SEA1K4EVR

From TMZ:

United Airlines is investigating a complaint made by an actor who appeared on the TV show "Barbershop" after he claimed he was kicked off of a flight simply because he was black.

Michael Colyar claims he was booted from his flight at Dulles International Airport in Virginia after he refused to allow a flight attendant to move his luggage from the overhead storage bin ... so a white passenger could stow her bag there instead.

Link to full article: http://www.tmz.com/2011/09/01/barber...endant-luggae/

You've got to be kidding me

aisleorwindow

I stopped reading after the first two words. This is the only thing I needed to read to know it was

Jorgen

This makes perfect sense. I have, after all, never ever seen a black person on an aeroplane.

I am certain it has everything to do with him being black and nothing at all to do with him being an ....

Seriously, it's 2011. Didn't the race card expire already?

demkr

This is such nonsense. I am sick and tired of race being used as an excuse for everything. The culture of victimhood needs to end. And then United has to deal with PR control so the vultures don't publish "United Airlines is raaaaaaacist" headlines all over the place.

Let me guess---he decided to put his luggage in a spot where a bulkhead pax needed to put his/her bags. FA told him to move them elsewhere to accommodate the bulkhead pax, and the guy automatically assumed "Its because Im black."--threw a stink, disrupted the plane, and was asked to leave.

The TMZ site has foul language used by this guy and it sounds like he is a very angry, arrogant man.

United needs to just come out and say that their non-discrimination policy also means that passengers who begin disrupting the plane don't get a free pass just because they are black.

+1 for all of the above posters. and +1 to whoever decided to throw this angry man off the plane.

goalie

It really pi$$es me off when folks play the race card. I don't care what color their skin is, playing the race card for whatever reason is wrong

Jorgen

If United made a mistake it was their PR drone:

"United Airlines tells TMZ ... "As a global airline with a diverse workforce, United has zero tolerance for any type of discrimination and we take every such matter seriously. We spoke to Mr. Colyar Wednesday so that we can address his concerns, and committed to get back to him as we learn more from our coworkers and other customers onboard.” "

The correct response would have been

This is an absolutely ridiculous and patently offensive complaint from a man who should know better. We won't dignify it with a response, though we might get back to y'all eventually after we've spoken to the flight attendant in question, just so we can let you know precisely how much of a **** Mr Colyar was on the flight in question. Of course it goes without saying that due to the rudeness of his accusation against our employees Mr Colyar is hereby banned from our airline in the future.

EsquireFlyer

It may even be worse. For example, he might have dumped his bag in the first open bin in F, despite being seated in Y; or he might have been seated in F, but put his rollaboard in sideways rather than wheels-in; or he may have put 2~3 carry-ons into the bins and refused to allow even one of them to be placed under the seat in front of him, or to be gate-checked; etc.

Given all the possible reasons why an FA might ask a pax to move his bag after he placed it in an overhead bin, "the pax is black" doesn't even make the list of plausible explanations.

N1120A

I'm going to refrain from comment on the "race card" issue, as the "race card card" is played far more often than the much mentioned "race card."

TMZ has, shockingly and mostly because of the FOX-ification of the media, become a legitimate news source.

EsquireFlyer

Then you're playing the "race card card" card.

PTravel

You may be right about the "threw a stink," part. However, I don't think it's appropriate for an FA to tell another F passenger to remove their bags so that a bulkhead pax can store them. If I was sitting in F and an FA asked me to do this, I would have had something to say as well.

demkr

+1.

Gee, sure can't tell what part of the political spectrum you fall under from those two comments. Putting your obvious left wing bias aside, can't you stick to the topic at hand? Do you feel that this man was really removed from the plane because he was black? Your two points express an ideological viewpoint, but really have nothing to do with the article.

Maybe, maybe not. I've seen it done hundreds of times. "Can I move your bag over here?" Pax usually says "Sure" -- I've moved my bag to accommodate other pax who need the space more than I do. Getting out on time is usually my #1 goal during boarding, and I'm willing to be part of the team effort to make it happen.

PTravel

It depends on where the bag is being moved to. If someone, pax or FA, asks me to move my bag to a bin 10 rows back because a late-arriving bulkhead pax wants to stow their bag where mine presently sits, the answer is going to be a polite, but firm, "no."

demkr

Right-I think that's reasonable. But let's say worse case scenario and that's what the man was being asked to do, it is a *huge* stretch to assume it's because he's black (vs. the FA just being too demanding or even out of bounds) and then disrupt the airplane because of it.

Its one thing to say no like you said you would do-but this man should be mature enough as an adult passenger to sit down and be calm about it. If it were me, I'd have complied and then sent in a complaint about the FA asking me to do it if I felt she were out of bounds. I wouldn't assume, gee, it's because I'm white. I don't know where that comes from.

I have to contact this man ,because of UA is racist, his e-cert will be too. I'd be happy to take that intolerant e-cert if he doesn't want it lol

SEA1K4EVR

Very true.. more than half of their reports aren't worth reading, but they also have incredibly good sources and they break tons of big stories. They reported that Michael Jackson had died over an hour before any other main stream organization like CNN. I know..I was monitoring that day!

PTravel

Oh, I agree completely. I was just addressing the reasonableness of what he may have been asked to do.