Passengers ‘shaky and so disgusted’ as United forces screaming doctor off a plane

[mystery-ak]

Transportation Committee Dem Wants Hearing on United Airlines Incident
By Bridget Johnson April 10, 2017

WASHINGTON -- It didn't take long for the viral video of a United Airlines passenger being forcibly dragged off an overbooked plane to make it to Capitol Hill.

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation, said she's going to formally ask Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), chairman of the Transportation Committee, and Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) to convene a hearing "to examine this and other incidents on flights.”

more
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/2017/04/10/transportation-committee-dem-wants-hearing-on-united-airlines-incident/

[IsailedawayfromFR]

As long as they can finance it without any taxpayer dollars, fine.

I have zero desire to have my tax dollars used to placate people with a train fetish.

I am not fine with it.

The private company would use eminent domain given them by the state and take over thousands of acres of private land.

That is not good for those who own land along route, and we would feel like that passenger being dragged off the plane.

[Cyber Liberty]

New United Slogans:

We put the hospital into hospitality.

 

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Maybe he smelled a potential payday (lawsuit).  I'm just amazed that they're (United Airlines) so blasé about their colossal incompetence re: overbooking.  It's not rocket surgery...keeping track of how many seats are booked.   Ironic.... that this guy claims to be a doctor.... also famous for 'overbooking'....lol.

that is not the way it works.

Their goal is full planes. There are invariably no shows, and statistics are kept that give them ideas of how many there are.

When more show up than expected, they must deal with it by the rules of carriage.

This is in fact more complicated than you state.  Not rocket surgery (whatever that is) but sophisticated statistics.

[240B]

While United didn't help their business with this event, I suspect the same for the Doctor.  I would not want this guy doing surgery on me, or trust his snap judgement.

True.
I wouldn't trust this guy to be my landscaper, much less my surgeon. He seems like a hair-trigger lunatic. Could you imagine having to 'let him go' (fire) him for some reason? You would need police protection to get him out of his office.

Even if United relented and let him keep his seat, would he have been likely to have continued to disrupt the flight in the air? Would anyone want to take that risk?

Also, even if he made it to work the next morning, would he have been in a stable enough mental state to be able to perform his duties? I wouldn't want him to be my Doctor.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I understand overbooking, but why did they have to actually kick someone off the plane? that I don't get.

United gets what they deserve with this, IMO.

[Smokin Joe]

I understand overbooking, but why did they have to actually kick someone off the plane? that I don't get.

United gets what they deserve with this, IMO.

Yep. My contention (and Northwest did this when I flew them), is that the issue of who had seats should have been settled before anyone boarded the aircraft. Waiting until people are on the plane and ready to go was just stupid on the part of airline personnel. There should be some software indicator to the person issuing boarding passes that they have reached the limit, or are approaching it.

[ABX]

[catfish1957]

Yep. My contention (and Northwest did this when I flew them), is that the issue of who had seats should have been settled before anyone boarded the aircraft. Waiting until people are on the plane and ready to go was just stupid on the part of airline personnel. There should be some software indicator to the person issuing boarding passes that they have reached the limit, or are approaching it.

Also don't some Airlines deem some passengers "stand-by" status?  With real time cancellations, and changes this seems a more safer and equitable manner of dealing with overbooking

[skeeter]

I don't know what sort of doctor he is. There are things that are time sensitive, or that take getting together a team of doctors to accomplish (transplant surgeries, for example) where him being where he said he would be is critical to a favorable outcome. It may even involve a relative.
What seems like overreaction to us may be a poorly expressed understanding of the situation by him. Without knowing more, I won't judge except to say he really did not want to get off the flight. Without knowing his motivation, knowing whether his reaction is "excessive" is impossible.

Turns out the guy, David Dao, has a dozen drug related raps and has had his medical license yanked by the AMA.

[LonestarDream]

Then pay up for the 'tail events'.  Otherwise start taking gates away from United.  Two per month.

Create some competition in this oligopoly.   

  Not rocket surgery (whatever that is) but sophisticated statistics.

[catfish1957]

Turns out the guy, David Dao, has a dozen drug related raps and has had his medical license yanked by the AMA.

Wow, those P.I's hired by UA must be pretty good finding that out that quick.

[EC]

Turns out the guy, David Dao, has a dozen drug related raps and has had his medical license yanked by the AMA.

Got a link please?

[skeeter]

Got a link please?

Here's one. It broke on TMZ...

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2017/04/11/david-dao-passenger-removed-united-flight-doctor-troubled-past/100318320/?hootPostID=d36ec6c0be57d7c0080839c4936d4285

[EC]

  Thank you. Reading now.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

I am not fine with it.

The private company would use eminent domain given them by the state and take over thousands of acres of private land.

That is not good for those who own land along route, and we would feel like that passenger being dragged off the plane.

Eminent domain has been used to build a great many roads in this country.  The people moved very often didn't like it, but should we not have those roads?

As long as the compensation is fair, and the rail line is considered a common carrier that the paying public has a legal right to use, it is something that is specifically authorized by the Constitution.

[mystery-ak]

http://www.lifezette.com/referral/kimmel-debuts-new-commercial-united-resist-will-beat/?utm_content=bufferddc9e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=laura_ingraham_buffer

Kimmel Debuts a New Commercial for United: ‘If You Resist, We Will Beat You’

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Here's one. It broke on TMZ...

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2017/04/11/david-dao-passenger-removed-united-flight-doctor-troubled-past/100318320/?hootPostID=d36ec6c0be57d7c0080839c4936d4285

Now, it all makes sense.  Dude very likely thought he was getting busted (again) for a drug offense, and that this was just a police scam to get him off the plane.  Of course, the police are legally entitled to remove you either way, so that doesn't excuse his behavior.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Yep. My contention (and Northwest did this when I flew them), is that the issue of who had seats should have been settled before anyone boarded the aircraft. Waiting until people are on the plane and ready to go was just stupid on the part of airline personnel. There should be some software indicator to the person issuing boarding passes that they have reached the limit, or are approaching it.

But who did this guy give up his seat for? Why did they have preference over him?

I don't get it.

[Silver Pines]

The guy is in for a big payday, deservedly so.

I hope he's not a doctor, though. His reaction in this situation was less than rational.

@skeeter

Agreed.

I don't expect high-pitched shrieking from a grown man.

[skeeter]

Now, it all makes sense.  Dude very likely thought he was getting busted (again) for a drug offense, and that this was just a police scam to get him off the plane.  Of course, the police are legally entitled to remove you either way, so that doesn't excuse his behavior.

If he's using himself it certainly would explain his erratic behavior.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

I was taken off an international flight once due to overbooking while traveling business.

Had been on road for a month and not pleased.

Upon return home, I complained and the airline sent its head of North American operations to meet me and apologize. They had made a computer mistake. Got a lot of compensation including free flights and upgrades.

Since I was on foreign soil traveling with the country's national airline, thought it prudent not to complain at the time.

I knew my limitations.

In a lot of ways, this is similar to the innocent guy who the cops come to arrest, who refuses to go and fights with them, rather than just going and getting the mess cleared up later.  You have to use your discretion sometimes.

[EC]

But who did this guy give up his seat for? Why did they have preference over him?

I don't get it.

Positioning crew. They have priority since if they don't get to the airport, their plane doesn't fly, inconveniencing a hell of a lot more than 1 person. Often replacement crews can't be planned for in advance, since aircraft very rarely give notice of when they are going to fail and push their current operating crew out of hours.

[ABX]

Here's one. It broke on TMZ...

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2017/04/11/david-dao-passenger-removed-united-flight-doctor-troubled-past/100318320/?hootPostID=d36ec6c0be57d7c0080839c4936d4285

"He can only practice internal medicine in an outpatient facility one day a week." Assuming any of that is true, it's pretty clear he could not reschedule. And irrelevant anyway - if you screw up moving employees around, don't steal seats, pay up and you'll get volunteers. If they didn't pay in crappy unusable vouchers (with quick expiration and lots of blackout dates) maybe they might have more success.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Positioning crew. They have priority since if they don't get to the airport, their plane doesn't fly, inconveniencing a hell of a lot more than 1 person. Often replacement crews can't be planned for in advance, since aircraft very rarely give notice of when they are going to fail and push their current operating crew out of hours.

Thank you for this @EC. Interesting.