Quote:
Originally Posted by dewilson58
I think it was the police..............Chicago Aviation Police, which is a division of the Chicago Police Department. Fact check me.............but this is my understanding.
A lawsuit will obviously pull in United Airlines, but they followed the "contract" with the ticket holder........how the passenger was ejected maybe of question.
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Yes it was the aviation police. And the regular Chicago police department got involved in explaining the incident and tweeted that the "69 year old Asian" "fell"
If you watch video it certainly does not look like the man "fell". And what his ethnicity had to do with the situation escapes me.
As to whether United acted in conformity with their contract is a legal question.
You can read the contract, it has language about refusing to board passengers on oversold flights in rule 25, but that language all applies to BEFORE boarding. It seems once you are seated they must fly you unless rule 21 is invoked. There is nothing in rule 21 about overbooked removals. You are always required to follow the reasonable orders of the flight crew as to not endanger safety. [turn off your cell phone, put on your seat belt].
I would believe that removing a passenger for the convenience of the airline is not a safety issue. United had multiple other ways to get its crew to Louisville including simply driving them [under 5 hours drive time]. United failed to utilize any of several none-forceful methods to get its crew to Louisville and therefore is likely to not only loose in the court of public opinion [watch their stock go down today] but also in a court of law. Delta recently paid a family of three, $11,000 to give up seats on a flight. If United had upped their offer until they had 4 volunteers it would have avoided all this mess.