News United Airlines is a terrible business

[russ_watters]

Questioning the legitimate bounds of authority is not the same as disrespect for authority.

I agree in principle, but there is such a thing as disrespect for authority and I was referring more to the big picture than this specific incident...for example, the Spirit Airlines incident and the Delta Airline's incident:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...threatened-jail-refusing-give-toddler-n755141

It appears the facebook comments I saw about putting up a fight were realized.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Of course, I'm not sure a straw man argument conflating retail merchandise under local jurisdiction with a human being on a transport vessel under federal jurisdiction would stand up in court (probably not).

There's an additional twist. The aircraft was owned and operated by Republic. It was only marketed by United. Given that all the Republic staff declined to act, can United reasonably claim Dao was trespassing?

 

[mheslep]

The better analogy is that you have a completely full hotel, and 4 corporate bigwigs show up wanting rooms, so you send 4 guests onto the streets. That said, hotels do overbook - it's called being "walked". You get to the hotel, and are told "Sorry no rooms, and yes, we know you had a reservation, and yes, we even charged your credit card, but we're still full. Sorry." I can tell you, this is not much fun.

Right, and the airline in this case went a step further, busting into a hotel room after the guest has settled in and telling them to get lost. Hotels seem to know better. Airlines, not so much.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

Well, this was not a problem with overbooking. The better analogy is that you have a completely full hotel, and 4 corporate bigwigs show up wanting rooms, so you send 4 guests onto the streets. That said, hotels do overbook - it's called being "walked". You get to the hotel, and are told "Sorry no rooms, and yes, we know you had a reservation, and yes, we even charged your credit card, but we're still full. Sorry." I can tell you, this is not much fun.

This is a good analogy. But as pointed out above, the better analogy would be kicking out guests forcibly from their rooms after they had already been checked in, given key cards, and settled into their rooms.

Are there no limits to what you must do when instructed by "security"? If they ask you for your wallet are you required to give it to them? What about if they ask you to slug another passenger? Dance naked in the aisles singing show tunes? Dao wasn't committing a crime. He wasn't posing a threat to the flight. He wasn't even disregarding flight crew instructions - although he was disregarding gate agent instructions.

This is the point I was trying to make above. There is a duty to obey authority only within the legitimate bounds of that authority, and it seems clear in this case that the "security" was acting beyond the bounds of their authority in several ways. Not many physics teachers would think the authority of a physics teacher extends to telling students how to do their spanish homework or that the authority of the football coach extends to telling students they don't have to do their physics homework. How does putting a uniform on someone and giving limited police powers mean that suddenly no one can ever resist on the spot, but that the only legitimate resistance is to take them to court later (after complying on the spot)?

I think I don't even agree with the description "security". They are not allowed to identify themselves as police. They did anyway. They are not allowed to board an aircraft. They did anyway. They are not allowed to be used as "muscle" to enforce the airline's side in a customer service dispute. And boy, did they ever do that.

Oh, and yes, there are other bad things going on in the world. Doesn't make this one any better.

Yep. The "authorities" were acting well beyond the scope of their legitimate powers. As far as I can tell, the passenger had no more duty of compliance than if a NYC policeman shows up in New Orleans and starts trying to enforce NYC laws.