In a newly released video, United Airlines passenger David Dao argues with United employees and police before being dragged unconscious off of an overbooked flight.
This is the first video that has been released that shows the exchange between Dao and police and security before being forcibly removed from the United airlines flight that has caused international outrage.
During the video, he can be seen talking on his phone and telling officers he will not willingly leave that they will have to drag him off the plane. He also states that he would rather go to jail than give up his seat.
The incident has caused universal outrage due to the absurdly greedy policy of airlines overbooking flights then kicking some paying customers off when everyone actually shows up for the flight. This situation was particularly outrageous because they were kicking passengers off to make room for their own employees.
New Jersey governor Chris Christie is advocating a very common sense law of not allowing airlines to overbook flights.
I can’t believe all of the people complaining about this and how the man was treated but not ONE of these people cared to give up there seat. All they did was pull out there phones and film it. What has happened to people in this world. He would rather go to jail? I thought he wanted to get home…smh….so he would have been a little later….he would have been compensated for it though. And as for the others on the plane, just can’t believe not one person could be a little compassionate…….god help the people in this world…..
No one should have had to “give up their seat” for any reason, especially so United employees could fly to their next destination because the airlines failed to schedule personnel in a proper manner.
He PAID for his seat.
United should have put their employees on a bus.
United is a private Airline, and those planes are their property. Passengers can buy tickets but they don’t own the plane.
People should do what they’re told.
I don’t agree with forcing him off the plane the way they did but I stand by United on this one.
The passenger purchased a license that did not give UAL the right to revoke the license after the passenger had boarded except when the passenger acts dangerously.
Sorry. Read the fine print. The airline has every right to fly their crew so that flight will not have to be cancelled and hundreds of people inconvenienced rather than three of four. Every airline has this stipulation. It is unusual that the passengers boarded, because they usually resolve it before boarding.
Think of the mess of just one cancelled flight with hundreds of people. Many people missing their connecting flights and needing to find seats on alternate flights. Think of trying to keep hundreds of flights on time. The airlines do a pretty good job of this. This one selfish passenger thought he was more important than the schedules and inconvenience of hundreds of other people. I hope he faces charges for his antics.
United is in commercial service under the FAA. Once the Capt /FO authorizes boarding, they have the responsibility to what happens on the aircraft. The United procedures mirror The FARs and are jointly signed before they can operate.
Exactly! United should have handled it the right way. To favor the customer. Now rhey will pay big for it. Why do that after the person was in his seat. Idiots!
Mark I hope your on a flight where the crew can’t get there and your flight cancels or is late because they took the bus and it screws up your vacation, haha
Yeah, put them on a bus so The 70 passengers waiting in Louisville get their flight cancelled. By the way, have you ever heard of weather affecting flight crews that need to be somewhere to work? Thankfully, you don’t run an airline.
1. That was an Express flight. Aircraft owned and operated by Republic Airways. (Consider it like a subcontractor)
2. The crew was flying to Louisville to operate ongoing flights due to FAR regulations about work duty hours. Remember the storms and all those flights that were cancelled. It takes several days to fully recover and return to normal schedules. If they didn’t get to Louisville, downline flights would have to be cancelled affecting hundreds of people.
3. NO United employee touched this man. He became uncooperative and law enforcement was called to remove him. Imagine an uncooperative person at 35000 feet. It could endanger every person on board.
4. He chose to be uncooperative and then became disruptive. 3 other passengers cooperated…..
Sheryl-Yeah, would you have given up your seat for him to stay-I don’t think so. Oh and by the way, god doesn’t exist because if he did he wouldn’t have let this man be treated like this lol
Christie is clueless. It wasn’t over booked. He was kicked off for employees to fly.
because it was over booked. everyone..including united has said it more than once
Actually it was not overbooked, it was full however. I think he already knew he was going to have to get off. The whole thing is a sad story all the way around. There are several stories out there in his favor and several not in his favor. So wait and see which is the true story. Good video though.
“United Airlines passenger David Dao argues with United employees and police before being dragged unconscious off of an overbooked flight.”
Try reading the article again!! I think the person clyeless here is YOU. It WAS an overbooked flight and needed
Those employees were crew who needed to be repositioned in order to prevent another flight from cancelling. Learn you facts !!!
Christie is always was and shall forever remain clueless! Yes let’s pass laws prohibiting airlines from overbooking flights! This just simply demonstrates his capacity to analyze any given situation! Sure that is a superb solution, which shall probably lead to a about a 50% increase in fares!
Yeah but for what reason so they could work other flights maybe see even now we aren’t getting the full picture. Here’s the just of it if a cop tells you to do something then do it
These employees weren’t just traveling, they were being positioned to work a later flight as REQUIRED BY LAW! The federal government mandated years ago that airlines WILL re-position sufficient crews as to not disrupt downline scheduling to the extent possible. Employees traveling or even commuting to or from work go to the back of the line for boarding and are the first ones removed.
Crew members need to work and so does doctors. In fact, everyone needs to work fyi. What if he had a dying patient that he needs to get to asap and hes the only one capable? What if hes got a family emergency that he needs to get to? not leaving any seats available for your crew in case of re-positioning. It is the airlines own fault for being greedy to book the entire plane or even overbook it. I’ve just traveled back from united and they overbooked by 3 for whatever reason. So for people defending the airline, please they have many things they can do to avoid this problem just by making a little lesser amount of money. If I bought the ticket meaning i rented the seat for this time so I’m expecting to use it for my own reasons be it an emergency or not. Unless its in fine print that they’re allowed to evict you for no reason caused by you.
That isn’t the passengers duty, that is the duty of the airline. The airline just has to pay more money to passengers to get the passengers to give up the seats. That solves the problem so much faster.
Uhhh, that’s not overbooked?
So this title is Misleading Click bait garbage. He wasn’t “arguing” he was just defending his right to NOT get thrown off a plane for NO criminal or Legal Reason, Policy be damned he paid for the seat so he could go home and they threw him to the ground and off the plane.
Defending his right to not get thrown off a plane???
Are you serious Marvin?
Cause its int he Constitution right??
Flying on a plan is a PRIVILEGE!!!!! Not a right SMH
Lets analyze this for moment knowing what we now know about this guy’s history:
Point one: A. He is a felon – because
B: We know he was reportedly convicted of selling prescription drugs in exchange for sex. Which means:
C. He is a criminal if this is true.
D He is then NOT a medical doctor because he lost his medical licence as a result of his conviction. In this and another video we hear him protesting that he is a doctor and he has to go to work tomorrow which means that
D. He is lying to a law enforcement officer about his status as a doctor – which is in and of itself a crime. This means that:
E. He is a liar, but if you study criminal psychology this is not surprising to you. Furthermore since he claimed he was a doctor who had work to do tomorrow he
F. Just admitted to practicing medicine without a license which I assume is another felony. He refuses to obey a lawful order from a police officer which:
G is again in and of itself a crime
Actually if you do a little more research he was having a sexual affair with an office worker who then worked with law enforcement to build a drug case against him. He lost his license in 2005, completed everything required of him both by the medical board and the legal system with no further incident. He petioned for and was given his medical license back in 2015.
Actually he is only allowed to practice medicine one day a week under direct supervision. He was evaluated by two psychologists and their conclusion was that he has major psychological issues. Google David dao Kentucky medical board review and read for yourself. It’s around page 7-8.
Mr. Dao was a nut about to crack..
So you argue that he, due to having a criminal record is sub-human? I believe our justice system and the founding principles of this nation makes it unlawful to discriminate based on any aspect, including criminal record. From what I have read he had his medical license reinstated after completing his probation sentence therefore making it 100% legal and legitimate for him to practice medicine. Generally when people list things in an A-G fashion it is because they are making 7 unique and specific points, however your A-G is actually just a continuation of the same point so I’m not sure what the purpose of A.B.C.D.E.F.G. was? A paying customer and American Citizen was deprived of key rights that all Americans are supposed to be afforded equal and unrestricted access to in order for a greed driven airlines desire to behave in a very counter intuitive to public relations manner.
Points taken, however this was not known at the time I’m assuming and assuming it was even, does it justify their treatment of a customer?
Well Office Wilson – I guess you like the U.S. Supreme Decision that allows you to lie to suspects and witnesses to coerce statements that fit your theory of guilt, so you like lying to people but completely abhore when you think people are lying to you. What a charming person you are ……
The employees were crew members needed for their next assugnment out of LA. Otherwise 240 people would have had their flight cancled. Dao ( medical license to practice supended ) is an convicted felon asshole.
UAL just needs to pay more $ to get people to give up their seats, rather than call the goon squad.
That means it was actually overbooked, Nevets.
WHY did United NOT up the the financial offer to the $1350 they can give , plus hotel and booking on next flight? I have flown all over the world. When the offer is increased and “sweet” enough , people will give up their seats! The flight delay, crew members missed connecting flight anyway, as did many paying passengers AND United reimbursed ALL passengers for the price of their ticket. Much more $$$ than if United had just offered the maximum they can before bouncing people from their seats.
No matter how you color it, this is just wrong, immoral and if justice prevails probably illegal. The man had a seat that was bought and paid for, if a flight crew had to get to a certain destination then that should have been factored into the flight bookings well ahead of time.
It finally looks like that one of the corporations that has been throwing their weight around and ratcheting up prices has finally been put back on their heels. But make no mistake this personal relations fiasco will fade with time, not to mention the single most important fact that United Airlines has a seemingly bottomless coffer with which to draw funds to appease dissatisfied customers and spin negative PR.
Booting people off flights involuntarily is rare. Outlawing overbooking will just drive up ticket prices.
They were not United employees, but employees of another airline.
I don’t find a single thing in this video abhorrent. Now forcibly removing the man may have been justified, I don’t know the law, but the degree of force is simply unacceptable. The man posed no threat, the problem was that the enforcers were feeling disrespected by the flippancy of Dao. Dao sounds like a creep in his everyday life, but that doesn’t matter at all.
If you owned a plane and you had employees that needed to right your plane, well you can kick whoever you want off because its your plane, your property, your choice.
People need to learn some respect for peoples property..
Stop acting like your entitled to everything even if it doesnt belong to you.
I stand by United on this one.
The passenger wasn’t cooperating which is usually step #1 in being a Human.
The carriage contract for UAL only allows passengers to be kicked off after boarding for dangerous behavior.
When you travel and fly, you need to know that on the ticket it says the airline can give up your seat? I have had this happen and even though I don’t like it I know when asked to step off the plane I do so. You do not sit and argue and tell them ( gate agent or security) you refuse to get off. You step off and settle the argument off the plane. In this video, Mr. Dao is busy talking on his phone and stating to the security police that he will not get off the plane. He said,”you can drag me off and take me to jail.” The police are very patient and calm. How else are they to get him off the plane when he kept on refusing? In two other videos it showed Mr. Dao squeezing. like a wounded animal and then standing before the people with his mouth bleeding ranting deliriously over and over, “I want to go home,” “I want to go home.” It is unfortunate Mr. Dao knew exactly what he was doing to cause ill press to United Airlines. He was angry that he was being taken off, being non compliant and saying he didn’t care if they dragged him off, he would not get out of his seat. It appears he hit his head, could have been on purpose.. This tells me he wanted to make a big scene and I would not be surprised he hit his head intentionally just to draw more attention.Dont feel sorry for him.This all could have been avoided had he complied. It is unfortunate that United is played the bad guy in this situation.
The carriage contract for UAL only allows passengers to be kicked off after boarding for dangerous behavior. The police broke 2 of his teeth and his nose. Kinda of hard to fake that.
Why doesn’t United maintain a small plane to shuttle crew around? I’m sure this happens enough to justify it
Bottom line, law enforcement told him to get off. He refused. When a cop pulls you over and gives you a command you better do it!
Video is not available now. Will you repost??
As soon as law requires that airlines not overbook then all tickets will be completely 100% non-refundable. Mark my words. People no-showing and refunding their tickets are the reason for overbooking in the first place.
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