More people need to read this. I think the crew cheaped out and chose police force instead of upping the $800 offer. If the order on the $800 limit came from corporate, then someone in middle management ****ed up. Now United investors, management, and employees are paying for the mistake.
don't know if true, but read that the doctor was already asked to be removed from a previous flight and he was ensured he was flying out that Sunday, so guess all hell broke loose when they asked him again to unboard the plane
I get why people are focusing on him being a doctor, and my father is a few years younger than this man, is also Vietnamese, a grandfather, and I would be livid if this happened to him. But I think we can all agree the fact that this man was a doctor doesn't even matter. The dude is elderly. Unless he had a weapon which I can only assume he didn't b/c security checks and all that, he poses little threat. The could have removed him with much less force. There were just so many things that could have and should have been done differently. Confusing that the article says he's Viet, and says he was complaining that he was chosen b/c he's Chinese.
It was $1000, from what I've heard. I imagine there is a limit they've carefully calculated in terms of cost-benefit. The person who screwed up the most is the person who didn't properly schedule the relief crew in Louisville. The person who secondarily screwed up (although it may not have been their fault as they may not have been told until it was too late) is the guy who let everyone onto the plane before sorting out the overbooking scenario. 1000 bucks to drive 4 hours to Louisville. I can't believe no one took that. As a side note; if you're one of the 60+ people in Louisville who didn't have your flight cancelled, you gotta think United has the best customer service EVER.
Story seems to be gaining steam? Both in terms of memes and embarrassment for united? I'm sure this PR is totally worth it...
I think this is a pretty good article on the situation and why United is generally in the wrong: https://thepointsguy.com/2017/04/i-got-the-united-situation-wrong/
I know. It's only 4 hours away. If I had to be honest with myself I would have sold out much lower than that.
the guy was a sex pervert who traded drugs for sex and money to pay down his gambling debts. On his records the examiners found him to be completely full of crap.
Wait this guy was a multiple felon who traded narcotics for sex, just got his medical license back after it was suspended for 11 years, was selling hydrocodone for $175 dollars a bottle and was VERY interested in his male clients dicks. This guy has a documented history of being full of **** sex pervert who trade drugs to pay off his debts and takes advantage of male patients because he is curious about their dicks. From your article "Dr Dao has previously worked at Hardin Memorial Hospital and owned a medical practice. " I guess before they took his license away. As of now "Last year, the medical board imposed even more restrictions -- now he can only practice internal medicine in an outpatient facility one day a week." Patients to see, right....
Dude on reddit who was there, retelling it: Before the flight started they were offering 150 bucks in vouchers to anyone who would get bumped but the next flight wasn't until the next day at about 3 in the afternoon. After we got on the plane, I was zone 3, they raised it to four hundred dollars. About ten minutes later they raised it to 800. At this point the plane was completely boarded. Then the stewardess came on and basically told us this plane was not moving until four people got off, they said they needed it for four United employees (who I later noticed were two stewardesses and two pilots). About ten minutes later (30 minutes after we should have left) the manager came on with a clipboard and told this gentleman in the video that he payed the lowest and had to get off the flight. He said absolutely not, he wasn't screaming but I could hear him as it was a small flight. She shuffled around for a bit then talked to him again, this was the point when someone offered her 1600 and she laughed at him, then she told the asian guy that he was going to get physically removed. She called security, then one guy showed up who didn't look like police to me. He talked to him (much more calmly than the manager) but with no luck. The guy wasn't budging, said he was a doctor and had to go to work early in the morning. The guys backup came, a cop and a plainclothes, and then the video starts. They knock him around and drag him out. At this point I think everything is over, but about ten minutes later he comes running back in with a bloody mouth saying that he had to get back home over and over, I think he was concussed. The employees asked us all to get off the plane so they could handle the situation. We went back into the terminal. They somehow get him into a wheelchair and put him in an ambulance. They cleaned the blood out of the plane and put us back on about an hour after we got off. Then they sent us on our way, friendly skies huh They should have gone with random selection. So he is chosen b/c he was thrifty with his air fare. This just get more and more stupid.
I guess their "careful" calculation was only about $700 million bucks off based on what the company lost in market cap this morning. I agree with you, re the crew scheduling mistake, but Chicago is a United hub. They could have easily scheduled another flight to Louisville for the crew if they wanted to. At the end of the day, this was a decision made to benefit the company's bottom line. It backfired in a big way.
United did a few things wrong. 1. The compensation policy stinks. They've always been the worst of the big 3. $800 limit in this situation is awful and knowing United, the $800 was probably a United voucher rather than a check. The other two (Delta and American) would have cut a check to get out of this and probably kept bidding upwards if they desperately needed four seats. 2. Presumably the crew did have confirmed (but non-revenue) tickets which probably means that while they don't violate the FAA rules regarding confirmed passengers and re-accommodation, they do violate their own contract of carriage which most likely is supposed to put non-rev passengers at the bottom of priority. The FAA should also probably clarify if FAA rules on re-accommodation apply after the plane has boarded. 3. Most importantly, because there were probably several things done incorrectly (violating contract of carriage, misapplication of FAA involuntary re-accommodation rules, assault, etc..), some lawyer at United probably told their PR and CEO to not admit fault to limit liability. However, that clearly backfired as the result now is 100 times worse.
If I was the doctor's lawyer I'd add another zero on the settlement for the airlines leaking out that past story to the media...
And we've seen politicians done worse. So people are justifying the beating? How much is UA paying these media?
It is all public record. How many David Dao's do you think there are in Elizabethtown Kentucky? http://www.wave3.com/story/4301599/elizabethtown-doctor-indicted-on-98-drug-charges you can read all of the details of him trying to get his license back also. The guy is a real sack of crap.
That being said, United could have easily rented a car for their employees. They screwed up on so many levels.
