I'm old enough to remember this advertising jingle: "Fly the friendly skies of United." Here's a clip from 1965: http://brandedskies.com/2012/01/jingle-united-fly-the-friendly-skies-1965/ The jingle was so famous that almost anybody, anywhere would have known it.
That's a you problem, not a me problem. Take a breath, counselor. Nobody disagrees with you that United will end up paying big. The only thing in doubt is whether the amount will be single or double-digit millions.
I did see another snippet taken from behind him. There's a uniformed police officer telling him he has to get off the plane. The doctor is on his cell phone and is saying he refuses to get off the plane, that he would rather go to jail, that he is going to sue United Airlines. The police tell him they can do it the easy way or the hard way. He basically told them to go ahead and use force because he wasn't getting off the plane. United will still pay. However, if it's me and a police officer gives me a direct order to de-plane, I'm going to do so and deal with United later.
I'm sure you are not alone in that. As I said from what I saw in another clip, the passenger said straight up, before ANY of the physical altercation started, he was going to sue. I'm still not going to act a fool on an airplane when a police officer is involved.
I was just in Vegas and once I got to the Delta section of the terminal, it was "We are in an oversold situation and asking for volunteers...". Heard this about 20 times from 6 gates and around 12 flights preceeding mine. On the flight, a medical emergency was announced and three "doctors" (+55 older white dudes) responded all from coach.
I don't see United letting this get to court, if it does... huge "cash me on da ouside, how bout dat" verdit for plantif, with a real possiblity for it being overturned on appeal. Afterall the jackboots were Chicago PD or equivalent law enforcement agency... if it was an air marshall, that is federal and I would guess that they get just about any action "excused."
I was wondering if the guy in jeans in the original cell phone video was an air marshall. This could end up being nothing more than financial negotiating between United's legal reps and this guy's attorney. If they can't even get in the same ballpark, United might go to court but likely you are right, they will want to avoid that.
