I think that both the passenger and United acted inappropriately in this case. The Dr. was being a knob, but holy shit has United handled this the wrong way from the beginning. They only offered $800 as compensation before "computer selecting" a passenger to be kicked off, when they are legally obligated to provide 4x the ticket price capped at $1,400. They could have offered more cash, but decided to save a few bucks and only make it $800 before setting up the confrontation. Then the Chicago Aviation Cops REALLY fucked up, especially with their official statement of "he fell" when there are a ton of videos showing how they brutally smacked him around and dragged him out. It's like they're old-school Chicago cops that have totally forgotten about technology being everywhere. I feel that United is the biggest fuck-up and have no problem with the hate that's being directed towards them. For years airlines have been fucking over their "customers" and justifying their shitty and bullying behaviour in the name of security, so I hope they burn in hell and all airlines get a solid takeaway from this.
They may have acted within the law, but certainly not within the best interest of the customer or in an ethical way. The passenger seems pretty nuts, but it doesnt matter. Perception is reality, and right now United is losing the perception battle. Their market value is already down nearly $1 billion.
Outside of the current incident, if you don't want people to judge you for horrible behavior, don't do said horrible behaviors. Should it be used against him by the public in general in regards to this incident? Depends on the full story of the incident I suppose. As legitimate as his initial anger was, did he make bad enough decisions to warrant his removal? The charges suggest he has a history of poor decision making. The first hand accounts are pretty vague in regards to his behavior. As bad as being bumped is, we live in a society where you can't flip the fuck out in an airplane without consequence.
I think thats just cause its so closely after the leggings fiasco from a couple of weeks ago that people lost their shit over even though it turns out it wasn't a big deal. The PR nonsense after the fact is whats looking horrible for them. I'm a high mileage United flier, but even I can admit that they messed stuff up here. I can see their side in terms of the employees. Risking further disruptions of service down the line was the primary concern, not some cursory lack of care for their customers. What I get annoyed with is the SJW fuckwits who scream about not giving "insert offending airline" another cent. Look through your social media for a week and guarantee you find instances of people being screwed by American, Delta, even venerated Southwest. Thats air travel, its got a lot of shitty aspects. Two other points. First, im not saying Dr Dao's history of scumbag behavior justifies him getting roughed up; however, it is an interesting counter to "an innocent elderly doctor was abused" thats been leading most of the stories. Secondly, I also find it rich that all these passengers were shocked, horrified, clutching their pearls...but nobody would give up their seat for this doctor to get home to whatever medical duties he was claiming. "I CANT BELIEVE THEY FORCED HIM OFF THE PLANE, HES A DOCTOR!...oh no, I have to get back home, I couldn't be bothered to offer my seat, but I made sure I posted video". There was a flight to Louisville something like 2 hours later with seats.
Hey, 30 seconds of video of the cops looking like they abused the dude is being thrown around the internet as complete facts without any context or full story, why not parse out stuff off the internet for that dude, too?
This is what annoys me too. The whole thing just reeks of "Looky looky cows, here's something to get outraged about and forget about within a week!" Come next Monday nobody is going to give a fuck about this. I'm also not in favor of huge settlements with these sorts of things, although I'm sure he'll get one. I'm not saying the cops/United didn't screw up, but being punched/inconvenienced doesn't entitle you to some huge 6 or 7 figure payout. I don't get why no one wanted give up their seats then. I can wait 2 hours for $800.
Everything I've read stated the passengers would have to stay in Chicago overnight with a hotel voucher.
I'll be glad when all these boycotters let me have an easier time getting tickets. I also would love to be in a position to shop for plane tickets based on my moral high-ground instead of whichever one is cheapest. But I would be stupid to pay twice as much to fly somewhere because some belligerent guy got his bell rung and I feel the need to make a statement about it. I'd be willing to bet money that the assholes who are swearing that they will never fly United again will forget all about this when they have to travel next and United is a few hundred dollars cheaper.
I still hate United. The cops could've done a better job. But, for somebody who absolutely had to be home on Sunday night and couldn't possibly rearrange his plans, it seems odd that he is still at the hospital on Tuesday with what looked like a face laceration, and has had time to round up a couple attorneys. And, I appreciate that they "want the world to know," but I don't think most of the world gives a shit.
Also find it smirkable that a doctor, when asked about injuries he suffered, told them "everything"...everything was injured.
As someone who has twice had to spend the night in O'Hare, I would kill with my bare hands to get out of that airport.
What a loyal company. Had a 69 year old doctor beaten up and dragged off a flight to help you do your job.
Or had a copilot headed to fill in for another employee whose mother just died, so another flight wouldn't be delayed, while trying to meet FAA regulations, and not cause potentially hundreds of other domino delays. Just conjecture on my part, but giving that seat to an employee doesn't mean it was some bubbly stewardess trying to use her company perks to go to Barbados.
For a second I thought you were talking about this: Catchy tune. Old video, relevant now. Still funny.
How does such a dipshit become theCEO multi-billion dollar airline company? You're "sorry"....again? The leaked letter to your employees clearly stated you are not sorry.