Not that anyone actually reads the contract behind an airline ticket, but...
Turns out that reading it wouldn't help, because (as with so much in the wonderful world of law), it's apparently written in Humpty-Dumpty-speak, and none of the words mean what they say.
Seems, for example, that the term denied boarding, which looks clear enough, also includes allowed to board and then ordered to leave. Which, in plain English, isn't the same thing at all.
The whole concept of contracts seems to have become meaningless, between the ubiquity of purported contracts to which people routinely "agree" with the click of a mouse button (and which are written entirely by teams of corporate lawyers, with no room nor opportunity for negotiation) and the incomprehensibility of those same contracts.
The Saxon is not like us Normans. His manners are not so polite.
But he never means anything serious till he talks about justice and right.
When he stands like an ox in the furrow – with his sullen set eyes on your own,
And grumbles, 'This isn't fair dealing,' my son, leave the Saxon alone.
Unless the UAL Contract of Carriage explicitly defines a term like "denied boarding" (they don't, I've read it), they do not get to use a special meaning of the term. Basic contracts law.
Posted by: Philip Ngai | Sunday, 16 April 2017 at 14:00