The unfriendly skies
A broken nose, a serious concussion, two knocked-out teeth and possible surgery.
That is what a 69-year-old doctor got for refusing to leave the airline seat he had rightfully purchased. The video shocked all of us: Dr. David Dao is beaten and dragged down the aisle as horrified fellow passengers look on — all because United Airlines needed to make room for four of its own employees on a full flight.
Overbooking flights is just one way that airlines have been cutting corners to maximize profits. And though Dao’s treatment was an extreme example, this moment of national outrage has created a big opportunity in our years-long efforts to hold airlines accountable to us, their customers.
Airlines give passengers a raw deal in countless ways, with very few repercussions. In the wake of United’s scandal, we’ve got a short but promising window to push for new rules that will make flying better for all of us — and send a message to other big corporations that consumers won’t let mistreatment like this stand.
What we’re doing about it
In the week since the video broke, we’ve been working hand-in-hand with lawmakers, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Md., to introduce a bill to protect passengers from being forcibly removed after they’ve already boarded.
We know our efforts can work. In 2014, we released an analysis of tens of thousands of customer airline complaints from a five-year time period. We used this hard data to drive a major legislative victory requiring fair, transparent prices for flights. A few years earlier, we helped pass groundbreaking rules limiting the amount of time airlines can leave passengers sitting on the tarmac. When it comes to taking on the airline industry’s powerful lobbyists, we’ve gotten results for passengers time and time again.
What many consumers don’t know is that they do have a number of new rights as well as a right to complain, both to the airline and to the government.
