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United airlines drags doctor off overbooked flight

13,833 Views | 157 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by wessimo
themissinglink
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Video shows man forcibly removed from overbooked United Airlines flight
Quote:

LOUISVILLE A video posted on Facebook late Sunday evening shows a passenger on a United Airlines flight being forcibly removed from the plane before takeoff at O'Hare International Airport.
Quote:

A United spokesperson confirmed in an email Sunday night that a passenger had been taken off a flight in Chicago.

"Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked," said the spokesperson. "After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate."

"We apologize for the overbook situation. Further details on the removed customer should be directed to authorities."
They just love the bad PR.
David_Puddy
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If he's got a good lawyer, I imagine that man is in for a pretty nice pay day.
jenn96
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Quote:

Passengers were told at the gate that the flight was overbooked and United, offering $400 and a hotel stay, was looking for one volunteer to take another flight to Louisville at 3 p.m. Monday. Passengers were allowed to board the flight, Bridges said, and once the flight was filled those on the plane were told that four people needed to give up their seats to stand-by United employees that needed to be in Louisville on Monday for a flight. Passengers were told that the flight would not take off until the United crew had seats, Bridges said, and the offer was increased to $800, but no one volunteered.

Bridges said the man became "very upset" and said that he was a doctor who needed to see patients at a hospital in the morning. The manager told him that security would be called if he did not leave willingly, Bridges said, and the man said he was calling his lawyer. One security official came and spoke with him, and then another security officer came when he still refused. Then, she said, a third security official came on the plane and threw the passenger against the armrest before dragging him out of the plane.

The man was able to get back on the plane after initially being taken off his face was bloody and he seemed disoriented, Bridges said, and he ran to the back of the plane. Passengers asked to get off the plane as a medical crew came on to deal with the passenger, she said, and passengers were then told to go back to the gate so that officials could "tidy up" the plane before taking off.

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2017/04/10/video-shows-man-forcibly-removed-united-flight-chicago-louisville/100274374/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=
Wow. Let all passengers board, THEN randomly kicked people off so that their own employees could have seats? And beat up a doctor? Now THAT'S a PR coup.
White Liberals=The Worst
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At the very least, he'll likely never have to pay for a flight again. Dude screams like a pterodactyl though, goodness.
aggiedata
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Friendly only applies to the skies. On the ground not so much.
wessimo
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Uniformed guy on his radio:. "we've got a screamer!!"

Nailed the dudes head on the opposing armrest pretty good.
Joan Wilder
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United booted 4 paying customers off a flight to make room for standby crew. That is beyond terrible, even for them. If no one takes the offer (a 3pm flight the next day is not going to work for many) then they should have put that crew in a car.

I once saw a drunk flight attendant removed from a plane, (after we basically restrained her foe 2+ hours in flight) and she was handled with more respect than that man. Disgraceful.
BohunkAg
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Clarke95 said:

United booted 4 paying customers off a flight to make room for standby crew.
I find that VERY hard to believe. Why would any company do that. That sounds like an Internet rumor type thing.
Ferris Wheel Allstar
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David_Puddy said:

If he's got a good lawyer, I imagine that man is in for a pretty nice pay day.
You must not remember how the Star Alliance ****s everybody & does not give a ****
Joan Wilder
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They were crew dead-heading to the next city.

Quote:

once the flight was filled those on the plane were told that four people needed to give up their seats to stand-by United employees that needed to be in Louisville on Monday for a flight. Passengers were told that the flight would not take off until the United crew had seats, Bridges said, and the offer was increased to $800, but no one volunteered.
aggiedata
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BohunkAg said:

Clarke95 said:

United booted 4 paying customers off a flight to make room for standby crew.
I find that VERY hard to believe. Why would any company do that. That sounds like an Internet rumor type thing.


United confirmed the story

A United spokesperson confirmed in an email Sunday night that a passenger had been taken off a flight in Chicago.
"Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked," said the spokesperson. "After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate.
jenn96
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Quote:

Quote:

Clarke95 said:
United booted 4 paying customers off a flight to make room for standby crew.
I find that VERY hard to believe. Why would any company do that. That sounds like an Internet rumor type thing.
It may not be true - Lord knows just because something is reported by a newspaper doesn't make it so - but it's a quote from the person who was on the plane and shot the video. And other customers confirm hearing it.
Quote:

"It looked like it knocked him out," Bridges said. "His nose was bloody."
His glasses nearly knocked off his face, the man clutches his cellphone as one of the officers pulls him by both arms down the aisle and off the plane.
"This is horrible," someone says.
"What are you doing? No! This is wrong."
And with that, Bridges said, four United employees boarded and took the empty seats.
They were not popular among the passengers, he recalled.
"People were saying you should be ashamed to work for this company," Bridges said.
And it wasn't over.

Washington Post link
aggiedata
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https://twitter.com/i/moments/851423833160634368
dreyOO
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Doctor wasn't a fat girl wearing tights so nothing to be alarmed by here.
Bassmaster
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The stupidity on United's part is baffling. There is a pretty easy solution here, just increase the offer above $800 until you have 4 takers. It may cost you a little bit, but much less than it will cost you by dragging a guy off of the plane.
Tom Hagen
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Bassmaster said:

The stupidity on United's part is baffling. There is a pretty easy solution here, just increase the offer above $800 until you have 4 takers. It may cost you a little bit, but much less than it will cost you by dragging a guy off of the plane.
If they actually paid in cash and not "vouchers", they would have takers at $800.00.
CDUB98
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Just when you think United could not suck more.....they go and do something like this.
jenn96
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This is what I don't get. I understand not wanting to set a precedent of offering cash, but art some point you admit you screwed up by letting the passengers board and get settled before trying to remove them, which is psychologically a LOT different then asking them to give up their seats before they board. Offer cash until 4 people are willing to get off the plane. Or up the price of the vouchers to something crazy. Instead they smack up a white-collar professional (ie the type who will come back and sue your butt) and drag him off the plane like a dirty hippy. I know it's United but even so that is spectacularly bad customer service.
MAS444
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Fake news. The guy was merely re-accomodated.
Dr. Doctor
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Best part is he was allowed to re-board after 2 hours. So they beat up a doctor, get bad PR, potentially sued for millions later, all to have him come back 2 hours and still fly.

~egon
CDUB98
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MAS444 said:

Fake news. The guy was merely re-accomodated.
White Liberals=The Worst
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This is an awful awful look. I am amazed by the sheer stupidity of United in this case. This has potential to be a PR nightmare for them.
David_Puddy
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Ferris Wheel Allstar said:

David_Puddy said:

If he's got a good lawyer, I imagine that man is in for a pretty nice pay day.
You must not remember how the Star Alliance ****s everybody & does not give a ****


We should've taken videos and blasted them on social media. If only the big guy had a Twitter acct
Ag_07
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The whole PR nightmare for United is a moot point.

They're not new to bad PR and don't have a good customer service reputation to begin with.

Kinda like calling a pron star a sloot. TDGAF
Seersucker Ag 2011
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Concussed AF. Great job, United.
Milwaukees Best Light
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Two things: first, I can't wait for someone to remix with that soundtrack. Second, why can't I ever be lucky enough to get roughed up while minding my own business? Some mf'ers have all the luck.
HBCanine08
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Seersucker Ag 2011 said:



Concussed AF. Great job, United.
Dolla. Dolla. Bills. Y'all.
dreyOO
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Dr. Doctor said:

Best part is he was allowed to re-board after 2 hours. So they beat up a doctor, get bad PR, potentially sued for millions later, all to have him come back 2 hours and still fly.

~egon
Yep. And what was the old "emotional distress" is now amplified by the fact that is viral and being re-played all across the globe right now. This guy is now famous for this episode.

I'm not sure how that plays in the courtroom, but I'd be more worried about the public embarrassment than a few bumps and bruises.
fire09
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United will write a check and make this go away. They will not take a hit for this beyond that. Their PR will apologize and it will be forgotten in 2 weeks.

If a representative of an airline tells you to gtfo, listen. I'm not sympathetic of anyone who ignores crew instructions regardless of the reason. Did United go overboard pulling him off the plane? Yes, but he brought that on himself by acting like a petulant child instead of an adult.

More baffling than anything is this - Who needs to get to Louisville or wherever they were going bad enough to turn down 800 bucks?!? The whole plane? I would gladly stay overnight in Chicago on United's dime for a free round trip international ticket.
Joan Wilder
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A physician or business person who has cases or appointments the next morning might not want to stay at the airport holiday inn and sit around until 3pm the next afternoon to get home. That's a pretty crappy offer from UA.
Liquid Wrench
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Clarke95 said:

A physician or business person who has cases or appointments the next morning might not want to stay at the airport holiday inn and sit around until 3pm the next afternoon to get home. That's a pretty crappy offer from UA.

Well, everyone on the flight has somewhere to be. Nobody in their right mind just flies for fun.

What's amazing is that the airline waited until everybody was seated. I've heard of them making offers on overbooked flights before, but usually before boarding and there were usually volunteers. Everyone is too important for that now, though.
sushi94
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Who actually physically removed the man? Was it United Security? is there such a thing? Airport Security at United's request? TSA? Whoever made the decision to physically remove the man is in trouble in my opinion.
DrZ
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This happens more than you realize. It just usually happens before boarding. My family was kicked off a flight to Florida at spring break 8 or 9 years ago. They started offering money no takers. Called our name out. I went up and they said you are gone. I got mad. They said they don't care. This was Continental.
chimpanzee
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If you screw up bad enough that you need volunteers to get out of the seat and off the plane, then they need to start the auction with cash. Some Uber knucklehead would have driven the crew that took the revenue customers' spaces for less than a grand, but you can't do that under their CBA, so you goon the ******* that won't leave voluntarily.

He may have been acting like an ass, but he still has the PR advantage in standing up to a ridiculous standard practice of a hated company in a situation that any first semester management major could have solved in five minutes. In the end, monetizing their stupidity is really the only way they will improve.
BMX Bandit
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Apparently it was the airport police.

I don't know that they will be in any legal trouble, as they didn't break any law. Apparently one of the officers is being looked at for not following procedures
 
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