The Line Between Order and Violence

On April 5th, a disturbing scene was captured on phone videos by United Airlines passengers. This heartbreaking video went beyond the typical nightmares of travelers on an overbooked flight. An unidentified Asian man who refused to be taken out of the vehicle screamed in terror as airport police officers wrestled and dragged him down the aisle. The video showed that the man’s glasses slid down his face, and his shirt rose above his stomach as the uniformed officers followed. This incident was spread rapidly online on Monday as countless people criticized the airline’s tactics. Although the police officer who was involved in the physical confrontation was eventually forced to resign from his job, the shocking scene raised the question about the common practice of overbooking and how far airlines will go to earn the most amount of profit. Tyler Bridges, a passenger on Sunday’s flight, said, “The particularly annoying part was that the airline was looking for extra seats for their employees, not even the passengers.”

Though the flight was scheduled to depart O’Hare International Airport in Chicago for Louisville, Kentucky, at 5:40 PM, it was delayed for two hours due to this horrible incident. The most preposterous part of this event was how Charlie Hobart, a United Airlines spokesman, stated that since the airline staff warned the passenger several times that he should leave his seat before any physical force was used, the company should not apologize to the passenger.

It is commonly known that when there are not enough no-shows for situations when a plane is overbooked, the airlines try to offer gift cards or cash to customers who are willing to reschedule their flights. United Airlines argued that they did follow this procedure, so they should not be blamed for this incident at all. This was apparently true because the airline was offering $400 vouchers to anyone who would give up their seat before boarding. However, their actions were ironic and ridiculous in that while the workers insisted that they avoided any separation of families, the pitiful man was immediately separated from his wife. This old man was named David Dao, a 69-year-old surgeon. Though he continued to argue that he needed to perform a surgery the next day, the airline did not remove him from the list of the four random passengers who were chosen to leave. Various experts and critics state that this is the airline’s fault because the arrangements should be finished before boarding, and it should not be compensated with a doctor who had an urgent surgery waiting ahead of him.

The situation became worse as he jogged back to the aisle, repeatedly saying, “I have to go home.” Jayse Anspach, a seminary student who was also on the flight, stated that when the man returned to the plane, he ran toward the back. It was not clear how the man managed to return to the aircraft. At one point, the authorities and medics and gave him tissues for his mouth, which was severely bleeding. Eventually, the man moved to the front of the plane and collapsed sideways into a seat before finally being taken off the plane on a stretcher. It was proven later that Dao suffered a significant concussion as a result of disembarking that plane, and he lost two front teeth as well. Furthermore, his daughter announced that Dao also has a broken nose and incurred injuries to his sinuses, which will require him to undergo reconstructive surgeries as a result.

A few days after the incident occurred, Oscar Munoz, the chief executive of United Airlines, said, “This event was truly upsetting, and we apologize for the overbook situation.” The company further expressed their apologetic feelings by requiring commuting staff members to check into flights sixty minutes before departure. However, the airline is still criticized for not showing enough sincerity for the horrible actions that they have done. Dao’s daughter declared that the old physician will file a lawsuit, and several lawyers supported her by stating that the court system could get involved in this fiasco. After hearing this incident, thousands of United Airlines passengers destroyed their mileage cards, and people on social media have been mocking the airline by suggesting to change its slogan from ‘Fly the friendly skies’ with ‘Where fists fly free.' There are several reasons as to why the reputation of the airline becomes worse as time progresses, including empathy from the public.

To begin with, though the man and his wife initially agreed to get off the plane, they refused to leave after being informed that the next flight was tomorrow. The general public viewed him empathetically because they understood his situation of striving to fulfill his duty as a doctor. Moreover, while this disaster was more dramatic than most other incidents, the truth is that anyone can be booted from a flight. The passengers obviously feel frustrated when they have to leave the plane, even when they are the customers who pay the company. It could be said that the public’s anger was represented through the responses to this incident, such as requesting to investigate the officer who violently dragged Dao. Furthermore, the CEO of the company wrote several preposterous statements on his Twitter account that his company should not apologize to the passengers, which further outraged thousands of people. In my opinion, United Airlines blew up this whole situation from the start to the end. Since it is highly unlikely that all of the passengers needed to board on that plane, customers who had a flexible schedule could have simply given up their spot to the plane staffs. Instead, let us think that maybe the violence within in the aircraft was unavoidable. Of course, criticism from the public would have been inevitable; however, this fiasco could have been less severe if the CEO made a note of apology. At best, the apology of the CEO could have been lukewarm or viewed as trying his best to resolve the incident even at its worst. Clearly, the situation could have been resolved easier than the current event either way.

It is not surprising that there was another overbooking situation in the United Airlines because the company already gained its reputation for bumping many passengers in an overbooked airplane. 11.6 passengers out of 100,000 customers missed their flight due to this issue, which is the highest rate among all major airlines in the United States. Just recently, another married couple was kicked off of a United Airlines vehicle on their way to a honeymoon, just because there were not enough seats. Though the customers acknowledged this fact, people continue to buy tickets bearing the risk of being bumped. Nevertheless, such violence was not the best solution when treating a helpless old man, especially as a minority in society. Whether it was intentional or not, the overall impression that the incident made was that an attendant who is working for a predominantly powerful airline assaulted an old Asian man, which is seen as discrimination and mistreatment towards the minority in the country. I hope that similar events should be prevented in the future, and various media sources should provide awareness on this topic to the general public so that people would openly acknowledge the difference between giving out orders and using violence.

Aaron Chung ‘19

Edited by Maddie Lee ‘17 and Derek Ng ‘17