In the wake of recent United Airlines debacle, here is my two cents worth...
There are three parties who are responsible and all three have screwed up in this episode. 1. The Gate Agent. 2. Passenger. 3. The Police who dragged him out.
1.The Gate Agents - This flight was not overbooked. Otherwise the process of identifying volunteers would have started much before the boarding process and the gate agent would have controlled the situation. By the time UA realized they needed 4 seats to board 4 crewmembers; passengers occupied all available seats. The gate agent did not use any common sense and simply grabbed the SOP manual and identified 4 passengers at random and announced the names to deplane. They did not think of any alternate ways to resolve the problem at hand. It would have been much cheaper for UA to send these 4 crewmembers by road (viaTaxi spending $400.00) versus paying the DBC, hotel expenses and causing inconvenience to 4 fare paying passengers. Who was sitting in the jump seats? Was the Captain consulted?
Further, the press conference indicates the passenger is travelling with his wife. Did the gate agent consider this fact? Therefore, the gate agent is WRONG.
2. The Passenger – He should not have resisted. No matter what circumstances have brought the situation to that level of his dissatisfaction, he should have obeyed and deplaned. That is the law and he has all sorts of recourses in US to seek justice. Therefore, the passenger is WRONG.
3. The Police - When they are asked to remove this passenger, why did they drag him through the narrow aisles instead of lifting him up carry him out. Do you mean to say three able-bodied police could not have lifted a 69 old Asian (small built) man and carry him out? I am glad they did not use a taser on him. Therefore the Police are WRONG
When all three parties involved in the incident are WRONG, and the dragging video is glaring at the whole world, this case will be argued and prosecuted in social media. In a situation like this, if the controlling party (United) is either unwilling or unable to give in or diffuse, they will have to face the consequences. Accept it, United Airlines, you were not friendly to Dr. Dao.