News Thread

[aiw]

He is a giant, giant asshole.

And he probably has one, too!!!

Best not to leap to conclusions, we need the opinion of a qualified professional.

aiw, we need you to take a look at Manilow's asshole.

I'll get right on it.

I have met someone with imperforate anus, btw.

 

[deepdarkblue]

Met? Over drinks?

 

[aiw]

Vocational studies.

Then, drinks.

 

[TS9]

I don't really have any of my own to share, but I fucking love stories about celebrities being pompous shitfaces.

I also love the image of Barry Manilow riding in solitude on Spaceship Earth, learning about the evolution of the telephone or whatever the fuck that ride is about.

 

[deepdarkblue]

If farmer worked there when he was a teenager, space travel didn't exist yet. All the rides involved hollowed out log canoes and travois pulled by dogs. When he says parking lot, he means hitching posts and stables.

 

[niveklaen]

If farmer worked there when he was a teenager, space travel didn't exist yet. All the rides involved hollowed out log canoes and travois pulled by dogs. When he says parking lot, he means hitching posts and stables.

Just teenage farmer and ancient Walt Disney chain smoking cigarettes in a Florida swamp. Barry Manilow swings by and forces locals to get off their damn airboats so he can go for a ride.

Walt Disney pauses, puts out a cigarette, and decides to build a theme park on that very spot.

Triremes

 

[skins]

Back in the summer of 1987, 19 year old your's truly took a job parking cars at EPCOT in Orlando for the summer.

19 years old in 1987. Jeez, just how old are you?

 

[rhfarmer]

duh, 49

 

[skins]

Thank you. I wasn't committed to doing the math.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr- ... -and-limp/

An airline supervisor walked onto the plane and brusquely announced: “We have United employees that need to fly to Louisville tonight. … This flight’s not leaving until four people get off.”

“That rubbed some people the wrong way,” Bridges said.

Passengers were offered vouchers to rebook, he said, but no one volunteered.

So the airline chose for them.

“He says, ‘Nope. I’m not getting off the flight. I’m a doctor and have to see patients tomorrow morning,’” Bridges said.

The man became angry as the manager persisted, Bridges said, eventually yelling. “He said, more or less, ‘I’m being selected because I’m Chinese.’”

A police officer boarded. Then a second and a third.

Bridges then began recording, as did another passenger — as the officers leaned over the man, a lone holdout in his window seat.

“It looked like it knocked him out,” Bridges said. “His nose was bloody.”

In another video, the man runs back onto the plane, his clothes still mussed from his forcible ejection, frantically repeating: “I have to go home. I have to go home.”

“He was kind of dazed and confused,” Bridges said. He recalled a group of high school students leaving the plane in disgust at that point, their adult escort explaining to other passengers: “They don’t need to see this anymore.”

Over/under on how much money United is going to pay the man to settle = $2 million. Not sure how whoever was calling the shots for United thought it would be worth $2 million, plus terrible publicity for the company, to deal with this particular passenger, who happens to be in a protected minority class, instead of (A) choosing someone else and hoping they gave in or (B) flying the one last United employee on a later flight or paying for car service to get him to Louisville. Probably getting fired.

 

[torontoduke]

I'll take the over on this one.

 

[DurhamSon]

The question is, were those airport security guys, or federal marshals? If it's the latter I don't think he can successfully sue them, as it's a felony not to comply when they order you to leave the plane.

That said for PR purposes it was idiotic to reach the point of forcibly removing anyone in the first place.

 

[ZackM]

The question is, were those airport security guys, or federal marshals? If it's the latter I don't think he can successfully sue them, as it's a felony not to comply when they order you to leave the plane.

That said for PR purposes it was idiotic to reach the point of forcibly removing anyone in the first place.

The cost of whatever voucher was needed to reach 4 people probably would have been a wiser use of resources.

 

[dkst0426]

Gotta love the "apology" from United in their initial public statement:

A spokesperson for United confirmed the incident in a statement Monday morning.

“Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked. After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate,” the statement said.” We apologize for the overbook situation.”

Could've been worse, I guess - I mean, the guy could have been wearing leggings, too.

 

[dkst0426]

"Re-accommodate"

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Was half expecting the CEO to end the statement with "Ching chong."

 

[Pantone287]

While I agree that this will be a disaster for United and that the apology for "overbooking" was incredibly tone-deaf... WTF were they supposed to do?

I fail to see how anyone but the passenger did anything wrong here, unless people are just deciding to be enraged at the entirely legal concept of overbooking itself all of a sudden.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Zack's suggestion was the best, IMO. Just pay some premium to incentivize people to take a later flight. I thought airlines always do this for overbooked flights, so it didn't register with me that they didn't try that option before forced removal. Like $250 plus a free hotel stay overnight. 4 people out of 100 or whatever would probably take that deal. $1,000 plus whatever relationship fee they have with a hotel for these purposes is a drop in the bucket for them, with no negative publicity to go along with it.

 

[DukeNukem05]

The problem to me isn't overbooking, but rather removing someone who has been seated in favor of some United employees. The time to give vouchers, etc, is before boarding finishes.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Apparently they did offer a total of $800 for 4 people to get off the flight. Some passengers told them if they upped it to $1,000-$1,500, they would do it, but United wasn't willing to spend the extra $200-700 to avoid a random selection process. Never heard of this before.