Hmmm, the law says that an airline can remove passengers when the state of a flight is overbooked. That flight where Dr. Dao was dragged down the aisle, the one that everyone thought was overbooked?
Er, OOPSIES!
Even The New Yorker, which understood that passengers were bumped for crew members, referred to the problem as an “overbooked” flight, clearly not understanding what overbooked actually means. (The only way the flight could have been overbooked would be if flights always have empty seats for unanticipated crew members to fly for free, which would defeat the purpose of overselling in the first place.)
The fact that the flight was not overbooked may seem trivial, or pedantic, but there is very important legal distinction to be made. There may not be a difference in how an airline (typically) responds when it needs additional seats, such as asking for volunteers who wish to give up their seat for a voucher or cash. But there is a legal difference between bumping a passenger in the instance of overselling a flight versus bumping a passenger to give priority to another passenger.
Any thoughtful person can see the problem that arises if an airline were allowed to legally remove one fare-paying passenger to allow for another passenger it prefers.
Since the flight was not actually overbooked, but instead only fully booked, with the exact number of passengers as seats available, United Airlines had no legal right to force any passengers to give up their seats to prioritize others. What United did was give preference to their employees over people who had reserved confirmed seats, in violation of 14 CFR 250.2a. Since Dr. Dao was already seated, it was clear that his seat had already been “reserved” and “confirmed” to accommodate him specifically.
Dr. Dao has already lawyered up and I’m quite sure that this is now going to cost UAL BIGLY. They put him in a bad spot, gave him a concussion and two busted teeth, and now their formerly legal floor for doing so just became the high speed elevator to hell.
UAL’s lawyers are gonna be busy for quite some time.
(H/T: Inc via Instapundit)
