Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., on Tuesday asked the Transportation Department to suspend federal regulations that allow airlines to overbook flights and remove passengers at their discretion, according to a letter sent to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.
The move comes days after United Airlines violently removed David Dao, a male passenger, from a flight leaving Chicago for Louisville.
“This conduct is abusive and outrageous. The ridiculous statements, now in their third version, of the CEO of United Airlines displays their callousness toward the traveling public with the permission of the federal government,” Christie said in a statement about the letter. “I know the Trump administration wants to reform regulations to help the American people. This would be a great place to start.”
Christie said he is concerned about the incident despite it happening in another state because 70 percent of flights out of the Garden State’s most busy airport, Newark, are operated by United.
While Christie and a number of congressional lawmakers have called for hearings on the policy and decried the airline’s handling of the incident, the governor said his state will aim to curtail the practice in the meantime – though federal regulation makes it difficult to do much.
Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., on Tuesday demanded the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hold a hearing about a United Airlines passenger who was physically harmed after being dragged off a flight in Chicago over the weekend.
“I deplore the violent removal of a passenger from a United Airlines flight this weekend. Airline passengers must have protections against such abusive treatment,” Norton said in a statement Monday evening.
“I am asking our committee for a hearing, which will allow us to question airport police, United Airlines personnel, Federal Aviation Administration officials, and airport officials, among others, about whether appropriate procedures were in place in Chicago and are in place across the United States when passengers are asked to leave a flight,” Norton added.
The non-voting House delegate is not the only lawmaker to come forward to decry the airline’s handling of the passenger following its overbooking the flight to Louisville. Norton will ask the transportation committee and aviation subcommittee to investigate the airline’s compensation of passengers who are bumped from flights, as well as how they are treated when forcibly taken off a flight.
“The only information available has been that perhaps $800 was offered to leave the flight. Federal rules require airlines to give passengers four times their fare or up to $1,250 if they are bumped from an overbooked flight,” Norton said. “We need the facts on why airlines overbook so many flights. If overbooking is to be permitted, there must be accountability from the airlines in exchange.”
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., on Monday blamed United for overbooking the flight and the injuries the passenger experienced.
Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., said he will no longer fly United and called for an investigation into the airline’s treatment of passengers.
Video of the incident shows two law enforcement officials pulling the man from his seat, with blood on his face, and pulling him by his arms off the flight. United officials had asked for four people to give up their seats and in turn, they would be compensated. When no one volunteered, the airline selected four random passengers.
The first three people agreed, but the final person refused, saying he had to get to Louisville because he was a doctor and had patients waiting for him. Officials were then called to the plane, where the faceoff took place.
