My brother in law just had an experience on United that was deplorable. It got me to thinking about what exactly are our rights as paying passengers. If anyone has any knowledge or info, I’d be very appreciative.

Flying from JFK to PDX on UA my brother in law was seated in his coach seat when a man approached him and told him to move because he had the same seat assignment, (I can only assume the man thought my brother in law was in the wrong seat). After my brother in law produced his boarding pass that showed he was indeed in the correct seat, the man stormed to the front of the plan. Within a few minutes he returned to where my brother in law was seated with a FA in tow. The flight attendant asked to see my brother in laws boarding pass, at which point she told him he needed to give up his seat and move to the back of the plane where there was an empty middle seat between two large individuals. After a heated exchange, my brother in law questioning the Fa’s rational, the FA threatened to have my brother in law removed from the plane for being argumentative and because he was a “possible danger to other passengers.” Reluctantly he moved to the middle seat at the back of the plane. After the flight he realized that in the seat shuffle he had dropped and lost his Palm Pilot, which just added to the entire bad experience.

So, my question is this, “What rights do we have as paying passengers to keep this from happening?” and “what recourse do we have if this happens/”