Thoughts on the United Airlines Incident by Brian Derfer, CTO, Agile Six Applications, Inc. By now readers have almost certainly heard of United Airlines and the Chicago Police forcibly removing a passenger , Dr. Dao, from a United Airlines flight in order to accommodate United crew members who needed to be transported to Louisville. Here are a few thoughts that I have had as I think about this incident from the perspective of a software developer: This is not about rights Framing the issue as a matter of rights completely misses the point, in my opinion. It seems pretty clear that United has the legal right to remove passengers to accommodate their employees. On the flip-side, travelers have the right to choose other airlines in the future, and stock-holders have the right to buy or sell United Airlines stock. To me the issue is whether removing Dr. Dao and the other passengers was a decision that was a) ethical, and b) served the best interests of the passengers