Rewarding Bad Behavior?

We are still in the early days of every incident having video available and are shocked by events that will eventually not be newsworthy.  Sunday's United Airlines kerfuffle is one such incident.  When asked to leave the plain, he refused.  When security came to escort him from the plane, he still refused.  When they sought to use minimal force, he resisted.  At each step, he could have submitted to leave the plane.  This path of escalation has happened before.  Last year, there was a middle school girl who refused her teacher's instruction to go to the principal's office.  Her refusal and resistance eventually escalated to a police officer manhandling her, which was filmed.  This is an easy game to play and it will continue to be played so long as it has the current impact.  Anyone can do it.  Get pulled over for a defective blinker and then refuse to hand over license and registration.  Then refuse to get out of the car.  Eventually, you will find yourself handcuffed in the back of a police car on the way to jail.  Easy.  Infallible.  And if only that last bit of being dragged out of the car, thrown to the street, and cuffed is on film, you are golden.  The headline writes itself:

 

Police brutality over faulty tail light!

Here's the important part.  Those who game this early will get the most benefits.  I have no doubt that United will pay a very large settlement to the man who refused to get off the plane.  Compared to the $800 offer to get bumped, he is going to make out like a bandit.  If he had gone quietly, that is all he would have gotten.  Making a scene, and the news, is going to be very profitable.

 

One passenger supposedly offered to be bumped for $1600.  Was that amount beyond the discretion of the boarding agents?  Probably.  That discretion is likely to increase to avoid a future incident like this.

 

Overbooking flights inevitably leads to bumping passengers from time to time.  If Joe has paid for a seat, there is a good case for breech of contract if he is then booted (doubtless there is fine print on the ticket about bumping).  Though United is far from blameless, the intransigent passenger is more in the wrong.  If I tell someone to get off my plane, I expect to be obeyed.  They may sue me later but private property is private property.