Man dragged from airline seat prepares to sue United
THE passenger who was forcibly hauled from a United Airlines flight, suffering concussion, a broken nose, and two lost front teeth, will “probably” sue the airline, his lawyers said.
David Dao’s daughter, Crystal, said last night his family were “horrified and shocked and sickened to learn what had happened to him and to see what had happened to him”.
Thomas Demetrio, Dr Dao’s lawyer, said the doctor now feels that in filing a lawsuit he would be “standing up” for all passengers, adding that they have been “bullied” for long enough. “We want fairness in how people treat us, we want respect and we want dignity,” Mr Demetrio said. Dr Dao, 69, was one of four people chosen at random to give up their seats on an oversold flight from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to Louisville, Kentucky, last Sunday.
They were asked to leave to make room for a flight crew that was being flown to their next assignment. When Dr Dao refused, he was pulled off by force by airport police.
Video footage taken by other passengers showed him screaming and bleeding as he was dragged out of his window seat, across an arm rest, and down the aisle. At one point he said: “Just kill me. Kill me. I have to go home.”
Dr Dao spent days in a Chicago hospital recovering from his injuries and may now need reconstructive surgery. He has filed an emergency request with Illinois State Court demanding that evidence of the incident be “preserved and protected” pending action.
That includes surveillance videos, cockpit voice recordings, passenger and crew lists, and other materials related to United Flight 3411.
Paul Callan, a civil and criminal lawyer, said the public outcry over Dr Dao’s treatment is likely to push the airline into a quick and generous settlement. “Because United has such a catastrophic PR problem, this case has a much greater value than such a case would normally have,” he said.
Oscar Munoz, the chief executive of United Airlines, has been on television to apologise to Dr Dao and to his family. He told ABC he felt “shame and embarrassment” over Dr Dao’s treatment and vowed it would never happen again.
The carrier has promised to refund fares to distressed passengers who witnessed the incident, either in cash or travel credits.
President Donald Trump was even moved to comment earlier this week, telling The Wall Street Journal the spectacle was “horrible”. However, rather than calling for an end to the practice of overselling airline seats, Mr Trump said there should be no upper limit to incentives carriers can offer passengers in exchange for their seats on overbooked flights.
Mr Munoz said United would be examining the way it compensates customers who volunteer to give up seats on overbooked planes, adding that it would likely not demand that seated passengers surrender their places.
But Ed Bastian, chief executive of Delta Air Lines, has defended overbooking as “a valid business practice” that does not require additional oversight. “It’s not a question, in my opinion, as to whether you overbook,” Mr Bastian said on a call with analysts. “It’s how you manage an overbook situation.”
Shares in United Continental, the airline’s parent group, continued to fall yesterday, losing another 1.1 per cent of their value.