Originally Posted by Marshall Placid (Post 8834634)

Trying to stay objective here:

Yes, the employees handled the situation poorly either through:

1- Poor training
2- Lack of power to offer more than a pre-determined limit (unless approved by a superior)
3- Used laws and regulations to empower themselves to boot the passenger off: explanation: I have power and law on my side, so YOU will HAVE to go, and I can make it happen by calling on the authorities: power corrupts.
4- By not negotiating with the passenger, all 100+ passengers and the crew were delayed for 2.5+ hours costing themselves much more than the vouchers.
5- Obviously, bad brand awareness for the short-run, costing UA possibly millions in lost revenues.

Yes, the passenger ALSO handled the situation poorly:

1- Do you really need to make a scene like that? It's the Youtube era, and your name and possibly your face will be on the internet forevermore.
2- If the passenger was a doctor, all the more shameful for him. A doctor would have a much clearer head and exemplified a much more controlled demeanor. If he was a doctor, and his peers recognized him, it wouldn't help with his career.
3- It's Chicago right? It is safe to assume there could be other flights to buy tickets on.
4- Admittedly, I am just using the information supplied online, but the passenger could have tried to negotiate for a better deal. I'm unsure if it was possible. On the other hand, I'm 100% sure that being dragged off the plane screaming and kicking and getting himself bloodied was not worth it.
5- His behaviour delayed the other 100+ passengers on board for 2.5+ hours.
6- If he took the vouchers, he might have boarded another flight within those 2.5+ hours on another airline.


Profit explanation of airlines:

1- Too much competition.
2- For the profitable airlines, the net profit is just $2 per passenger. So, the $300 ticket passengers paid? The airlines make $2 on average per ticket. So, if they had to use vouchers and hotel stays for booting passengers off, the entire net profit for that single flight is wiped off.
3- Not enough differentiation, so airlines focus on cost cutting and revenue maximising... .through the antics shown in the video with that passenger.
4- It's a legacy industry wherein unions and long-time employees have massive pensions to collect. This is very much disadvantageous to the longer-running, older airlines like UA, etc. and much more beneficial (in Canada) to Westjet than Air Canada.
5- Do you guys remember Canadian Airlines? And, I didn't google here... I just remembered off the top of my head, so I might not be 100% exact. It was basically a forced merger by the Canadian Government for Air Canada to take over Canadian Airlines. This meant that Air Canada had to bear the burden of the pensions of Canadian Airlines' employees. The same thing happened to UA and a few other airlines in the USA. UA actually was able to negotiate lower pensions, salaries, and labour costs, but they are still more expensive to operate than say, Jet Blue.


TL:DR: Both the employees and the passenger made extremely poor decisions. The employees abused their rights and laws to kick the passenger out. The passenger thought that by screaming and kicking, he could stay on the flight.

End result: nobody won.

Originally Posted by Ferra (Post 8834710)

Also just checked...Chicago to Lousville is a 4.5 hours drive...
If someone rented a car and drove there they would've arrived before the flight even gets there after 2.5hrs of delays and 1.5hrs flight + all the boarding/unboarding time.

Originally Posted by shawnly1000 (Post 8834777)

Originally Posted by mr_chin (Post 8834832)

A message to the person in charge of making all those decisions with offers and then forcibly removing the man off the plane, YOU'RE A FUCKING TOTAL DUMBASS AND DON'T DESERVE TO BE IN A POSITION OF MAKE DECISIONS.

Lying to the passenger would have been the safest and most effective way of getting them off the plane, and yet it has been overlooked.

Step 1: Throw your offer on the table to the 4 passengers.
Step 2: Tell them that there is another flight ready for them just outside that is ready to take off in one or two hours.
Step 2b: If no one agrees, randomly choose 4 passenger to board the non-existing flight. This way, other passengers on board wouldn't be against United for making this decision.
Step 3: Once they get off, get on the phone with Mr. nobody for 5 - 10 minutes or as long as it takes.
Step 4: Then tell the passengers there has been some discrepancies and the new flight has to been delayed/cancelled.
Step 5: Apologize and hand over the offer.

Result: United Airline doesn't go public and even if the 4 passengers go public, the magnitude of the situation would not be as large as forcibly removing someone off the plane.

Originally Posted by The KingMachine (Post 8834775)

Personally I would have just gotten up and off. I've seen enough videos illustrating the fact cops will kick the shit out of you.

Save yourself the beating and just get off the plane.

Originally Posted by twitchyzero (Post 8834937)

harsh but the lawyer isn't wrong?
$250M market value in the red by the end of the whirlwind of a day
there's insurance against hull loss and paying out to the family of deceased....there's no insurance against PR obliteration?

I think the damage is irreversible TBH.

Last year many said everyone will forget about the Samsung Note7 PR disaster. It's still very fresh for everyone shopping for a new phone this year.

Originally Posted by trd2343 (Post 8834985)

Not sure if this has been asked, the men who removed the passenger from the airplane, are they given authority to use force if an individual does not comply with their request?

Vice versa, is the passenger obliged to comply with their request (ie, leaving the plane)?

I think they were confirmed as aviation department police officers?

Originally Posted by striderblade (Post 8834972)

And now global is in the heat on social media because they dug up something about this guy pass. WTF does his pass had to do with this incident. He's a human being. He had places to go just like any other passager on the plane. Now global is trying to make him a look like a bad guy. American should really change their national anthem and replace the line "Land of the free" to something else. And if I were this guy I'll sue the shit out of United. A innocent free man shouldn't be treated like a terrorist or a pig getting dragged to a slaughter house then have his pass life blasted all over the news for the world to see.