Photo courtesy of the Daily Banter.
Ascending Tension on United
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Imagine boarding a plane and taking your seat, only to be told that you are being bumped off to make room for the airline’s employees. For David Dao, this was a reality. On April 10, United Airlines has overbooked a flight, resulting in a chaotic nightmare for passengers who witnessed Dao being forcibly dragged off the plane at Chicago O’hare International Airport after refusing to resign his seat.
Passengers on the plane recorded the incident and posted them on social media, which in turn became viral, ensuing in many forms of backlash against the airline company and their employees. The act of bumping Dao off the plane was reasonable in its own case, but the damage and embarrassment inflicted upon him were unjustifiable and an act of aggression to passengers—past, future, and present.
Here in San Gabriel High School, seniors have been receiving their college acceptance letters to the colleges that they have applied for. Some seniors went as far as applying to out-of-state colleges and have been accepted into them. Seniors Calvin Phung and Thomas Wang were one of the few who were accepted into Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Due to the recent event that has occurred with United Airlines, Phung has become warier about the airline services that he will fly with in the near future.
“I’m pretty thankful that I actually went on American Airlines instead of United or Delta,” Phung said, “but I’m probably going to be cautious about which airline I’m going to take in the future.”
Despite traveling far from home, Phung decided that he will not be returning home as much as he wants to.
“I won’t travel back and forth that much because of how expensive and long the flight is going to be,” Phung said.
Junior Andrew Canizal believes that United Airlines could have gone with a different and more peaceful approach.
“[United Airlines] shouldn’t have attacked [David Dao] and just ask him nicely, or just pick a different passenger to [bump off],” Canizal said.
However, even if the airline were to ask Dao off the plane in a peaceful manner, the airport security who were called in are the ones at fault. The security enforced police brutality upon Dao, which should not be done to anyone who has not committed a felony or misdemeanor.
Regardless of whether or not Dao was in the right to yield his seat, United Airlines should take initiative and rethink their policies on whether they should bump off passengers because they need to put their own employees on the plane when they have overbooked the flight itself, or accommodate the passenger(s) for the inconveniences they have been placed in.
