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* Yesterday’s infuriating story about a United Airlines passenger being dragged off a flight from Chicago because the company needed four seats for its own employees was made even weirder by this Chicago Police Department statement posted all over Twitter…
Chicago PD: “Aviation Officers arrived on scene attempted to carry the individual off of the flight when he fell.”
He fell…into the armrest pic.twitter.com/flWNd9HQsL
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 10, 2017
Yeah. “He fell.” Right. Is that a CPD spokesperson or a flack for The Outfit?
* OK, now check this out from the Sun-Times…
The city of Chicago has two police forces that patrol O’Hare and Midway airports: the Chicago Police Department, whose officers are armed, and city Department of Aviation police, whose officers are unarmed.
Aviation police officers alone handled the situation aboard the United flight.
Despite this, a Chicago Police news affairs officer — not the aviation cops — initially released a statement to an unnamed media outlet saying that a “69-year-old male Asian airline passenger” became “irate” aboard the United flight and that aviation officers “attempted to carry the individual off the flight when he fell.” The statement also said the passenger was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge with “non-life threatening injuries.”
As the Chicago Police statement began circulating on Twitter Monday afternoon — with people taking exception to the characterization of the man falling — police said that any further information about the matter should come through the Department of Aviation. “That was not a formal statement by me or CPD,” Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi explained in an email. [Emphasis added.]
Bizarre.
So, who issued the statement? And if a CPD employee did issue the statement, why would he or she do that? The cops who dragged the poor guy out of the airplane were with the Department of Aviation, and one of those cops has been placed on leave.
* Buzzfeed, by the way, ran into a byzantine bureaucratic buzzsaw when attempting to report this story out…
When asked why the airline had the man forcibly removed, and whether that was standard procedure in cases of overbooked flights, United refused to comment.
Instead they told BuzzFeed News all further questions should be referred to Chicago Police. BuzzFeed News contacted Chicago Police and were told to contact the Chicago Department of Aviation. When BuzzFeed News contacted the Chicago Department of Aviation, the call was transferred to a TSA message bank. A TSA spokesperson later told BuzzFeed News they were not involved and to contact Chicago Police.
* Related…
* Mark Brown: Aviation cops shoot themselves in the foot in gun debate
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:16 pm
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
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I will never fly United. And please, let me be on the civil jury.
Comment by Blue dog dem Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:20 pm
I hear the City Council is having an emergency meeting of the Aviation Committee this week. Bringing the Commissioner in front of the full committee to explain why HER employees dragged the doctor off the plane..
Comment by Not Rich Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:25 pm
Some people still havent figured out that every phone is a camera and that filmed actions can go viral in minutes.
The United response was the worst p.r. fumble in memory. Lot of people making big money over doing their jobs stupefyingly badly.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:26 pm
Anyone watch Jimmy Kimmel last night?
Comment by Bogey Golfer Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:27 pm
The victim is quite the character too, and his character is already being questioned on social media.
http://heavy.com/news/2017/04/david-dao-united-doctor-airlines-louisville-kentucky-passenger-removed-video-photos/
Weird all the way around. But I’m glad this happened, maybe United will learn that customers matter. They haven’t seemed to care much about their freight for the past several years, and it shows.
This kind of social media damage can be like shock therapy. I hope they learn some lessons.
Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:28 pm
Personally, I have no sympathy for the passenger. He bought the cheapest ticket whereby you agree to forfeit your ticket in the event is overbooked. Three other passengers left without incident.
After he was bloodied, he broke away from the officers shouting “just kill me, I need to get home.”
People are viewing this as if he was knocked unconscious and dragged off the plane. In reality, he is an adult that threw a temper tantrum, refused to walk with the officers off the plane.
Not that it impacts the situation at hand, but it should also be mentioned he had his medical license revoked for selling drugs for sex. (Google it).
Comment by North Shore Joe Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:28 pm
Munoz (CEO of United) was recently named “Communicator of the Year” - http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/11/united-ceo-oscar-munoz-recently-named-communicator-of-the-year.html
Sounds like his “communication style” is being followed by others based on Buzzfeed’s report.
Comment by Anon221 Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:28 pm
Let me clarify, he was off the plane, and ran back onto the plane, shouting….
Comment by North Shore Joe Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:29 pm
Who cares about the victim’s past? Such a strange narrative some people are compelled to concoct. What’s troubling is that the officer who exercised the most force never even considered the possibility that his behavior was unacceptable. Either he is inclined to be violent or he has been conditioned to treat civilians in such an uncivilized fashion. The P.R. fumble was laughable, and, if there is any justice, Munoz will be reaccomodated.
Comment by AlfondoGonz Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:30 pm
Northshore. I would agree with you of the flight was overbooked. It was not. Passrngers were dumped to make room for employees. Big difference. Love a company that puts its employees ahead of customers. Sounds like something out of the Tuck Business School.
Comment by Blue dog dem Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:34 pm
===whereby you agree to forfeit your ticket in the event is overbooked===
The flight was not overbooked. Period.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:37 pm
Wasn’t handled right. not sure if this was express flight ( not UAL employees but smaller airline flying for UAL.) AS a 30 plus year employee , I would have called a mechanical delay or a fueling problem. no passengers are allow on aircraft during fueling or de fueling Then re board flight hence the problem of denied boarding would have occurred at gate out of sight of people on aircraft where it would be manageable
Comment by jon r Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:38 pm
The key is once passengers have been boarded, they should not be forced to leave unless it is a security or weight and balance issue etc. In this case they were trying to get a dead head crew (typicaly would have priority) to Louisville, however, they should have driven the crew if they could not get enough volunteers. It is one matter to deny boarding, but quite another to force someone to leave the aircraft once they have boarded. Having said that, the man should have complied with law enforcement and did not. Law enforcement was doing what the airline asked them to do.
Comment by facts are stubborn things Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:42 pm
Frankly, it doesn’t matter if it was overbooked or not. When a uniformed police officer asks you to do something totally reasonable, you comply. Just like the three other adults did, without incident.
This man was belligerent and performing for the cameras when he allowed himself to be dragged from the plane.
Comment by North Shore Joe Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:42 pm
Rich, many of my posts don’t make it to the screen. ??
Comment by facts are stubborn things Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:43 pm
The only reason I can think of for United mandating their four employees (flying non-rev.) boot paying passengers off, is the four were a flight crew being repostioned to staff a scheduled flight out of Louisville.
99% of the time, airlines employees flying non-rev are the first people denied boarding in an overbooked situation.
Not matter why, United’s media and customer relations staff need some help.
Comment by Give Me A Break Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:44 pm
“He fell down the stairs” - if I remember correctly, used to be Cook County Jail code for “we beat the hell out him”.
Comment by titan Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:46 pm
=== When a uniformed police officer asks you to do something totally reasonable, you comply===
And that cop’s response was perfectly fine with you? He handled it well? He couldn’t have done anything else except smash the passenger’s face on a seat and drag him down the aisle?
What sort of person are you, anyway?
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:48 pm
- facts are stubborn things - Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:42 pm:
“Having said that, the man should have complied with law enforcement and did not. Law enforcement was doing what the airline asked them to do.”
Not trying to be ridiculous, but at what point does the airline policy stop and law begin? Will Law Enforcement do just about anything an airline asks them to?
Comment by illini97 Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:50 pm
Who said he smashed his face in?
Comment by North Shore Joe Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:50 pm
So, Northshore, was this a good or bad business decision?
Comment by blue dog dem Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:51 pm
@ Give Me A Break -
Yes, the crew was being repositioned.
It’s interesting that this guy was yelling about having to see patients when his medical license has been yanked.
Nevertheless, this could and should have been handled differently.
Comment by JoanP Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:53 pm
===Who said he smashed his face in? ===
Oh, yeah. I forgot. “He fell.”
Sheesh.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:54 pm
Heckuva job there CPD PR, heckuva job. Really working on restoring that public trust.
Comment by Boone's is back Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:58 pm
The Aviation Commissioner was already on bad paper with the Rahmster.. 50/50 this is the last straw, its nowhere close to 16 shots, but having the City’s security force on camera doing this means “SHE GONE” !!!
Comment by Not Rich Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:59 pm
so much blame to go around. what is the agreement with the City and any airlines to take a passenger off a plane? why not an airlines employee? who directs whom how? the officer’s actions were wrong. is there another way to take a passenger off the plane when the passenger will not comply? and what to do when a passenger becomes unhinged for whatever reason, head knock, ingested substances, violence? if I were a passenger on the plane, I would have been upset at the actions of the police, but also afraid of the passenger when he ran back on the plane yelling.
Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:59 pm
Well, if he:
A) allowed himself to get dragged across the floor of an airplane
B) ran back into the plane yelling wildly to “just kill him”
C) Didn’t wipe the blood from his mouth (again, for the cameras)
D) Sold prescription drugs to drug addicts in exchange for sex (unrelated but relevant)
What’s so hard to believe about him pulling a “Ric Flair” and flopping into a sharp arm rest?
And Blue Dog, I highly doubt it effects their bottom line. The goldfish attention span society we live in today will be obsessed with something new a week from now, and this will all be but forgotten when they offer the cheapest fair on Expedia.
The Internet lynch mob mentality also really distorts public opinion by giving a loud minority the floor. Coupled with when they take the indignant high ground suppressing anyone with a different take, really makes dissent difficult and pushes people further to the “right.”
Comment by North Shore Joe Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:00 pm
And quite frankly, I am sick and tired of society for blaming Everyone but the guy who put himself into this position to begin with.
There are two sides to every story, and to demonize the police officers over a crazy man with a sordid, sick, history, is just as absurd to immediately write off the actions’ of the police officer.
Thus, I give you Donald Trump.
/rant. have a nice day, grown-ups.
Comment by North Shore Joe Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:03 pm
We’ll see if North Shore Joe feels the same if the cops smash his face in.
Comment by Precinct Captain Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:05 pm
“He fell” is second only to “I thought I saw a gun” around the station house.
Comment by walker Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:05 pm
How much you wanna bet the airline did not sign a complaint before the keystone cops subdued the passenger.
Comment by old pol Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:08 pm
If you spin this any way other than a corporation man-handling a human being for a mistake they made I’m not sure if your conscious has been properly checked in a while.
Comment by Stark Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:12 pm
@North Shore Joe
I would gladly prefer if the police department and unions would demonize this sort of behavior instead of regular folks. Then maybe we wouldn’t have to get upset about this sort of thing happening over and over and over again.
Comment by Ducky LaMoore Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:13 pm
I suppose United needs to stop selling tickets to people with “sordid, sick histories”. Of course that means background checks on all of their customers.
All three of those police officers should be fired, and United should be fined into oblivion.
Comment by Cheryl44 Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:15 pm
===allowed himself to get dragged across the floor===
LOL
Great word choice there, dude. Are you a defense attorney?
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:16 pm
Saw this comment at Second City Cop and it was right on:
what lawful order did the guy not follow? He was not causing a problem. He had a ticket… the airline decided that their guys were more important and over booked the flight. What the guys should have said is…….. sorry civil issue…….you guys figure it out……… in the end, the aviation dept looks like fools and the city takes a huge hit along with United.
That hits the nail on the head. UA puts the officer in a bad position and he mishandles it but the blame should not be on the police but on UA, where it belongs.
Comment by paddyrollingstone Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:18 pm
Could he not walk?
Comment by North Shore Joe Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:19 pm
===Could he not walk? ===
Tell me you’re not that dense.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:21 pm
North Shore Joe, if United let you handle this whole situation, they’d be out another billion dollars (and counting).
Comment by Moby Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:23 pm
poor joe, when people disagree with him, he’s beset by a “lynch mob,” then “suppressed” (not so you’d notice), and that’s how you end up with Trump.
Way to go, people.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:29 pm
At the very core of this is a company putting profit ahead of customers. United is headquartered in Chicago. It didn’t have one, single corporate jet at O’Hare that could have flown that crew to Kentucky?
Comment by A Jack Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:36 pm
United can certainly have handled it a different way, most particularly by upping the compensation amount until someone bit, and the cops could have been less forceful, but the dude is seeming a bit unhinged and threw a tantrum. I might be livid as hell if United tried to forcefully bump be from a flight, but I’m not gonna get to the point where cops have to use force to escort me off the plane. It’s in the purchase agreement that you can be bumped from a flight.
Comment by Just Observing Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:43 pm
When did a boycott of United Airlines become a “lynch mob”?
Comment by Anon E. Moose Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:53 pm
===makes dissent difficult and pushes people further to the “right.” ===
Another victim heard from.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:56 pm
It is beyond any level of understanding for me that someone with some thinking capacity could not have sourced a solution here that would have concluded in a different way. These aren’t split second decisions. Time passed. No one. No one had a little more grace under duress. Yikes.
Comment by A guy Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 2:03 pm
NorthShore. I have a compromise. I agree with you if United returns the $800 million bailout they received from Uncle Sam. Deal?
Comment by blue dog dem Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 2:03 pm
= I might be livid as hell if United tried to forcefully bump be from a flight, but I’m not gonna get to the point where cops have to use force to escort me off the plane.==
They never had to use force.
They chose to confront and remove the man.
UA chose to insist that he get the forcible boot rather than solving their business problem literally any other way.
Both the officers and the airline decided they would rather bear full responsibility for their choices than make different ones. So, let’s let them.
Based on the comments of several here, people with emotional or mental disabilities or criminal records just don’t have much right to travel freely. If they aren’t able to react perfectly –
as defined by people who criticize nonviolent resistance to objectively bad business and security decisions — they just shouldn’t fly at all.
Freedom: Failing. Sad.
Comment by crazybleedingheart Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 2:03 pm
Word. Trump is my hero. Leave him out of this argument.
Comment by blue dog dem Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 2:05 pm
==Both the officers and the airline decided they would rather bear full responsibility for their choices than make different ones. So, let’s let them.==
Anybody who has spent any time in the insurance industry or around a courtroom knows the concept of contributory negligence and how the actions of all the actors involved in a situation affects the outcome. This is an ugly story all around.
Comment by Responsa Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 2:16 pm
Cpd : https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=zF82qVCJYXs
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 2:18 pm
Since United has its corporate headquarters here, it isn’t beyond possibility Oscar Munoz lives somewhere on the North Shore.
Just sayin’
Comment by Cheryl44 Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 2:28 pm
–Word. Trump is my hero. Leave him out of this argument.–
It was Joe who made some kind of connection to Trump. If you can figure out how, good on you.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 2:58 pm
Cheryl44, in what way, shape or form is Munoz’ home’s proximity to HQ relevant to the issues exposed here? I’m missing it completely.
AJack, I’ve followed this industry for going on 20 years. Believe it or not, UAL and AA have little or no “corporate aircraft” in the traditional sense. Their execs need to go somewhere, they Board the company fleet and sit up front. They do have spare aircraft at ORD, especially UAL. However, there is NFW that a spare would be fired up to move a flight crew to a waiting aircraft if a boarding aircraft is full of bounceable passengers. I’ve lost track of some of the cost factors, but firing up a spare CRJ-200 Regional Jet to fly to Louisville and back would be at a minimum several times the cost of making the maximum buyout of 4 bounced pax to accommodate a crew of 4. The Dr. should not look to get wealthy off this exchange; the civil tort which occurred was caused by the Chicago Aviation Police, not UAL. He violated his contract of carriage by refusing to give up the seat, and likely would get little in any legal action, but will get a lifetime ban on flying UAL.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 2:59 pm
Who knew Louisville was such a popular destination anyway?
Comment by A guy Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 3:15 pm
Forgot to mention that this was a UAL flight in name only. Republic Airlines operated the flight and provided the crew under a regional agreement with United and following UAL procedures. No one has said publicly who the Louisville-bound crew actually worked for.
That didn’t stop the market from hollowing out $500m of UAL’s market value today.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 3:23 pm
Arthur, Northshore Joe seems to be the only person here defending UAL.
Comment by Cheryl44 Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 3:26 pm
–That didn’t stop the market from hollowing out $500m of UAL’s market value today.–
This will be a case-study in highly-paid-executive blundering in the face of a viral media crisis.
Munoz just issued an apology. Might have wanted to do that before the markets opened and you took a beating all day on all media platforms all over the world.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 3:29 pm
===Munoz just issued an apology===
His original apology was only for over booking the flight. I think he has since expanded the scope of the things UA is sorry for.
Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 3:32 pm
Lucky for UAL and CPD, Sean Spicer decided to give televised history lessons on the first day of Passover.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 3:48 pm
Arthur Andersen I suggest you reread that contract of carriage. It was the carrier who breached. Pay special attention to the idea of before boarding action and after boarding action and why they can remove someone. Also keep in mind this flight was neither overbooked nor oversold since the employees needing transport were not ‘booked’ passengers in the common meaning of the word.
Now they might get an out in statutory rules and law but not in contract law as I see it. But I could be wrong.
Comment by Red tower Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 4:00 pm
As a Platinum flyer I would suggest you Read the fine print on discount air fares or just about any tickets you buy. They should have offered more money and free flight vouchers etc. That was a Gate Supervisor FAIL. The guys reaction after being removed and security reaction not the best way to handle the situation either. I once saw a rabbi get removed from a flight for refusing to sit in his assigned seat. He told the FA if she didn’t like it to have him removed so she did. this guy will probably get $250k settlement and added to the UA no fly list. Sad that all those on board that later said they felt bad for the guy didn’t offer to give up their seats or turn off their cameras.
Comment by NothsideNoMore Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 4:05 pm
–Sad that all those on board that later said they felt bad for the guy didn’t offer to give up their seats or turn off their cameras.–
Um, those cameras are what’s going to get him that fat settlement you spoke of.
If I’m getting arrested for any reason in any way shape or form, I want all cameras on me.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 4:08 pm
If I went to Starbucks and sat down at a table to drink my coffee, I wouldn’t expect them to tell me to leave because the shop was crowded and some employees wanted to sit down during their break. If I refused to leave before I finished my coffee, would Starbucks be justified in having the police knock me out of my seat and drag me out of the cafe?
Comment by northsider (the original) Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 4:50 pm
Impeccable timing, the Department is hiring more Aviation Police.
https://chicago.taleo.net/careersection/100/jobdetail.ftl
Comment by Just Me Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 5:05 pm
The airline should know a month in advance that they will need ‘X’ amount of seats on a given flight. They should make sure they don’t book their employees’ seats in advance to booking customers.
The airline & the police are in the wrong here not the guy who paid for his seat. He has just as much right to his paid seat as anyone else on the plane so why force him as opposed to anyone else off of the plane?
Comment by Mama Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 9:58 pm
Not only did the airline force the poor guy from the seat on the plane that he paid for, they smeared his name all over the media.
Comment by Mama Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 10:01 pm