Passenger On United Airlines Flight Dragged Off Overbooked Plane

Overbooking is a necessary evil in the world of hotels, airlines and the like. Nine times out of ten everyone that books a room or a flight isn’t going to show up. Companies overbook so that they maximize their chances of full hotels and flights. United Airlines failed miserably at overbooking over the weekend, according to a video posted on Facebook.

 

Sometimes things don’t work out and more people show up than available seats or rooms. In that case, the company is on the hook for compensating the customers that don’t have a seat at the table. In hotels, the hotel usually finds a room at a comparable hotel in the area that takes care of the bill for the guest. Compensation varies for airlines, but it usually includes a hotel room for the night, a seat on the next available flight, and compensation.

A recent United Airlines flight from Chicago to Louisville was apparently booked full, but four United employees needed seats to fly to Louisville. Four passengers were randomly selected to leave the plane. I assume that’s because no one volunteered, but details are sketchy. Three of the four left the plane without incident, but one was a doctor that needed to be at the hospital in Louisville the next day. Seems reasonable, right? I guess not to United. The doctor was forcibly removed according to the woman that posted this video of the incident.

 

At least one report said that United first looked for volunteers and offered $400 plus a hotel stay to move to a Monday afternoon flight. They raised the offer to $800 before randomly selecting passengers.

Oscar Munoz, the CEO of United Airlines, issued an apology on Monday and said the company is reaching out to the man that was manhandled in the video.

Saint Louis FC Beats New York Red Bulls II With Late Goal

Second half substitute Seth Rudolph ran onto a ball from teammate Jose Angulo in the 79th minute and scored the game-winner in a 3-2 win over defending USL Champions New York Red Bulls II Saturday night. The win was the team’s second consecutive late 3-2 win and came in front of 4,806 fans at Toyota Stadium at World Wide Technology Soccer Park.

https://twitter.com/SaintLouisFC/status/851145880195485697

Saint Louis FC has a busy week this week as they are in Pittsburgh on Wednesday to take on the Riverhounds and travel to Cinncinnati on Saturday for a match with FC Cincinnati. Both matches will be streamed live on YouTube. Saturday’s match will be the first of the club’s games this season to be shown live locally on KPLR 11.

Saint Louis FC returns to Toyota Stadium at World Wide Technology Soccer Park on Saturday, April 22nd. They will welcome the Charlotte Independence to town that night.

John Oliver On Gerrymandering

John Oliver took on the subject of gerrymandering on this week’s edition of Last Week Tonight. Gerrymandering is the process of manipulating the boundaries of a voting district to benefit one class or political party. It is something St. Louis is familiar with.

Watch the video of John Oliver talking about gerrymandering below.

John Oliver on gerrymandering

 

Boss Baby Stays Strong In Second Weekend

If The Boss Baby winning the weekend box office in its debut was surprising, the film winning again in its second weekend was possibly even more surprising. The animated film about a talking baby brought in an estimated $26.5 million in its second weekend of release to again top Beauty and the Beast.

Smurfs: The Lost Village was the top debut over the weekend, with an estimated $14 million in receipts. Going In Style brought in an estimated $12.5 million in ticket sales. The Case for Christ saw an estimated $3.9 million in sales during its debut weekend.

Be sure to check back in with RealLifeSTL on Thursday for my Weekend Movie Guide. I’ll look more at the box office numbers, preview movies new in theaters this weekend, and more. Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson and company return to theaters this weekend in The Fate of the Furious. Spark: A Space Tail, The Lost City of Z and Norman also open this weekend.

St. Louis Blues End Regular Season With Win

The St. Louis Blues ended to 2016-17 regular season with a 3-2 win Sunday against the Colorado Avalanche. Zach Sanford, Vladimir Sobotka and Vladimir Tarasenko scored for the Blues.

Tarasenko’s game-winning goal was his 39th of the season and eighth winner. He finishes the regular season with 36 assists, along with his goals, for 75 points. His 39 goals ranked fourth in the league.

Conor McDavid led the NHL this season with 100 points on 30 goals and 70 assists.

Sobotka’s goal came in his first game back for the Blues after playing the last three seasons overseas in the Kontinental Hockey League.

The St. Louis Blues will open the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs in Minnesota on Wednesday night against the Wild. St. Louis won three of the five games between the teams during the regular season.

St. Louis Cardinals Lose Series Finale To Reds 8-0

The St. Louis Cardinals fell to the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday by a score of 8-0. The Cardinals fell to 2-4 on the season with the loss.

The Cardinals open up a three-game series with the Washington Nationals tonight in Washington, D.C. Adam Wainwright will take the mound tonight for St. Louis. Tanner Roark gets the ball for the Nationals.

Lance Lynn is set to pitch against Gio Gonzalez tomorrow, while Mike Leake and University of Missouri product Max Scherzer square off on Wednesday afternoon.

Michael Wacha is scheduled to start the series opener on Friday at Yankee Stadium in New York.

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