OK, we've all seen the video of the poor soul who was dragged off the plane. And the entire country is excoriating United, even though it was the airport police who did the deed. What you are NOT being told is the rest of the story as good old Paul used to say. This schmuck is a licensed health care doctor. His own wife turned him in to the state licensing board because he was giving pain pills to his young gay boyfriend. But wait, it gets better. He was forced to take anger management classes because of his uncontrollable temper. When the flight attendants first asked him to leave, he refused. A cop then came and walked him off the plane. At some point, he turned and ran back inside the plane. He then grabbed a seat and proceeded to throw a temper tantrum. That's when he was dragged off, and that's all that you see on MTV because, you know big corporations are evil.
The United passenger that was dragged off the plane
- Thread starter mac
- Start date
Mac,
All that's true, albeit mostly irrelevant to what happened. I'm as big of a fan of capitalism and big corporations as anyone, but the simple fact is United botched the handling of this from jump street and every step along the way....and it has cost, and will cost them dearly.
First off, if you don't have enough seats on the plane, don't board anyone until you have the problem resolved. Second, if an $800 voucher doesn't get you enough volunteers, then you offer a $1,600 voucher, or a $3,500 voucher...and you keep bidding it up until you hit whatever it takes. Trust me, a lot of folks on that plane had a price far cheaper that what this is going to end up costing United. No telling what it's going to cost them to settle with this guy. Not to mention, last I heard, their stock had dropped 1.4 BILLION since this event...
There's some debate whether United was on solid legal grounds to do what they did...But for the sake of discussion, let's assume they were...Just because you "can" do something, doesn't mean you should, dragging the guy off the plane in front of everyone was a BAD idea, PERIOD. Once it escalated to that point, it would have made more sense to empty the entire plane and then forceable remove him if he still wouldn't leave, at least they wouldn't have the video to deal with had they done that..Without the video to sensationalize it, this never rises to a major news story.
All that's true, albeit mostly irrelevant to what happened. I'm as big of a fan of capitalism and big corporations as anyone, but the simple fact is United botched the handling of this from jump street and every step along the way....and it has cost, and will cost them dearly.
First off, if you don't have enough seats on the plane, don't board anyone until you have the problem resolved. Second, if an $800 voucher doesn't get you enough volunteers, then you offer a $1,600 voucher, or a $3,500 voucher...and you keep bidding it up until you hit whatever it takes. Trust me, a lot of folks on that plane had a price far cheaper that what this is going to end up costing United. No telling what it's going to cost them to settle with this guy. Not to mention, last I heard, their stock had dropped 1.4 BILLION since this event...
There's some debate whether United was on solid legal grounds to do what they did...But for the sake of discussion, let's assume they were...Just because you "can" do something, doesn't mean you should, dragging the guy off the plane in front of everyone was a BAD idea, PERIOD. Once it escalated to that point, it would have made more sense to empty the entire plane and then forceable remove him if he still wouldn't leave, at least they wouldn't have the video to deal with had they done that..Without the video to sensationalize it, this never rises to a major news story.
Agree with Moots, this guys character while questionable, has nothing to do with how United handled this situation. As he stated, its going to cost them "a lot" more than bidding up the voucher to get someone off the plane peacefully, doing it this way makes this live on in internet land in perpetuity. They done $%*&'ed Up!
I.B. Washincars
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I don't have a dog in this fight and I'm not taking up for either side, but I'll share a link that a friend shared on FaceBook. After getting a POV from the other side, maybe the situation can be viewed more objectively.
https://thepilotwifelife.wordpress....thoughts-from-a-pilot-wife-about-flight-3411/
https://thepilotwifelife.wordpress....thoughts-from-a-pilot-wife-about-flight-3411/
I.B.
I think I was completely objective in my viewing of the situtation. I think the pilot's wife hit the nail on the head in her third paragraph where she stated:
"Look, I get it. When I first saw the video I was appalled too. To say that it was inflammatory would be putting it mildly. But it was also a situation that was escalated far beyond the boundaries of necessity."
What can I say, the world is full of crazy people and some nut is often going to try and escalate some situation beyond where it should be. It's UNITED's job to be the grown up in the room and deescalate the sitatuion...But instead they only exacerbated the problem and contributed to the further escalation of events.
Pointing out the obvious fact that United did a terrible job handling the situation doesn't in any way mean the passanger's actions were appropriate or justified, or that he was "right"...It means nothing more than what I said...UNITED did a poor job of handling the situation. Can anyone really argue that point???
Washmee
Fullservice Tunnel
As a paid passenger I think once I am seated on the aircraft the following holds true.
