Uproar over passenger leads to United Air change

Amid the uproar following an incident in which a man was dragged off a plane in Chicago, United Airlines will no longer ask law enforcement officers to remove passengers from full flights. That’s a welcome step in the right direction. Another step should involve clarifying policies tied to overbooked flights.

No reasonably behaved passenger should be forcibly removed from a plane. But as airlines continue to make money by overbooking — based on the expectation that at least a few passengers will miss a flight — the request for voluntary exits can be expected to continue. There is a federal cap on the amount a commercial airline may offer as compensation for being denied boarding or for rescheduling a flight: $1,350.

Former agriculture firm getting back in the green

Maui Land & Pine’s transition from agriculture to development industries has had its rough patches but seems to be smoothing out now. A real-estate project soured in 2008-09 (like so many back in those bad old days), and it had to dig out from the losses. But the company’s stock-market recovery signals that it has managed that well enough.

Could more post-plantation companies do the same — and stay in agriculture, even?