A few weeks ago, United Airlines made the news yet again. In an overbooked situation, the airline was forced to bump four passengers from their seat. Things got interesting when a Vietnamese passenger that was chosen at random refused to give up his seat. The alleged doctor put up quite a fight for his flight, but in the end, it was not enough.
I recently read an article from a wife of a pilot on the ordeal with Flight 3411. If you would like to read the article click here. With the world going crazy after the video footage of the doctor being dragged going viral, many ate what the media served them without giving it much more thought that what they saw.
The writer of the article made several good points including that the airline should not be blamed because one, they stepped aside once federal agents took over. Also, whenever someone books a flight, it is in fine print that indeed, a paying customer can get bumped off the flight if the airline sees fit.
I think that the pilot’s wife made some strong points about the incident and the aviation industry as a whole. Unfortunately, I will have to disagree with her on two separate occasions. The first is that she believes that there are two sides to every story. This is not true because you have the side of the passengers who watched it, the federal officers' side, the passenger who was dragged side, United Airways side, and the Federal Government side that overrules the majority of the other sides. In short, there are more than two sides to a story. I did not even take into account the media's side and peoples reaction to the video and how they viewed the matter and retold the story.
The second instance where I will have to disagree with the writer is when she states that the federal officers were just in there actions. I understand that there are fine prints and that is something that airlines can do. I understand that the crew had to be transported to prevent other flights from canceling. What I do not understand is why violence had to be a variable to solve the issue.
When the passenger stated that he was a doctor and had a duty to fulfill, another passenger should have been chosen at random. Doctors have a purpose in life and that is to save the lives of others. This alone should have been enough for the federal agents to understand and choose another passenger.
Violence is never the answer. What if the guy had died? Then what? Is it okay for the officials to kill someone who refused to give up their seat? This is not a case of racism since the guy was randomly chosen. However, it does trace back to the slave days where black people were badly beaten by police for refusing to give up their seats on buses. The dates have changed, but the issues still remain.
