Jay Kuten: Memo to United -- It's not all right

Jay Kuten

THE VIDEOS have been seen by millions ...

A passenger is shown screaming at first as he is dragged from his seat by police; then he is quiet (his head apparently hit the arm rest on the way down) and his body, now inert, is dragged down the aisle of United Express flight 3411 as fellow passengers shout objection on his behalf, although none act to interfere with what appear to be aggressive police tactics.

The airline's immediate response was blaming the victim.

While 69-year-old Dr David Dao suffered concussion, a broken nose and lost teeth -- all deserving some concern -- United chief executive Oscar Munoz first described him as "defying aviation security officers".

Next he was described as "unruly" and "belligerent". The media chimed in as somehow it was revealed that the doctor had a criminal conviction 10 years ago.

What was appalling was the treatment of this man on the plane and the airline's adding serious insult to serious injury -- all to attempt to exonerate itself and avoid responsibility.

Protest: A rally near the United Airlines counter at O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, in support of passenger David Dao who was forcibly removed from a United flight. Photo/AP

What did Dao do wrong? Too many people, taking the side of the airlines, said: "He must have done something ... "

In fact, Dr Dao's "defiance" was of the airline's bullying demand that he, a confirmed, seated, paying passenger, give up his seat in favour of airline crew whose other connecting flight had been delayed.

Cornell Law School's site pointed to FAA regulation 14 CFR 250.2a, which specifically prohibits just such action by the airlines. The use of the aviation police to remove him may also have been illegal as their authority extends to the terminal and not beyond the plane's threshold.

Most of us are unaware of our rights in such a situation. Before you board, your rights are limited and you are at the airline's mercy. Boarded, in a confirmed paid seat, you can only be removed for cause -- not for the airline's convenience.

But rights exist only when exerted. If the airlines can violate Dr Dao's physical and personal space, they can do it to anyone.

The resolution for Dr Dao, probably in seven figures, will be wrapped in confidentiality, leaving the company free to continue acting exactly as before those videos exposed the length to which it is willing to go to exert power.

For the rest of us, the paying flying public, this incident needs to be a wake-up call.

Decades ago, flying was an occasion of adventure and airlines competed to provide services. Since their deregulation by Jimmy Carter, the airlines have consolidated, becoming too big to fail, and increasingly disdainful of their staff and their customers.

Flying, begun as romance, has become an ordeal. This incident shows that the disproportion in power has allowed the airlines to progress from exploitation of their customers to bullying them and now to overt abuse.

To consider the relationship of airline to customer as analogous to other potentially abusive relationships helps understand United's response of blaming the victim.

"Unruly" and "defiant" are the equivalent of saying the assault was deserved. Even the United chief executive's subsequent "remorse" has classic scriptings of the abuser. Mr Munoz offered refunds to the other passengers ("sent roses") and promised he wouldn't send police to remove passengers in a similar situation ("I won't do it again, I promise").

Enraged flyers have suggested a boycott of United, but it's not just United that's been bullying passengers.

The potential for further abuse will continue until the flying public demands of the government that this betrayal of trust be accounted for and the safety of passengers be restored.

The Trump administration is engaged in deregulatory frenzy that further endangers citizens in every domain. Citizens need to organise and demand of their representatives that new strict regulations be enacted, enforceable by law, to protect the safety of the public and to require that airlines explicitly provide simple, legible information on passenger rights to each customer.

If we don't act together, we can expect more of this treatment. Abuse becomes too easily normalised, and we need to act to prevent it.

Jay Kuten is an American-trained forensic psychiatrist who emigrated to New Zealand for the fly fishing. He spent 40 years comforting the afflicted and intends to spend the rest afflicting the comfortable.