Originally Posted by
chavala
imagine what this world would be like if we all just shut up and did as we were told by various "authorities" . This guy stood up for his rights, he knew he hadn't done anything wrong. He faced a huge humiliation, and in return he will come out looking like a hero. Good on him.
This is not an issue of rights, it's an issue of contract. US DOT regulations (The law) and United's Contract of Carriage allows them to involuntarily deny boarding to passengers after they have sought volunteers to be voluntarily denied boarding and received none/not enough vs. need to bump. You can argue that oversale is a ...... practice (it might of not even be the culprit in this case - news reports are saying they needed to get 4 deadheading crew to the destination airport for them to operate a flight the next morning, if they didn't have confirmed seats it's likely an earlier flight to take them out was cancelled or the original crew was there but exceeded hours).
I'm sure with the PR nightmare and news fiasco this guy will end up doing just fine, but UA was allowed to (under their own contract and the law), and with the current airline rules IDBs are a rare but distinct possibility. Maximizing your rights under the law (e.g. IDB compensation) is totally justified, but refusing to leave the plane when ordered to by a flight crew is just a bad idea, period.