The New York Post: Cuomo's free tuition program comes with a catch
The Daily News: Mom and grandma fight off maniac who tried to grab baby in Brooklyn subway
The New York Times: Apparently most of my friends see the man who was asked to deplane a United Airlines flight as the Rosa Parks of anti-corporatism. Yet I see him as a brat throwing a temper tantrum -- going limp like a 2-year-old to make things as difficult as possible -- when asked to do something he felt was unfair. (Who does that?) I'm more anti-corporation than anyone I know, but I also understand that the only reason our "civil" society works is because we have all agreed to act a certain way and without that, we'd be living in utter chaos. (I've flown Avianca and Colombians apparently have not agreed to the same rules of the air we have, so everyone was standing and walking around during take-off and landing and I nearly had a stroke!) As we learned on 9/11, planes are not someplace to be fucking around. If a crew member asks you to do something, do it. Getting bumped sucks. (That's why there's compensation.) And the way they handled it -- asking people to leave after they were on-board was shitty as can be. But there was still no reason this man couldn't argue his case off the plane or at the very least standing like an adult.
The Wall Street Journal: You Know What This Company Needs? More Sturm und Drang
6 comments:
My understanding was that the gentleman hit his head when he fell (or was dropped) and was more-or-less out of it when the cops were dragging him off the plane. If that's accurate, he didn't "go limp" - he was appropriately limp medically. (I have no direct knowledge if it is, in fact, accurate, but I did read it in at least two news reports last night.)
@DrGaellon: No, he refused to get out of the seat and was dragged like a rag doll, which then put his head in a position to get smacked on the arm rest. All of which could have been avoided if he had stood up like an adult.
Kenneth - love your blog and agree with you - but not on this one. You are wrong. Since when can a passenger be ejected from an airplane, once seated and with a reserved seat (I assume) so an oversold airline can accommodate 4 airline personnel. If that had been me, I too would have said no.
We don't know how important his trip was, but regardless, United was wrong and is a terrible airline. as are the security guards who particpated in this. Kenneth - how would you react if you were on a trip - urgent to get to your destination - and this happened to you? If this can happen to him, it can happen to you or me. Sorry you are wrong on this one and hope you reevaluate your position and that you don't experience a similar event.
@Fred: You need to read up more. It happens all the time and is 100% legal. I'm not saying anyone should be happy about it. I'm saying he should have stood up when a crew member told him to and addressed the staff directly instead of slouching in his chair like a child.
What next? A cop suddenly blocks off a road -- and you're in a hurry to an appointment -- so you decide you know better that it's fine to use and you decide to ride around him on the sidewalk? That's NOT how we behave in a civil society.
He's 100% wrong.
I'd be really pissed if this happened to me. But airlines have hundreds of crew members who live in one city but are based in another. These four employees probably needed to get to their respective bases to work, so instead of thousands of passengers being inconvenienced by a flight that couldn't take off for lack of a crew (later that night or early this next morning), a few people were inconvenienced and compensated for their troubles. It only became a big deal because this guy acted like an idiot.
This might help you, Fred:
http://www.9news.com/news/local/verify/verify-can-an-airline-kick-you-off-a-flight-thats-too-full/430168875
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