Tuesday, April 11, 2017

I don't care who he was

Yesterday I posted a short bit about the person taken off a flight from Chiraq to Louisville. The press has tracked him down identified him, and revealed a pile of dirt about the guy. I don't care if the guy was BTK. He purchased as ticket and paid for it, was allowed to board, then the ass holes decided to make room for others.
Yup, assaulting a person with mental issues is great for PR.  The guy was still a Doctor, a lung specialist to be exact. Given that this will impact how he relates with his patients makes it double bad in my book.
Air lines over book flights all the time. I don't have a problem with that. People have changes, some beyond their control, and overbooking ensures that the aircraft has all seats filled when ever possible.
Chicago to Louisville is a five hour drive. United could have rented a limo and put the displaced passengers in it, taken them to a five star restaurant en-route and a few other minor perks and been money ahead. And I'm not referring to what they hopefully will pay in litigation and I in no way mean the tanking of their stock because they were just plain stupid. Five or six people, one limo, seven meals, one for the driver, and the still spent less than putting them up in a hotel and giving them that kind of five star treatment would have cost. The Doctor and his doctor wife would have been able to get home in time, assuming that there were not other people who would have jumped at the proposition.
That is only one simple solution. The air lines are allowed to pay up to $1350 (might be a different amount now) to each person they bump. The thing is, once people are in ther seats they should not be treated like this. A couple of staff could have started making the rounds, target older folks or people who appear to not be rushed, and make quiet offers. Start at $500. No takers? Next round six, and so on. A guy making $1000 a day, offered $1000 and a free stay in a five star hotel plus meals might jump. He is out nothing, and in most cases, he is not in too much trouble with his bosses.
A Doctor is another matter. They have people depending on them. If I had a Monday appointment, and some air line did this to my doctor, I would give them all the bad publicity I could, and a black eye if I could manage it. (not really).
The cop or cops who did this should be booted off the force, no pension, and lose every perk they had. They should be prosecuted for battery and get to spend a year or two in jail with a bunch of people who know they are bad cops.
And United? They should now be made to pay double because the press in their glee has trashed the man who wanted only to get home to his patients. The CEO, COO, and CFO should all get canned and put on the no fly list along with that pilot and his precious fight crew. Same for the union bosses of the thugs who perpetrated this, the air line pilots association, police union, and the union for the air line workers. Clean up the top and watch how the next butt heads to fill those shoes takes action to make sure it does not happen to them.

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