What's going on with United Airlines?

Only the other week they were banning Women from wearing leggings, lol.

www.theguardian.com...

United Airlines: leggings ban 'not sexist' even though it affects women more United Airlines spokesman defends ‘guidelines that apply to everyone’ after two young girls wearing leggings were kept from boarding a plane in Denver

www.npr.org...

Outrage, Explanations After United Turns Away Girls From Flight For Wearing Leggings

I think they caved in after a lot of criticism on that one.

However, sure you heard this story:

www.theguardian.com...

United Airlines passenger violently dragged from seat on overbooked flight Several videos taken by Chicago passengers show guards aggressively dragging a man down the aisle after selecting him to leave an overbooked flight

A man was violently removed from a United Airlines flight by aviation police officials at Chicago’s O’Hare international airport on Sunday, in an incident captured on video by several other passengers. United Airlines: leggings ban 'not sexist' even though it affects women more Read more In one clip, posted by passenger Audra Bridges to Facebook, guards can be seen aggressively grabbing, and then dragging, the passenger down the aisle of the plane, which was bound for Louisville, Kentucky. Other passengers can be heard screaming and shouting “Oh my God” and “Look at what you did to him.”

According to Bridges, the man is a doctor and told flight officials he was due for a shift at his hospital. Tyler Bridges (@Tyler_Bridges) @united @CNN @FoxNews @WHAS11 Man forcibly removed from plane somehow gets back on still bloody from being removed pic.twitter.com/njS3nC0pDl April 10, 2017 “This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United,” airline CEO Oscar Munoz said in a statement to the Guardian. “I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened.”

I think United Airlines has gone:

I feel very sorry for America. You are good people, but the violence in your society, conducted by your authorities and criminals is way EXTREME.

Can't you do anything about it? Doesn't democracy give you a way to address this?

Your kids get shot up in school. The police are way brutal, especially with Black People in a lot of states. Your security generally is way violent.

More than anything it is just sad that such modern Western people should have to put up with this.

I am not criticizing, just worrying when I see all this.

800 people got shot in Chicago already this year. This is crazy. I can see why the authorities have to be heavy against violence like that, but a doctor on a plane being treated like this because the United ' had overbooked is brutal and thug like.

edit on 11-4-2017 by Revolution9 because: (no reason given)

a reply to: Revolution9

meh, crime and police abuse is just the cost of liberty. We love our guns, they wont go anywhere. So the police have to be ready to deal with that potential for violence. Criminals will crime anywhere in the world though. I believe our high prison population is just a demonstration of the fine work our law enforcement do in apprehending and prosecuting criminals better than the rest of the world.

Not really sure why this particular act was necessary, but it was likely due to the man being uncooperative or unwilling to discuss things civil. Like many or most anti-police entitlement idiots, he went limp and started screaming. Why not just talk civily???

Fly Delta next time.

It started a few decades ago. A bank robbery where the robbers had full body armor, and automatic rifles (obtained illegally).

The police only had pistols, and dozens were wounded.

They had to get rifles from a local gun shop to deal with the robbers.

From there, it has escalated. Criminals use more force, prompting police to step up their game. People are not nearly as sane as they used to be, prompting police to be even more vigilant and jumpy.

It really is a vicious cycle, one with no happy ending.

I listen to my local police radio a lot, just to keep abreast of any issues locally. People are loosing their collective minds, and I only live in a town of less then 100,000.

United has sucked for years, flew with them 2 years ago, wasn't nearly as nice and cost me more then flying with Southwest.

a reply to: Revolution9

U.S.A. was the friendliest country in the world until MTV hit the airways.

Now look at us.

Monsters.

a reply to: Cygnis

Here's an article late Feb marking the 20 year anniversary of it.

20 years ago, a dramatic North Hollywood shootout changed the course of the LAPD and policing at large

ETA: LOL I originally looked at the wrong date (facepalm).

a reply to: Revolution9

Honestly, it's nowhere near as bad as it seems in the media. Remember that our media faces brutal competition from various aspects of the entertainment industry. They're all competing for attention from the 320-350 million people here, which drives them to sensationalize everything. Or to be more direct, they intentionally ignore the vast majority of positive things in order to obsess over the much rarer negative things. People are much more likely to tune in for fearmongering drama than for routine/boring events.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

It's a big heartache for me this side of the Atlantic.

I have over the years developed a fondness for you guys (see below how affection helps to develop cohesion and belonging; essential dynamics of cohesive society). The U.S has always been a bit "Wild West" and that is part of the collective make up of the U.S, but the shame of it will come when your freedom becomes eroded to the point you are not free any more. That spells disaster for the rest of the free world, too.

Personally, I don't think being tooled up in peace time as civilians is the brightest idea, but I can't interfere and must mind my own business.

It's just way sad to see this. I wish that there could be some cohesion in society. I say that for the UK and the EU, too. Social cohesion is faltering and this is historically the very thing that made us strong and leading in the free world to begin with.

Have you ever noticed the word "cohesion"?:

cohesion kə(ʊ)ˈhiːʒ(ə)n/ noun noun: cohesion the action or fact of forming a united whole. "the work at present lacks cohesion" synonyms: unity, togetherness, solidarity, bond, sticking together, continuity, coherence, connection, linkage, interrelatedness "rewarding individuals breaks the cohesion in the group" Physics the sticking together of particles of the same substance. Origin

Group Cohesiveness

The bonds that link group members to one another and to their group as a whole are not believed to develop spontaneously. Over the years, social scientists have explained the phenomenon of group cohesiveness in different ways. Some have suggested that cohesiveness among group members develops from a heightened sense of belonging, teamwork, interpersonal and group-level attraction. Attraction, task commitment and group pride are also said to cause group cohesion. Each cause is expanded upon below.

Group cohesiveness (also called group cohesion and social cohesion) arises when bonds link members of a social group to one another and to the group as a whole. Although cohesion is a multi-faceted process, it can be broken down into four main components: social relations, task relations, perceived unity, and emotions.[1] Members of strongly cohesive groups are more inclined to participate readily and to stay with the group.[2]

If you read through this Wiki article it strikes as a deficit we have in the West as our societies break down. I believe all this social erosion has been encouraged, either consciously or unconsciously. I think we have been broken down and divided for motives of control and financial exploitation. Collectively and cohesively we were strong in the Unions and pressure groups. As that has disappeared so have many of our rights in the West.

Also, the Churches used to provide community and cohesiveness. It was a very powerful way to encourage a common ground of morality. It worked on principles of peer pressure and even gossip (yes, gossip is well important for maintaining cohesion). The Parson, Priest and the Unions were effective facilitators of cohesion and society. As a humorous aside the only cohesion we have in the West these days are to be found in gangs and terrorist cells.

Woody Guthrie even captured this historical facilitation by Preachers and the importance of the Union in many of his songs (historical narratives on American Society):

(Here performed by the legend Ry Cooder)



www.woodyguthrie.org...

Preacher Casey was just a workin' man, And he said, "Unite all you working men." Killed him in the river some strange man. Was that a vigilante man?

So, all that is going, going, gone and nothing to replace it with. All we are left with is the deficient "mercy" of corporate capitalists who have no local ties to regions or even countries any more. Their "mercy" can't be relied on to be the moral foundation of a modern society. It is like asking a Great White Shark to look after a nursery of Salmon.

In my more "protest" days I used to tell them they were like a snake eating its own tale; indeed they are. They are ruining the West and we will grow weaker and weaker. The citizens will become more and more disgruntled with less and less respect and loyalty; breakdown, big time. Using "fear" and "brutality" as a social control tactic never works and ALWAYS AND WITHOUT FAIL ends in disaster.

We are rotting from the inside I fear. Once our collective "immune system" is so weak it can't fight off the viruses then they will ultimately kill the host. Some viruses are already in the system. others will attack from without.

It is a damned pity to watch it come to this. The concept of the Free World has meant everything to me all my life. To watch it being sold out and our heritage squandered like this is a sad old thing.

Stay safe you guys! My respect.

American carriers suck really really bigley, the flight attendants are rude most of the time, some of them are too damned old for the job, they looked tired, service is generally bad, they lost your luggage half the time, this coupled with crotch grabbing TSA and delays make flying a chore rather than fun, but it wasn't always thus there was time when using American carriers was a pleasure, even if one was flying cattle, things were getting bad but hit a low post 911 and got progressively worst.

originally posted by: enlightenedservant
a reply to: Cygnis

Here's an article late Feb marking the 20 year anniversary of it.

20 years ago, a dramatic North Hollywood shootout changed the course of the LAPD and policing at large

ETA: LOL I originally looked at the wrong date (facepalm).

It was insane, and this event single-handedly changed things. The next significant step was 9/11. Both are days of infamy for people who value their freedom.

Hard to imagine it's been only 20 short years, feels like a life-time ago.

and... We all make mistakes, to error is to be human.

One of the things that got me about the overbooking incident was the cheek of the guy that came on and said, "This plane ain't going anywhere until we get our personnel onboard"

I hope those ignorant police get a metaphorical kick in the horlicks for their actions too..they deserve it.

The more Ithink of it in retrospect, everybody on the plane should have got off in protest.
They have even had pets who died with heatstroke, and others left on the tarmac in the pissing rain in their portfolio, thus far.

a reply to: Revolution9

United Airlines newest commercial.
"Fly the Friendly Skies, everything is Orchestrated"

Or,
"You do what we say, when we say. Capiche?"

it looks like the terrorists are winning, they have fundamentally changed America and the American`s way of life.

if Islamic state (ISIS) had an airline I imagine it would operate a lot like united airlines.dress codes and vicious beatings if you don`t obey the rules.

no doubt, the terrorists are winning the war on terror.

a reply to: smurfy

according to the CEO of united they were merely "re-accommodating the customer"

if that` s how they re-accommodate their customers imagine how they re-accommodate their customers luggage.

the lesson to be learned from this is that if you buy a ticket on a united flight you are consenting to being violently re-accommodated at the airlines whim.

Some people don't like being told how to live but want to tell others how to operate there business. If a person doesn't like the airline's procedures then use another airline.

It's not just United Airlines. This is a problem with society that has existed for a long time. People seem to get pushy and demand their way is the only way, their views are the only views worth considering. Give someone an inch and they take a mile. I see this happening in our government a lot, right down to the community level. Beautification committees who start dictating what people can have on their property to make a community look pretty is just a sign of it happening. This goes way deeper than this, people are shoving their beliefs down others throats. This is what politics does to people too.

Our country is falling apart, it is becoming divided into a bunch of opposing groups of people who have no respect for the rights of others. Both sides are guilty, two wrongs do not make a right.

originally posted by: Revolution9
I feel very sorry for America. You are good people, but the violence in your society, conducted by your authorities and criminals is way EXTREME.

I'm sorry, but if you're using this and things like you see in the Posse Commitatus forum as the foundation for this generalized claim, you're way off the mark. I think that you need to relax and put this "EXTREME" violence in proper perspective instead of using it to form some EXTREME idea as to how our authority figures constantly act here in America. Your pity is misplaced.

Can't you do anything about it? Doesn't democracy give you a way to address this?

For the most part, what you (the peanut gallery...not intended as an insult) end up seeing if often half of the story, or even a quarter, or one-eighth. People too often base their emotional opinions on a small portion of the overall story, but then let that opinion create a stereotype.

But, yes, we do have laws and limitations on our police officers and other authority figures, and yes, sometimes they cross the line, and yes, sometimes that gets swept under the rug. But in these instances, we're talking about such a tiny minority of interactions between average citizenry and authority figures that, if you're basing your opinion on American authority overall by these massively uncommon instances, you've jettisoned all logic in your opinion and are going at it with emotion alone--that's not a good way to view a situation.

Your kids get shot up in school.

Very rarely--and it happens in other places around the world, too. The question you need to ask yourself is this--there are signs and laws against murder and even bringing deadly weapons onto school property, yet both still happen. What else can we do when someone is hell-bent on causing death and wreaking havoc? If you can solve that problem, you'll win a Nobel Prize.

The police are way brutal, especially with Black People in a lot of states. Your security generally is way violent.

The police are mostly "way brutal" when the suspect makes a complete ass of themselves and forces that hand upon them--then idiots here and abroad want to scream foul after the fact, when they watch a video that doesn't show the instigation and asinine actions of the suspect, only the force used by the cop. I'm not saying all of the instances of extreme force by LEOs is necessary, but the vast majority of the situations are brought upon the suspect by their own actions.

What's the cliché? Oh yeah: Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

More than anything it is just sad that such modern Western people should have to put up with this.

Again, you're WAY over-generalizing the problem to make it seem like all "Western people" are subject to cruel, Schutzstaffel-style law enforcement, and we're not.

In fact, you implying this in any way, shape or form is nearly laughable in and of itself.

I am not criticizing, just worrying when I see all this.

You're over-worried and over-generalizing based on a statistically minute amount of instances. Stop worrying.

800 people got shot in Chicago already this year. This is crazy. I can see why the authorities have to be heavy against violence like that, ...

Yes, this is an ongoing proof of failed policies of urbanization, welfare, and criminalization of drugs--not to mention probably the second most restrictive gun-control laws that obviously fail to protect people.

... but a doctor on a plane being treated like this because the United ' had overbooked is brutal and thug like.

I agree with you, here, but it's not an indication as to how all or most of our authority figures act in America.

Please don't take my response the wrong way--when authority figures (including LEOs) act in an illegal manner (especially with excessive force, deadly or otherwise), they should be called out and prosecuted. But, the problem is that people take their first impression of EVERY instance of LEOs using force and run with it, when the majority of them turn out to be legal and justified uses of force. I'm just really tired of this hyperbole that exists in the world that America is this violent Nazi state where all citizenry are terrorized by its law enforcement--it's just ridiculous.

originally posted by: worldstarcountry
I believe our high prison population is just a demonstration of the fine work our law enforcement do in apprehending and prosecuting criminals better than the rest of the world.

Really?


Your prison population is due to the number bull# laws the USA has that end up jailing non violent offenders.

And you criminal justice system is built of elitism, racism and a two tier system.

Many country have better police and criminal justice systems with more fair outcomes and have the low crime statistics to prove it.

a reply to: Revolution9

I wish I had been on that plane, I would have voluntarily gotten off for the $400 dollars but I would have countered the offer for the hotel, and would have tried for a later flight bumped up to first class all services paid for.... I think it was sad that no one took the offer I doubt that there wasn't a single person on the plane that could be just a few hours late.

a reply to: crazyewok

We truly need prison reform here in the US. We criminalize people for petty crimes, and once you're in the system it's extremely difficult to get out. In my city, they're getting rid of the probation system and building another prison... And they just finished building a new prison, but apparently it's already overcrowded.

More than 20% of states spend more on prisons than higher education. We should be putting more money in rehabilitation and counceling, and put people to work rather than work to feed them in their cages.

As for United Airlines, I imagine this man will sue the crap out of them and rightfully so. I'd say if you don't like their policies, then don't fly UA, but I live in the Midwest and understand their dominance in the area. In the end, these airline employees are stressed and underpaid, and they made a mistake. They're not government employees, so nobody truly has to deal with them if they really don't want to.

I've boycotted United.

They aren't getting any of my business.