What rights do passengers have when airlines overbook?
United Airlines is facing intense criticism and threats of boycott after a video of one of its passengers getting violently removed went viral.
The passenger, Dr. David Dao, 69, was forcibly dragged from his seat on April 9, after refusing to give it up on an overbooked flight at Chicago's O'Hare airport.
His removal left him bloodied and in need of hospital treatment for his injuries.
Travel and transportation writer for Quartz Leslie Josephs says she's seen a lot of people removed from a plane but not like this.
"I have never seen a passenger dragged off in this manner," she tells The Current's guest host Piya Chattopadhyay.
Passengers on the flight were asked to volunteer their seats to accommodate crew members, but when no one came forward United Airlines randomly selected four passengers.
"It's about less than one in every 20,000 passengers that this happens to and overbooking is a very, very common practice."
Airlines don't want seats empty and anticipate last-minute cancellations and passengers not showing up so they sell more seats than available, Josephs explains.
"People who defend overbooking say that it keeps air fares low."
While being bumped from your purchased seat is legal in the U.S. under Department of Transportation rules, Josephs tells Chattopadhyay passengers are entitled for compensation for this.
When you don't volunteer your seat, Jospehs says a set amount is based on the fare paid and re-accomodation for another flight is made.
In Canada airlines can also oversell flights, but air passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs says it's worse for us because we don't have a passenger bill of rights.
"We don't have legislation or regulation which would provide standardized amounts so that airlines have to pay when they bump you. Never mind, when you're delayed or your flights is cancelled."
As for statistics into how often bumping happens in Canada, Lukacs tells Chattopadhyay there are no requirements to report on this data.
"This is part and parcel of the problem of how much behind the rest of the Western world Canada is when it comes to air passenger rights."
The Canadian government does plan to introduce a passenger bill of rights but Transport Minister Marc Garneau has not given any specifics to what will be included.
"The most important issue is not what will be in the bill but how it's going to be enforced," Lukacs says.
"Canada is a land of lack of consequences … for airlines that break the law."
He explains in the U.S., the Department of Transportation issues fines that amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. But in the case of Canada, the Canadian Transportation Agency has decreased their enforcement actions to a quarter of the level where they were two years ago.
"There's a government failure in Canada when it comes to the protection of passenger rights."
The sense of helplessness passengers feel when dealing with airlines is what makes people feel so outraged, says Lukacs.
"I've seen a number of grown men just break down to tears in a matter of minutes because they knew they were missing a funeral, a wedding, an event, a connection, a job because of the airline's incompetence," he attests.
"And when you pay in advance and you have an agent who has so much power over you it is creating a lot of rage."
Listen to the full segment at the top of this web post.
This segment was produced by The Current's Ines Colabrese.