By Mars Thera Pope
United Airlines, a company that has provided transportation by air for more than 80 years, has put itself in the midst of a public-relations nightmare. With three various stories of the airline being a not-so-great service, people of many backgrounds are actually bonding over the “common enemy.”
United Airlines barred two women from getting on a plane from Denver to Minneapolis, New York Times reported, because the gate agent deemed their leggings inappropriate. The incident was shared on Twitter by another passenger who was about to board a flight to Mexico, Sharon Watts. Her tweets were quickly shared with stinging criticism of the airline by the time Watts landed. Jonathan Guerin, a spokesman for United, said the women were barred from their flight because they were violating the company’s dress code for “pass travelers,” a term applying to people flying for free as employees or dependents of United employees.
This incident takes us a step back in time to when a woman had to change her wardrobe to fit the standards of the people around her so they can be more comfortable. Meanwhile, these women can’t be in their leggings because their comfort comes after United’s comfort. These women were not trying to attend a press conference or upscale business meeting, they were trying to board a long flight in which they would be sitting with little space around them.
Just last week, 69-year-old David Dao was dragged off a United flight to make room for United personnel. Four passengers were chosen based on criteria that is in United’s contract of carriage that involves the passengers’ fare type, check-in time, and other factors. Three of the chosen passengers got up from their seats, but Dao refused to. Chicago aviation authorities were called, and the chaos that ensued was recorded by passengers. In a video that has since gone viral, you can hear Dao screaming when the authorities try to get him out of his seat. They eventually slam him to the floor and drag him by his hands down the aisle. Dao suffered a concussion, broken nose, and damaged sinuses, and he lost two front teeth.
Is this a result of violence having a trickle-down effect started by the Trump administration? During the campaign season, candidate Donald Trump had no problem offering to pay the legal fees of those who fought in his favor. Now that he’s president, do authorities feel protected when they forcibly eject a Vietnamese-American man from his seat that he bought with good money?
With all of this going on, of course a small incident involving a scorpion in a United flight last week also got publicized. According to BBC, a man felt something fall from the overhead bin onto his head during his flight from Texas to Canada. After putting it on his lunch tray and realizing it was a scorpion, it stung him. United has offered compensation, but after its recent record, the scorpion is only making sure that no one continues to fly with United.