MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin - Re: Just took a few hours

> I understand overbooking and removing a paid passenger from its seat is truly at
> fault here. But really, does that entitled spoiled child behavior some people have
> were any useful? Did he get to see their patients the next day? No, now he needs
> reconstruction surgery and excuses to demand the airline for millions (which is
> probably what he really wanted).
>
> What's next? Disobeying any authority will be allowed as long as you are a minority?
> Are they worth to your obedience only when they're searching for flight threats on
> your own flight, just not when you're asked to get out not mattering the reason? Do
> customer complaint departments don't exist? How did he expect to disobey would work
> it doesn't matter what? That was some nice spectacle coming from supposedly an
> educated person, more like a 5 year child who doesn't want to visit a dentist.

Why are bringing race into it? That's got nothing to do with it. And calling the customer complaints department? Don't make me laugh. At best you'll get a voucher to get a discount on another flight with the same airline so you can get screwed around again.

> In a fair world he would be penalized for not complying to authorized personnel
> orders. That is as belligerent as a criminal not stopping when asked to. So think
> about it the next time you get robbed but no one got caught because the criminal
> didn't stop. And they aren't allowed to use brute force anymore for them being
> citizens nor customers just like any other criminal.

Wait, you're equating not giving up the seat you paid for with to robbery? That's absolutely ridiculous But putting that aside, are you suggesting that you should immediately submit to your overlords even when their demands are not lawful? If no-one questions unreasonable and unlawful demands made by the authorities, they'll just keep extending their overreach.

The whole situation is ridiculous. US airlines overbook all the time - in the US you always hear calls for people willing to take a later flight due to overbooking, but you don't get this in other parts of the world. Something needs to be done about that. But this isn't even a case of overbooking and denying boarding to some passengers, it's United deciding they need to ferry staff after the passengers are seated on the plane. Whether they're within their legal rights to do this or not, there's no way this wouldn't have been bad PR. It shows that they have poor processes for managing staff availability/location, and complete disregard for their customers.

Then you've got the use of excessive force to remove the passenger from the plane. The thugs weren't even police, they were private airport security staff. You've got a real problem when your police and security guards go around acting like thugs. The passenger wasn't violent, he was just trying to contact a lawyer. There was no need to handle him like this.

I really hope this is a bit of a wake-up call for the US. US private security services have turned into gangs of thugs supporting corporate interests, and they face no repercussions when they exceed their authority or use excessive force. It's the land of the free, as long as you only care about the freedom to lick your corporate masters' arseholes.