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Man pulled off of overbooked flight UA3411 (ORD-SDF) 9 Apr 2017 {Settlement reached}

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Old Apr 10, 2017, 8:42 pm
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Statement from United Airlines Regarding Resolution with Dr. David Dao - released 27 April 2017
CHICAGO, April 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- We are pleased to report that United and Dr. Dao have reached an amicable resolution of the unfortunate incident that occurred aboard flight 3411. We look forward to implementing the improvements we have announced, which will put our customers at the center of everything we do.
DOT findings related to the UA3411 9 April 2017 IDB incident 12 May 2017

What facts do we know?
  • UA3411, operated by Republic Airways, ORD-SDF on Sunday, April 9, 2017. UA3411 was the second to last flight to SDF for United. AA3509 and UA4771 were the two remaining departures for the day. Also, AA and DL had connecting options providing for same-day arrival in SDF.
  • After the flight was fully boarded, United determined four seats were needed to accommodate crew to SDF for a flight on Monday.
  • United solicited volunteers for VDB. (BUT stopped at $800 in UA$s, not cash). Chose not to go to the levels such as 1350 that airlines have been known to go even in case of weather impacted disruption)
  • After receiving no volunteers for $800 vouchers, a passenger volunteered for $1,600 and was "laughed at" and refused, United determined four passengers to be removed from the flight.
  • One passenger refused and Chicago Aviation Security Officers were called to forcibly remove the passenger.
  • The passenger hit the armrest in the aisle and received a concussion, a broken nose, a bloodied lip, and the loss of two teeth.
  • After being removed from the plane, the passenger re-boarded saying "I need to go home" repeatedly, before being removed again.
  • United spokesman Jonathan Guerin said the flight was sold out — but not oversold. Instead, United and regional affiliate Republic Airlines – the unit that operated Flight 3411 – decided they had to remove four passengers from the flight to accommodate crewmembers who were needed in Louisville the next day for a “downline connection.”

United Express Flight 3411 Review and Action Report - released 27 April 2017

Videos

Internal Communication by Oscar Munoz
Oscar Munoz sent an internal communication to UA employees (sources: View From The Wing, Chicago Tribune):
Dear Team,

Like you, I was upset to see and hear about what happened last night aboard United Express Flight 3411 headed from Chicago to Louisville. While the facts and circumstances are still evolving, especially with respect to why this customer defied Chicago Aviation Security Officers the way he did, to give you a clearer picture of what transpired, I've included below a recap from the preliminary reports filed by our employees.

As you will read, this situation was unfortunately compounded when one of the passengers we politely asked to deplane refused and it became necessary to contact Chicago Aviation Security Officers to help. Our employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this. While I deeply regret this situation arose, I also emphatically stand behind all of you, and I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.

I do, however, believe there are lessons we can learn from this experience, and we are taking a close look at the circumstances surrounding this incident. Treating our customers and each other with respect and dignity is at the core of who we are, and we must always remember this no matter how challenging the situation.

Oscar

Summary of Flight 3411
  • On Sunday, April 9, after United Express Flight 3411 was fully boarded, United's gate agents were approached by crewmembers that were told they needed to board the flight.
  • We sought volunteers and then followed our involuntary denial of boarding process (including offering up to $1,000 in compensation) and when we approached one of these passengers to explain apologetically that he was being denied boarding, he raised his voice and refused to comply with crew member instructions.
  • He was approached a few more times after that in order to gain his compliance to come off the aircraft, and each time he refused and became more and more disruptive and belligerent.
  • Our agents were left with no choice but to call Chicago Aviation Security Officers to assist in removing the customer from the flight. He repeatedly declined to leave.
  • Chicago Aviation Security Officers were unable to gain his cooperation and physically removed him from the flight as he continued to resist - running back onto the aircraft in defiance of both our crew and security officials.
Email sent to all employees at 2:08PM on Tuesday, April 11.
Dear Team,

The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment. I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened. Like you, I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way.

I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.

It’s never too late to do the right thing. I have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what’s broken so this never happens again. This will include a thorough review of crew movement, our policies for incentivizing volunteers in these situations, how we handle oversold situations and an examination of how we partner with airport authorities and local law enforcement. We’ll communicate the results of our review by April 30th.

I promise you we will do better.

Sincerely,

Oscar
Statement to customers - 27 April 2017
Each flight you take with us represents an important promise we make to you, our customer. It's not simply that we make sure you reach your destination safely and on time, but also that you will be treated with the highest level of service and the deepest sense of dignity and respect.

Earlier this month, we broke that trust when a passenger was forcibly removed from one of our planes. We can never say we are sorry enough for what occurred, but we also know meaningful actions will speak louder than words.

For the past several weeks, we have been urgently working to answer two questions: How did this happen, and how can we do our best to ensure this never happens again?

It happened because our corporate policies were placed ahead of our shared values. Our procedures got in the way of our employees doing what they know is right.

Fixing that problem starts now with changing how we fly, serve and respect our customers. This is a turning point for all of us here at United – and as CEO, it's my responsibility to make sure that we learn from this experience and redouble our efforts to put our customers at the center of everything we do.

That’s why we announced that we will no longer ask law enforcement to remove customers from a flight and customers will not be required to give up their seat once on board – except in matters of safety or security.

We also know that despite our best efforts, when things don’t go the way they should, we need to be there for you to make things right. There are several new ways we’re going to do just that.

We will increase incentives for voluntary rebooking up to $10,000 and will be eliminating the red tape on permanently lost bags with a new "no-questions-asked" $1,500 reimbursement policy. We will also be rolling out a new app for our employees that will enable them to provide on-the-spot goodwill gestures in the form of miles, travel credit and other amenities when your experience with us misses the mark. You can learn more about these commitments and many other changes at hub.united.com.

While these actions are important, I have found myself reflecting more broadly on the role we play and the responsibilities we have to you and the communities we serve.

I believe we must go further in redefining what United's corporate citizenship looks like in our society. If our chief good as a company is only getting you to and from your destination, that would show a lack of moral imagination on our part. You can and ought to expect more from us, and we intend to live up to those higher expectations in the way we embody social responsibility and civic leadership everywhere we operate. I hope you will see that pledge express itself in our actions going forward, of which these initial, though important, changes are merely a first step.

Our goal should be nothing less than to make you truly proud to say, "I fly United."

Ultimately, the measure of our success is your satisfaction and the past several weeks have moved us to go further than ever before in elevating your experience with us. I know our 87,000 employees have taken this message to heart, and they are as energized as ever to fulfill our promise to serve you better with each flight and earn the trust you’ve given us.

We are working harder than ever for the privilege to serve you and I know we will be stronger, better and the customer-focused airline you expect and deserve.

With Great Gratitude,

Oscar Munoz
CEO
United Airlines
Aftermath
Poll: Your Opinion of United Airlines Reference Material

UA's Customer Commitment says:
Occasionally we may not be able to provide you with a seat on a specific flight, even if you hold a ticket, have checked in, are present to board on time, and comply with other requirements. This is called an oversale, and occurs when restrictions apply to operating a particular flight safely (such as aircraft weight limits); when we have to substitute a smaller aircraft in place of a larger aircraft that was originally scheduled; or if more customers have checked in and are prepared to board than we have available seats.

If your flight is in an oversale situation, you will not be denied a seat until we first ask for volunteers willing to give up their confirmed seats. If there are not enough volunteers, we will deny boarding to passengers in accordance with our written policy on boarding priority. If you are involuntarily denied boarding and have complied with our check-in and other applicable rules, we will give you a written statement that describes your rights and explains how we determine boarding priority for an oversold flight. You will generally be entitled to compensation and transportation on an alternate flight.

We make complete rules for the payment of compensation, as well as our policy about boarding priorities, available at airports we serve. We will follow these rules to ensure you are treated fairly. Please be aware that you may be denied boarding without compensation if you do not check in on time or do not meet certain other requirements, or if we offer you alternative transportation that is planned to arrive at your destination or first stopover no later than one hour after the planned arrival time of your original flight.
CoC is here: https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...-carriage.aspx
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Man pulled off of overbooked flight UA3411 (ORD-SDF) 9 Apr 2017 {Settlement reached}

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Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:26 pm
  #3211  
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Originally Posted by SteveHK
UA employee here. Literally just got this in my inbox addressed to all employees.

Dear Team,

The truly horrific event [...]
A link to the message on the hub.united.com site was posted on UA's FB page a few minutes ago.
UA1K_no_more is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:26 pm
  #3212  
 
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Originally Posted by ijgordon
I think this argument over the definition of boarding is a red herring. You don't have some inalienable rights that are endowed to you once you scan your boarding pass, or once you pass the threshold of the aircraft, or once you take your seat. And pretty sure the CoC doesn't endow them either. So now perhaps they'll re-write it to explicitly exclude those rights, and we all lose.
It's really hard to imagine flyers losing on this one. Assume that UA rewrites its CoC to give them even more latitude on what constitutes "boarding," etc. Do you really think that their ultimate response to this incident is going to be a memo to GAs that says, "We've put even more gotchas into the CoCs, so we're capping the VDB amounts now at $200 in coupons, and when you end up in IDB situations please immediately call airport security to enforce the CoC terms!" Or is it going to be something like, "We've raised the VDB coupon limits, and if there are still situations with IDB that don't resolve immediately, please contact your supervisor to see whether s/he will grant additional leeway in raising limits or finding other solutions before calling police."
milypan is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:26 pm
  #3213  
 
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Posts: 988
Originally Posted by leungy18
Congress is a bunch of free marketers

Let's just allow foreign carriers to operate domestic flights.

UA and AA would get their .... together very quickly.

But yes, raise the IDB price to $3000 cash. No conditions.
Well said sir. An Eithad, Singapore or Japan Airlines flight from LAX to NYC would be worth $$$ to me. I am patriotic, but I'm not stupid. Most foreign carriers would win my business (except Air Canada, they are terrible at customer service, but at least I wouldn't be at risk of being attacked and assualted)
The smallest state is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:26 pm
  #3214  
 
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Originally Posted by SteveHK
UA employee here. Literally just got this in my inbox addressed to all employees.

Dear Team,

The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment. I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened. Like you, I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way.

I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.

It’s never too late to do the right thing. I have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what’s broken so this never happens again. This will include a thorough review of crew movement, our policies for incentivizing volunteers in these situations, how we handle oversold situations and an examination of how we partner with airport authorities and local law enforcement. We’ll communicate the results of our review by April 30th.

I promise you we will do better.

Sincerely,

Oscar

Dear Team,

I'm sorry because I just saw our stock drop and people are calling for me to get fired. I like getting paid $millions and want to keep my job. So I'm going to lay low until April 30th so I don't shoot myself in the foot again and hope people move onto the next news story by then.

Sincerely,
Oscar
lars32 is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:27 pm
  #3215  
 
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Posts: 1,732
Originally Posted by ddarko
Two days to apologize to the man. Two days. Crocodile tears over stock price.
Third time is a charm. This is *exactly* the statement they should have issued. Stock is back up. Time to start re-accommodating the internal and external PR teams.
DCEsquire is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:27 pm
  #3216  
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 146
Originally Posted by Klimo
Probably not, though I don't see your point? He's a s***y person. Ok. were his rights violated, regardless? Seems like they were.

just saying that he probably didn't feel like obeying the lawful commands of law enforcement officers to get off the aircraft.
ShutteLag is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:27 pm
  #3217  
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Originally Posted by Bohemian1
This thread is spawning faster than my ability to read it all, but does anyone know what UA is doing for the no doubt traumatized passengers on that flight? Flight vouchers perhaps? Teddy bears?
I was wondering the same thing. We know UA/doc will end up in court (or settle), but what is UA doing for the other passengers? Watching the various videos they were very upset & kids were crying, plus the flight was delayed a couple of hours. Refunding the fares to the other passengers would be a decent goodwill gesture, along with an apology. Wonder if they'll offer them travel vouchers & how much?

Cheers.
SkiAdcock is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:27 pm
  #3218  
 
Join Date: May 2014
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Originally Posted by leungy18
Sane behavior and forceful eviction or not, this doesn't change the fact that

1) UA could've avoided this in many other different ways

2) the public now sees UA as an airline who can boot you out with minimal compensation for a flight you paid for
Of course United could have avoided the situation but it happened because various factors combined to create a perfect storm. 100s of regrettable B.S. situations happen in the course of a day in any organization with a lot of staff. I know because I've seen it myself, in big public institutions, in mid-sized businesses and in massive mega corps.

The thing that turned this from an every day occurrence of tough luck to such a big story was the dude's aberrant behavior. Behavior we know now is quite typical of the man in question.
Ber2dca is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:27 pm
  #3219  
 
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Originally Posted by anacapamalibu


PASSENGER ATTEMPTED TO STRIKE LAW ENFORCEMENT

Hookem and Bookem

An individual on an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States who, by assaulting or intimidating a flight crew member or flight attendant of the aircraft, interferes with the performance of the duties of the member or attendant or lessens the ability of the member or attendant to perform those duties, or attempts or conspires to do such an act, shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both.
So, a felon who attempted to assault the police was hurt in the process of extracting him.

That of course wont go viral, but I always find details after the fact to be so interesting. Who would have thought this guy had the back story he did? Who would have thought that... I dont know... perhaps he wasnt just sitting there calmly.
austin_modern is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:27 pm
  #3220  
 
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Originally Posted by wolf72
But having said that, if they were still short of 1 seat and had the jump seat available, why not give that jump seat to one of the pilots who boarded on standby?

Problem solved, no?
Pilots are contractually guaranteed a cabin seat on deadhead legs are part of a pairing, and they have the right to a seat at the expense of a revenue passenger. If they want to be a "team player" and give up their cabin seat for an open cockpit jumpseat, that's their prerogative, but they are not required to do so. In fact, I know pilots who wouldn't do it, as they are contractually entitled to a cabin seat. Not right or wrong, but that's the bargain to which the company and the union agreed.
EWR764 is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:28 pm
  #3221  
 
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Originally Posted by SteveHK
UA employee here. Literally just got this in my inbox addressed to all employees.

Dear Team,

The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment. I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened. Like you, I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way.

I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.

It’s never too late to do the right thing. I have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what’s broken so this never happens again. This will include a thorough review of crew movement, our policies for incentivizing volunteers in these situations, how we handle oversold situations and an examination of how we partner with airport authorities and local law enforcement. We’ll communicate the results of our review by April 30th.

I promise you we will do better.

Sincerely,

Oscar

This should've been yesterday's email, not the horrible one that actually went out.
swiftaw is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:28 pm
  #3222  
 
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Oscar's statement on United Hub:
==================================
Dear Team,

The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment. I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened. Like you, I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way.

I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.

It's never too late to do the right thing. I have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what's broken so this never happens again. This will include a thorough review of crew movement, our policies for incentivizing volunteers in these situations, how we handle oversold situations and an examination of how we partner with airport authorities and local law enforcement. We'll communicate the results of our review by April 30th.

I promise you we will do better.

Sincerely,

Oscar
===============================
IADFlyer123 is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:29 pm
  #3223  
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
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Posts: 8,406
Originally Posted by ShutteLag
would you want your wife or kids to sit next to him on a plane?
Is he a criminal now? No.
Was he dangerous? No.

Honestly, I'd rather sit next to the good doctor than the average US cop. They are among the few LE units in the first world around which I actually feel less safe.

Originally Posted by minnyfly
Airlines would overbook less, leading to higher costs, lower supply, and higher fares.
A myth that has been addressed somewhere around post 2,400 and post 2,600. The additional cost/ticket would be marginal. Certainly worth the few dollars knowing that chances that you make your flight. I've never seen such situation in Europe, Asia or Africa.
WorldLux is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:31 pm
  #3224  
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 125
Originally Posted by ShutteLag
just saying that he probably didn't feel like obeying the lawful commands of law enforcement officers to get off the aircraft.
Since there was no contractual or legal reason for him to be kicked off, it doesn't seem that there any grounds for lawful commands from the LEOs.
Klimo is offline  
Old Apr 11, 2017, 1:31 pm
  #3225  
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 143
Originally Posted by austin_modern
So, a felon who attempted to assault the police was hurt in the process of extracting him.

That of course wont go viral, but I always find details after the fact to be so interesting. Who would have thought this guy had the back story he did? Who would have thought that... I dont know... perhaps he wasnt just sitting there calmly.
Nope. An LEO lied on a police report.
George Purcell is offline  


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