- Chicago Aviation security officer fired over passenger dragging sues city, United Airlines
- James Long sums up what’s wrong with the 21st century. He was fired for knocking Dr. Dao’s unconscious and dragging him off the United plane with a bloody mouth and without a couple of his teeth. United quickly settled with Dr. Dao and even paid up claims against the city as well to get the story to go away. Mr. Long and the aviation police were busted lying about what happened. Now Mr. Long is suing United and the Chicago Department of Aviation for wrongful termination due to poor training. Apparently personal responsibility in 2018 no longer includes not beating people senseless. United just can’t seem to catch a break. At least passengers can now get $10,000 vouchers thanks to Dr. Dao.
United Polaris:
- United’s first reconfigured 777-200 with direct aisle access Polaris seating is on its way back to the US.
- United is currently only retrofitting the really old pre-merger United planes that have first class and an insane 4 middle seats in business class. This is bad news for people who liked the roomy first class cabin, as United is phasing out first class. It’s also bad news in economy, as United’s Polaris 777s have 10 across seating in the back of the bus instead of 9 across. However it is great news for business class passengers and there will now be 50 Polaris business class seats instead of just 40.
- Don’t expect to see this plane operate the afternoon Newark-Tel Aviv-Newark flights anytime soon as that is operated by a pre-merger Continental 777-200. United is first retrofitting the pre-merger United planes as the pre-merger Continental business class is significantly more updated than pre-merger United’s. That’s good news as that route retains 9 across seating in coach. My old advice remains true, take the afternoon flight to/from Tel Aviv in coach and the evening flight to/from Tel Aviv in business class.
- Airbus has developed “Cargo Class” with full beds for the A330 in the belly of the plane.
- I don’t need the fancy business class seat and food. I’d be all over a cargo class full bed for the right price. Airlines can order these starting in 2020 and Airbus is looking to create this for the A350 as well, an airplane that Cathay Pacific currently flies between Tel Aviv and Hong Kong. Would you fly in Cargo Class? Or does that sound too claustrophobic for you without any windows?
- Find more interesting articles likes by DansDeals Forums members in this DDF thread.
The “cargo” class beds will be IN addition to the seat upstairs.
Of course. And presumably they would be a lot cheaper and won’t come with business class service.
Which is all just fine by me.
cheaper than what? Do you expect that when you buy a cargo class ticket that comes with a seat in coach?
That would be my assumption.
It seems very much like sleeper cars. I wonder if long flights will divy up cargo class so that you can book by the hour. Then I wonder how Spirit, Frontier or the like will find a way to make air travel more miserable.
the headline shouldn’t say “dr. dao lawsuit”- makes it seem like Dao is suing again.
It’s a lawsuit from the perpetrator in the Dr. Dao incident.
Mr. Long isn’t exactly a household name…
Agree, it’s misleading.
How would you phrase it?
Quick Thoughts On The Latest Dr. Dao Fallout Lawsuit
agree, the grammar is wrong. makes it sound like dao is suing.
Yes- it’s not his lawsuit. It says Dr. Dao lawsuit!
Dan, I disagree. Police Officers do not wake up in the morning and say I want to go and kill or beat someone. The real culprit in this case was the Dr. who refused a lawful command of a law enforcement official. Yes the cop might have overreacted a little but that is due to the Dr. refusal to comply with the command. The only reason he got all that money is for the PR nightmare for United to disappear. If the case ever went to a Jury he would have lost. Where was his personal responsibility to follow the command of the officer. While there can be a debate whether there was a right to bump him from the plane or if the officer used excessive force. You can’t second guess every action that an officer takes when dealing with those who do not follow their orders. These officers are trying to keep us safe and if we don’t have their back, which we haven’t especially our past President, we see the uptick in violent crime across the inner city of America because each cop says why should I bother putting myself in this situation by engaging with some low life who might not cooperate at all and lead to one of these situation where their career is ruined.We stand with our men in blue who put their life’s on the line everyday to keep us safe. One mistake shouldn’t ruin someone’s career.
Dr. Dao is far from blameless as I wrote originally:
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/airlines/united/if-i-have-to-give-a-few-thoughts-on-the-united-incident/
However I’m not going to excuse police brutality when there is no threat to them. It’s one thing if a cop thinks they are in danger, thinks someone might have a weapon, etc. It’s another to bloody someone up who is zero threat and paid for his seat on the flight.
The officer was fired for lying. I think it’s fair to expect police officers not to lie.
Well it was the combination of the 2, but correct.
“I donât need the fancy business class seat and food.”
Finally, someone in the travel blogging industry with the guts to say that. Personally, I want to be able to arrive at my destination rested, not cramped, etc. Like a sleeper car on a train. I don’t care about lobster served on china and a fancy-named amenity kit, for more than one reason.
This looks pretty much exactly like that sleeper car. I think it will be a big success and can’t wait to try it.
Dao must be living like a king with the $40, million dollar cash from UA. They should have settled for 80 million $ instead cos UA is a pathetic airline just any any of the USbased airlines are. UA is the worst!
There’s no way he got that much money.
Dan. The charge for the bed would be for a certain amount of time and an additional price on top of the business class seat which would be a required prerequisite
No, this will be marketed to people who would otherwise be in economy or premium economy. It’s not going to have the service and amenities of business class.
On a long flight all I need is a bed and bathroom. A screen showing the flight map would be helpful. As a kosher consumer I anyway bring along my own food just in case. Drinks would have to be provided just because they don’t allow us to bring our own.
Exactly. Bed, WiFi, Bathroom, Water.
Perfect.
I’d switch it to bed, wifi, water, bathroom
Lol, fair point.
I’m 1K United fly a lot. Would do it in a heartbeat would even pay for it.
I would absolutely fly in the cargo bed thing if the price was right. Like many, all I need is to get from A to B. Water and a potty and wifi or at least a USB to power my device and I am fine.
Will they service the sleeper cars properly in between flights? They’d need to budget more time at the gate.
Hmmm, I don’t see this cargo class coming any time soon. Let us not forget that with it comes a complete new set of emergency exits, slides/rafts and all that stuff, plus there’s obviously a requirement for a new rule book for safety regulations, upon which regulators MUST disagree for at least 4-5 years before even going to the second draft… You get what I mean…
FYI, I’ve flown multiple times on an A330 with a downstairs bathroom area in the cargo level, they don’t need any extra exits. Shouldn’t be a big deal.
Any news about UA using a Polaris fitted plane to serve the new SFO-Tel Aviv route? Will this aircraft be used just for the initial few months? Will they just borrow the aircraft currently serving the SFO-FRA route?
Their Polaris product roll-out is pathetic. So slow and inconsistent. No wonder nobody wants to fly them.
It’s running from May-September.
Can’t imagine how they will manage to wake up a tight sleeper to get out of bed and up to his seat in coach before landing.. I think that they should hire the Chicago cop Mr. Long for that duty..
if you have a regular seat and a bed in “cargo class” will they come and wake you up if there is turbulence or will you need to stay seatbelted when you sleep !?
I’d assume there would be flight attendants there to make sure your seatbelt is buckled.
You sleep with a belt on in business class currently if you don’t want to get woken up by a flight attendant.
Hi Dan, I wasn’t sure how else to get in contact with you but the first UA 777-200 was just reconfigured with the new Polaris seats and 3-4-3 in economy. I’m sure we’ll start to see these planes on the EWR-TLV soon
Um. Did you read this post?
Why do you think they cant have windows in Cargo class?
because these are basically cargo containers put in the baggage hold, and there ain’t no windows down there.
Read the article, got my answer.
They going to have “separate sleeping”? deal with abuse? I witnessed abuse from a drunk passenger sittng in coach- Chicago police were waiting when we got off the plane! And change the linen in between passengers? And wake pple up when your time slot is up?
There would be flight attendants downstairs.
Why would it be any different than coach and business now?
There’s not going to be time slots. They’ll sell the sleeper space for the flight.
That’s exactly what spirit will do sell time slots and charge you a few for every minute u wake up late….
Lol, this is never coming to Spirit.
Where are they gonna put the luggage if the cargo hold has beds in it?
There’s enough space for both.
So does that mean that now, the a330/ all planes has so much empty space in the cargo hold?? It seems like its mostly empty even when full if you can fit this stuff down in there!
Then why do they nickle and dime us with luggage fees!!
Because they can.
If a passenger travels in cargo, hopefully they don’t impose a 50 lb. maximum.
Lol. they’re going to get me on those overweight fees đ
Word
1. For the kosher traveler, the cargo beds are def great. Half the service we pay for (and dont use) in oremium cabins is the restaurant style service. So cutting it out is perfect.
2. I dont anticipate being all that cheap as it sounds like it would be displacing actual cargo. (Yes, most passanger planes carry profitable cargo as well).
3. Ive done cramped sleeper trains in 3rd world countries, and i assure you its no business class…
United is horrible.Just this week I had a ticket that I wanted to cancel (I bought it with a voucher)and the manager said I could and she’ll make an exeption because they changed my flight time a little bit.I called back and they said they won’t honor that commitment.I was on the phone for 2 hours and the supervisor said that this has to be done online.He only told me that after wasting 2 hours screaming at me and wasting my time.Never buy united again.
Also,a different time I had wheelchair assistance and I asked 2 workers to get me help and they ignored me and told me to go myself finding their assistants.HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!
I can predict if someone buys the cargo space on a long haul flight and is not occupying it the whole time, he may consider âsublettingâ it to another passenger to sleep for 2 hours while he watches a movie. Just a thought on what will Probobly happen.