United Airlines, Economic Inequality, and First-Class Privilege

April 10, 2017 Paul Constant
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Economics
Fly the horrific skies.

Fly the horrific skies.

You’ve probably by now seen the video of the doctor who was physically beaten and removed from a United flight because United wanted the seat for its employees. If you haven’t, here it is. Be warned: it’s an incredibly disturbing video:

And here’s the story, from Lucas Aulbach at the Courier-Journal:

Bridges said the man became “very upset” and said that he was a doctor who needed to see patients at a hospital in the morning. The manager told him that security would be called if he did not leave willingly, Bridges said, and the man said he was calling his lawyer. One security official came and spoke with him, and then another security officer came when he still refused. Then, she said, a third security official came on the plane and threw the passenger against the armrest before dragging him out of the plane. The man was able to get back on the plane after initially being taken off – his face was bloody and he seemed disoriented, Bridges said, and he ran to the back of the plane. Passengers asked to get off the plane as a medical crew came on to deal with the passenger, she said, and passengers were then told to go back to the gate so that officials could “tidy up” the plane before taking off.

This is a horrifying story, and it’s still unfolding on social media.

I’ve noticed something about the reaction to United. People have been making jokes about the incident on Twitter. Which is okay! Jokes are part of the news cycle. They’re how we process things as a culture. And particularly in this case, the jokes are very telling. This one is a perfect example of the tone and tenor of the comedy I’ve been seeing:

Then there’s the business world’s response to the news, which is the exact opposite of everyone else’s response to the news:

And then the content mines immediately chimed in with their hot-take-clickbait. The most horrifying example of the form is this Yahoo Finance story by Ethan Wolff-Mann, headlined “How to reduce the chances of getting dragged off your United flight.” An excerpt:

In plain language under Rule 25—on page 35 if you print it out—the agreement says exactly what happens if the flight is oversold. “If there are not enough volunteers, other Passengers may be denied boarding involuntarily,” the language reads. (Of course, the deplaned man was not denied boarding, he was already boarded.) The language continues however, shining light on how these “other Passengers” are chosen. It’s not random, it’s “in accordance with UA’s boarding priority.” That means that if you have a higher fare class, have a complex itinerary, have status (e.g. gold or platinum), have checked in early, or are a frequent flier, you are less likely to be asked to take the next flight. Even if it’s just a frequent flier card that you never use, it might save you from being forcibly dragged off a plane. Any kind of priority is better than no priority, when it comes to not getting forcibly removed from a plane.

So we’ve got the jokes about air travel being a hellish dystopia for anyone not in first class. We’ve got Wall Street cashing in on the metrics while ignoring the human horror of the story. And we’ve got “helpful” news stories explaining that in order to not have this happen to you, it’s wise to exercise some sort of privilege. It should be clear to anyone who’s paying attention that this story is not about customer service. It’s about income inequality. Helaine Olen posted a very good thread on Twitter about this:

When you get down to it, like everything else in America today, this is about the haves and the have-nots. If you’re in first class, you don’t need to worry about shock troops coming and beating you until you get out of the seat that you bought. If you’re not in first class, you’re on your own. If you’re in the top one percent on Wall Street, you turn a tidy profit off the whole ordeal. This is what class warfare looks like.

Economics
Economics
Paul Constant

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