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Rush:the rest of the story of United passenger

Faster horses

Well-known member
So United has a flight from Chicago to Louisville, and on this flight are going to be four employees of United who have to get to Louisville to work a flight coming out of Louisville. This necessitated United Airlines pulling four passengers off the flight. It was fully booked and oversold.

The airline industry may be the only — I’m not sure about this — but it may be the only industry that oversells, like do theaters oversell seats? Do sports stadiums oversell seats? Do they sell one seat to two different people or three for the Super Bowl? It doesn’t happen. Now, we know that the airlines do it because there are cancellations, people don’t show up, and when the overbooked, oversold situation happens — and this is the case at United — they first offer bribes. They offered $400 and overnight accommodations to any volunteers that would get off the plane. No takers.

They upped the offer to $800 and maybe a suite at Motel 6, and no takers. There were no takers. Nobody wanted to get off the plane, so they randomly chose four passengers. We’re only hearing about one of them. And, man, oh, man, have we learned a lot about this guy. More on that in just a moment.

Now, the CEO of United, who just won an award for corporate spokesmanship, for corporate PR. This is unbelievable. The guy is Oscar Munoz, and he just won award as one of the best corporate communicators in the world of corporate communication. And he said, “I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers.” Re-accommodate these customers? There you have totally politically correct corporate-speak.

Well, one of the four passengers refused to get off. They had to drag the guy off. He was a doctor, he is a doctor, and he said he had to make the flight because he had patients waiting on him in Louisville the next day. So he had to get to Louisville. But he was randomly chosen. So they dragged him off the plane and they bring their four employee flight attendants and others who have to make that flight to work the next flight out of Louisville, and somehow this guy ends up back on the plane.

That really ticked ’em off. Apparently this guy having been removed, found his way, he snuck back in there with the United employees, and that’s when things got rough. So they sent the uniformed security people in to drag the guy, he refuses to go. Some passengers videotaped it. Others just watched and did nothing, which is causing some angst and concern in some quarters. The guy gets dragged off.

At the end of all of this, he’s bloodied and his glasses are down around his mouth and nose, and he’s shouting, “No, no, please, no more,” and he looks like he’s been tortured at Abu Ghraib or Club Gitmo. The guy looks like he’s been beat up. The video of this has gone viral, and now everybody in the country, instead of hating Comcast now hates United. I saw a survey, the most hated company in America among Millennials, I’ve tried to tell you, is Comcast. Millennials hate cable companies ’cause they charge money. Millennials want things like their entertainment to be free.



So, anyway, people can’t believe that United did this. What United is saying — it’s United Flight 3411 — what United is saying is that established procedures were followed here. But the problem is nobody has seen these established procedures before. But what they are further saying is, the passenger was belligerent. And when passengers get belligerent, for whatever reason, we don’t wait, we remove them, whatever it takes, because that becomes a security problem. Other passengers could be injured. We’re not gonna tolerate unruly behavior from any passenger, not even one who has refused to get off the plane and then did get off and has snuck back in there.

No patience, no tolerance for unruly passengers. That’s their story. They’re gonna stick with it. They will hope to ride this out. This is why I was trying to help here with my ad campaign idea that they might next try to employ. Now, who is this guy? Oh, there’s another element. The guy happens to be ChiCom. Well, I’m sorry, he happens to be Chinese. So now naturally, in our overly litigious, politically correct, cowardice little culture, there’s racism. Yes indeed, United was racist.

We’ve even got some clown, John Cho, who I never heard of until today. He’s an actor. He played in some of the sequels to Star Trek, played the character Sulu. This guy said that this only happened because of Trump. John Cho says that the forced removal of the United Airlines passenger could be traced to Donald Trump. He said, “It’s hard not to see a connection between the environment Trump has created and what happened on that United flight.” That’s how ridiculous this got.

But who is this guy? Well, the New York Post has dug deep, as has the U.K. Daily Mail. This is gonna further anger people because now it looks like the victim is being targeted and blamed. I’ll give you the details when we get back.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay. The unruly United Airlines passenger that was physically removed from the plane twice is a doctor. According to the U.K. Daily Mail, he is a “felon who traded prescription drugs for secret gay sex with patient half his age and took them himself — and he needed anger management, was ‘not forthright’ and had control issues, psychiatrist found,” said a psychiatrist. His name is Dr. David Dao. His “troubled medical past is revealed in court documents.

“His wife … — also a doctor — reported him to medical authorities and his secret inappropriate gay relationship with a patient was revealed.” Well, the guy was really desperate to get back to Louisville. “Father of five … was convicted of a felony — but avoided prison time — because he was giving the man prescription drugs in return for gay sex. He denied the gay sex even though he was caught on camera shirtless and in his pants.” It was the Putin look.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: So what do you make, folks. We’ve got the U.K. Daily Mail and the New York Post and I’m sure other publications, too, have now written stories on who this unruly passenger is, and it’s not a pretty picture. And they portray a guy here who’s had to see psychiatrists for drug addiction and anger management issues and that he nearly lost his medical license.

One doctor wrote that the guy here, Dr. David Dao, “would ‘unilaterally chose to do his own thing.’ He only got his license back after agreeing to be drug tested and polygraphed.” What’s gonna happen here now is that numerous people are gonna get angry that the victimized is being blamed and smeared in the process in order to defend United.


Oscar Munoz, President and CEO of United Airlines.

This is USA Today: “United Airlines CEO Doubles Down, Says Employees Followed Procedures, Flier Was ‘Belligerent.'” Going forward, that’s gonna be what the airline falls back on. Belligerent passenger’s are removed from airplanes I think every day. You just don’t hear about it anymore, but it happens every day. Belligerent passengers, I mean, this is one thing, particularly in the post-9/11 world, the airlines will not tolerate. There’s no tolerance, there’s no patience for it.

If you’re belligerent, if you’re abusive to fellow passengers or flight crew members, they get you out of there. And that’s what happened to this guy. He snuck back in there somehow with the four United employees who were going to take the seats of the four people who were asked to leave, and nobody did, so they were randomly chosen. And, by the way, on that score, these are flight attendants and others who had to be in Louisville so that a scheduled United flight the next day could fly. Without a crew, they’d have to ground that airplane or cancel that flight. That’s a lot of money.

I would be very hesitant if I were you if you’re inclined to blame that flight crew, those four people that were ordered on that plan by the company. I mean, they’re employees. So if United tells them they gotta take that flight — I’ve had comments in social media say things like, “That flight crew, they should have just driven. I mean, it’s not that far, Chicago to Louisville, just drive.” Not an option. That’s up to the airline. The airline wanted them to fly, get them to Louisville. There were crew rest issues, too, and I think they were on the verge of the limits there, to tell you the truth.

Some of these crew members — if what I’m reading about this is accurate — had put in longer than the normal day. They had to get to Louisville to have some overnight rest in order to legally be able to work the flight out of Louisville the next day. But the USA Today headline: “United Airlines CEO Doubles Down, Says Employees Followed Procedures, Flier Was ‘Belligerent.'” I don’t know if that’s actually what they’re gonna hang with here as this goes forward. But it’s obviously a PR nightmare.

(Note: Rush took this call from a United Airlines pilot in Bozeman, Mt. I kept it as part of my post):

RUSH: We’re with William in Bozeman, Montana, a pilot with United Airlines. William, great to have you on the program, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Hey, good morning, Mr. Limbaugh. Mega airline captain dittos from God’s country. How are you doing today?

RUSH: Very, very fine. Thank you. What aircraft do you fly?

CALLER: I fly for United Express, and I fly the Embraer 170 and 175 version.

RUSH: That’s the plane involved here, isn’t it? It was a United Express flight?

CALLER: It’s the exact same thing.

RUSH: Right, okay.

CALLER: My initial thoughts on this, Mr. Limbaugh, is that people have forgotten that flying is a privilege and that with that privilege there come rules. And these are rules that are set forth by FAA, by the Transportation Security Administration, by the airlines themselves, and we have multiple venues where you can see where these rules are posted. But people choose not to do that, and then when it comes down to the point that we, as crew members, have to enforce these rules, we look like the bad guy.

You notice in this YouTube video, this posting, whatever it is, that they don’t show this guy being noncompliant. ‘Cause I can guarantee you half a dozen times before he was removed from the aircraft, there were crew members, there were gate agents, there were people trying to tell him respectfully, “Sir, you need to remove yourself from the aircraft.”

RUSH: Well, the impression is that when they first approached him they beat him up.

CALLER: (laughing)

RUSH: I mean, that is the impression people are left with, is he was asked to leave, he refused to, so they beat him up and then he snuck back on and then they really got mad and dragged him — (crosstalk)

CALLER: — airplane post-9/11, Mr. Limbaugh, you’re gonna get hurt. I’m sorry, there’s gonna be a plane full of people that are not gonna put up with that anymore.

RUSH: It is interesting to look at the video you cite, the one on YouTube. You have the people that videotaped it on their phones, which, questionable legality there, but nobody’s gonna get in trouble for it. You have a lot of people that just sat there and didn’t do anything and probably, as you say, just wish whatever was going on would end so they could leave. They want —

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: — to get where they were going. But you’re right, there isn’t any video of the guy being roughed up. People are speculating that he got bloody in the terminal somewhere after they removed him the first time, and then ended up dragging him out of there, his face bangs up against the seats. Speculating on how the guy’s mouth ended up bloody and so forth.

CALLER: Well, you know, and to be honest with you, Mr. Limbaugh, it comes down to the fact that there are rules. And as a crew member, as an airline captain, I don’t have a choice on whether or not I’m going to enforce these rules. There were four crew members — look at the Delta incident last week and the fact that we had three, four, five, six days of rolling chaos at Delta because we couldn’t get crews to where they needed to be. So we need to have those seats open for crew members —

RUSH: That was because weather in one hub, right, Atlanta caused all that —

CALLER: It was weather for a couple days in Atlanta and then I was flying in and out of LaGuardia on the Delta side last Thursday and Friday, and it was pretty brutal there too. So rolling chaos is what that is, but at the end of the day, we have to look at the bigger picture and we have to move crew members from point A to point B so that, like you said earlier, we can start tomorrow fresh with a fresh airplane, a fresh crew that’s well rested so that we can provide a service for eight, 10, 12 flights that are gonna be happening that the next day, which is going to impact hundreds, if not thousands, of passengers.

RUSH: Now, it looks like the United CEO or the United corporate is really focusing on the fact the passenger was belligerent and that, therefore, justifies or explains — once a passenger goes belligerent, gets unruly, that’s the end of tolerance, you get ’em out of there.

CALLER: You know, there’s kind of a little saying that noncompliance on the ground becomes a huge deal at altitude, right? When we sit there and we bring people on board and we’re gonna bring ’em up to seven miles above the earth and fly at four-fifths the speed of sound, there’s not a whole lot of — there’s virtually no tolerance at that point. If you’re going to make a big deal of something minor on the ground, who knows what’s gonna happen when you get in the air.

Who knows if you’re gonna order a beer from one of my flight attendants and now that’s just enough liquid courage that you’re now beating on the cockpit door. We have to take this stuff very, very seriously, because it has to do with the lives and the safety of the people on that aircraft and the lives and the safety of people who are on the ground. And it’s a zero-sum game. There is no tolerance.

RUSH: William, thank you. I’m out of time, but I appreciate that. That’s William from Bozeman, Montana. He’s a pilot for United, flies the same airplane involved in this episode.
 

Brad S

Well-known member
Sort of an odd term. What the airline calls a privilege, honest people call a mutual benefit bailment. Any passenger sitting in that seat would feel like they had a contract to buy a ride on that seat, anddd the airline felt they had a need to renege on the commitment.

So the truth is the airline surely has some counterfeit out clause. Not the kind like if the plane can't fly due to weather, more like if the airline simply finds a greater need (they can unwind their commitment). Well, the sneaky fine print is the truth the the airline pr department doesn't really want to whip out, but that's where it's at. So if I had a deal to rent a pasture to my neighbor, I could crawfish if only I had the proper weasel words? Then I'd call the deal a privilege? Next time I'm wrong on a futures contract, can I claim airline privilege, or is a deal a deal. If the airline had even the slightest humility, or respect for a contract, they'd simply bought the seats back from contract holders at a mutually agreeable price. Welchers don't usually get their just deserts quite so efficiently. I'm going to enjoy watching the heavy handed airline get theirs - I hope the airline taints the jury pool by claiming weasel words first.
 

Steve

Well-known member
Rush talking about a person with a drug use problem is a bit hard to ----- take,..


as forCALLER: — airplane post-9/11, Mr. Limbaugh, you’re gonna get hurt. I’m sorry, there’s gonna be a plane full of people that are not gonna put up with that anymore. the pilot.

"CALLER: (laughing)" really.. they showed the "prior part,.. the guy was NOT belligerent.. just tried to explain his needing to fly...

the attitude of the pilot is exactly why people who fly are pissed off.. .a ----- privilege.. an expensive privilege.. screw him... it is because of us he has a job...


Let him walk to the unemployment office and we can let him know unemployment insurance is a privilege not protected by the constitution..



RUSH just lost all respect..

Oh BTW,.. the guy is Vietnamese .. he had a concussion, a broken nose, and lost two teeth...


AGAIN<>> this is the airline industries attitude..
CALLER: — airplane post-9/11, Mr. Limbaugh, you’re gonna get hurt. I’m sorry, there’s gonna be a plane full of people that are not gonna put up with that anymore.

really, buy a ticket and stick up for yourself just a bit and .. you "deserve" a broken nose, lost teeth and a concussion..

Rush should have done some research.. his
RUSH: — to get where they were going. But you’re right, there isn’t any video of the guy being roughed up. People are speculating that he got bloody in the terminal somewhere after they removed him the first time, and then ended up dragging him out of there, his face bangs up against the seats. Speculating on how the guy’s mouth ended up bloody and so forth.

what a bunch of wild speculation.. total crap from Rush.. smear the person... laugh, make crap up... I used to expect more from him,.. but not anymore.. :?

Prosecutors explained that the charges were brought after they discovered he received about 2,000 painkillers, prescribed by four doctors in six months, at a pharmacy near his Palm Beach mansion. In June 2006, Limbaugh was detained by drug enforcement agents at Palm Beach International Airport. Customs officials confiscated Viagra from Limbaugh's luggage as he was returning from the Dominican Republic. The prescription was not in Limbaugh's name
 

Steve

Well-known member
Brad S said:
Sort of an odd term. What the airline calls a privilege, honest people call a mutual benefit bailment. Any passenger sitting in that seat would feel like they had a contract to buy a ride on that seat, anddd the airline felt they had a need to renege on the commitment.

So the truth is the airline surely has some counterfeit out clause. Not the kind like if the plane can't fly due to weather, more like if the airline simply finds a greater need (they can unwind their commitment). Well, the sneaky fine print is the truth the the airline pr department doesn't really want to whip out, but that's where it's at. So if I had a deal to rent a pasture to my neighbor, I could crawfish if only I had the proper weasel words? Then I'd call the deal a privilege? Next time I'm wrong on a futures contract, can I claim airline privilege, or is a deal a deal. If the airline had even the slightest humility, or respect for a contract, they'd simply bought the seats back from contract holders at a mutually agreeable price. Welchers don't usually get their just deserts quite so efficiently. I'm going to enjoy watching the heavy handed airline get theirs - I hope the airline taints the jury pool by claiming weasel words first.

I have to agree... My wife and I fly alot,.. I have seen some heavy handedness by both TSA and the "glorified waitresses and perfume counter staff towards others. Often you see they have a smidgen of their point,.. but recently I have seen more and been effected more..

my wife was recently bumped,..she tried to explain we lived three hours away,.. I drove well over 12 hours that day... two trips to the airport.. and all that for what is a useless voucher.. (my wife was in the bathroom when they called her name to the gate) so they just told her tough.. after she argued, they used that as an additional excuse. (I was on the phone with her at the time she was "argumentative" ) she just wanted an explanation.

and by the time I talked to the airline the next morning, their story was it was ALL her fault.. they paged her, she didn't come to the gate.. so she was bumped.. (boarding had just started) still her fault! our call time was about 10 minutes after first boarding was called, and a full half hour before the gate was closed.

the still angry person side of me hopes they get their @$$3$ handed to them, but the realist knows it will just cost US more to fly to pay for the lawsuits..
 

Brad S

Well-known member
I have only flown commercial a few times and not lately so I have no relevant first hand experience. From what I've seen from afar, steves term "heavy handed" is perfect. "Arguementative?" Because you don't accept your misfortune quietly? They said crap like that to make a simple civil matter into a police matter with the passenger that got beat up. Now I hear the police are saying they won't intervene in civil issues. Everything about this astounds me. Stupid people shouldn't wield power.
 

mrj

Well-known member
Guess I have to be the contrarian on this......both with Limbaugh bashing, and the anti-airline rhetoric.

I haven't used airlines much. Considerably more in past years, but then we got 'delayed' several times, making for very long day in various airports before we could get back to our starting point. More often on the way home, so meetings were not missed and no real harm done. Just annoying......so we drove and enjoyed the scenery for a couple of days getting places. After all, we had family at home to cover for us and were well over 'retirement age', whatever that may be, but it's been a while since we say 60, or even 70 for that matter, and 80 is just over the hill for me, and my partner passed that one almost a year ago. He does still work a lot more than 8 hours a day, seven days a week on average. Anyway, we did decide there were too many icy roads between SD and Nashville last Feb. and drove just the 8 hours to Omaha and took a plane from there to Nashville and back in Feb. We had a great experience, tho we did have to over-shoot the mark by landing in and spending a couple of hours in Charlotte going down, and same deal in Dallas coming back. Over all good experience, and the planes were quite full.

I can understand the reasoning by airline folks, knowing what jerks people can be on both sides of any issue. I just wonder what the average is for people who book flights and don't show up, are late, whoever is 'at fault'. Most likely there are people on most flights who can, for a price, manage to get off and not have a hissy fit about it. In fact, we and several friends did that several years ago when returning from a meeting. AND, we did not demand 'a kings ransom' for doing so! modest hotel rooms and a few dollars to spend for waiting an extra day to get 'back to the ranch' didn't hurt us any, in fact, we had fun doing it. Of course, ranching is a pretty flexible career, and all of us were on family ranches, or had good neighbors who could handle things at home for an extra day.

I also can recognize greed and the attitude that 'big business' DESERVES to get gouged whenever someone can do it! What those airlines are offering now to people when they need seats and are over-booked sure looks greedy to me, and it costs everyone who travels by plane, in that the tickets will just go up in price for the other travelers.

So far as Limbaugh is concerned, anyone who doesn't like what he says is sure welcome to listen to those who tell them what they want to hear, instead of possibly opposing opinions and occasionally setting the record straight on some of the politics of the day. Does anyone in such a position get everything right? There is no shortage of talk show hosts who apparently try to please everyone, facts optional. It's pretty easy to change channels.

mrj
 

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