Scorpion stings United passenger mid-flight

The Transportation Department said it is investigating the incident to determine if United violated consumer-protection or civil-rights laws.

Some of that legislation might have had a direct impact on the plight of Dr. Dao and the passengers of United 3411, because those bills would have specified how and when airlines are allowed to overbook flights and boot unwanted passengers.

That eventually led to the video everybody has seen – a 69-year-old man being dragged off the plane by security officers after refusing to give up his seat.

But it’s unlikely that United or any other airline will drop the practice of overbooking its flights, because it’s too important to how they operate.

Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans says the officers had the authority to board the plane but that the rest of what occurred is under investigation.

In his letter, Powell said that he was “appalled” at how the United Airlines staff handled the situation.

He also lost two front teeth, has a broken nose and incurred injuries to his sinuses, and will be “undergoing reconstructive surgery in that regard”, Demetrio said.

United, of course, has been roundly lambasted after a passenger was violently removed from a flight to make room for a crew member.

This update has been corrected to show that the United vice president is John Slater, not Jeff Slater. Demetrio categorized the confrontation as a continuation of bullying tactics used by airlines, particularly United.

Demetrio said no one from United, including chief executive Oscar Munoz, had reached out to him or the Dao family. Munoz said Wednesday that he had left a message for Dao.

United Vice President John Slater said he was not at liberty to say who called the aviation police, but ruled out the plane’s captain.

The same week a passenger was dragged off of a flight, a scorpion fell out of an overhead bin and landed on a passenger. He said as far as he could tell, no hazmat team was called to clean the blood and no effort was made to protect passengers when Dao returned to the plane, bleeding.

“I am sure that you were as disturbed as I was, and as all Canadians were, over the appalling incident that took place onboard a United flight earlier this week, when a passenger was forcibly removed from his seat”, he wrote.

Demetrio then addressed a lawsuit already listed on the Cook County Circuit Court website filed against both the City of Chicago and United Airlines.

Given the wide public outrage over the incident, Dr Dao is in a strong position as he prepares to launch a legal action, lawyers who represent airlines and passengers said.

There is no guarantee the airline would get four volunteers, but chances are, you wouldn’t have to drag passengers off of planes if the selection process had a human driving the it instead of a computer algorithm.

Passenger Jayse Anspach told CNN that Dao and his wife initially agreed to take a later flight but recanted upon learning that this flight wouldn’t take off till Monday morning.

Dao’s daughter, Crystal Dao Pepper, also appeared at the news conference. Lawyers for Dao make it known that Dao is still in a Chicago hospital recovering.

A lawsuit will be filed at some point, and a hearing on preserving evidence is set for Monday in Chicago, Mr Demetrio said. A group of 21 senators also said they planned to examine the incident. The videos show three security officers speaking to Dao. The city has about 200 armed city police officers stationed at the airports along with about 300 aviation officers. They get less training than regular officers and can’t carry firearms inside the airports.