United overbooked a flight so they dragged a passenger off the plane

[Geeky]

What they did is actually legal. Once on board a plane, a passenger loses certain rights, which is part of the Federal aviation laws and regulations. There's also the "conditions of carriage", which is in the fine print, and is something that is overlooked by majority of the public. Those conditions don't guarantee you get a seat on the specific flight you purchased the tickets for.

Any source on that?

[Akka]

If the guy would have complied then they wouldn't have to drag him off the plane. Yeah it sucks and was definitely the airline's fault but when you behave like a toddler you're going to be treated like a toddler.

What other options are there than remove people that there aren't any seats for?

While it sucks for that guy he should just have left on his own, anything that happened to him is his own fault.

Just because the person is a doctor doesn't give him special privileges.

With the said it sucks what the airline industry does to it's customers each and every day.

I'm just going to sit wherever I want next time and refuse to comply. Then cry foul and threaten to sue when I'm forcibly removed. It always amazes me how "muh rights" only apply to idiots who misbehave. No one has the right to refuse to deboard a plane when told to.

Yeah, because the person who books a flight and has urgent business has some moral obligation to cancel all his plans when the company fucks up ?
The company is the one validating the deal, it's on them if there is a problem, not on the buyer.

Are you all for real or is it some sort of club for who can make the most stupid argument online ? Or some sort of Bizarro World congress ?
Or more probably just a bunch of tools who try to look cool online.

[ovm33]

The practice of overbooking is pretty shitty. It causes cases like this which are just PR nightmares. The airline should have just kept upping the ante until someone agreed to take a later flight.

That being said; the Doctor is an entitled piece of shit. He's no more important than anyone else on that plane. This is a nation of equals. His number came up and he rolled snake eyes. Tough shit.

He's damn lucky he's not in Federal prison right now for causing a disturbance on a plane. Further; he is also lucky he didn't get his ass tuned up behind closed doors for throwing a temper tantrum like a toddler. Those Air Marshals, or Airport Police, or whatever, deserve a medal for not beating the ever loving snot out of his bitch ass.

(And no... bumping your head while actively resisting an Air Marshall is not grounds to sue.)

[Deleted]

Which is bullshit. Who cares if there is an empty seat or not. The empty seats were already paid for whether someone sits in them or not. Plane tickets are nonrefundable. Its pure greed to book more people than you have seats for, hoping people dont show up so you can sell a seat twice.

Oh, I fully agree with you there. It is nothing but greed and speculating on the possibility to sell a seat twice. Like someone said, it's like gambling with money that you don't have and hoping that you get lucky and win.
It shouldn't be legal and grounds for lawsuits.

But IF they do it, they at least should be obliged to offer people increasing compensations until someone agrees to get rebooked. Not just throw them off because of something that wasn't their fault.

[Akka]

I am aware of that and consider it ridiculous. In the end a plane ticket is simply a contract of carriage from point A to point B at the mutually agreed time. Contracts on terms of airline tickets would be flat out illegal in almost all other cases (ie a contract that one side can void when it wants with almost no consequences)

At the very least, airlines should be forced to not only offer compensation but pay any damages incurred.

Notice that countless EULA are simply illegal (that is, they contain illegal clauses which are considered non-existent in the eyes of the law), and are simply counting on people not knowing said laws and believing the EULA.
I don't know the laws of the USA, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were such a case here.

[shrunken]

The pilot gave the guy a legal order to exit the aircraft (which is his right and duty). In a less entitled world, the guy might have heeded that.

The airline's at fault for the overbooking, the doctor is at fault for the physical state he ended up in after resisting security or Air Marshals (unclear who actually removed him from the plane). The pilot & the people doing the dragging ultimately did their job with unfortunate consequences for someone who wasn't ready to face them.

[alexkeren]

They should lobby to limit or outright deny refunds very close to the flight date instead.

Hmmm, you must not travel ever. Because your cheapest rates are non refundable.

[IIamaKing]

Except he made the argument that his PATIENTS were the one's who had needs. Not him.

That is, at the time, an unprovable claim. It comes down to that man, his patients across the country have no bearing on the situation.

[GreenJesus]

Also what I just posted above but what you quoted basically says we can change whatever we want and you agree to this by buying a ticket.

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They offered him 800.


If involuntarily 'bumped' from your flight in the US
If substitute flight arrives at the destination Compensation level
Within one hour of your scheduled arrival time No compensation
Between:
one and two hours (domestic)
one and four hours (international)
of your scheduled arrival time. Two times the value of your one-way fare, capped at $650
More than:
two hours (domestic)
four hours (international)
later than your scheduled arrival time. Four times the value of your one-way fare, capped at $1300

Problem is, if he is a surgeon and has surgery that day he is missing out on a lot more than 800...

[IIamaKing]

This isn't the airlines fault. There are laws and customary practices that govern when and why a customer can be removed from a plane. Overbooking is one of them.

That said, the how is partly on the shoulder's of the airline, but almost squarely on the airport police. If I was this guy, I would sue for assault. They have no legal right to put their hands on him if he is not in the commission of a crime. If they were arresting him, they should have read him his rights and done so. Then they have the legal right to put him in cuffs, though I don't know what law he would have been breaking.

This is an instance of those in the public trust under the pressure of corporate influence. It is despicable and I hope those involved get their day in court. I also hope that the man learned that he isn't owed that flight, being a private business, and he can be removed at any time without cause.

FFS, why do people have to be so fucking mean to each other all the time?

You are required by federal law to comply with all directions given to you by airline staff. Its part of the preflight announcements. SO yes, they DO have the right, as the man failed to comply with federal law.

[lockedout]

No, its relevant. All of it. If you are going to claim they are customers, whether they paid is important and in what order they (the crew, and the man) bought the tickets. (If they did paid)

It's irrelevant because the company holds it's employees as a priority over non employees. So it doesn't matter whether they paid or in what order.

[RaoBurning]

The practice of overbooking is pretty shitty. It causes cases like this which are just PR nightmares. The airline should have just kept upping the ante until someone agreed to take a later flight.

That being said; the Doctor is an entitled piece of shit. He's no more important than anyone else on that plane. This is a nation of equals. His number came up and he rolled snake eyes. Tough shit.

He's damn lucky he's not in Federal prison right now for causing a disturbance on a plane. Further; he is also lucky he didn't get his ass tuned up behind closed doors for throwing a temper tantrum like a toddler. Those Air Marshals, or Airport Police, or whatever, deserve a medal for not beating the ever loving snot out of his bitch ass.

(And no... bumping your head while actively resisting an Air Marshall is not grounds to sue.)

The doctor is objectively more important that most of the other people on the plane; unless they're all neurosurgeons and he's a GP or something. Or, at the very least, his schedule is likely far more constrained with, quite possibly, lives riding on him being where he needs to be when he needs to be there.

Always nice when we give cops around of applause for not committing police brutality though, so kudos I guess.

[lockedout]

Yeah, that's not at all what happened here.
The four staff members were headed to another city as passengers; they weren't working.

Yet they STILL take priority.

[Radaney]

He will likely win millions. A lot of millions. More than your average millions.

[Spectral]

What would you do if you had to be somewhere and you were chosen to be removed from the flight?

Deal with reality and find another flight. It sucks that you can't make it, but that's life.

How in the hell with computers today, do you overbook a flight? I see it happen all the time.

Many flights are overbooked - this isn't a mistake, it's working as intended. People miss flights for all sorts of reasons, so if you want full flights (and you do), they have to overbook a bit. Usually this is resolved via paying people to take later times. Occasionally it gets ugly, I guess.

[Shaede]

LOL I can't believe there's actually assholes who are taking the airlines side.

[Dadwen]

https://www.merriam-webster.com/news...teers-20170410

ok this gave me a laugh....

[Spectral]

LOL I can't believe there's actually assholes who are taking the airlines side.

I think the people taking the airline's side are probably the people that actually fly with regularity and understand how this system works. Occasionally the outcome sucks for an individual, but on the whole the system basically makes sense and allows us to be able to get all over the world for pretty trivial costs.

I do empathize with someone that gets screwed, but shit happens, you gotta just follow instructions, take the check that's offered, and move on. Oh well.

[zenkai]

Deal with reality and find another flight. It sucks that you can't make it, but that's life.

Many flights are overbooked - this isn't a mistake, it's working as intended. People miss flights for all sorts of reasons, so if you want full flights (and you do), they have to overbook a bit. Usually this is resolved via paying people to take later times. Occasionally it gets ugly, I guess.

When you have somewhere to be and they kick you off because they overbooked it, I hope you take it with a smile.

[IIamaKing]

No, the issue at hand is the practice of overbooking, which caused this entire issue in the first place.

No other industry allows for such a practice, there's zero reason for it to exist.

That's just incorrect. But with all the feeling based arguments in this thread I wont bother trying to explain AGAIN what has been explained quite a few times.

- - - Updated - - -

The doctor is objectively more important that most of the other people on the plane; unless they're all neurosurgeons and he's a GP or something. Or, at the very least, his schedule is likely far more constrained with, quite possibly, lives riding on him being where he needs to be when he needs to be there.

Always nice when we give cops around of applause for not committing police brutality though, so kudos I guess.

According to his CLAIM that patients were waiting, for all the staff knows he is a whiny bitch who doesn't want to miss his Tee Time. I NEVER take a persons word as gold in a circumstance like this.( a person making up reasons why THEY special and the rules shouldn't apply to them)