If you don't get off of this plane, we'll make you get off!

[Phallacy]

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/10/523275494/passenger-forcibly-removed-from-united-flight-prompting-outcry

Passengers on a United Express flight from Chicago to Louisville, Ky., were horrified when a man was forcibly removed — violently wrenched from his seat and physically dragged down the aisle — reportedly to clear a seat for airline staff. Videos of the scene have prompted calls to boycott United Airlines.

United has not responded to NPR's requests for comment, but on Twitter, a representative of the airline said the flight in question was "overbooked" and that "one customer refused to leave."

"This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United," company CEO Oscar Munoz said in a statement. "I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers."

He said the airline is conducting a "detailed review" of what happened and reaching out to the passenger in question.

Airlines are legally allowed to remove passengers from flights for nearly any reason — including to vacate a seat for someone else. But the method shown on these videos is not typical. One aviation expert tells NPR that the scene on Flight 4311 was "extremely unusual."

Multiple videos and photos were posted on social media, and other passengers described the incident online — at first upset about the delay, and then horrified by the violent turn of events.

Witnesses say passengers had already boarded on Sunday evening at O'Hare International Airport when United asked for volunteers to take another flight the next day to make room for four United staff members who needed seats.

The airline offered $400 and a free hotel, passenger Audra D. Bridges told the Louisville Courier-Journal. When no one volunteered, the offer was doubled to $800. When there were still no bites, the airline selected four passengers to leave the flight — including the man in the video and his wife.

"They told him he had been selected randomly to be taken off the flight," Bridges said on Facebook. She said there was no incident involving the man until he was told to give up his seat.

The man said he was a doctor, and that he "needed to work at the hospital the next day," passenger Jayse Anspach said on Twitter.

"He said he wasn't going to [get off the plane]," Bridges wrote on Facebook. "He was talking to his lawyer on the phone."

Then United brought in the police.

Both Bridges and Anspach posted videos of three law enforcement officers, who appear to be wearing the uniforms of Chicago aviation police, wrenching the man out of his seat, prompting wails. His face appeared to strike an armrest. Then they dragged his limp body down the aisle.

Footage shows the man was bleeding from the mouth as they dragged him away. His glasses were askew and his shirt was riding up over his belly.

"It looked like he was knocked out, because he went limp and quiet and they dragged him out of the plane like a rag doll," Anspach wrote.

"10mins later, the doctor runs back into the plane with a bloody face, clings to a post in the back, chanting, 'I need to go home,' " he said.

"@united has everyone on this flight fully distressed and fearful!!" @JohnK tweeted. He later sent out an update: "Just asked to leave plane so they can clean up blood from passenger."

After the cleanup, the passengers were allowed to reboard and fly to Louisville.

The Courier-Journal spoke with Bridges about the troubled flight. She told the newspaper the plane was ultimately delayed about two hours, with no update to passengers about what happened to the injured man.

This is the second outrage-inducing United incident in just two weeks. On March 26, the airline turned away girls wearing leggings, later explaining that they were violating the fairly strict dress code for people flying on "buddy passes." The incident went viral, partly because of the airline's initial, unsatisfying attempts to justify what happened.

The same happened on Sunday, when United's first response to the outrage was to say that the passenger "refused to leave." It wasn't untrue — but it didn't address the violence shown on the video.

Christopher Elliott, a consumer advocate and founder of the group Travelers United, notes — without defending United's actions on this flight — that airlines have broad discretion to remove paying passengers from planes.

"He wasn't leaving his seat, therefore he was uncooperative, therefore he was considered disruptive and they removed him," Elliott says. "The legal agreement between you and the airline basically says, 'We can remove you at any time for any reason from one of our flights.' "

It happens "routinely," Elliott says. According to Department of Transportation numbers, some 46,000 people were "involuntarily denied boarding" by major airlines in 2015 — although Elliott notes that most of those people were denied boarding in the first place, not dragged off a plane.

And it doesn't mean those people misbehaved. It's perfectly legal for a plane to "overbook," or sell more tickets than they have, and then kick some unlucky travelers off the flight.

But it's "extremely unusual" for that to prompt the kind of response shown on the video, says Patrick Smith, an airline pilot and travel blogger behind the website "Ask The Pilot."

He notes that airlines almost always do what United apparently did in this case — offer money or a voucher and then increase the offer if no one is interested.

"Almost always, someone takes the bait and it doesn't come to this," Smith says.

But in this case, it turned hostile. "And that doesn't seem right to me," he says.

Jesus Christ, dude. A doctor had to get beaten up because of a shitty corporate policy (overbooking intentionally) and shitty police officers. (I guess they didn't have their daily required violent encounter)

[Fun With Matches]

He had to work at the hospital the next day too.

[Queen Victoria]

Not too comfortable with overbooking, but can understand it from an accounting/business point of view.  Better solution:  Make the offers to the seated passengers, if no one or not enough passengers agree to postpone their flight, the waiting passengers get the offer and fly later.  If I'm somewhere on time and someone else wants my place, they'd better be prepared to pay a pretty penny for it or wait for the next plane, movie, train, etc.

[odeon]

Saw it and thought WTF? I'd sue them for everything they're worth, which isn't all that much after this thing.

[Icequeen]

Saw it and thought WTF? I'd sue them for everything they're worth, which isn't all that much after this thing.

Agreed. Disgusting behavior on their part.

[MLA]

Saw it and thought WTF? I'd sue them for everything they're worth, which isn't all that much after this thing.

Lost a billion dollars already, and still dropping.

[Lestat]

Serves them right. Its not just the price of flights doing the droppings, even larger helpings of droppings fucking assaulted that guy. Hope he sues them so bad they starve half to death.

[odeon]

Saw it and thought WTF? I'd sue them for everything they're worth, which isn't all that much after this thing.

Lost a billion dollars already, and still dropping.

Sounds to me like it would have been cheaper for them to cancel that next-day flight they wanted to save.

[MLA]

Saw it and thought WTF? I'd sue them for everything they're worth, which isn't all that much after this thing.

Lost a billion dollars already, and still dropping.

Sounds to me like it would have been cheaper for them to cancel that next-day flight they wanted to save.

Right?

[Grey Area]

[odeon]

Now wondering if their CEO will survive this.

[Fun With Matches]

Why did they think they could get away with it?

['andersom']

Maybe they still relied on people not using their phone?

[odeon]

People are idiots. End of.

[Grey Area]

Did you ever hear the tragedy of United Airlines?