Did United Airlines have any other choice than to eject that passenger?

[Jimmy Higgins]

That was extremely quick. I suspect that it was a very generous settlement.

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Note how he also defames Dr. Dao - the paying customer - by calling him a "scumbag".

When he attacks a cop he becomes a scumbag.

He didn't attack a cop

That should read, he didn't attack a security guard. There was no cop.

 

[bilby]

That was extremely quick. I suspect that it was a very generous settlement.

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Note how he also defames Dr. Dao - the paying customer - by calling him a "scumbag".

When he attacks a cop he becomes a scumbag.

He didn't attack a cop

That should read, he didn't attack a security guard. There was no cop.

There was no cop; and the person pretending to be a cop was the one doing the attacking.

"When he is attacked by a person pretending to be a cop, he becomes a scumbag", apparently.

 

[LordKiran]

That was extremely quick. I suspect that it was a very generous settlement.

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Note how he also defames Dr. Dao - the paying customer - by calling him a "scumbag".

When he attacks a cop he becomes a scumbag.

He didn't attack a cop

I don't see why the settlement would have to be particularly generous. Maybe the good doc could have gotten more if he took his chances with the courts, but that takes time and money that perhaps he wasn't either willing to shell out or simply didn't have. Speaking only for myself, even just a million would be enough to buy my silence.

 

[bilby]

That was extremely quick. I suspect that it was a very generous settlement.

- - - Updated - - -

Note how he also defames Dr. Dao - the paying customer - by calling him a "scumbag".

When he attacks a cop he becomes a scumbag.

He didn't attack a cop

I don't see why the settlement would have to be particularly generous. Maybe the good doc could have gotten more if he took his chances with the courts, but that takes time and money that perhaps he wasn't either willing to shell out or simply didn't have. Speaking only for myself, even just a million would be enough to buy my silence.

A million sounds pretty generous to me - that's 100 - 1,000 times what this would have cost UA if they had just increased their compensation offer until someone volunteered to give up their seat.

Of course, as Loren pointed out, it was impossible to offer any more compensation, because UA don't have anyone available with the authority to offer a few grand more - a situation that apparently is not their fault at all. I mean, who would have thought that a business might need to spend money; or that an airline, operating 24x7x365 might encounter a decision requiring a high-level of authority outside of regular office hours. Nobody could reasonably have foreseen that. And having a manager on call with that level of authority is simply impractical, unless they invent some kind of communications device that could be carried on the person and allow them to be reached at any time (and to play Angry Birds) /sarcasm.

 

[laughing dog]

Note how he also defames Dr. Dao - the paying customer - by calling him a "scumbag".

When he attacks a cop he becomes a scumbag.

I think the ignore function for LP is set on reality. That is the only explanation for this persistent ignorance of the facts.

 

[barbos]

Note how he also defames Dr. Dao - the paying customer - by calling him a "scumbag".

When he attacks a cop he becomes a scumbag.

What if the cop was a scumbag himself and started first? The guy is a doctor, even though I think it was stupid on his part I am ready to give him benefit of the doubt.

And yes, he did not attack the cop.

 

[DBT]

That was extremely quick. I suspect that it was a very generous settlement.

- - - Updated - - -

Note how he also defames Dr. Dao - the paying customer - by calling him a "scumbag".

When he attacks a cop he becomes a scumbag.

He didn't attack a cop

I don't see why the settlement would have to be particularly generous. Maybe the good doc could have gotten more if he took his chances with the courts, but that takes time and money that perhaps he wasn't either willing to shell out or simply didn't have. Speaking only for myself, even just a million would be enough to buy my silence.

A million sounds pretty generous to me - that's 100 - 1,000 times what this would have cost UA if they had just increased their compensation offer until someone volunteered to give up their seat.

Of course, as Loren pointed out, it was impossible to offer any more compensation, because UA don't have anyone available with the authority to offer a few grand more - a situation that apparently is not their fault at all. I mean, who would have thought that a business might need to spend money; or that an airline, operating 24x7x365 might encounter a decision requiring a high-level of authority outside of regular office hours. Nobody could reasonably have foreseen that. And having a manager on call with that level of authority is simply impractical, unless they invent some kind of communications device that could be carried on the person and allow them to be reached at any time (and to play Angry Birds) /sarcasm.

Yes, it's laughable that nobody could possibly contact a manager with the authority to make the decision to increase the inducement/reward to the point where it becomes so attractive that there would be passengers willing to accept the offer.

 

[fast]

Even if it might just so happen to make sense for the airline to buy its way out of their own self caused blunder, there's a high level of audacity in thinking that way ought to have been preconsidered. In the absence of that route for being the fix-all of problems, it's not without reasonability that they follow whatever procedures they did have in place.

To me, there is too much one-sidedness going on. Even if they did violate rights, that's a matter to be dealt with independently of the gross misconduct of the passenger who refused to obey the instructions of airline officials.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

... gross misconduct of the passenger who refused to obey the instructions of airline officials.

Why does a purchaser of goods or services need to obey instructions of a seller of goods or services? There was no contract between the purchaser of goods or services and the seller of goods or services that stated in all instances the purchaser would obey the seller. In the absence of such stipulation within the rules of said contract, one would expect all things to be fair and in addition there to be no pulling of said purchase by the seller for no good reason or post-sale dictates.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Even if it might just so happen to make sense for the airline to buy its way out of their own self caused blunder, there's a high level of audacity in thinking that way ought to have been preconsidered.

Except for the fact that it was preconsidered.
They offered money for volunteers.

One passenger even shouted out his minimum price to give up his seat. the manager laughed at him.

So, no, there's no audacity in the idea that if they'd offered a little more incentive, they would not have needed involuntary ejections. The manager just hit what she thought to be her upper limit for incentive (Right or wrong) and shifted to involuntary.

 

[zorq]

Even if it might just so happen to make sense for the airline to buy its way out of their own self caused blunder, there's a high level of audacity in thinking that way ought to have been preconsidered. In the absence of that route for being the fix-all of problems, it's not without reasonability that they follow whatever procedures they did have in place.

To me, there is too much one-sidedness going on. Even if they did violate rights, that's a matter to be dealt with independently of the gross misconduct of the passenger who refused to obey the instructions of airline officials.

It is gross misconduct to disregard safety instructions of an airline official. It is NOT gross misconduct to disregard the instructions of a thief trying to steal the product or service you are contractually entitled to even if they happen to be airline officials.

 

[laughing dog]

Even if it might just so happen to make sense for the airline to buy its way out of their own self caused blunder, there's a high level of audacity in thinking that way ought to have been preconsidered.

It was "preconsidered". They do offer compensation. In this instance, it was insufficient.

To me, there is too much one-sidedness going on. Even if they did violate rights, that's a matter to be dealt with independently of the gross misconduct of the passenger who refused to obey the instructions of airline officials.

The security personnel did not give Dr. Dao a chance to refuse or obey - he was on the phone with his lawyer. Waiting 10 minutes or so would not have caused a problem.

 

[coloradoatheist]

... gross misconduct of the passenger who refused to obey the instructions of airline officials.

Why does a purchaser of goods or services need to obey instructions of a seller of goods or services? There was no contract between the purchaser of goods or services and the seller of goods or services that stated in all instances the purchaser would obey the seller. In the absence of such stipulation within the rules of said contract, one would expect all things to be fair and in addition there to be no pulling of said purchase by the seller for no good reason or post-sale dictates.

The biggest part is the complexity of the product where most goods aren't sold this way. If the airlines wanted to guarantee the spots and use the same model as other products you would have to go down to the airport and at an hour before your flight you pay for your flight and that way they could guarantee only 90%+ that you would get out and even less on time. But in the case of the airline, not getting the product on time is well known and there are payments given for it, the only difference in this case was 100 feet different than normal.

 

[coloradoatheist]

It was "preconsidered". They do offer compensation. In this instance, it was insufficient.

To me, there is too much one-sidedness going on. Even if they did violate rights, that's a matter to be dealt with independently of the gross misconduct of the passenger who refused to obey the instructions of airline officials.

The security personnel did not give Dr. Dao a chance to refuse or obey - he was on the phone with his lawyer. Waiting 10 minutes or so would not have caused a problem.

How long does a policer have to give you to talk to you lawyer in any case? 10 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, The flight was being delayed waiting for him and inconveniencing all the other passengers. At 11 minutes could then have them beat him up? In hindsight answers are always easy. With the cost they should have canceled the flight, put the four crew on the plane there and bused all the passengers to Louisville and said we had to do for the doctor.

 

[Keith&Co.]

How long does a policer have to give you to talk to you lawyer in any case?

A better question would be how long a security officer should give you before committing assault.

 

[coloradoatheist]

How long does a policer have to give you to talk to you lawyer in any case?

A better question would be how long a security officer should give you before committing assault.

With the settlement a lot of legal questions will go unaswered and will be answered with another case sometime.

 

[LordKiran]

A better question would be how long a security officer should give you before committing assault.

With the settlement a lot of legal questions will go unaswered and will be answered with another case sometime.

Excuse the pun, but that's a cop out answer if I ever heard one. Didn't the people who assaulted the doctor get fired? Why would they be fired if they did nothing wrong?

 

[coloradoatheist]

With the settlement a lot of legal questions will go unaswered and will be answered with another case sometime.

Excuse the pun, but that's a cop out answer if I ever heard one. Didn't the people who assaulted the doctor get fired? Why would they be fired if they did nothing wrong?

I thought they were suspended with pending review. They may not have done anything illegal, but violated own internal policies.

 

[TSwizzle]

When he attacks a cop he becomes a scumbag.

What if the cop was a scumbag himself and started first? The guy is a doctor, even though I think it was stupid on his part I am ready to give him benefit of the doubt.

A doctor with quite a colorful criminal past.

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They settled out of court. The terms of the settlement were not announced.

That was very quick. Back to normal for UA.

 

[LordKiran]

Excuse the pun, but that's a cop out answer if I ever heard one. Didn't the people who assaulted the doctor get fired? Why would they be fired if they did nothing wrong?

I thought they were suspended with pending review. They may not have done anything illegal, but violated own internal policies.

Wearing the police jacket while on the job isn't illegal?