United Passenger Dragged Off Overbooked Plane Was A Doctor: Report

[Rolfe]

United Passenger Dragged Off Overbooked Plane Was A Doctor: Report

CHICAGO — Video of police officers dragging a passenger from an overbooked United Airlines flight sparked an uproar Monday on social media, and a spokesman for the airline insisted that employees had no choice but to contact authorities to remove the man.

As the flight waited to depart from Chicago's O'Hare Airport, officers could be seen grabbing the screaming man from a window seat, pulling him across the armrest and dragging him down the aisle by his arms. The airline was trying to make room for four of its employees on the Sunday evening flight to Louisville, Kentucky.

United Airlines Passenger Dragged Off Plane Because It Was Overbooked

United royally botched this one.

 

[Rob_BW]

Yeah, I'm sure it's all in the fine print, but overbooking...

Reminds me of being a private at AIT. Finally get a weekend off, me and a friend hop in a cab and say take us to the mall. Cabbie says okay, and then drives around for a half hour until he finds 4 more fares to fill up his minivan.

 

[InTheLight]

Yes, this was a terrible incident. Why didn't they up the ante another couple hundred dollars? It would have been worth it to avoid this bad PR.

Why didn't they look for a female passenger wearing leggings?

Two girls barred from United flight for wearing leggings
A United Airlines gate agent barred two girls from boarding a flight Sunday morning because the girls were wearing leggings.

Another girl who was wearing gray leggings had to change before she was allowed to board the flight from Denver to Minneapolis, a witness said.

“She’s forcing them to change or put dresses on over leggings or they can’t board,” Shannon Watts, who was at a gate at Denver International Airport, said on Twitter. “Since when does @united police women’s clothing?”

 

[MennoSota]

Yes, this was a terrible incident. Why didn't they up the ante another couple hundred dollars? It would have been worth it to avoid this bad PR.

Why didn't they look for a female passenger wearing leggings?

Two girls barred from United flight for wearing leggings
A United Airlines gate agent barred two girls from boarding a flight Sunday morning because the girls were wearing leggings.

Another girl who was wearing gray leggings had to change before she was allowed to board the flight from Denver to Minneapolis, a witness said.

“She’s forcing them to change or put dresses on over leggings or they can’t board,” Shannon Watts, who was at a gate at Denver International Airport, said on Twitter. “Since when does @united police women’s clothing?”

The leggings is easy to blame the women.
The women were flying on standby tickets from an employee of the airlines. The airlines have a dress policy for all employees when they fly. As a guest passenger you fly under the same dress code that the airlines enforces on its employees. The two women did not follow employee dress code and we're not allowed on the plane. Next time...wear the clothes required by the company dress code.

 

[InTheLight]

The leggings is easy to blame the women.
The women were flying on standby tickets from an employee of the airlines. The airlines have a dress policy for all employees when they fly. As a guest passenger you fly under the same dress code that the airlines enforces on its employees. The two women did not follow employee dress code and we're not allowed on the plane. Next time...wear the clothes required by the company dress code.

I know all that. Doesn't mean United Airlines actions are defensible. The women were not employees of United Airlines.

 

[MennoSota]

I know all that. Doesn't mean United Airlines actions are defensible.

They are in the case of the wrong attire.
As to the overbooking, airlines don't generally bump paying customers to make room for their employees. I wonder if there is more to this story than meets the eye.

 

[Rob_BW]

They are in the case of the wrong attire.
As to the overbooking, airlines don't generally bump paying customers to make room for their employees. I wonder if there is more to this story than meets the eye.

I heard on the radio that Delta's schedule was a mess this morning from bad weather.

What's it looking like in the interior? I've been pretty busy today, haven't checked national weather.

 

[MennoSota]

I heard on the radio that Delta's schedule was a mess this morning from bad weather.

What's it looking like in the interior? I've been pretty busy today, haven't checked national weather.

Me either. No problems in the great white north, however.

 

[Rob_BW]

Me either. No problems in the great white north, however.

Looks like it was the northeast that got hammered this past weekend.

 

[InTheLight]

They are in the case of the wrong attire.

I get that it may be a company policy, but where would these friends of the employee going to sit on the plane? Probably not in the cockpit jump seat. Probably not in the flight attendant area. Most likely in a regular coach seat. So why enforce the dress policy? It's just bad PR.

As to the overbooking, airlines don't generally bump paying customers to make room for their employees. I wonder if there is more to this story than meets the eye.

There's got to be. Why wouldn't the United employees simply get on another flight? Could be they were flight attendants and/or pilots and needed to be on another plane in Louisville. Still, if you are running your airlines that close to the edge...

 

[MennoSota]

I get that it may be a company policy, but where would these friends of the employee going to sit on the plane? Probably not in the cockpit jump seat. Probably not in the flight attendant area. Most likely in a regular coach seat. So why enforce the dress policy? It's just bad PR.



There's got to be. Why wouldn't the United employees simply get on another flight? Could be they were flight attendants and/or pilots and needed to be on another plane in Louisville. Still, if you are running your airlines that close to the edge...

What's bad is that the ladies ignored company policy and thought they were above the rules. They rightfully deserved to be removed from the flight. The airlines were entirely in the right on that matter.
As to the flight in Chicago, it seems wrong to remove paying customers for non-paying employees.

 

[InTheLight]

What's bad is that the ladies ignored company policy and thought they were above the rules.

You have a link stating these women knew the rules when they arrived at the airport and were ignoring the rules?

They rightfully deserved to be removed from the flight.

Yes, according to the rules of United Airlines, they COULD have been removed from the flight. Doesn't mean they SHOULD have been removed.

 

[MennoSota]

You have a link stating these women knew the rules when they arrived at the airport and were ignoring the rules?



Yes, according to the rules of United Airlines, they COULD have been removed from the flight. Doesn't mean they SHOULD have been removed.

It doesn't matter if they knew the rules or not. The police can stop you for speeding even if you don't know what the speed limit is. Those women might want to blame their friend for not informing them of the rules, but it's likely they knew, but didn't follow the rules.

 

[InTheLight]

but it's likely they knew, but didn't follow the rules.

There you go again. You are ascribing motive to a situation you can not know about. It seems more likely to me that they were ignorant of the rules.

Consider what these people must have done in your scenario:
I know it's against the rules to wear leggings on this flight but let's all three wear them and see what happens.


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[InTheLight]

Here's how the Chicago Police wrote up the incident.

Sent from my Motorola Droid Turbo.

 

[MennoSota]

There you go again. You are ascribing motive to a situation you can not know about. It seems more likely to me that they were ignorant of the rules.

Consider what these people must have done in your scenario:
I know it's against the rules to wear leggings on this flight but let's all three wear them and see what happens.


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Funny you mention it. I work with a couple guys who used to work for Northwest Airlines (merged with Delta). They told about two ladies who went to Hawaii on a similar ticket. The ladies did something worse. They wore flip flops and beach gear while trying to board...and they checked in all their luggage. Northwest refused to let them on the plane because they were not dressed according to company regulations. Problem is...all their good clothes were in suitcases stored in the plane. The plane took off without them. They couldn't get another plane ticket for two weeks to fly them off the island. They ended up living at a homeless shelter trying to get back to the mainland.
Moral of the story...follow the rules!!!

 

[InTheLight]

Funny you mention it. I work with a couple guys who used to work for Northwest Airlines (merged with Delta). They told about two ladies who went to Hawaii on a similar ticket. The ladies did something worse. They wore flip flops and beach gear while trying to board...and they checked in all their luggage. Northwest refused to let them on the plane because they were not dressed according to company regulations. Problem is...all their good clothes were in suitcases stored in the plane. The plane took off without them. They couldn't get another plane ticket for two weeks to fly them off the island. They ended up living at a homeless shelter trying to get back to the mainland.
Moral of the story...follow the rules!!!

Sure, if they knew the rules prior to coming to the airport. So far, there is no reason to believe they knew the rules and deliberately violated them.

Sent from my Motorola Droid Turbo.

 

[MennoSota]

Sure, if they knew the rules prior to coming to the airport. So far, there is no reason to believe they knew the rules and deliberately violated them.

Sent from my Motorola Droid Turbo.

There is no reason to think they didn't know the rules.

[emoji41]

 

[InTheLight]

There is no reason to think they didn't know the rules.

I suppose it could have gone down like this.

Delta employee: "You can use my employee tickets but be aware there is a dress code. If you use my tickets you can't wear flip-flops or beach clothing, you've got to wear regular clothes and shoes. They won't let you on the plane otherwise."

Delta employee's friends: "OK, we understand."

So they show up wearing flip-flops and swimsuits. Uh-huh.

 

[MennoSota]

I suppose it could have gone down like this.

Delta employee: "You can use my employee tickets but be aware there is a dress code. If you use my tickets you can't wear flip-flops or beach clothing, you've got to wear regular clothes and shoes. They won't let you on the plane otherwise."

Delta employee's friends: "OK, we understand."

So they show up wearing flip-flops and swimsuits. Uh-huh.

I already shared a story where the women had been informed and they ignored it at their loss. Some people are just self consumed.