Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm! my question is why wasn't he ordered to sit in his

[malaise]

assigned seat. Imagine if she was in his seat?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-united-airlines-lawsuit-pungent-odor-20180512-story.html
<snip>
An African woman and her children were kicked off a United Airlines flight after a fellow passenger complained that she had a "pungent" odor, according to a racial discrimination lawsuit filed against the company.

The incident involving the passenger, a white male, happened two years ago, when Queen Obioma, a Nigerian citizen, and her two children were boarding a flight from Houston to San Francisco. The family had flown from Lagos, Nigeria, and were on the second leg of a three-flight journey to Ontario, Canada.

Obioma saw that the other passenger had sat in her assigned seat in the business-class cabin, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Friday in federal court in Houston. The passenger refused to move, so a flight crew member, instead, asked Obioma to sit elsewhere in business class.

Later, before takeoff, Obioma went to use the bathroom. On her way back to her seat, the same passenger was standing in the aisle and blocking her from getting to her seat, the lawsuit says. She said "excuse me" three times, but was ignored. After several minutes, Obioma managed to squeeze her way to her seat.
--------------------
Hope she collects lots of money

[Glamrock]

1. I am soooooo sick of this shit!

Not hearing about it, to be clear. Just sick of the racism.

[malaise]

3. I can't believe this one happened

How stupid and racist were the crew?
This should have ended with one of cabin crew ordering the man to sit in his assigned seat. If he refused he should have been kicked off the aircraft. Please note that this was business class.

[Lucky Luciano]

5. No shit! She probably paid 10,000 for her ticket!

[Heartstrings]

2. There's so much wrong about this, I don't even know where to begin....

Hope she gets a boatload of cash and lives happily ever after in that shithole country..Canada!

[safeinOhio]

4. As Paul Harvey used to say....

and now the rest of the story.

[treestar]

6. Solution: tell white man to take the next flight

Interesting that never occurs to them.

[malaise]

11. From the start he should have been ordered

to sit in his assigned seat.

[still_one]

7. Overt racism . Not only should United Airlines be sued, but it is really too bad that the white

male racist who stole her seat, and the racist asshole who tried to block her from returning to her seat cannot be sued for some sort of harassment.

This is what f**king America is

[yardwork]

8. The article says that they were the same person.

[still_one]

9. Thanks. It wasn't clear to me from the OP, and I didn't go into the full article. It comes as no

surprise that this would be the same asshole, and pretty much confirms he is a racist pr*ck

[malaise]

10. But he was allowed to be a racist prick by the crew of the aircraft

He should have been ordered to sit in his assigned seat.
That is even more disturbing to me.

[still_one]

20. absolutely malaise

[MiniMe]

12. I think they removed the wrong person from the aircraft

[malaise]

13. Indeed

[oberliner]

14. Do you think there must be more to this?

As described, the actions of the flight attendant and pilot make no sense at all.

[MineralMan]

15. Do you? I have no idea, since all I have to go on is

the story we have. I understood it OK. So what do you think the story might be?

[oberliner]

16. If there is a statement from the flight attendant or pilot, I'd be interested in reading it

Everything in the article comes directly from this woman's legal complaint. I would be curious to know if the flight attendant or pilot have some other explanation for their actions which seem both cruel and nonsensical as described in the complaint.

[MineralMan]

17. There is no such statement, although there probably will be

in response to this lawsuit. I'm not sure what about the story at the link confuses you, though. It seems pretty straightforward to me. Or is it that you think the woman is lying about what happened?

The lawsuit will go forward. Probably, though, the airline will settle it and it won't actually be heard. Will you still doubt the woman's story if that occurs?

[Solomon]

21. Racism denier.

He/she polices every thread involving racism.

[MineralMan]

24. I deal with each thread individually.

In this thread, what that poster said was confusing to me, so I asked about his or her statement. So far, I've heard no answer. It seems to me that we've seen plenty of evidence that such racism does occur on a regular basis, so I have a problem with people questioning those who say it has occurred to them.

I can see no reason to question the woman's account of what happened to her.

[malaise]

18. I checked four credible links before I posted this

The story is the same - racism on steroids and it probably doesn't help that she is also female.
The man was sitting in her assigned seat. Deal with that.

[MineralMan]

19. Puzzling, isn't it. The story seemed pretty simple to me,

especially after going to the link and reading the entire thing. I guess some people have problems believing that racial prejudice actually exists and that people suffer because of it. Imagine that...

[malaise]

23. and it's the same on all the links

which include the Washington Post.
You don't get to take our money and treat us like shit.

[MineralMan]

25. It always seems strange to me that some people question

the veracity of such stories. We've seen so many of them recently in the news. There's no video associated with this one, apparently, but the narrative sounds very familiar to me. Some white person objects to the presence of someone of color. Next, those in charge of the situation rule in favor of the white person, to the detriment of the other person.

It's a classic story of racial prejudice in action. The airline will deal with it by paying a settlement to the woman to whom it happened, and then the airline will hope it doesn't happen again. It will, though.

I doubt the incident happened in any other way than the one described.

[malaise]

26. This one is worse

He was sitting in her assigned seat in fugging Business Class. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[MineralMan]

29. Yes. I've had that happen to me, with a window seat

in an exit row. I showed by boarding pass to the flight attendant. She made the person move. In fact, his assigned seat was not even in that exit row. He moved. I guess he wanted the extra leg room and figured he might get away with taking the wrong seat. Heck, I paid $25 extra for that seat. No way was I going to sit somewhere else.

I wonder what would have happened if I were not a white guy. The situation might have ended up differently, I suspect.

The whole incident in the story you posted is disgusting. The guy and how the airline handled the situation is almost beyond belief, although I have no problem actually believing it.

[Sunlei]

28. There's not 'more to it' United should have sent the complaining man to another seat or flight.

no need to humiliate the woman and her children to the point of making her cry!

[Sailor65x1]

31. There has to be

Which direction it takes the story, who knows? But in my almost 2 million miles of flying, one constant has been the protection of seat assignments. United and Delta, at least, have been adamant about it, especially in Business/First, and I've seen some pretty chippy situations. And then for the guy to be back up and interfering?If it went this way, the flight attendant will likely be fired.

[malaise]

32. I sat in the wrong seat in Business class about two years ago

It was a flight between Miami and Kingston. I had the front row seat and wasn't paying attention. The guy whose seat I was in came to the seat. I checked my BP and realized I was assigned the front row. He said he'd actually prefer the front row. Not one flight attendant was anywhere near us - they were seating folks in economy. The thing is most of us knew one another.

Oh I didn't pay for the ticket

[Sailor65x1]

33. Well then there was no confict

Which is a good thing, but not quite as applicable.

Like I said, I don't know what direction this will go, but I do know if the FA didn't move a passenger that he/she should have moved, then she's in deep doo-doo. And in United's eyes, the FA should have moved him if he squatted s seat.

[malaise]

34. It's much worse than that

She was then blocked and the crew sided with him and had her and her children kicked off the flight.
I'd be flying free for life after that one - trust me.

[Sailor65x1]

37. That's a big part of it, for sure

The getting back up and blocking thing. It makes no sense for an FA to let it go that far.

[malaise]

38. Precisely

He should have been removed from her seat

[Sailor65x1]

40. Yes, in the first place

The carriers are focused on this sort of thing. In many, many incidents, I have never seen the offending squatter not removed unless the rightful seat holder agreed to it.

[Takket]

22. Completely unrelated but....

Nigeria to Houston
Houston to San Francisco
San Francisco to Ontario

That was her flight schedule???? Especially the Houston to SF flight is in the completely wrong direction.

That just struck me as weird.

Anyway, hope she cashes in on her lawsuit.

[Sunlei]

27. This is the way most flights are today, constant layovers & people who stink because it takes 24 hou

people who stink because it takes international travelers a fucking a day to travel anywhere.

Damn airports should have showers for layovers!

[malaise]

30. People in Barbados have to go down to Trinidad on a Caribbean Airlines flight

to make Caribbean Airways connections heading most places. Airlines operate for their profits not our convenience or comfort.

Your issue is irrelevant to this blatant racism.

[Sailor65x1]

35. I noticed that too

Houston and SFO are both huge United hubs, and it is normally unheard of to schedule a route through 2 of them. And Nigeria to Ontario should have routed through Newark or Chicago. My guess is that she must have suffered a cancellation or delay that put her on that strange route.

[Calista241]

36. All people smell bad after a long enough time on an airplane.

I flew back to Atlanta from Singapore, and i had 2 connections through Tokyo and Los Angeles. It was a total of 36 hours on that airplane, and I am quite sure that I was smelling ripe.

[Sailor65x1]

39. I always keep a kit with me for that reason.

After the first 15 hours I can't even stand myself.