You may have heard about the disturbing incident last night in which a passenger was violently dragged off a United Express flight (flight 3411 operated by Republic Airways). My buddy Gary Leff wrote up a good post on what happened.
There’s a lot to digest here, including the fact that a subsequent flight would have been cancelled if the four crew members had not been allowed to fly. But today’s tip is about how to avoid finding yourself in this situation.
I don’t know all the details, but usually when your flight is overbooked and there are no volunteers willing to give up their seats, the gate agents deny boarding to those who were the last to check in, paid the least or have no frequent flyer status. That’s why it’s always important to check in early for your flight and/or be loyal to one airline/alliance.
According to United’s Contract of Carriage under Boarding Priorities:
“If a flight is Oversold, no one may be denied boarding against his/her will until UA or other carrier personnel first ask for volunteers who will give up their reservations willingly in exchange for compensation as determined by UA. If there are not enough volunteers, other Passengers may be denied boarding involuntarily in accordance with UA’s boarding priority:
- Passengers who are Qualified Individuals with Disabilities, unaccompanied minors under the age of 18 years, or minors between the ages of 5 to 15 years who use the unaccompanied minor service, will be the last to be involuntarily denied boarding if it is determined by UA that such denial would constitute a hardship.
- The priority of all other confirmed passengers may be determined based on a passenger’s fare class, itinerary, status of frequent flyer program membership, and the time in which the passenger presents him/herself for check-in without advanced seat assignment.”
Regardless, there’s absolutely no question that United and Republic Airways should have handled this differently and the passenger is owed more than an apology. The video was really disturbing and no passenger should ever find themselves in this situation.
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You never resist a policeman when he is carrying out his sworn duty to uphold the law. The police will not ask but will direct you to follow their instructions. If you do not comply they will simply increase the force till you do comply up to and including physical violence.
The police are not the judge who is the one you complain to after you quietly leave the plane.
Although the passenger caused his injuries some of the other issues brought up in the various posted comments are valid, but most deal with before the police confronted the passenger. Once the police are in front of you . . .FOLLOW THEIR INSTRUCTIONS AND COMPLAIN TO THE JUDGE LATER . . . PERIOD!!!
General rule of survival: when police ask you to do something (go, stop, show your hands) you should do it. Right and wrong can be sorted out later, resisting a police officer is always a bad idea.
The bigger issue is the way it was handled, and when force should be used – or even when a flight attendant should be allowed to touch a passenger. I had a Delta experience that left me with finger tip bruises on my upper arm from a flight attendant who then deliberately removed his name tag so I couldn’t identify him by name. He grabbed my arm and shook me violently after I had already alerted him personally that I would be taking a prescription sleeping pill and did not want dinner service on my overnight flight to the Czech Republic. Despite this, he tried to forcibly wake me from a medicated sleep to – and I quote – check in with me to make sure I hadn’t changed my mind about dinner. After tweeting pictures of my bruised arm and contacting Delta’s customer service multiple times, I got an email apology about being woken from sleep (really) and an offer of a $25 travel voucher good toward another flight. There needs to be policy in place that specifies an airline representative NOT touching you unless it’s to save your life.
IF you pay for your seat when you boot, then why do the airlines overbook?The seats have been paid for and if you don’t show they are still paid. What am I missing?
To just say “I am going to boycott UA” is almost silly to me. I think of it as a learning moment for UA and I’m willing to give them a chance to correct it. If it happened repeatedly and wasn’t just an isolated incident, that would be an entirely different story.
I find several things disturbing about this incident:
1) Chicago police tactics and brutality
2) The passenger in question first palyed the race card, then segued 180 degrees into prividledged status as a doctor. I cant tell if I’m more disturbed by the irony or the complete lack of awareness by 99% of those offended by this incident that that man felt he was both oppressed and more prividleged than the rest of the passengers on that flight.
3) Everyone on the plane apparently knew he was a doctor yet didn’t seem concerned enough to offer up their own seats instead
4) those same people felt video taping the incident to later post to social media was more important than stepping into the same situation to defend the man they felt was egregiously being abused. Makes one wonder what they would do in other or even more morally corrupt circumstances as well.They should all be ashamed beyond pale. At least a few made national news.
Is this the same CEO that was in charge of United Airlines in 2009. Remember the United Breaks Guitars incident. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGNtQF3n6VY
Six months after Dave Carroll’s Taylor was broken, a musician friend of mine in Nashville had his Taylor’s neck snapped on United too. I guess the takeaway is, “if it ends in ‘r,’ United’s going to break it.”