United passenger forcibly removed

chicago tribune wrote:
Dao was one of four passengers involuntarily bumped from a United Express flight from Chicago to Louisville, Ky. after airline employees failed to find volunteers willing to switch to a later flight. When Dao repeatedly refused to leave his seat, employees called in security personnel from the city's Aviation Department, who dragged him off the aircraft.

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Evanston, said she plans to introduce legislation that would bar airlines from involuntarily bumping passengers from overbooked flights and require airlines to seek volunteers to switch to later flights before boarding.

"If an airline chooses to oversell a flight, or has to accommodate their crew on a fully booked flight, it is their responsibility to keep raising their offer until a customer chooses to give up their seat," Schakowsky said in a news release Wednesday.

Currently, airlines have to try to find volunteers before involuntarily bumping passengers, and typically do offer compensation. If they can't find volunteers, any passenger moved to a later flight is compensated based on the price of their ticket and the length of their delay, up to a maximum of $1,350.

United already has ways to incentivize people to volunteer that work pretty well at the gate, Munoz said.

More than 90 percent of passengers bumped from a flight on a major U.S. airline last year volunteered, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

But once passengers are in their seats, "that incentive program needs to change," Munoz said. "We need to expand and adjust those policies to allow common sense."