Recently, an Asian doctor was violently pulled out of his seat and pulled across the aisle. This removal was done after the flight got overbooked and there was no volunteer to surrender his/her seat from a United Flight departing from Chicago to Louisville on a Sunday evening (Sini, 2017). The airline wanted two persons to volunteer their seats for personnel required to work the following day. When no one volunteered, the airline chose an Asian doctor and his wife for forceful removal (Sini, 2017). It seems the doctor was beaten up because 10 minutes later, he ran back onto the plane with a bloody face chanting that he needed to go home. The only response from the airport concerning handling the incident was for the airline to tweet an apology and put the security officers involved on leave (United Airlines, 2017). One can conclude that the airline has no respect for its customers or the security officers are racists. The incident caused a public outcry and exposed the consequences of human error and machine error in booking systems.
A similar case in Philadelphia airport would have been handled differently and much more respectably. For instance, in the absence of volunteers to surrender their seats, the airport would have prioritized a first-come, first-served basis. Customers who booked last would then be transferred to a different flight and compensated for the disturbance. If security guards forcefully evicted a customer, they would be immediately fired, and the customer would be refunded for the flight ticket and compensated for damages. Philadelphia international airport is equipped to deal with such situations by having a responsive customer care department. Staff is continuously trained on customer relations and ethical decision-making to equip them with knowledge for handling tricky situations. The airport also has multiple flights departing in quick succession, facilitating transfer in case of an overbooked flight.
References Sini, R. (2017, April 10). United Airlines: Passenger forcibly removed from flight. BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39554421 United Airlines. (2017, April 10). United Airlines on Twitter. Retrieved April 9, 2021, from Twitter website: https://twitter.com/united/status/851471781827420160