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Posted by on Apr 10, 2017 in Blog, Rants and Raves | 14 comments

An Alternative Opinion of Doctor Drama Queen Forcibly Dragged Off United Airlines

 


We criticize airlines for overbooking practices.  We blast them when they occasionally run into problems, like when too many passengers show up.  Yet, most doctors do exactly the same thing.  However, no doctor has ever offered me a $400 voucher and a free lunch for making me wait too long.

 

By now, you’ve probably seen the shaky cell phone footage showing a screaming United Airlines passenger dragged down mid-aisle and forcibly removed from a flight yesterday.

The passenger, claiming to be a doctor, was asked to give up his seat by the airline’s staff after it was discovered the short flight was overbooked.  There are some additional background details pertaining to this incident, but I won’t get into them here.

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After watching the video, the popular reaction has been scathing criticism targeted at United Airlines for the way they handled this matter.  Sure, airlines are giant fuck buses with wings.  It’s easy to understand why so many people sympathize with a fellow passenger, versus the big bad airline doing mean stuff to a helpless man simply wanting to fly back home.  Indeed, air travel has become an agonizing experience.  Airline service sucks.  When we fly, we’re treated like helpless pawns being run through a cattle chute.

Nonetheless, let’s also agree that none of this would have happened if Doctor Drama Queen would simply have behaved like a grown-up instead of throwing a temper tantrum like a 2-year-old child.

Hey, Doc — this isn’t a Vietnam War protest.  Your resistance isn’t an act of valor.  Being forcibly dragged away isn’t heroic civil disobedience.  It’s stupidity.  It’s selfishness.  It’s a petty display of entitlement and exaggerated self-importance made considerably worse by the rampant conceit that doctors are somehow entitled to special privileges wherever they go.  Well, I have news for you, Doc.

Who knows if Doctor Drama Queen really had patients waiting back in Louisville?  No one has confirmed yet if his claims about having medical patients are really true.  And even if they are true, most doctors sure as hell don’t care about our valuable time, not when patients are often crammed into waiting rooms and forced to stare at the walls for an hour or more after our scheduled appointment time.  Sure, doctors provide us while entertainment while we’re waiting.  The last time I had a medical check-up, I read two entire years worth of Highlights for Children magazines.  Hey Doc, let’s learn a lesson together.  Gallant cooperates with airline security.  Gufus thinks he’s more important than everyone else and goes bat-shit crazy when he doesn’t get his way.

[Update:  “Dr. David Dao lied to the airline crew.  He’s a bold-faced liar.  “Dr. Dao” had no patients waiting for him the next morning back in Louisville, since his medical license was suspended in January.  He’s currently under indictment for peddling opioids.  So — pending a conviction — he’s probably a dope peddler]

So, we criticize airlines for their overbooking practices and blast them when they occasionally run into problems when too many passengers show up.   Yet, most doctors do exactly the same thing.  However, no doctor has ever offered me a $400 voucher and a free lunch for making me wait too long.

Oh, and by the way — he must not be much of a doctor if he’s flying coach.   But I digress.

United Airlines might get sued over this and be tempted to settle.  Let’s hope not.  Instead, Doctor Drama Queen should be criminally prosecuted to the full extent of the law for interfering with the operation of an aircraft.  He not only caused a scene.  His actions also created a needless delay for everyone else on that flight.  How selfish of him.  He certainly wouldn’t have protested someone else getting plucked from the flight for many of the reasons people travel — including families reuniting, a prospective job interview, or a funeral.  No, this was all about him.

Admittedly, this is a case of very bad timing for United Airlines, particularly after the embarrassing (overtly sexist) dress code incident a few weeks ago.  However, one miscue doesn’t entail perpetual and comprehensive guilt across an entire industry when it comes to dealing with passengers.  Sometimes the airline is wrong.  Other times the passenger is wrong.  In this case, Doctor Drama Queen was wrong.

Lock him up.

NOTE:  FOLLOW THE DISCUSSION HERE ON FACEBOOK

14 Comments

  1. Hahaha fuck him

  2. 1 United id not offer full range of options that FAA requires
    2 united could have got rental car crew to Louisville faster
    3 united could have paid uber to take crew to KY.
    4 united could have offered Uber to passengers

  3. some airlines do NOT over book

  4. WSOp busts table – 6 players to move, but
    WSOp doesnt have seats for 2 players, for they cant count

    who is PR guy for WSOP????

  5. how you expect doctors to make money paying for their time when they can only allocate 15 minutes to each patient due to low ins/medicare reimbursment

  6. 4 their random selection process is not random
    5 random would be front row and then last row. alternating next time situation exists
    6 not allowing refundable tickets gets rid of problem
    7 only offered $400 up front, offering 800 right way possibly removes problem

  7. Absolutely right! I wish more people were saying this. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem they are. I had to search you out (Googled “United Airlines” and “Drama Queen”.

    One thing I’ll add. You make the point that no one has verified he had patients waiting the next day. It’s also worth mentioning no one has verified he’s really a doctor. I would have thought if he were, he might have quietly flashed some ID when the cabin attendants asked him to disboard. Also, let’s not forget the guy doesn’t have a ton of credibility because he also cried out they he was singled out because he’s Chinese when there’s absolutely no way he could have known that. I have a strong feeling he might not have been even a real doctor.

  8. Agree with Nick – United screwed the pooch on this one. Since their stock is down $700 million today, it seems that they could have afforded to offer more upfront. But that requires some working neurons.

  9. Right, he deserved the beating.

    It’s because of corporate quislings like you that conduct like this is becoming normalized.

    Despite your “alternate view” (I’ve got better words for it), this guy is going to wind up a millionaire.

  10. I don’t often disagree with you Nolan but on this I do. The action should never have happened in the first place. Especially to drag a paying customer off to make room for non-paying employees. Inexcusable!

  11. Interesting point of view. In the end we, the taxpayer will pay for everyone’s actions. Investigations, possible new legislation to prevent airlines from overbooking. Airline fares will rise again.

  12. I feel delighted to read such a good post, I would like to thank the Author for this marvelous efforts. This post is good in regards of both knowledge as well as information.
    Thanks for the post.

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