A Chinese-American passenger is suing United Airlines, claiming a Caucasian flight attendant discriminated against him on the basis of his race and that United tried to cover up the incident by banning him from future flights.
Chinese-American Files Discrimination Lawsuit Against United Airlines, Claims White Flight Attendant Singled Him Out For Bad Service
64-year-old Yubo Miao was traveling from Chicago (ORD) to San Diego (SAN) on United flight UA2683 on June 1, 2023.
He boarded the flight with “two suitcases” and a “lunch bag” and placed all three items in the overhead bin above his seat in row 14. A flight attendant came up to him and told him to remove his lunch bag and place it underneath his seat.
He took the lunch bag and placed it on open middle seat, telling the flight attendant he would move the bag when the seat occupant showed up.
Miao claims that this prompted the flight attendant to “yell” at him and she also threatened to “inform the captain.” He claims he responded by placing the lunch bag immediately under the seat. He also claims that a white passenger was not told to remove his lunch bag from the overhead bin.
A member of ground staff entered the plane and told Miao that he would not be traveling because the flight attendant said that he hit her. Miao denied any physical contact, but complied with the demand to step off the plane. It is not clear if he was accommodated on later United flight.
Miao later sent a complaint to United, alleging racial discrimination. Shortly thereafter, he was informed by United’s Passenger Incident Review Committee (“PIRC”) that he was banned from flying on United while it investigated his case.
About month later, the PIRC sent a note to Miao saying it had determined that he had made unwanted physical contact with the flight attendant. It warned of “serious consequences” if it happened again, but lifted the ban against him.
Miao enlisted the help of an attorney and on July 20, 2023 sent a demand letter to United, asking it to:
- Overturn and withdraw the PIRC decision issued
- Destroy any and all documentation in its possession that bears any semblance of
suggesting that Miao engaged in any inappropriate conduct - Issue a written apology for what happened on Miao’s previous flight
- Secure a written apology from the flight attendant and the plane’s captain for their
roles in Miao’s mistreatment, alongside a commitment that both will undergo
sensitivity and discrimination/harassment retraining - An economic settlement of $100,000.00 to Miao for the humiliation,
embarrassment and mental and physical anguish and suffering he has undergone
as a direct result of the incident - Reimbursement of Miao’s legal fees
United did not respond, prompting a lawsuit. You can read the full complaint here (along with evidentiary exhibits A and B).
Miao further claims that on August 29, 2023, he was denied online check-in for his UA2182 flight from Chicago to LaGuardia (LGA) and at the airport was repeatedly asked if he intended to “follow federal regulations,” which he deemed unjustified retaliation.
He filed his complaint in a US District Court in Illinois.
Does He Have A Case?
The biggest disconnect in the fact pattern is the allegation of physical contact. Miao insists there was none while United’s PIRC determined there was physical contact. The PIRC would typically interview not just the passenger and flight attendant, but those seated around him.
A United flight attendant has lied about me before…there is no way to know at this point who is lying.
I do question, just based upon the complaint, the charge of racial discrimination. It sounds like the flight attendant was not at all pleasant and I’ve seen FAs go off on passengers before for too many carry-on items.
Here, Miao was supposed to limit himself to one carry-on bag and one personal item and place the personal item under his seat. Instead, he brought onboard two carry-on bags plus a personal item and put all three in the overhead bin. That’s incredibly rude…and he should have been called out for that, though politely.
If you read the complaint very closely, Miao contends a white passenger was not told to remove his lunch bag from the overhead bin, but he does not say whether that passenger had any other bags, let alone two additional large carry-on bags. There’s no prima facie case of discrimination unless the white passenger was knowingly allowed to leave three bags of his own in the overhead bin while Miao was not.
Again, I can’t say whether there was racism here at all. I certainly have seen Chicago-based flight attendants raise their voices at Asian passengers for whom English is not a mother tongue, as if speaking louder is going to help. I’m not sure that reveals any racism or even prejudice, though.
We’ll see how this case plays out – I looking forward to reading United’s response. The compensatory demand seems high.
CONCLUSION
Yubo Miao claims that a flight attendant lied about him after a disagreement over carry-on items and that this stemmed from animus toward him due to his Chinese descent. There are a lot of assumptions in the complaint…while I certainly do not dismiss the case, there are a lot of questions to be answered, most notably the nature and context of the alleged physical contact and whether the white passenger also had three carry-on items.
Who cares about the bags? The FA alleged he assaulted her!
The bags matter because that is the basis of his racial discrimination claim.
sounds like he and his attorney are trying to make this a Dr. Daou incident. Does not seem to rise to that level.
Dao got a lot more money than he asked for, and also took a lot more damage from the thug cops who United had do their dirty work for them.
This is a result of allowing carry-on bags in the first place . Carry-on bags was a dumb idea from the get-go .
I would also be concerned about the lunch bag if there were certain indications . I very much doubt any and all vague racial discrimination claims from anyone ; there ought to be a clear and decisive burden of proof , which is never met. Even the famous Dr. case did not allege racial discrimination .
If United wanted to provide good service, like EVA Air or Singapore Airlines, there would be many tactful ways to address any carry on baggage issues.
The probable lying that the passenger hit the FA is bad.
Based on the syntax of his letter, Mr. Miao is probably not born in the US but, as the article says, is a US citizen.
If the matter goes to trial, the only winners will be the attorneys. I do not think there will be a multimillion dollar settlement. The FA is likely a bad apple but Mr. Miao might also be, too, not sure.
@derek … If the FA had been a big male football player , I’d bet the passenger would have been meek and obedient .
Maybe he should go back to China and see if he gets a better treatment there. The FA told him what to do and he disobeyed. Big no no nowadays.
And Black people should go back to Africa, Italian-Americans go back to Italy, Irish-Americans go back to Ireland?
And Santastico can go back to South America and/or Italy too?
Yes. And Santastico should go back to Brazil, to kiss Bolsonaro balls and make America great again.
I am not complaining of how FAs treat me here. He is. So he might have better luck in China than here. That easy.
Or you know, be able to criticize without being told by idiots to go back to where you came from as a counterpoint?
Yes
What is a lunch bag, and how many people are carrying those on board?
@Jerry … a lunch bag , is a bag with one’s lunch .
Miao claims in his evidence that witness passenger in 15E also had 2 bags and lunch box in bin ( FA did not ask for that box to be moved ). The FA claim of assault doesn’t follow logic as being hit would call for immediate action. It seems no immediate action was taken.
If Miao holds a security clearance, an accusation of assault is serious and I can understand his wish to clear this issue. Too much missing to conclude racism.
First, I agree he certainly wants his name cleared if he holds a security clearance.
But I think the complaint leads people to believe, as you have, that 15E had two bags and a lunch box, but that is not what it actually says (lines 19 and 20 of the compliant say no such thing, just imply it).
15E was actually a black passenger who may have overheard the conversation:
(This from the DOT complaint)
If I were a tribal elder, my solution would be for there to be a finding that there is no evidence that Miao struck the FA, that the preponderance of the evidence is that Miao did not strike the FA, that Miao should be awarded $2,500 in United Airlines flight credit, Miao’s attorney be paid his billings or $8,000, which ever is less, and everyone goes home.
Ideally, the FA should be subject to potential discipline for not handling the situation well and even lying.
Racism? Since when Chinese is a race? As far as I know that is an ethnicity. This is another BS invented by people that have nothing better to do. Losers pointing fingers at others for their own actions. The FA told him to place the stupid lunch bag under the seat. Do it! BTW, how was he allowed to bring 3 items in board? Gate agents have been very clear that you are only allowed one carry on and one personal item such a backpack. That lunch box is a 3rd item that should not be there. The fact that he placed 3 items and then left 2 items in the overhead bin show he did bot follow the rules.
Some local governments subdivide Asian into Chinese, Malay, Japanese, etc.
Um, you can be racist towards Chinese people if you are generally racist towards Asians as a whole. Any intelligent person would know that. In any case it’s still a form of bigotry.
Hum, the Chinese guy didn’t follow the rules. He got called out for breaking the rules so instead of acknowledging that he broke the rules he preferred to say he has targeted because he was Chinese. Unfortunately, that’s how people play today.
Actually, it has yet to be proven whether it was a case of racism or not. Which is also not a reason to send him back to another country.
@Aaron: I never said he should be sent back to China. I said that if he is not happy with the rules here and the way he was treated, maybe he has better luck there. Don’t twist my comment.
You literally said “Maybe he should go back to China” upthread lol Not to China, but back to China…
I fly United regularly enough to know that as a passenger you’re informed way more than enough about their baggage policy. Unless you’re in BE, you’re allowed a carry on and a personal item that must go under the seat in front of you. They make so many announcements at the gate and on the plane and when you check in and when you book your ticket to the point where it’s annoying. Why are the FAs supposed to be nice about someone putting not one, not 2 but 3 bags in the overhead bins? Sorry but the idea that flight attendants are supposed to be gracious to that level of either stupidity, ignorance, or selfishness is exactly why air travel is the way it is. Overhead bins are a shared space and depending on the plane it can be very limited. You wanna act stupid and put three bags up there despite being told multiple times otherwise, then you can get treated like you’re stupid.
If a FA tells you to do something you do it unless it will cause you physical harm or severe discomfort. This suit prima facie fails the smell test.
Flight attendants often go against airline policy and thus are violating the rules set by the airline for passengers who are paying for those conditions. If something is not a matter of flight safety, it does not become a matter where a flight attendant should automatically eject a passenger.
I am an Asian, the Asian country China invaded and occupying. I do think that Miao was the wrong here, bringing in too many junks and not complying with the crew’s order and being rude. just watch all the videos of airport expereinces shown on discover and national geography, dangertv and plenty on youtube. you will see them being very rude, over stuffing etc.
I think FAs get away with too much stuff and aren’t disciplined for poor behavior.
I also think misbehaving passengers also don’t receive sufficient punishment.
No idea what actually went on in this case.
How does a single traveller get on board with two suitcases and a lunch bag? More BS to this story than being told. It annoys me how Americans are so hun up on race and gender issues. Clearly United ground crew and lead FA are weak.
Based on what it written, Mr. Maio instigated the issue and is at least partly to blame. As written, it says “the flight attendant came up and told him to remove his lunch bag and place it under his seat. Notice the word “yell” was not used, so it appears as if the situation started reasonably. However, instead of doing what the FA asked, Mr. Maio put the bag on the seat next to him and commented “I’ll move it when the passenger next to me comes to sit down”. That was a smart-a$$ move. I’m not condoning the FAs attitude, but he escalated the situation. Then, to go even further, he tells the FA that a white person was not told to remove his lunch bag from the overhead bin. Okay dude you’re asking for it.
That seems to be the route cause of it. FAs definitely go on power trips. The Stanford prison experiment is a good example of how perceived authority gets to people’s heads.
I’d say both are in the wrong here. He should’ve complied and put it under the seat as instructed to do so. His intentional choice to not do so probably set off the FA (to an unnecesary degree), which led to this outcome.
At the end of the day, people need to think in their best interests. This man may not have considered himself to have done anything wrong, but his goal is to fly on this plane peacefully, and he chose actions that went against his goals.
Technically, one of his “suitcases” should have fit under the seat in front of him so he’s lucky the FA didn’t gate check one of them and admonish him for bringing on three items. The gate agent also dropped the ball. I’m so weary of the victim mentality.
@Travelgirl … +1 . I’d remove from the flight anyone who tried to pull a fast one with three carry-ons . The lunch bag was enough . He ought to have checked the two “suitcases” . As you suggest , perhaps the gate agent dropped the ball .
The good rule of thumb is if anyone non white uses the race card against a White person, it is usually false as society has been programmed and conditioned to use race to their advantage. Racism literally is a word created by communists to get White people to act against their interests and let other groups topple them.
Another good rule of thumb is flight attendants frequently lie and instigate and escalate situations just like cops do because they go on a power trip. I trust Jeffrey Dahmer more than I trust the average big 3 flight attendant.
In my book the man would be better not to bring up race as flight attendants are nasty at times to all races and there wasn’t a clear racial animus or any evidence presented other than the passenger’s assumption.
No one knows what happened in this situation. Asking one passenger to remove a bag from the overhead bin and not another can just be because one overhead bin is more full than the other. Taking the bag out and putting it down on the seat and saying he will remove it should not lead to him being ejected. Regarding contact people forget that planes are very narrow. There is a difference between purposely hitting someone and brushing them with a hand. Maybe the flight attendant misinterpreted it.
We are probably better off with cameras that are facing from forward to back on planes just like buses have so flight attendants are held accountable and we can see what really happens.
@David Arnett … How about a secret camera over every seat ? How about big male weightlifters as FAs ? How about no more stupid carry-ons ?
The airlines have let carry-ons get out of control. The pack light craze along with wheeled suitcases have made cabins too crowded. Throw is charging for checked bags and it is chaos on the planes. I checked a bag on United and got a message thanking me for checking a bag. Why charge if they want more people to check?
@carry ons … +1 .
I mean, you are arguing with someone who wrote:
“The good rule of thumb is if anyone non white uses the race card against a White person, it is usually false as society has been programmed and conditioned to use race to their advantage. Racism literally is a word created by communists to get White people to act against their interests and let other groups topple them.”
Logic and common sense need not apply.
United FAs tell lies. Was this such a case? I guess we’ll find out.
To those here that feel an error in not immediately following .” the rules” justifies an accusation of assault, I encourage you think deeply here. You are comparing a venial misdemeanor to a mortal felony. Again we cannot know yet what exactly happened but please reserve judgement. This could be any of us accused.
@Maryland … Not so , because I am unable to carry any carry-ons , and thus never do so .
As if I need any further reason not to fly American carriers. The flight crews consist of snowflakes who immediately melt and threaten to elect passengers if they don’t immediately bend the knee.
My father was correct…”beware sad, pathetic & insignificant small minded people, with a little bit of power.”