Anger Taking Flight

In Galatians 2, we read a Biblical fact about our new nature in Christ and significance of His sacrifice:
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."

This week, we are mindful of what Jesus did during the final days of His life.  He demonstrated to His disciples that His blood would be shed and His body broken - for them.  He had taught on the importance of carrying one's cross, and indeed He would give His life on a cross - again, for them, for us.  He was sent by God to perform an unenviable, yet worthwhile, task:  to give His life so that those who give their hearts to Him might live eternally with Him.  He surrendered to death, and calls us to die to self so that we might live in Him.

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In 2nd Corinthians 4, the apostle Paul lays out the importance of responding properly to the circumstances of life.  This certainly applies when the assignment might be considered unpleasant.
(14) He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

It seemed to be just another day on the "friendly skies."  A plane full of passengers on the runway in Chicago, ready to depart for Louisville on a Sunday afternoon.  Then, the announcement came: the airline needed to transport a flight crew that would be joining another flight in Kentucky.  The airline began to offer people vouchers and an overnight stay to fly out the next day.  The initial offer: $400, then $800.  No volunteers.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reported that a United Airlines official came on board and announced that four people would be chosen by computer to give up their seats.  A couple was chosen, then a doctor from Louisville.  That's when the heightened tensions exploded.  The newspaper stated:

The video, posted by Audra D. Bridges at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, is taken from an aisle seat on a commercial airplane that appears to be preparing to take flight. The 31-second clip shows three men wearing radio equipment and security jackets speaking with a man identified as Elizabethtown doctor David Dao seated on the plane. After a few seconds, one of the men grabs the passenger, who screams, and drags him by his arms toward the front of the plane. The video ends before anything else is shown.

 A United spokesperson confirmed in an email Sunday night that a passenger had been taken off a flight in Chicago.

"Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked," the spokesperson said. "After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate.

"We apologize for the overbook situation. Further details on the removed customer should be directed to authorities."

This has become an embarrassing incident for United Airlines.  The company's CEO, Oscar Munoz, stated: "This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened. We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation."   The security officer who apprehended Dao has been placed on leave pending a review.

Another Courier-Journal story quotes an aviation attorney, who explains the rationale behind what may have happened:

Ladd Sanger, a Dallas-based aviation attorney who represents clients in lawsuits against airlines, said that kind of case can be hard to win in court since “the legal side is heavily weighted in favor of law enforcement and the airline.”

Based on a combination of federal aviation regulations, the federal Airline Deregulation Act and the contract of carriage airlines attach to their ticket purchases, Sanger said airlines are essentially permitted to refuse to board someone on a flight or to remove someone from a plane.

The contract of carriage is “incredibly one-sided” in the airline’s favor, Sanger said. And once a person has boarded an airplane, they are required by federal law to comply with the flight crew’s instructions.

Bridges, who filmed the incident, told the newspaper that "Dao said he was a doctor and needed to see patients the next morning. Bridges said passengers were 'shocked and appalled' by the incident, and thousands of people on social media have expressed sympathy for Dao and outrage over the way the situation was handled.

The Courier-Journal  has received some heat now because it published some unflattering information about the doctor.  CNN reported that:

And just like that, an internet-wide conversation on air travel protocol and corporate responsibility gave way to one about journalistic ethics, with a chorus of reporters denouncing the unflattering coverage of someone who'd never sought the spotlight in the first place.

Columnist Matt Walsh relates some valid thoughts on the matter in a piece on The Blaze website. After establishing that this whole thing could have been avoided if the airline had handled the matter before boarding, he criticizes the passenger, er, "victim"'s, behavior:

He was only dragged off the plane because he refused to walk off of it like a sane person. And he wasn’t done there. He came running back on board and started clinging to the seats as if they were trying to drag him off the aircraft and feed him to a pack of wolves waiting outside. Honestly, is this rational behavior on the part of an adult? Is there no valid criticism that can be levied against the kicking, screaming grown up in this case? Would any of you ever act that way in public? I hope not. I wouldn’t. Unless they were trying to kick me off the plane while it was 30 thousand feet in the air. But not if it’s on the ground and the worst thing that happens is that I’m a few hours late getting home.

So, United handled this badly. The guy handled it badly. And now the whole country has handled it badly. Great job all around. Let’s all give ourselves a round of applause.

I don't know what criteria were used here, but a CNN article quotes an airline spokesman:

When no one volunteered, the airline was forced into an "involuntary de-boarding situation," airline spokesman Charlie Hobart said.

United weighs a number of factors to determine which passengers would leave the flight, such as connecting flights and how long the delay will leave the customer at an airport, Hobart said.

United employees explained the situation to the man several times, Hobart said. When he refused they followed Department of Transportation protocol and called local law enforcement to forcibly remove him from the plane.

Let's think together about several aspects of the story.  First of all, how to respond generally when things don't go your way.  The airline certainly mishandled the situation, but this passenger clearly overreacted to the action.  Think about how you would have reacted.  Some might have taken the voucher and booked another flight - I would think that there may have been other flights to Louisville that evening.  But, sometimes in the heat of the moment, we allow our fleshly impulses to get the best of us.  I think we can be challenged to examine our own behavior when we encounter customer service personnel who are just trying to do their job.  Our overreaction to adverse circumstances do not affirm the presence of Christ within us.

Another element has to do with how we respond when we are specifically chosen to do unpleasant things.  While being bumped from an airplane might not rise to the level of being termed, "suffering," it is certainly an inconvenient assignment.  Spiritually speaking, though, there will be times in our lives in which God will call us to perform a task or endure a circumstance that we simply will not want to experience. But, we remember that He always has our good and His glory in mind, and the suffering we encounter can produce His desired result.  We have to say, "not my will, but Thine."  Jesus was called to an unpleasant assignment - to face shame, humiliation, and death - punishment not for what He had done, but for what we had done.  He demonstrates to us the proper way to respond to call of God.

Finally, I think this story demonstrates to us that we have to make sure we uphold a good reputation. This is the second time this doctor has made headlines.  If you are going to make the newspaper, I would say do something good, that benefits humanity and brings glory to the Lord.  The Louisville newspaper brought his past indiscretions back up because, as one of their editors is quoted as saying, it had been covered in the community when it occurred.  And, now, even though the airline really looks bad, this man's reaction doesn't look so good, either.  Our wrong responses may even be captured on video.  The written or published word is permanent, video material on social media is, too.  This makes it all the more important to make sure that we are involved in activity that is consistent with our Christian witness.