OTTAWA, ON. (NEWS 1130) – Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau has issued a warning to Canadian airlines that forcibly removing passengers from overbooked airplanes will not be tolerated in this country.
Garneau has written to the heads of all of Canada’s passenger airlines to express his dismay at the saga of United Airlines passenger Dr. David Dao who was dragged off a flight earlier this week.
The minister says forcibly removing people from an aircraft simply because the flight is overbooked should never happen in Canada.
Dao, 69, was screaming while being dragged off a United flight in Chicago on Sunday after he refused to leave his seat to accommodate airline crew members. He suffered a concussion, a broken nose and two lost teeth when three aviation security officers dragged him off the plane, banging his head on armrests, against his will.
His lawyer says he will “probably” file a lawsuit on Dao’s behalf. His daughter says the family was “horrified, shocked and sickened” to learn and see what happened. Crystal Pepper says seeing her father removed from the Sunday flight was “exacerbated” by the fact it was caught on video and widely distributed.
United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz has said he was “ashamed” when he saw the video and that the airline is reviewing its policies. Munoz says law enforcement won’t be involved in removing passengers in the future.
Garneau says he will to introduce a passenger bill of rights later this spring to address issues such as compensating passengers who are bumped from flights or end up with lost or damaged luggage.