Anyone know jack shit about the airline industry?

[JMarkJohns]

Supposedly the paying passengers were removed for employees.

The overbooking is a fiction.

[JMarkJohns]

Supposedly the paying passengers were removed for employees.

The overbooking is a fiction.

Apparently it was 4 crew members returning home, and its negotiated union deal that says they get preference. But it was a 5.5 hour drive, and each passenger was offered $800 dollars. That's $3200 for a 5.5 hour drive.

Surely there's a more reasoned option than bludgeoning paying customers in the cellular/viral age and dragging their limp bodies off your place to make room.

Because you sure as hell are gonna pay more for this now.

[CalStateTempe]

Wow....

And i avoided united like the plague before this!

[scumdevils86]

The employees do get preference because they have to get to work to keep other plabest flying. All flights are also overbooked too. Some early am weekend flights are overbooked by 30 or 40 seats. That many people usually don't show up.

That being said fuck United. I don't understand how in this day and age any company thinks this kind of course of action will have a positive outcome. Idiots.

[CalStateTempe]

PR nightmare if this get picked up by major media

The memes coming out are awesome.

This plus leggings....united to going to be dealing with some serious litigation.

Scum, is there something in the code of carriage that states you can be forcible removed from a plane for an employee? What kind of bs charges are they going to put in this guy?

Just canceled my mileage plus account. Again I hardly ever fly united and look for other alternatives when at all possible.

[NYCat]

Another angle

[Longhorned]

I just don't believe that any U.S. carrier other than Southwest is different than any other carrier. That's why I fly:

[CalStateTempe]

Lmao...united CEO just had a tweet talking about re-accommodating the passenger and this being a private matter between the company and the customer.

The comments were priceless!

Then it was taken down on my refresh to post here. I sure hope some on the internetz got a screenshot. Lol. I love me a good corporate shitstorm.

[NYCat]

The replies aren't very accommodidating

[azgreg]

In a case like this how do they go about choosing who they're going to kick off the flight?

[CalStateTempe]

Seven digit settlement?

I guess that's one way to get medical school educational debt paid.

Greg, last to book and paid the least.

Still doesn't warrant a concussion and getting your face curbed on an armrest.

[azgreg]

Seven digit settlement?

I guess that's one way to get medical school educational debt paid.

Greg, last to book and paid the least.

Still doesn't warrant a concussion and getting your face curbed on an armrest.

That makes sense. I rarely fly. I'm assuming that there is some writing in the purchase agreement for tickets that they have the right to remove you from a flight for any reason.

[CalStateTempe]

That's what I'm hoping scum or hater can do expound upon:

[Merkin]

In a case like this how do they go about choosing who they're going to kick off the flight?

United Contract of Service

Under Rule 25—on page 35 if you print it out—the agreement says exactly what happens if the flight is oversold. “If there are not enough volunteers, other Passengers may be denied boarding involuntarily,” the language reads. (Of course, the deplaned man was not denied boarding, he was already boarded.)

The language continues however, shining light on how these “other Passengers” are chosen. It’s not random, it’s “in accordance with UA’s boarding priority.” That means that if you have a higher fare class, have a complex itinerary, have status (e.g. gold or platinum), have checked in early, or are a frequent flier, you are less likely to be asked to take the next flight. Even if it’s just a frequent flier card that you never use, it might save you from being forcibly dragged off a plane.

Any kind of priority is better than no priority, when it comes to not getting forcibly removed from a plane.

For passengers looking to take advantage of the budget seats offered, this unspoken ranking and largely unknown class system is important to know. Though companies take great pains to say otherwise, if you paid less, you are not as valued a customer.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/reduce-ch ... 05288.html" target="_blank

[Alieberman]

Once you are sitting on that plane, I would never give it up either. The airline needs to figure their shit out before passengers are sitting in their seats.

I never understand how people / companies continue to do things like this, when we are in the age of smart phones / twitter.

[CalStateTempe]

I wonder if it being s regional carrier had anything to do with the imbroglio

[Longhorned]

If nobody volunteers to get placed on a later flight in exchange for $800, and so you get dragged out of your seat, do you still get the $800?

[84Cat]

[CalStateTempe]

The first rule of fight club is...

[NYCat]

Thank God there isn't video that captured the moment to contradict this Police statement

[legallykenny]

PR nightmare if this get picked up by major media

The memes coming out are awesome.

This plus leggings....united to going to be dealing with some serious litigation.

Scum, is there something in the code of carriage that states you can be forcible removed from a plane for an employee? What kind of bs charges are they going to put in this guy?

Just canceled my mileage plus account. Again I hardly ever fly united and look for other alternatives when at all possible.

Well the leggings story was bullshit. It wasn't a paying passenger, was someone flying on a company ticket and from what I understand, United's internal rules are quite clear, so I have no sympathy.

Really all airlines suck -- which isn't surprising. I can't imagine dealing with all of the shit they get from passengers on a daily basis. Which is part of why I don't think that flight attendant should be a long-term career, but that's a different discussion.

[ASUHATER!]

PR nightmare if this get picked up by major media

The memes coming out are awesome.

This plus leggings....united to going to be dealing with some serious litigation.

Scum, is there something in the code of carriage that states you can be forcible removed from a plane for an employee? What kind of bs charges are they going to put in this guy?

Just canceled my mileage plus account. Again I hardly ever fly united and look for other alternatives when at all possible.

Well the leggings story was bullshit. It wasn't a paying passenger, was someone flying on a company ticket and from what I understand, United's internal rules are quite clear, so I have no sympathy.

Really all airlines suck -- which isn't surprising. I can't imagine dealing with all of the shit they get from passengers on a daily basis. Which is part of why I don't think that flight attendant should be a long-term career, but that's a different discussion.

A lot of flight attendants, especially the ones that have been there for like 30-40 years are very set in their ways and refuse to adapt or do anything differently from how they did it back in the day. The leggings story definitely was bullshit. If you're non reving you'd better know the rules. I remember back pre 9/11 when I was just starting to non rev on my mom's benefits, you had a strict dress code to follow. Even flying in coach you had to have closed toe shoes and no shorts were allowed. If you sat in first class you better have a tucked in polo or button up on and khakis or dress slacks.

[Longhorned]

PR nightmare if this get picked up by major media

The memes coming out are awesome.

This plus leggings....united to going to be dealing with some serious litigation.

Scum, is there something in the code of carriage that states you can be forcible removed from a plane for an employee? What kind of bs charges are they going to put in this guy?

Just canceled my mileage plus account. Again I hardly ever fly united and look for other alternatives when at all possible.

Well the leggings story was bullshit. It wasn't a paying passenger, was someone flying on a company ticket and from what I understand, United's internal rules are quite clear, so I have no sympathy.

Really all airlines suck -- which isn't surprising. I can't imagine dealing with all of the shit they get from passengers on a daily basis. Which is part of why I don't think that flight attendant should be a long-term career, but that's a different discussion.

This is absolutely true. I wouldn't last half a week dealing with the flying public in any in-flight or airport capacity. It's a cyclical problem that starts with rational procedures and laws, which then make passengers angry, thus making the employees hate the passengers, and making the passengers angry in turn.

First time I knew something was off, I was a teenager, and a late-night flight from LAX to PHX got cancelled because one of the pilots would have exceeded his legal flight time for the period tracked. This passenger went off the rails, screaming at the poor employee notifying us of our free overnight stay at the Quality Inn.

"Look at me! I'm dressed for Phoenix! Not Los Angeles! Look at me! Look at me!!!"

[84Cat]

Will United survive this? I am going to guess that the name goes away. Can they change the name to Continental or are there limitations that require them to keep the United name?

[Chicat]

I think they were tired of Pepsi getting all the headlines.

[Merkin]

[CalStateTempe]

To United PR:

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Pepsi PR

[Merkin]

Delta too...

[HiCat]

Kaylyn Davis @kaylyn_davis

#flythefriendlyskies @united no words. This poor man!!
10:02 AM - 10 Apr 2017

12,110 12,110 Retweets
10,104

F..United!

[84Cat]

[Longhorned]

The United Airlines staff involved with this are obviously imbeciles, but this story is really about police brutality. When the police showed up, they should have asked to see the man's boarding pass and his identification, and then said, "He has a boarding pass for this flight. There's nothing we can do here." Instead, they escalated in a show of force because the airline staff refused to honor the service that the customer paid for. They literally beat somebody up because somebody else asked them to.

[NYCat]

lol

[legallykenny]

The United Airlines staff involved with this are obviously imbeciles, but this story is really about police brutality. When the police showed up, they should have asked to see the man's boarding pass and his identification, and then said, "He has a boarding pass for this flight. There's nothing we can do here." Instead, they escalated in a show of force because the airline staff refused to honor the service that the customer paid for. They literally beat somebody up because somebody else asked them to.

This isn't really true.

United, like every single other airline, has a set policy for bumping passengers to accommodate staff that the need to rotate throughout their system. Sounds like this guys was on the list when they didn't get volunteers. That happens every single day in every airport in the country, and other passengers just accept it.

If United wants to remove someone from their flight to comply with their policy for bumping seats, why can't they? You can argue that their policy is stupid or that once the gate agent fucked up and let him on the plane they should have dealt with it in another way. But as far as I'm concerned they were within their rights to remove him from the plane and the guy decided that rather than take the bump and complain until they compensated him (which they absolutely would have) he was going to be an entitled shithead and not comply with crewmember instructions. Apparently he's been living in a hole for the past 16 years, because everyone else in the country knows what happens when you don't comply with aircrew on a plane in the US.

[ASUHATER!]

There are very specific reasons and protocols for overbooking people. Airlines study and analyze flight loads and bookings and the amount of no shows per flight very deeply to determine how much and when they can overbook. It isn't a crapshoot by them that they don't think about.

[Longhorned]

The United Airlines staff involved with this are obviously imbeciles, but this story is really about police brutality. When the police showed up, they should have asked to see the man's boarding pass and his identification, and then said, "He has a boarding pass for this flight. There's nothing we can do here." Instead, they escalated in a show of force because the airline staff refused to honor the service that the customer paid for. They literally beat somebody up because somebody else asked them to.

This isn't really true.

United, like every single other airline, has a set policy for bumping passengers to accommodate staff that the need to rotate throughout their system. Sounds like this guys was on the list when they didn't get volunteers. That happens every single day in every airport in the country, and other passengers just accept it.

If United wants to remove someone from their flight to comply with their policy for bumping seats, why can't they? You can argue that their policy is stupid or that once the gate agent fucked up and let him on the plane they should have dealt with it in another way. But as far as I'm concerned they were within their rights to remove him from the plane and the guy decided that rather than take the bump and complain until they compensated him (which they absolutely would have) he was going to be an entitled shithead and not comply with crewmember instructions. Apparently he's been living in a hole for the past 16 years, because everyone else in the country knows what happens when you don't comply with aircrew on a plane in the US.

Sure it's true. The airline has its policy, which they followed, but instead of resolving the matter within those policy guidelines, they brought in law enforcement. Now at least one officer has been called out by his superior and is under review. What did the officers do? They escalated and dragged a bloody passenger off the plane. They did that instead of finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict between the unreasonable overbooking policy and the customer's reasonable needs, which involved a boarding pass for a purchased ticket that the airline no longer wished to honor because they sold more seats than they could accommodate. Find somebody else to willing to take a larger voucher.

[Chicat]

[azgreg]

[MrBug708]

Once you are sitting on that plane, I would never give it up either. The airline needs to figure their shit out before passengers are sitting in their seats.

I never understand how people / companies continue to do things like this, when we are in the age of smart phones / twitter.

I get being upset with United for overbooking. I get people saying they'd never fly United for not offering more for a customer to leave. Heck, if I was booted from a flight, I'd never fly that airline again.

But that guy has no right to sit on that plane. He was trespassing. He was belligerent. You can argue that the response was way over-the-top, but that sometimes happens when you put yourself in a violent confrontation in a closed space.

At point, what do you think should happen? That if you just say no you can fly wherever you want? That someone else has to get kicked off? It's a shitty situation to boot someone from a flight but someone had to go in that situation. This guy got the short end of the stick.

I guess it is good to have a little public outrage over the way airlines treat people. But those poor other passengers who just left their seats like normal people before the incident, and had their own lives disrupted, aren't going to get the settlement this guy probably will all because they followed the rules.

[Longhorned]

Once you are sitting on that plane, I would never give it up either. The airline needs to figure their shit out before passengers are sitting in their seats.

I never understand how people / companies continue to do things like this, when we are in the age of smart phones / twitter.

I get being upset with United for overbooking. I get people saying they'd never fly United for not offering more for a customer to leave. Heck, if I was booted from a flight, I'd never fly that airline again.

But that guy has no right to sit on that plane. He was trespassing. He was belligerent. You can argue that the response was way over-the-top, but that sometimes happens when you put yourself in a violent confrontation in a closed space.

At point, what do you think should happen? That if you just say no you can fly wherever you want? That someone else has to get kicked off? It's a shitty situation to boot someone from a flight but someone had to go in that situation. This guy got the short end of the stick.

I guess it is good to have a little public outrage over the way airlines treat people. But those poor other passengers who just left their seats like normal people before the incident, and had their own lives disrupted, aren't going to get the settlement this guy probably will all because they followed the rules.

"Trespassing" is a curious word for this situation. You ask about at what point we should draw the line, but it's the guiding procedures of the airline and (yet again) police brutality that are most at issue when it comes to drawing the line. When you remove the voluntary component of rebooking, which is a matter of agreed-upon compensation, the actions of an individual, fully paid passenger in his seat aren't responsible. What if the passenger is mentally disabled? What if this particular passenger who got bloodied and shaken is emotionally disabled? What if airline employees are more willing to reason with a white person with a seemingly valid excuse than they are a person of color?

Defending the airline or the officers at this point is like defending the KLM pilot who crashed into the Pan Am aircraft at Tenerife. That incident led to permanent changes to standard procedure followed by pilots to ensure that situation never happens again. When things go wrong (like a bloody passenger who ends up at the hospital), that's an opportunity to revisit the operating procedures, not to defend them. We've seen what happens when the procedures are followed.

[CalStateTempe]

I just hope/glad this guy wasn't on a blood thinner like warfarin, would be a much worse situation (if it could get any worse) than a concussion and a broken jaw.

And like LH mentioned, what if this was a special needs individual who lacks capacity to "comply/adhere". On United its call the police for a forced eviction and then beating time. The Police just showed themselves to be hired thugs in this case. If I was a Chicago taxpayer, I'd be pissed, but it doesn't change much considering its the Chicago police we are talking about.

[pokinmik]

I think bullshit FAA law caps compensation around 1300$, surely someone would've vounteered at that point. I'm glad the guy resisted though. Not because he was technically correct, but bc these involuntary removal scenarios needed to be discussed and brought to light with the general public. Lessons learned and awareness. From now on most people will understand if it happens to them and they will know their rights. The dude was probably just confused as fuck, like is this really happening, I paid for my ticket?

I thought it was sort of hilarious how dramatic the guy became (even though he had a concussion probably), like he'd been tortured for weeks..."just kill me now, kill me".

[legallykenny]

I think bullshit FAA law caps compensation around 1300$, surely someone would've vounteered at that point. I'm glad the guy resisted though. Not because he was technically correct, but bc these involuntary removal scenarios needed to be discussed and brought to light with the general public. Lessons learned and awareness. From now on most people will understand if it happens to them and they will know their rights. The dude was probably just confused as fuck, like is this really happening, I paid for my ticket?

I thought it was sort of hilarious how dramatic the guy became (even though he had a concussion probably), like he'd been tortured for weeks..."just kill me now, kill me".

This will just confuse the situation for people in the future because people are standing up for this shithead. Passengers do not have the right to do anything other than obey the crewmembers' commands.

I don't understand CST's argument speculating about a scenario where the person is unable to comply/adhere to instructions. That was the not the case for this guy so the question is not relevant. You can't just assume they would have acted the same way. And, frankly, if someone is not able to comply with instructions, he/she should not be flying alone because his or her safety, and the safety of others on the plane, depends upon every passenger doing what they are told.

[pc in NM]

I think bullshit FAA law caps compensation around 1300$, surely someone would've vounteered at that point. I'm glad the guy resisted though. Not because he was technically correct, but bc these involuntary removal scenarios needed to be discussed and brought to light with the general public. Lessons learned and awareness. From now on most people will understand if it happens to them and they will know their rights. The dude was probably just confused as fuck, like is this really happening, I paid for my ticket?

I thought it was sort of hilarious how dramatic the guy became (even though he had a concussion probably), like he'd been tortured for weeks..."just kill me now, kill me".

This will just confuse the situation for people in the future because people are standing up for this shithead. Passengers do not have the right to do anything other than obey the crewmembers' commands.

I don't understand CST's argument speculating about a scenario where the person is unable to comply/adhere to instructions. That was the not the case for this guy so the question is not relevant. You can't just assume they would have acted the same way. And, frankly, if someone is not able to comply with instructions, he/she should not be flying alone because his or her safety, and the safety of others on the plane, depends upon every passenger doing what they are told.

Right or wrong, the use of violence to remove him was totally unwarranted....

Any other business that sold product/services they didn't have would be committing fraud.. And, I believe this flight was not oversold, but they wanted to transport some of their own employees.... The FAA reimbursement "limits" are just self-serving bs, especially considering the seats were for their own employees....

Regardless of the legalities, the PR fallout from this will cost United millions of dollars....

[JMarkJohns]

My biggest take away is, with the hub of incoming and outgoing information, of times, of people, of places, of things, of coming from and going to, how is it not more widely known that an airline's own employees will need passage on the airline's own aircraft.

Now, maybe this is just the first bit. I get there are canceled flights, delayed flights, but everything is changing real time. They are used to real time changes. Their employees are used to real time changes.

So, perhaps rather than being incalculably greedy to the point they have to forcibly eject paying customers, maybe the airlines should have 3-6 seats of "standby" where they are earmarked for crew, and if not needed for crew, then you can sell the tickets. Or build the goddamn airboats big enough to accommodate extra crew away from paying passengers since this is such a widely known issue they have regulatory rules for compensation and negotiated contracts in their unions collective bargaining agreement.

All of this can be avoided. None of what happened is needed.

[pokinmik]

I think bullshit FAA law caps compensation around 1300$, surely someone would've vounteered at that point. I'm glad the guy resisted though. Not because he was technically correct, but bc these involuntary removal scenarios needed to be discussed and brought to light with the general public. Lessons learned and awareness. From now on most people will understand if it happens to them and they will know their rights. The dude was probably just confused as fuck, like is this really happening, I paid for my ticket?

I thought it was sort of hilarious how dramatic the guy became (even though he had a concussion probably), like he'd been tortured for weeks..."just kill me now, kill me".

This will just confuse the situation for people in the future because people are standing up for this shithead. Passengers do not have the right to do anything other than obey the crewmembers' commands.

I don't understand CST's argument speculating about a scenario where the person is unable to comply/adhere to instructions. That was the not the case for this guy so the question is not relevant. You can't just assume they would have acted the same way. And, frankly, if someone is not able to comply with instructions, he/she should not be flying alone because his or her safety, and the safety of others on the plane, depends upon every passenger doing what they are told.

Yea you could definitely be correct. People are morons in general so I won't even try to speak for what will happen when they are confronted with this situation in the future.

[JMarkJohns]

I think bullshit FAA law caps compensation around 1300$, surely someone would've vounteered at that point. I'm glad the guy resisted though. Not because he was technically correct, but bc these involuntary removal scenarios needed to be discussed and brought to light with the general public. Lessons learned and awareness. From now on most people will understand if it happens to them and they will know their rights. The dude was probably just confused as fuck, like is this really happening, I paid for my ticket?

I thought it was sort of hilarious how dramatic the guy became (even though he had a concussion probably), like he'd been tortured for weeks..."just kill me now, kill me".

This will just confuse the situation for people in the future because people are standing up for this shithead. Passengers do not have the right to do anything other than obey the crewmembers' commands.

I don't understand CST's argument speculating about a scenario where the person is unable to comply/adhere to instructions. That was the not the case for this guy so the question is not relevant. You can't just assume they would have acted the same way. And, frankly, if someone is not able to comply with instructions, he/she should not be flying alone because his or her safety, and the safety of others on the plane, depends upon every passenger doing what they are told.

Yea you could definitely be correct. People are morons in general so I won't even try to speak for what will happen when they are confronted with this situation in the future.

The simplest solution to avoid on-plane confusion is to make changes prior to boarding.

This is where my post above is relevant.

What if is absolutely pertinent to the passengers as much as it is to the crew. The "What If" of the crew is why it's negotiated in to the CBA. What ifs such as "What if the crew has to crew a flight elsewhere" or "What if this is the last flight for them to arrive wher erhey must be by a certain time"...

But this eliminates the what ifs of the paying customers, like what if that doctor was scheduled for a life saving consultation? What if he wasn't a doctor but a witness in a trial? What if he was simply a man trying to get home to see his parents before they died? You can take these pretty damn far. What level of compensation for a bumped flight excuses his absence?

There has to be better protocol, and better last minute emergency options.

Four years ago I was picking up a friend from the Flagstaff Train Station. The train was running late, so I stopped in at the new Majerle's across the road since it was a cold winter night. Finally around midnight the train arrives, and I drive my friend home. About 2 miles into the drive I'm pulled over. Not because I was speeding. Not because I was doing anything against the law. The officer had spotted me leave a bar, immediately get into a vehicle, and decided that was reason enough to make sure I wasn't driving drunk. His excuse for pullin me over was I was hugging the dividing line (if you know where snow is built up when streets are plowed, you will understand). He asked me to step out of the vehicle and conduct a sobriety test. Which I did, which I passed. My passenger was a Coconino Sheriff Detective, laughing his ass off the whole time.

Upon getting back in the car, I said, "Did I need to do what he said?" My friend said "no, but yes."

So I get that this man refused officer's orders, but if your policy of employee seating involves forcible extraction of paying customers, you haven't thought things through. I'm someone who has complied even when absurd, so I'm not some "resist" anti-authority type. But if my ass is in the seat, and I've paid, I'm not trespassing. And if you tell me I am, then the issue is on your end. Get more information in a more timely manner. Have options beyond "force eject". Be able to offer something more than a few hundred extra for a day's inconvenience. Or just plan this known into your schedules, plane designs, booking protocol.

[PieceOfMeat]

[PHXCATS]

Questions about this.

How can United really do a random process for kicking people off? This guy said he was a doctor with patients to see. What if there was a wedding or funeral or job interview or other family emergency and the person had purchased the ticket days prior?

Why didn't anyone volunteer when the doctor was getting very upset?

Why is there a limit on how much can be compensated to someone who is bumped when they have fully paid?

Why is there not different rules for before boarding and after boarding?

What was the police supposed to do after the guy was not getting up? I do think they went too far from the videos I have seen but this guy had to get off from the contract he signed when he purchased his ticket and he refused for a long time. What could the police have done differently? At some point they needed to physically remove him if no one was going to volunteer and he kept refusing. I think if I could have I would have volunteered for the max once I saw this guy getting that upset.

Why does everyone take video instead of helping now adays? I get it will make policy differences but I am upset no one helped the guy when he was bloodied even though he was at fault somewhat for what happened to him.

[Alieberman]

Once you are sitting on that plane, I would never give it up either. The airline needs to figure their shit out before passengers are sitting in their seats.

I never understand how people / companies continue to do things like this, when we are in the age of smart phones / twitter.

I get being upset with United for overbooking. I get people saying they'd never fly United for not offering more for a customer to leave. Heck, if I was booted from a flight, I'd never fly that airline again.

But that guy has no right to sit on that plane. He was trespassing. He was belligerent. You can argue that the response was way over-the-top, but that sometimes happens when you put yourself in a violent confrontation in a closed space.

At point, what do you think should happen? That if you just say no you can fly wherever you want? That someone else has to get kicked off? It's a shitty situation to boot someone from a flight but someone had to go in that situation. This guy got the short end of the stick.

I guess it is good to have a little public outrage over the way airlines treat people. But those poor other passengers who just left their seats like normal people before the incident, and had their own lives disrupted, aren't going to get the settlement this guy probably will all because they followed the rules.

I am so confused by this. Trespassing? WTF are you talking about?

He bought a seat. His ticket was honored. He went through the boarding process and United welcomed him onto the plane... then they decided to kick him off.... after they sat him in his seat. How is this trespassing?

[PHXCATS]

Once you are sitting on that plane, I would never give it up either. The airline needs to figure their shit out before passengers are sitting in their seats.

I never understand how people / companies continue to do things like this, when we are in the age of smart phones / twitter.

I get being upset with United for overbooking. I get people saying they'd never fly United for not offering more for a customer to leave. Heck, if I was booted from a flight, I'd never fly that airline again.

But that guy has no right to sit on that plane. He was trespassing. He was belligerent. You can argue that the response was way over-the-top, but that sometimes happens when you put yourself in a violent confrontation in a closed space.

At point, what do you think should happen? That if you just say no you can fly wherever you want? That someone else has to get kicked off? It's a shitty situation to boot someone from a flight but someone had to go in that situation. This guy got the short end of the stick.

I guess it is good to have a little public outrage over the way airlines treat people. But those poor other passengers who just left their seats like normal people before the incident, and had their own lives disrupted, aren't going to get the settlement this guy probably will all because they followed the rules.

I am so confused by this. Trespassing? WTF are you talking about?

He bought a seat. His ticket was honored. He went through the boarding process and United welcomed him onto the plane... then they decided to kick him off.... after they sat him in his seat. How is this trespassing?

I believe in the agreement you say you read and agree to but never do that they can bump you at any time for any reason.