If there’s one thing I have learned over the years, it’s that there are always two sides to every story.
On April 9th, a very unfortunate incident played out on United Flight 3411, the video of which has since gone viral causing a mass social media uprising with an ‘off-with-their-heads’ mentality. I mean, across the board. Fire ’em all and let the gods sort it out later.
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.
If a any law enforcement officer asks me to exit a plane, no matter how royally pissed off I am, I’m going to do it and then seek other means of legal reimbursement. True story.
Knowing what I know about airport security, I’m certainly not going to run back into a secured, federally restricted area at an airport flailing my arms and screaming like a banshee…because, you know, that just happens to be breaking a major federal Homeland Security law.
But that’s just me, obviously.
The moment I made that particular ill-advised choice, I would become an immediate and imminent threat to the aircraft’s security. That’s kind of a big deal. I mean, come on, I once actually had to remove my infant son’s socks because they mimicked little baby sneakers. These guys mean business.
I didn’t like it. I thought it was just plain stupid, honestly. But instead of pitching a massive fit, refusing to comply, and bolting through the TSA checkpoint like an out-of-control toddler, I did the big girl thing–sucked it up, removed the offensive socks, and went on with my happy life, sans being tackled and dragged through the airport in handcuffs by a bunch of big men with guns.
Because if you choose to take advantage of the services the airport provides, you play by their rules.
I know you’re all out there screaming that the ‘rules’ are unfair, but I am a pilot wife. I remember 9/11. Do you? I want my husband, the father of my children, to come home. I want you to get home. That law exists to protect my husband. And your wife. And your grandmother. And your child. And you. I, for one, am glad for the law.
I’m not here to dispute the facts of 3411 with you. I am not interested in getting into an argument of opinion with anyone. We’re all entitled to our own. I’m not arguing that what happened wasn’t completely terrible–it was, on multiple levels. But I am suggesting that the general public take another look at the situation, ask a few more questions, gather a few more facts, and then create a less hostile and more intellectually wrought opinion about what happened.
Because the media is giving you just enough information to keep you enraged–enough to keep their ratings up.
Things to consider:
1) “You can’t just kick a paying customer off the plane!” Psssst! It’s in the fine print. They can, indeed, do just that. And it’s not an airline specific rule, it’s a commercial aviation rule. Every ticket you purchase comes with a plethora of fine print–you know, the stuff we just click ‘next’ on without actually reading what we are agreeing to. Yeah, that. Well, it’s in there, and you checked the ‘I agree’ box when you purchased your ticket. You can read about it and oh-so-much-more here. Kind of makes you want to read all those tiny words on your next phone update before you click ‘I agree’, huh? You should. United did not break any law, and he agreed to the policy and possibility of involuntary bump when he bought his ticket. And so do you.
2) “Kicking a paying customer off an airplane!? I’m taking my business to Southwest!” Ummmm, okay. But just be sure you understand that every major airline, Southwest included, has a similar policy for involuntary bumping in a ‘must ride’ scenario. Don’t believe me? It’s called the contract of carriage. If you’re really bored, you can read Southwest’s here. Or Delta’s here. And on and on. This could have been any airline. In fact, it happens all the time. Most people just don’t wrestle law enforcement in the aisle.
3: “So what’s this ‘must ride’ nonsense anyway? They shouldn’t bump a paying customer for a free employee ride!” It’s actually pretty important to you as an airline traveler that they can. They were not ‘freeloading home’. That’s called non-rev and they have to wait in line behind your checkbook and often don’t make it home to their families if flights are booked (believe me, I know). No, this was a must fly, a positive space situation. In layman terms, it means that a crew must be flown to an airport to man a flight in order to avoid cancellation of said flight due to crew unavailability. The airlines are required to do so to avoid disruption of air traffic. In other words, if there are no willing volunteers and they need seats to get a crew somewhere to avoid disruption of aviation flow, they can, will, must bump people for the better good of the 1000’s. Why? Because one cancelled flight has a serious domino affect in the delicate, complicated world of connections and aviation law. This is not illegal. The only thing DOT requires in this situation is that the passenger is reimbursed his/her money.
4: “It’s the airline’s fault for not planning better!” Do some research! The airline industry is conpex. There are about a million and one things that can cause a crew shortage including but not limited to weather, maintenance, weather, connecting fight delays, weather, FAA timeout regs, and did I mention weather? I wish I could control Mother Nature because I would be one filthy rich person. But I can’t. And neither can United. So they inconvenience one, or four, to keep hundreds on track. Do the math. And of course, if we were on the other end of this thing, we’d be tirading and blowing up the internet because United didn’t bump a passenger to make sure our flight didn’t get cancelled and left hundreds stranded. Damned if you do; damned if you don’t. We’re a fickle crowd, we social media folks.
5: They shouldn’t have picked the minority Chinese doctor! It’s racist.” That’s just silly. Though federal regulation demands they involuntarily bump to prevent interruption of flights when necessary, each airline does have the leniency to determine how they choose the bumped passengers. They did not play spin the bottle or walk down the aisle looking for the Asian guy. Use your heads, people! There is a computerized algorithm that takes into account price of ticket, how long ago it was purchased, whether or not they can get the passenger to their destination in a timely manner, etc. It wasn’t an ‘Asian thing.’ Stop, people. Just stop. **added note: it has been discussed that Dr. Dao may have initially volunteered his seat and wasn’t chosen randomly at all. He then changed his mind after accepting the deal.
6: “United should go under for assaulting that passenger! Fire the entire crew!” Read the facts. United never touched the passenger. In fact, by all witness accounts, the United flight crew (layman term: pilots and flight attendants) remained calm and pleasant throughout the entire event, never laying hands on the passenger. They followed protocol as required by policy, no matter if it’s a good policy or not. Once law enforcement became involved (also as required by protocol), United stepped out of the decision-making process. They had nothing to do with the rest. The passenger was forcibly removed by aviation security (the very disturbing clip that everyone is talking about) after running back into the secured area after being escorted out once. Once he did that, like it or not, they (law enforcement) were under full discretion of the law to apply necessary force to remove the threat. I’m not saying it’s pretty, but the only one who actually broke a law was the passenger. There’s a reason for these laws–it’s called 9/11. I understand he’s npt a terrorist. I’m only explaining why these laws and policies exist. We can’t have it both ways. But by all means, let’s berate and punish an entire flight crew–in fact thousands of pilots, FA’s, gate attendents, ground crew, etc.–because it makes us all feel a little better.
7: “You piece of **it!” I get that the passengers were upset, angry, maybe even confused. I get that you are too. After all, media is tossing you out chunks of bloody meat like you’re a pack of starving wolves. But I’m seriously disgusted that the must ride crew that had to take those seats as well as aviation folks at airports around the nation after the unfortunate mess that unraveled have been verbally and physically assaulted and threatened. Can you imagine the very uncomfortable position they were in? doing their jobs to feed their families. Just. Like. You. They don’t have a choice. They didn’t ask for this. They didn’t assault anyone. They are not a corporation; they are individuals who need a job. There’s a very fine line between what you despise and becoming what you despise. Many of the comments and actions I have seen perpetrated against United employees cross it. Violence does not fix violence. Don’t become what you hate.
Like I said, I know you’re mad at United, but there’s much more to the story than hits the media fan.
I truly hope that this gives you something to chew on and gives you a smidgen more insight into the complexities of aviation. I’m not making excuses. I think there were bad decisions made on both sides. However, I am saying there are always two sides to every story. Make sure you consider them both.
Tailwinds.
***In answer to some questions: I am in no way affiliated with United Airlines. I have not been paid for this blog. My opinions are not reflective of any airline or even my husband. I write of my own volition. I never stated that United did not make serious customer service or human interaction mistakes. Of course they did! Of course they should have made adjustments before bording, offered more money, and found ways to diffuse the situation. Of course, no human should be assaulted. I called it terrible and appalling in the blog. My only intent was to explain the policy behind what happened and that they were not illegal. United (and other airlines) has scrutinized their policy and made some necessary changes since this blog was published. Those changes are not reflected above in the blog as they were not current policy at the time of event. Thanks.
***A correction to the previous article. Mr. Dao was indeed Vietnamese and not Chinese. That quote was verbatim from a comment off the internet. Also, it has come to light since this publication that the law enforcement officials were not federal. However, they are still not employed by United. I apology profusely for the confusion.
Angelia (A Pilot Wife)
Thats just it, the plane was not over booked like UA would like to have you believed. Like with everything else in this country laws and regs are used and abused instead of being used for their intended purpose, as a way of justifying their actions. This man was on board in a seat he paid for and it was confirmed.
That matters not at all. if the plane was booked to seats 199 of 200 and all 199 got on if the airline needed 4 seats three people are coming off. Must rides beat passengers, all day long. You don’t know what you’re on about.
He was a threat when he ran back onto the plane with a bloody face. He, of all people, should understand the universal precautions surrounding bloodborne pathogen transmission.
He was a threat and needed to be removed. If I were on that plane and he bled on me, I’d sue his ass for putting my health at risk just because he wanted to resist authority.
He had a bloody face because he was removed. He wasn’t removed because he had a bloody face. Kind of a big difference.
He was removed for failure to follow the instructions of the flight crew. Yes the order was for him to deplane, but it was a lawful command.
Fuck him.
Never the crew, the aircraft or the other passengers were threatened by this passenger that was offloaded so your claim about keeping your husband, wife, grandmother, anyone alive doesn’t make sense. You may have some knowledge about safety on board but there were no reasons for security to get involved in this,you can ask your husband if he’s really knowledgeable as well, just a really bad management from United. Did he feel threatened before security came on board to mistreat this passenger? Then there are no claim to say there were some safety issues, get your facts right!
The crew that needed to position for a flight the next day could have gone on a bus, a taxi, a private car and it would have cost less to United then compensation to the passengers that were offloaded. Clearly United have no clue about customer service and they will treat you like this if they want to have their staff on a plane. Bad judgement and bad management… How would you find out just last minute that you need a crew to another destination and they turn up at the airport? Nobody informed the ground staff there were 4 crew coming on board until the passengers all boarded? For a company that made billions of $$ in profit last year they should invest in someone who can work out where the crew needs to be and make sure they have seats for them.
Sorry to say but as much as I understand you love your husband and everything, this passenger was in no way endangering the safety of the crew, the passengers or the aircraft. I’ve been working in airline industry for decades, sorry to say but you’re just so wrong and you’re trying to defend a company that mistreated an innocent human being. there were several other ways to solve the problem but United went for the weak choice of having security involved when there was no need, blamed the passenger first, CEO applauded his staff for doing so and follow protocol, etc… Then after all the pressure realised he was wrong and apologised! How sick is that! He should definitely leave his position for taking no action and wait until he got pressure from the press and the social network to react and say United was wrong…
Hope they pay this passenger a lot of their profit, should gives them an idea on how to treat passengers… and it will prove you that you are totally wrong in your thinking… Again, nobody was threatened by this man and he didn’t deserve to be treated like an animal and beaten like this! I believe you live in a civilised country, no? You, as the wife of a pilot might not have to travel urgently and just travel for the pleasure of it but other people have other agendas and have to travel, same priorities as the United crew had so I don’t know why they should be given priority! Just so glad we have proofs of what happened on board so he can claim a lot of money from them… And hope everyone stop flying this disgusting United airline…
For all those who say overbooking should be banned- then ticket prices will go up more as that revenue is lost.
This had nothing to do with overbooking. Flight was not overbooked. United kicked paying customers off of the flight for their own staff. Big difference.
Your lack of understanding of the facts and your smugness as “knowing what I know about….” is just about the most stupid and ridiculous thing I’ve seen in this whole mess.
Your opinion, in a nutshell, is “obey”. If only he had “obeyed” it wouldn’t be a problem.
Gee… if only the American colonists had obeyed and paid their tea tax. If only Rosa Parks had obeyed and moved to the back of the bus. If only Trayvon Martin had obeyed the neighborhood watch guy, he wouldn’t be dead…..
He should have complied with the authority in front of him, and then seek a civil solution to his grievances.
Nice strawman.
1. Tea tax is nothing like this situation. mass rebellion against government vs lone jackass refusing to abide by a contract he signed.
2. Trayvon made it home and went back out looking for trouble and bit off more than he could chew.
3. The airline owns that seat, the contract he signed says they can take it from you if they need it.
4. refusal to follow commands given by the flight crew IS a federal crime.
Yeah, typically “obey” is a sure fire way to keep from getting force used on you. What should the airline do instead, refuse to depart until he leaves or cancel the flight because they can’t leave with this guy on board because they need all 4 of their people? Pick someone else because hes an asshole, like the next person wont protest their removal because he refused to go? Get fucking real. You entitled morons are just a waste of humanity.