Saturday, April 15, 2017

Dao vs. United

I've never seen an incident like the Dr Dao vs. Chicago police and United Airlines, but I have been on a flight with a belligerent, unruly, drunk female, and when we landed, all were told to stay in our seats, and police came in to remove her first. I've also been on a train that made an unplanned stop in the middle of nowhere, and police came in and took someone off. Do you want to fly or share the interstate if police are not allowed to remove someone who has been reported to them--maybe for ...assaulting another passenger or being rude to staff, or being drunk or who is having some sort of mental break. That was not the case in Dao's situation, but what were the police told except to remove him? Do you want to continue to travel with a man who challenges the police and wins? And what rights do you give up when you buy the ticket to ride. I've now heard at least 20 conflicting opinions, all from the "experts," who cite laws, regulations and police training on how to handle dangerous situations.
 
We used to get belligerent people in the veterinary medicine library--I know that doesn't sound possible. Usually they were male, non-citizens who wouldn't take No from a woman. There are still cultures where dealing with a woman is an insult. My out was always to give them the name of MY boss, who was male (and in another building) and was paid 4x my salary to handle problem. That seemed to make them happy. A few times we did have to call the police, even though I was probably tougher. A uniform goes a long way. 
 
There are 37,000 words in the contract the customer has with the airlines; and no one has ever read it. 
 

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