This was 20 (or 50) pages ago, but the current part of the thread seems to need a reminder.

Just where does the CofC state that the cremember has the authority to instruct me to exit the aircraft on which I am properly boarded for a purely commercial, non-safety-related reason that is not part of their official duty anyway? I've read it, and I can't find it. There is a long list of reasons why a person can be removed, but that isn't one of them. They can be denied boarding for overbooking, but when that happens, there is a procedure defined by law that includes providing the person a written summary of their legal rights, etc., and I can find no witness reports that any such occurred.

If a cop demands that I disembark the airplane, and I believe my civil rights are being violated, I will probably do so...loudly. That may not be the smartest response, but in a situation like that, one can hardly be expected to have worked out all the consequences beforehand. The pax, who is probably not a frequent flyer, had absolutely no expectation that he didn't have a right to be there.

Furthermore, where were the cops? All I saw were guys wearing jeans and ball caps. Anyone can buy a vest with a cloth badge on it. Don't they require airport cops in Chicago to wear actual uniforms? I'll have to pay more attention during my next dash between the B and E-F gates. Cops in plain clothes taking part in such activities should be against policy.

And where was the probable cause that a crime had been committed? When an officer arrests someone, they have to have probable cause that a crime has been committed or is beign committed. Talking back to a cop is not probable cause, neither is arguing with a gate agent. Stupid, maybe, but not PC. But that's the part of the exchange that is not in the videos, though there are NO eyewitness reports of how the cops had gently explained to the gentleman the situation. The eyewitness reports describe a quickly escalating situation in a manner intended to defuse the stiuation. (I have read all the media reports that quote eyewitnesses--so far.) If I show a cop my boarding pass, I would rather expect him to come to my aid with what would seem to me a hostile airline employee who is trying, for reasons that sound implausible to an inexperience passenger, to take my booked-paid-occupied seat from me.

But the simple fact is that United just hasn't built up any postive goodwill in, like, forever. So, when they need to make a withdrawal in their goodwill account to cover for a screw-up, they find it in the red. I'm a lowly Gold who is a bit short of a million miles, and I fly them because they are the dominant airline at my local hub airport. I grumble about the decline in service and even common politeness I've witnessed over the year, but I still use them because I would be unable to earn any privileges at all on the variety of other airlines I'd have to use. But I struggle to find sympathy when they step into the hot tar-bucket like they did this time, eyes wide shut.

That the passenger was a jerk doesn't mean a thing. The GA's and cops didn't know his medical license had been revoked, or whatever. Again, there were no witness reports in the media that the guy had behaved insanely until after his head came into contact with the armrest. The media reports I read stated that witness just said that he refused to leave the plane after the GA asked him to, but that the GA had been "brusque" in the situation until that time. All of the reports of loony behavior came after he was injured. Again, being a jerk is not probable cause that a crime has been committed that would subject someone to arrest.