Mother sues United for being forced to give up her child's seat

CBS

Shirley Yamauchi and her son Taizo.

ASAMNEWS

A mother who paid $1,000 for her child to be seated aboard a United flight is suing after she was forced to seat her child on her lap for the cross-country trip, reported Hawaii News Now.

Shirley Yamauchi says she had to hold her son on her lap for three and one-half hours from Boston to Houston so that a standby passenger could take her seat.

It’s “unsafe, uncomfortable and unfair,” she told HuffPost. “He was barely buckled in for nearly four hours.”

Yamauchi considered protesting further but said she was afraid of retaliation after Dr. David Dao was forcibly removed from an overbooked United flight when he refused to give up his seat.

"I thought about Dr. Dao and his incident with United, having his teeth knocked out and being dragged down the aisle," Yamauchi said. "And I didn't want that to happen to me."

Her attorney Michael Green was more blunt.

“United deserves everything we can do to them. We’ll let the people decide what to do to people that are this greedy and put lives potentially in danger,” he said to Hawaii News Now.

United says it has reached out to Yamauchi to make amends.

“We reached out to Ms. Yamauchi to apologize to her and her son, and we also refunded their tickets.”

Yamauchi who is a middle-school teacher does not dispute that saying she was brought into the United lounge and gave her free upgrades, but she called the gestures “not genuine.”

The incident happened just months after another ticketed United passenger , Dr. David Dao, was literally dragged off the flight to make room for United personnel who needed the seat.

###

David Dao settles with United Airlines

David Dao was severely injured when he was violently removed from an United Airlines flight.

IN A BRIEF STATEMENT, United Airlines settled with David Dao, whose forced ouster from a United flight created a public relations nightmare.
The press relaese said: "We are pleased to report that United and Dr. Dao have reached an amicable resolution of the unfortunate incident that occurred aboard flight 3411. We look forward to implementing the improvements we have announced, which will put our customers at the center of everything we do."  

As part of the settlement, the final sum was undisclosed.

Dao, a 69-year-old Vietnamese/American doctor, had to be hospitalized for injuries incurred when Chicago aviation police dragged him from the plane to make space for four crew members on the flight from the city's O'Hare International Airport to Louisville, Kentucky.

RELATED: Passenger violently dragged off of plane

Dao's legal team released it's own statement regarding the settlement and their dealings with United CEO Oscar Munoz, who took the brunt of the outrage generated by the incident.

"Mr. Munoz said he was going to do the right thing, and he has," said Thomas Demetrio, one of Dao's attorneys. "In addition, United has taken full responsibility for what happened on Flight 3411, without attempting to blame others, including the City of Chicago. For this acceptance of corporate accountability, United is to be applauded."

The settlement was reached on the same day United Airlines announced multiple positive changes to improve the customer experience. According to Demetrio, 

"Dr. Dao has become the unintended champion for the adoption of changes which will certainly help improve the lives of literally millions of travelers.’ 

Among the changes, United will no longer remove passengers after they've been seated and the airline has raised the amount of compensation for passengers who volunteer to give up their seats to $10,000.

"I sincerely hope that all other airlines make similar changes and follow United’s lead in helping to improve the passenger flying experience with an emphasis on empathy, patience, respect and dignity," said Demetrio.

###

Ousted United Airlines passenger recovering from injuries; lawsuit probable

SCREEN CAPTURE

David Dao's daughter, Crystal Dao Pepper, represented the family at a press conference today

DAVID DAO, at some point in his recovery, will speak to the media in person about the incident on United Flight 3411 and his violent eviction from the plane.

According to his lawyer, the Kentucky physician suffered a concussion, a broken nose, the loss of two of his teeth and will require reconstructive surgery because his face was slammed into an armrest while being forcibly removed from his seat his seat and dragged down the airplane aisle while unconscious and bleeding from his mouth.

Dao is recovering from his injuries in an unspecified location, according to his high-powered personal injury attorney, Thomas Demetrio in a press conference today (April 12). Dao doesn't remember returning to the airplane and acting dazed and confused.

Demetrio, said his 69-year-old client's experience -- an immigrant from Vietnam (correcting earlier reports that he was Chinese  -- was "more harrowing" than fleeing Vietnam in 1975. 

This is a story that has taken a life of its own and blown into a full-blown national discussion about the treatment of customers, in general, and passengers' rights specifically.

"For a long time airlines, United in particular, have bullied us," Demetrio told a news conference Thursday (April 12) in Chicago, outlining the potential causes of action they may pursue against United and the city of Chicago.

"Will there be a lawsuit? Yeah, probably."

Demetrio -- the former president of the Chicago Bar Ass'n -- filed legal documents Wednesday, asking a judge to order United to retain all videos, cockpit voice recordings, passenger and crew lists, incident reports, police documents related to the incident, and personnel files for the officers involved in removing Dao.

Securing the documents is a prelude to a lawsuit, and it's virtually certain the two law firms Dao hired were retained to go after United and the city, which operates the Chicago Dept. of Aviation, which oversees airport security.

Dao's daughter, Crystal Dao Pepper, said, "We were horrified and shocked and sickened to learn what had happened to him and see what had happened to him. We hope that in the future nothing like this happens again.”

TWITTER & INSTAGRAM

David Dao

She said her parents were returning from a vacation in California and catching the Sunday flight to Louisville, Kentucky, when United tried to bump four passengers from the sold-out flight to accommodate four United employees. Even when compensation had been upped to $800 there were no takers. That's when United employees selected four passengers at random, that included Dao.

Dao told the attendants that he was a physician and needed to return home to meet with patients. That was when attendants called airport security. When he still refused to give up his seat, the guards tried to forcibly remove him. Dao shouted out that he was being singled out because he was Chinese, according to other passengers.

A passenger seated behind the Dao's said Dao was calm until the guards forcibly tried to remove him. Throughout the encounter, Joy Cummings said, Dao was upset but not belligerent or violent. Once officers were called on board, she added, Dao was "calm and soft-spoken" and didn't act violently with officers.

"Other than not getting out of the seat, he didn't fight back. He just stood his ground," Cummings said.

Passengers' cellphone videos of the incident were posted on their social media sites and the incident went viral internationally with Asian and Asian/American social networkers calling for a boycott of the airline.

UNITED'S PR NIGHTMARE

Immediately after the incident, United CEO Oscar Munoz issued a half-assed apology for the overbooking but expressed no sympathy to Dao. On Monday, he also issued an internal memo to employees that Dao was belligerent and that employees followed procedures.

When the memo and apology went public, the outrage grew even louder. United was taking a beating in the virtual public square. Daytime talk shows condemned United's actions and nightime TV hosts made fun of the airline. Celebrities and politicians expressed their dismay and vowed to never fly United again.

Munoz was forced to issue another apology that was softer in tone and expressed more compassion to Dao. He  appeared on Good Morning, America Wednesday to again issue a "sincere" apology and to express "shame" over the altercation.

"This will never happen again," Munoz said in his Good Morning America exclusive interview."We are not going to put a law enforcement official onto a plane to take them off … to remove a booked, paid, seated passenger. We can't do that."

After today's press conference, United issued another statement, which reads:

The altercation even drew the attention of Donald Trump. He suggested that the airline should have raised the incentive. "You know, there's a point at which I'm getting off the plane ... seriously," said Trump. "They should have gone up higher. But to just randomly say, 'You're getting off the plane,' that was terrible."

AAPI REACTIONS

Amid the current political climate in the U.S., where racial profiling by law enforcement persists and immigrants and people of color face increasing bigotry, it is extremely troubling that an elderly Asian/American man was the victim of excessive force that left him bloodied and disoriented, said a statement from Asian Americans Advancing Justice. 

“Advancing Justice is demanding a full and transparent investigation of the incident, a full examination of airline policies of allowing the overbooking of flights and expecting passengers to bear the brunt of this corporate practice, and greater accountability from the Chicago Department of Aviation security officers and United Airlines regarding the use of racial profiling and excessive force,” AAAJ stated.

RELATED: Asian passenger forcibly removed from United flight

Illinois' two U.S. Senators, Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, wrote a letter late Tuesday to United and CEO Munoz demanding an explanation of United's operating procedure for deciding forcible removals, how often over the last year the airline has deplaned a passenger already onboard, and why the full $1,350 incentive wasn't offered to Dao, among numerous other questions.

“Consumer trust and confidence are critical to ensure this industry continues to thrive, and we hope United Airlines will work diligently to immediately address this incident and make necessary improvements to ensure it does not occur again,” the Senators wrote.

On Wednesday, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Chair Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., also sent a letter to United Airlines CEO Munoz, raising concerns over the violent removal of an Asian/American passenger. Chu also sent a letter to Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Elaine Chao requesting that she disclose any findings of DOT’s review of this incident.

“I am deeply disturbed by the footage of a ticketed United Airlines passenger being forcibly removed from his flight. U.S. airlines should ensure the safety of their passengers. In this instance, the mistreatment of an Asian American passenger in order to accommodate United’s employees resulted in serious physical injury and an appalling abuse of rights," said Chu.

“I sent a letter to United Airlines and the U.S. Department Transportation asking for complete clarity behind this matter, including answers as to why violent force was necessary to remove this passenger, and whether any Federal laws or regulations were violated during this horrific incident. I look forward to a prompt response to these letters. No passenger should feel unsafe while flying.”

To the Dao family, however, the question is even more basic: It's a question of common  decency.

“We want fairness in how people treat us, we want respect, and we want dignity. That’s it. Not a big deal," said Demetrio during today's press conference. "This seems so simple. Forget the law for a minute that requires common decency in the treatment of passengers, but just treat us with respect. Make us feel like you really care.”

(Updated April 15 to include comments from Donald Trump.)

###

.

Chinese/American man dragged from plane is identified; United scrambles to rectify PR nightmare

TWITTER / INSTAGRAM

David Dao

THE MAN who was violently dragged off a United flight Sunday has been identified as David Dao of Elizabethtown, Kentucky. He is reportedly recovering from the physical and emotional wounds in a Chicago hospital.

He, indeed, was a doctor, a claim he made when United employees initially tried to remove him from Flight 3411 in Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Dao refused to leave his seat because he said he had patients to see the next day.

When he was adamant  and continued to refuse to give up his seat, United employees called on airport security to remove him. His violent removal was captured on other passengers' smart phones showed Dao getting a bloodied lip and being dragged down the aisle. Other passengers could be heard expressing their horror over his treatment.

RELATED: Video of man dragged off of flight

Dao’s wife, Dr. Teresa Dao, has a medical practice in Elizabethtown. She was seen in the videos following the guards when her husband was ousted. Office staff at her clinic told the Courier-Journal Tuesday that neither Dao nor his wife wished to speak with its reporter regarding the incident.

Dao told WLKY in a story Tuesday that he is recovering in a Chicago hospital after he collapsed on the plane and carried off in a stretcher. When asked what his injuries are, he said “everything" and that he was not doing well.

United has come under scathing criticism since the incident. Twitter users are calling for a boycott and Chinese social networkers joined in the boycott drive. China is United's biggest growth area. The videos of the incident went viral on Weibo, China's equivalent to Twitter, and got over 100 million views. China's media focused on Dao's claim that he was being singled out because he was Chinese, which he shouted out before being dragged down the aisle.

After being criticised for Monday's glib apology in the wake of the incident, United chief executive Oscar Munoz made another attempt at an apology.

“The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment. I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened,” he said. “Like you, I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologise to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way."

Earlier Tuesday, United's stock was off about 4 percent, or close to $1 billion off the company's market value. That apparently was the reason for a more "compassionate" apology issued later in the afternoon. After the mea culpa from the CEO, the stock had recovered from the worst losses -- but its market value was still off by $250 million.

Munoz used Twitter to issue this revised apology:

Dao, who went to medical school in Vietnam in the 1970s before moving to the U.S., had a troubled past, causing him to lose his medical license. He worked as a pulmonologist in Elizabethtown but was arrested in 2003 and eventually convicted of drug-related offenses after an undercover investigation, according to the documents filed with the state board of medical licensure.

He lost his license and was working to regain it when the United incident occurred.

Dao's past, however troubled it may seem, shouldn't be relevant to how he was treated on United's Flight 3411.

###

Asian passenger forcibly dragged out of U.S. flight

The passenger was dragged off United's Flight 3411.

UNITED AIRLINES blew it. Why don't they just say that?

By now, you've heard about the passenger who was forcibly dragged off a United flight from Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky, because it needed to accommodate some United employees.

Instead of apologizing to the Asian passenger, United apologized to the other passengers, who based on smart phone videos, were clearly horrified by the incident, for overbooking the flight.

As usual, the airline offered vouchers to any volunteers. They bumped up the voucher amount from $400 to $800, and when no one took it, United said they would draw people at random. 

What made matters worst, the airline let passengers board the plane, but then once everyone was seated, they said that four people had to give up their seats to make way for United crew members who needed to be on the flight. Their own employees!

Therefore, it appears it was not even a case of overbooking as most media have reported. Their employees had to be on Flight 3411 so other flights would not be delayed. United couldn't foresee the need for making reservations for their own employees; or is bumping paying passengers to accommodate their poor scheduling efforts a matter of practice?

Three other passengers left their seats without incident.

The fourth passenger, whose name was drawn claimed to be a doctor and said that he wouldn't get off a flight that he had paid for, saying that he had patients to see the next morning. When he wouldn't get off the plane voluntarily, security personnel came on and violently dragged him off. Videos of the incident make it pretty clear that the scene wasn't pretty, and you can hear people around the doctor shouting in alarm.

The still unidentified man was later allowed to reboard the flight but by then the traumatic event apparently had affected him. Passenger videos showed him acting in a dazed matter, muttering, "I have to get home. I have to get home."  His face was bloodied from the confrontation with the burley security guards who removed him.

Overbooking flights and bumping passengers is pretty standard practice for all airlines. It is not uncommon or illegal. The Department of Transportation (DOT) says most airlines overbook their scheduled flights “to a certain extent” in order to compensate for no-shows. When that occurs, airlines are required to first offer volunteers compensation in exchange for their seats before bumping someone involuntarily.

Anyone bumped against their will may be entitled to compensation, the agency says, and must be given a written statement detailing their rights and explaining how the airline decides who gets on an overbooked flight and who doesn't.

United will likely suffer hundreds of thousands of dollars - if not millions - of bad publicity from this latest incident. Recently, the airline was lambasted for kicking off two young girls for wearing leggings.

As might be expected, social media was immediately all abuzz about United's treatment of its passenger. Passengers posted videos on their social media accounts. The disturbing incident drew the attention of at least one member of Congress, Sen. Bob Melendez.

After the Asian man returned to the plane, he was clearly distraught. He kept repeating, "Just kill me. Just kill me, Just kill me." The public humiliation - a matter of face - and mental health repercussions for the man might be worst than the incident itself.

Eventually the man moved to the front of the plane and collapsed before being taken off the plane on a stretcher, according to the NYTimes. The guard who dragged the passenger off the plane was suspended during the investigation.

The aggrieved passenger will likely have no problem finding a lawyer. Unfortunately, the unhappy passenger has little legal recourse. This is because of the “broad discretion” airlines have under their carriage contracts, Dan Lear, an attorney in Seattle told CNN. The carrier also could argue that a passenger who refuses instructions to exit has become belligerent and thus “a security risk” for the crew, he said.

UPDATED: This story was updated at 8:20 p.m. to clarify that the passenger was eventually removed from the Flight 3411.

###