Paying passenger roughed up and removed by the Police on an over sold flight

swamt: I don't think any of that matters.

The must-ride crew may not have been Republic, as SDF gets one out and back Republic ERJ-170 daily, Besides that one 170, SDF-ORD is a mix of Skywest and Trans States 50-seaters, and thus the must-ride crew may have been employed by one of those other regionals.

Lots of internet know-it-alls have been posting this week that mainline UA gate agents staff the regional gates at ORD. Turns out they may have been correct, because here is what Oscar said about the situation in his "circle the wagons" memo to employees:

On Sunday, April 9, after United Express Flight 3411 was fully boarded, United's gate agents were approached by crewmembers that were told they needed to board the flight.

We sought volunteers and then followed our involuntary denial of boarding process (including offering up to $1,000 in compensation) and when we approached one of these passengers to explain apologetically that he was being denied boarding, he raised his voice and refused to comply with crew member instructions.

Even if they are not UA mainline gate agents, that no longer matters once Oscar calls them "United" employees repeatedly uses the word "we" to describe the employees. If the CEO calls the employees "United" employees, doesn't matter who actually employs them.

This wasn't caused by the actions of any pilot or FA (or mechanic or fleet service). This was caused by a gate agent who tried to "deny boarding" to someone who had already boarded and who knew that there were plenty of seats for all paying passengers with tickets. And then it was magnified by a tone-deaf "customer was wrong as usual" CEO into a full-blown PR disaster.

UA may not have had any justification in its Contract of Carriage to de-board him, despite the agent's attempts to bootstrap into the IDB procedures. The recent changes confirm that UA won't try to pull this nonsense any more in the future.
 
swamt: I don't think any of that matters.

The must-ride crew may not have been Republic, as SDF gets one out and back Republic ERJ-170 daily, Besides that one 170, SDF-ORD is a mix of Skywest and Trans States 50-seaters, and thus the must-ride crew may have been employed by one of those other regionals.

Lots of internet know-it-alls have been posting this week that mainline UA gate agents staff the regional gates at ORD. Turns out they may have been correct, because here is what Oscar said about the situation in his "circle the wagons" memo to employees:



Even if they are not UA mainline gate agents, that no longer matters once Oscar calls them "United" employees repeatedly uses the word "we" to describe the employees. If the CEO calls the employees "United" employees, doesn't matter who actually employs them.

This wasn't caused by the actions of any pilot or FA (or mechanic or fleet service). This was caused by a gate agent who tried to "deny boarding" to someone who had already boarded and who knew that there were plenty of seats for all paying passengers with tickets. And then it was magnified by a tone-deaf "customer was wrong as usual" CEO into a full-blown PR disaster.

UA may not have had any justification in its Contract of Carriage to de-board him, despite the agent's attempts to bootstrap into the IDB procedures. The recent changes confirm that UA won't try to pull this nonsense any more in the future.



I already explained exactly what happened in my previous post. (See post #23)
Everything I've posted is correct, since our people work ATW/BTW to support the Regional operation at ORD. This was a Republic aircraft since the outbound for the next day was going to EWR where M/L employees work ATW/BTW as well. Crew Scheduling (which the Regional operator has control over), probably did not inform OPS about the out of position crew and if they were coming in from a late inbound or trying to get another crew for the deadhead. I'm quite sure that the seats would have been held if their scheduling told OPS. We don't know exactly what happened, but I am pretty sure that what I previously described is what happened.
 
It won't let me quote you two. But I read where the must ride crew was in fact Republic employees yesterday morn. and I believe it was the release from the United's Pilots Union that made the statement. In the same report they did verify that the flight crew of 3411 was Republic as well.
FWAAA is probably correct that it doesn't matter which airline any of the crew are from, but it just sux that United has to take all the heat. I can assure you that the agents would have saved the 4 seats had they known in advance, they always do with advanced notice. This was a late running crew from another flight or ops totally dropped the ball.
My original post was really just a "what do you do in this case" type question. I am sure United will hold Republic responsible if they can by either asking for some reimbursement or the next time they nego a contract.
 
Oh man, is this Aviation Officer on drugs or what? He is still claiming that Dr. Dao is responsible for his own injuries. But, I guess he will say anything to try and save his own but from getting fired. This officer, Long, has indicated once again that the Dr. got violent, abrasive and even fought him, how far out there can this officer be. I would be very curious if the other 2 officers are going to lie as well to back up their officer? I would not recommend it. The other 2 are more than likely still ok as far as their jobs go. If they were to lie trying to support their fellow worker they may all 3 be without jobs. Here's the article where the Aviation Officer is speaking out:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/aviation-officer-gives-version-united-flight-removal-220611362.html
 
Wow. E, you beet me to it. That was much quicker than I thought. My guess is it's between 5-10 mil. Just a guess but we won't find out for years to come.
 
My guess... at the lower end of your scale, and the lawyer will get at least half of it. It wouldn't surprise me if Republic and the City of Chicago chipped in on the settlement.

Not that I ever expected this to go in front of a jury, the video of him arguing with the police plus the release of the police report wasn't going to help his case.
 
I think Republic and C of C should step in and help United with the cost. However, I don't think the C of C will do anything until after the investigation of the 3 employees are over with. I still cannot believe the main employee is still claiming that the injuries brought onto Dr. Dao were caused 100% by Dr, Dao. But then again his job and future is on the line.
 
This settlement almost certainly has no bearing on the doc's lawsuit against the City of Chicago. Chicago may or may not end up paying him any money - but UA has capped its exposure by settling.

As for Republic - I don't see any wrongful conduct. A mainline UA gate agent, relying on a faulty (IMO) institutionalized interpretation of the UA Contract of Carriage, asserted that UA could force a seated, ticketed, passenger off the plane even when the passenger did not meet any of the listed reasons for removal in the CofC. Continuing down this path, the mainline UA gate agent called the cops instead of convincing someone to get off the plane (by offering sufficient incentives). UA's policies apparently precluded giving the gate agent sufficient authority to handle this situation. With their new voucher limit of up to $10,000, they have now been empowered.

Even if Republic was responsible for some of the damages, it has a fee-per-departure contract with UA that works essentially as a cost-plus contract.
 
Not sure, FWAAA. I'm only reading between the lines of a sparsely worded press release, but can't imagine UA's lawyers would settle and still leave a door open by which they'd have to be deposed or otherwise testify in a separate lawsuit against the City.

I'd assume that there's indemnification in Republic's contract with UA, so yeah, that's probably a dead end.

Hopefully it's a closed chapter. I'm tired of hearing about it.
 
Although Mr Munoz has apologized extensively, Congress had time to beat up on him today:

It was a long day for airline executives, and United’s Munoz in particular, who called Dao’s forced removal “a mistake of epic proportions.”

Perhaps the best line of the day came from Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.), who quipped: “You know you’re having a bad day when the group that lectures you on customer service is Congress.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca....html?tid=pm_local_pop&utm_term=.04e37f005d50

Rep Woodall's comment is very funny. You're having a bad day when Congressmen lecture you on customer service!