Whoever they are it is a sad state of affairs. Obviously United is primarily to blame for all of this - the CEO is so disingenuous - but who are these goon like people who just follow orders without asking a single question. They could have asked, what has he done? Is he a murder suspect, has he done something awful? If the answer back was just, 'we've overbooked' then the trivial nature of it all should have made them think.