$1 Million
 

Inc. by Bill Murphy

“Captain Andrew Collins is a pilot for United Airlines. He has more than two decades of experience, and he seems to love it. Then last September, he stayed overnight at the last minute in a Denver airport hotel.
And then, his nightmare began: one that involved handcuffs, two days in jail, a tawdry and embarrassing criminal case hanging over his head, and suspension from the job he loved.
Fortunately, it just ended with total exoneration last month -- and perhaps a $1 million or more lawsuit against the city of Denver, and perhaps other defendants.
I wrote about Collins last year, shortly after his arrest and while the case was pending. Now that it's all come (mostly) to a close, it's worth learning the details.
The 'opaque' truth
As Collins's lawyer says, Collins stayed overnight at the Westin DIA, planning to deadhead to his next assignment. He woke up, took off his clothes and was ready to take a shower when he got a phone call.
He was in the middle of a campaign to become the head of his union at the time, and he talked with a colleague about the election for 24 minutes -- all the while, pacing alone in his hotel room in his birthday suit.
Unfortunately for Collins, unknown to him at the time, the window in his hotel room wasn't made of privacy glass. Thus, he was visible, in all his naked glory, to people standing in one of the terminals at the Denver airport.
The whole thing seems ridiculous in retrospect. There's no law against being alone naked in your hotel room, obviously. And as Collins's attorney, Craig Silverman later explained, the windows on the terminal were reflective and opaque.
So even though people in the airport could see Collins, he couldn't see them.“

“There's no law against being alone naked in your hotel room, obviously.”

For those of you on here who attacked our fellow pilot, you owe him an apology.

Some of the most idiotic posts ever written.


The people looking in someone’s hotel room should have been on trial.

Had a F/A tell me a story about the LAX Westin. It has wings that are aligned 90 degrees to each other. Apparently, she had the curtains open and was "enjoying" herself. Some pilot (company shall remain nameless!) in another room spotted her, came down, knocked on her door and offered his services.

Moral of the story...make sure the drapes (or at least the sheers) are drawn.

Good for Andy! I hope it get his 1 Million......:D

$500k for each of his boys.:D

It was pretty pathetic. I hope he gets a lot more than 1M.

Well at least there’s hope.
Too soon to be naked in my hotel room?

That’s great man. Good for him.

The cop in the body cam def brags about being a High School Linebacker despite being almost 50. Bite me Officer Hardo.

The original thread was an embarrassment in which adults were unable to differentiate between unpopular political ideas and a reasonable right to privacy.

I don’t think Collins was, or is the right choice for ALPA leadership, however the real issue is one that applies to all of us when we travel on behalf of UA.

I hope this case rewards Andy for the embarrassment he suffered, but more importantly I hope it solidifies the right to privacy each of us should enjoy when we stay in a hotel.

In a twisted way, maybe through this case Collins has represented each pilot in a way that will raise the quality of work life for all of us. Who woulda thought :)