Basically, there were two grounds upon which United might have legally denied a flight to the doctor: their own contract rules 21 and 25. First, about Rule 25: it specifies circumstances upon which United may deny BOARDING when they've oversold the plane. The doctor, however, was already boarded so Rule 25 can not legally apply. So, we're left with Rule 21, which covers circumstances under which United can deny transport. Now, United says the passenger was belligerent to the crew, which WOULD be a proper reason for denying the doctor, EXCEPT that what they were asking him to do was an UNLAWFUL request. He had already boarded, he was under no violation until he was ordered to get off the plane UNLAWFULLY. For example, if United had asked the doctor to dance on his head he was entirely within his rights to become hostile to that order. United will pay. United will pay big.
Couple of things..... Passengers were asked PRIOR to boarding to give up their seats, somewhere around $400 was the offer. It went up to $800 after they boarded and ultimately hit $1000. The video being circulated does not have any of the exchange of words or actions just prior to this passenger's removal, only the removal itself. It doesn't tell the whole story. A passenger who saw the event unfold said, "It was clear he wasn't going to come off unless they were to drag him off," Bridges said. "He was resisting any way he could. He was flailing his arms a little bit and yelling." That in and of itself puts him under United's description of unruly. After being removed, the passenger then "ran back on to the aircraft". Trust me on this one, the dude is a drug addict and he was likely high as a kite. Now, United is going to be sued and will pay millions for this, not just for personal damages but in lost sales. They did the wrong thing at just about every turn. Everyone has a price, the ante should have continued until they had their 4 seats. Hell, it would have ultimately been cheaper to charter a private airplane to transport the employees to Louisville. One interesting note that may or may not have any bearing on this case, Dr. Dao is a kinky, drug-addled poker-playing, homo convict. "Dao was arrested in 2003 on the drug-related offenses following an undercover investigation. The board’s probe into the criminal charges found that Dao became sexually interested in a male patient, Brian Case, whom he gave a physical examination to, including a genital examination, and whom he eventually made his office manager. Case quit that job due to “inappropriate” remarks made by Dao, who then pursued him and arranged to give him prescription drugs in exchange for sexual acts, according to the documents, filed last year. In 2004, Dao was convicted on a slew of felony counts of obtaining drugs by fraud or deceit and was later placed on five years of supervised probation, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported. Dao and co-defendant Case, identified in the documents by the state medical board as “Patient A,” were both indicted in the case..... The medical board said Dao had a sexual relationship with Case and supplied him with narcotics while Case was his patient. The two would often meet at hotel rooms. The two allegedly worked together to obtain prescription narcotics at several pharmacies over three years, according to reports. The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure permitted Dao to continue practicing medicine in 2015 under certain conditions, after he completed his probation and underwent psychological evaluations, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported. Dao went to medical school in Vietnam in the 1970s before moving to the US, according to the Courier-Journal. Dao, who previously worked at Hardin Memorial Hospital in Elizabethtown and once owned a medical practice, is a grandfather and father of five, the Daily Mail reported. His wife, Teresa, who trained at Ho Chi Minh University in Saigon, is a pediatrician in Elizabethtown, according to the Daily Mail. Four of their five children are doctors. Dao’s player profile on the World Series of Poker website lists his total earnings as $234,664 since he joined the poker circuit in 2006."
When I was still working and traveling quite a bit including a lot of overseas travel, I had frequent flyer status with United. I never got bumped. But on numerous occasions when the circumstances were right, I voluntarily gave up my seat. In return, I got upgrades to First for use on future flights, cash, and if necessary an overnight stay at an airport hotel at United's expense.
Hell yeah the vouchers and free hotel and rental and even sometimes cash always have volunteers. They fucked this up.
Frankly, I'm surprised that this aspect of the incident hasn't gotten the "fair" community all up in arms. I think most regular flyers understand the concept but it reeks of elitism.
Everyone has a price. They just didn't go high enough. I was on a flight home from Vegas once and the offer got to $600 for a $50 ticket. They were $100 away from my number. I guarantee for $2k, they'd have had twice as many seats as they needed.
