Do you feel it's fair for an airline to deplane (in any way) a paying passenger when they are oversold?

Absolutely! They have policies in place which we all agree to abide by every time we buy a ticket. But they also need to realize there is a right way and a wrong way to accomplish this. BTW, I hold United much less at fault than I do the police officer involved for turning this into a spectacle. But what was he to do after being told there was a trespasser on the airplane? Best course of action would have been to continue raising the bribe to find a volunteer. I'm sure all of United would agree paying me $10000 or even $100000 to give up my seat would be a better solution than the black eye they received.

It wasn't even overbookd or oversold. They had a crew of four from United that needed to get to another airport to make sure that flight didn't get cancelled. So they asked who would give up their seats. Of course no one wanted to. Why would anyone? I'm not giving up my seat because you didn't plan your employees' travel very well. Then they offer $800. Really? What's that going to help you with? You would have to probably spend the night there to get a new flight. So you have to pay for hotel and food and whatever else and hotels in Chicago probably aren't cheap. There is no limit for what they can compensate someone in this situation. They should have kept pushing up the price. AND they don't do this on the plane. It's supposed to happen at check in or before people board. Not after. This was a horrible PR disaster for United who doesn't usually have the highest customer satisfaction to start with.

But that's ok because Sean Spicer saw this and said 'Oh I got you" and one upped them anyway.

No it's not fair and in this specific example, the plane wasn't overbooked. The company just felt it was more important to put their aircrew in seats after the paying customers were already seated.

If the company needed seats open to get a crew into another city, they should have literally been the first people on the plane before anyone started boarding.

It's one thing if the person was being a disruption, threatening, etc. Then fine, remove them from the plane. But asking someone to leave and then ejecting them because they refused crosses the line.

In my experience, the airline offered cash incentives to passengers who voluntarily deplaned an overbooked flight. I took advantage of one on an occasion when my schedule allowed it. Obviously, in the case, United would have saved themselves a lot of trouble and money had they simply chartered a plane to take their crew where needed.

And with the recent incident, some United idiot only had to offer a $1000.00 to passengers who would give up their seats and problem solved. A lot less expensive than the bad publicity and the lawsuit that is sure to come.

If and when that comes to fruition, then they should look at the computer and see who has the earlier date of purchase. And if it is just for a flight team member to catch a flight well then that member will have to wait because the paying customer is always right.

No! Once a passenger has been allowed to board the plane, with a valid ticket and seat assignment, he has a right to the seat. Despite what is being repeated in the press, the flight was not overbooked. The passengers were being kicked off the plane so the Airline could board a flight crew that was needed at the flight's destination point. This is an important detail because there are specific FAA rules that apply to removing a passenger from a flight and they were not followed in this case. FYI: they include substantially more than a $800 flight voucher (the last time I read the rule it was 2.5 times the cost of your original ticket). It's amazing that they failed to offer appropriate recompense for volunteers to give up their seats. When they offered a travel voucher worth up to $800 and did not get a volunteer, they should have offered 1st Class upgrades and/or cash till they had a volunteer. I'm sure the airline will argue in court that they were trying to speed things up, reduce any delay in the flights take off time, and would have informed him of his rights once he de-boarded.

The second mistake was made by the police and security officers involved. Once they decided to use force against the Doctor, they had a responsibility for his personal safety. Dragging him out of the plane by his arms and legs was unprofessional and not in accordance with standard police procedure. Once he resisted, you take him into custody, put him in handcuffs and walk him off the plane. If he refuses to walk you put an officer under each arm and carry him out. If he kicks, you tie his legs and carry him out.

At this point I would guess that the Airline, the Airport, and the Police Department are throwing cash at the passenger in hopes that this whole story will just go away.

I have been with United Airlines for 29 years.
Yes, the over booking policy should be looked at but it's really a mathematical economic issue.

However, when you are instructed to deplane, get off. Take the voucher and next flight. Don't be an ass.

What's funny is it is a four hour drive to Kentucky. United could have drove there crew there. Now instead of paying 800 dollars to give up the seat. It is going to cost them millions. In lost revenue. Gov. Crist Cristie is already requesting a proub into these airline practices.

If they offer financial inducement and the passenger accepts it (thus making a defacto contract), then the passenger should deplane. Otherwise only illegal or dangerous behavior should allow the airline to force a passenger off a flight. As a pilot, I support the idea of getting a passenger with dangerous or aberrant behavior off the flight while it's on the ground. Example: cursing at an airline employee or threatening bodily harm. Nothing good will come of these types of passengers at 35,000 feet over the middle of the Atlantic with 450 other people on board. Safety of crew and passengers must remain the first consideration.