue arose in the first instance because the airline sold/required more seats than existed in the aircraft.
They apparently do this as common practice because they want to fill their seats and realise that some passengers will fail to show on a predictable statistical basis and this is not illegal. Unfortunately probability is just that, not precise.
Airlines apparently have arrangements to deal with instances when this happens. They offer financial compensation and this is enshrined in law and in order to cover themselves they also declare in the contract that they may require the buyer to surrender the seat on demand.
On the face of it, Dr Dao behaved unreasonably in refusing to leave the aircraft since by buying the ticket he had agreed that he would surrender his seat if asked. So how do you remove a passenger who refuses to give up his/her seat?
There has been an argument made that United was wrong in that they failed to offer sufficient reward to entice volunteering. I think that this is a red herring.
Dr Dao would not leave vountarily as he had agreed to and I feel it was quite right to use reasonable force to make him leave. An aircraft cabin is cramped, the seats are narrow and it's quite difficult to get out of some even when you are not being manhandled. Many surfaces are hard and he might have expected to have struck some surfaces in being forced to leave.
Unlike a great many who feel sympathy for the man, I tend to think he brought it on himself. Being a doctor lent him no special priviledge and this is also irrelevent.