To a certain extent, it is. In a tricycle gear aircraft with no appreciable cross-wind, anybody can pretty much firewall the throttle and get in the air. Keeping it there can be a bit of a trick.@Flyer_PE, is this true? :huh:I've been told flying is easy. It's landing that's hard. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A friend in the Air Force ROTC had a plaque on the wall with this on it. He flew fighter jets after graduating, now has a desk job (still in the AF).One of my favorite sayings is still: "Flying is the second biggest thrill on earth. Landing is the first."
If they can ship Waterford crystal and have it arrive not broken (in most cases), I like my odds.http://www.staradvertiser.com/2017/04/10/breaking-news/united-ceo-defends-employees-in-plane-incident/
^^^ Tells you everything you need to know about United's values and culture right there. Very poor. Very nonchalant attitude towards customers. If we wanted to be treated like baggage or a package, we'd fly FedEx....would probably still get treated better on one of their planes than a United flight.
Have you ever actually read the contract that goes with a plane ticket? Here is United's: https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/contract-of-carriage.aspx It's a couple hundred pages long. Show me what the guy did to violate it.It's a private business with contractual rules for the passengers being there. The contract was broken by the customer. I hope any blame for rough treatment is placed where it belongs: on security and the police.
I'm with RG on this one.Have you ever actually read the contract that goes with a plane ticket? Here is United's: https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/contract-of-carriage.aspx It's a couple hundred pages long. Show me what the guy did to violate it.
I've never read United's contract of carriage, but I have read Delta's (it's handy to know the actual rules when you fly 100 flights a year) and there are very specific procedures on how to handle an overbooking situation. Without these specific procedures, the Department of Transportation (which regulates airline operations) would not allow an airline to overbook a flight. From the reports I've read, it appears United did not follow their own procedures for bumping passengers from the flight (relying on randomness rather than a specific order based by time of check-in, etc.). If these reports are true, then it is United that broke the contract, not the passenger.
I full support the passenger that refused to leave the plane if United was not following their own rules. Airline gate agents tend to have a god complex and like to make up their own rules rather than follow the ones the airline has actually filed with the DOT. It's very possible and probably likely that this passenger was having his rights violated, and I think because of this, in the end he'll probably settle for a large sum of money from the airline.
Something to keep in mind is this was likely not a flight run by United, but a 50 seat jet that is owned and operated by a subcontractor. This likely played a role in the employees not being fully trained in the airline's procedures.
No you don't. You're just one more in a long line of sheep preaching how awful United is. Look into it a little more than your Facebook feed and you would know that United has a system in place to figure out who would be the least inconvenienced by having to take another flight. He was going to Louisville, not trying to make a connection in Louisville. They spent quite a bit of time with him trying to explain this to him and get him off the plane. I'm willing to bet they told him they'd get him on another flight at a later time but he preached to them that, how dare they, because he's a doctor.I feel bad for the other passengers. I feel bad for the cops. I don't know the other passengers' stories. I only know the doc's in this one. As for the cops, I feel terrible for them too. They should not be in a position of doing airline's dirty work. The policy ought to be from law enforcement to the airlines: This is YOUR problem. YOU made it. YOU'RE gonna solve it. It's not our job to remove passengers form your overbooked flight because you can't understand the concept of one physical passenger per seat.
Not knowing the full details, I must come to the defense of United Airlines, although I do believe they mishandled the situation. When a crew MUST be flown to cover a trip, this is called "deadheading a crew." To further clarify, a passenger CAN have a ticket/seat, etc. but may be on stand by status, as he/she is confirmed for a later flight but is considered Stand By Status for an earlier flight. This past weekend was a traveler's nightmare; tornadoes, hail storms, thunderstorms, wind shear, logistical chaos for air travel. Delta had it's own share of chaos, with stranded passengers, stranded crew members, re-routed crews, shortage of hotel rooms, etc. Now, compound this drama with FAA rules and regulations which dictate that crews must have legal rest breaks after lengthy duty days, Delta purchased 450 PIZZAS to feed stranded passengers, extra supplies of food/beverage/snacks, etc, PLUS Medallion Level Loyalty customers, volunteering their time to help the operation, etc. Yes, nerves are stretched and frustration mounts and unfortunate situations happen. I'm sure there is so much more to the United story than what is being reported. I know the removed passenger/doctor was offered monetary compensation and somehow it escalated from there. Another couple was removed from the flight without incident. From the looks of the videos I have viewed, this removed man seems quite irrational, quick to enrage, and then after he is injured/bloodied, he is babbling and disoriented. All of this behavior is an FAA violation of many sorts: interfering with crew member duties, threatening the safety of the flight and it's passengers, etc. I'm sure there's enough blame to go around, but if removing 4 passengers so a deadheading crew can cover a trip in Louisville, then that is a necessary step to save another entire aircraft of passengers from being stranded. Just my humble observation and I'm sure there's much more to this story. Air travel is an imperfect science, subjected to the whims of Mother Nature and there is a factor/formula for overbooking by different percentages for different markets. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Hotels also overbook for the same reason. The objective is 100% occupancy. Just my humble opinion.....
Summary? Link blocked at work.
Whatever your argument may be, United is a business that only survives because customers are willing to pay a price for a service. Now there may be a minority of people who will fly with them no matter what, but most people will see treatment like this, and arguments like those presented above in defense of such treatment, and choose to fly another airline. Tough shit. That's the free market in action. I haven't willingly flown United since 2006 when they treated me like shit. One of these days, and that might well be today, United is going to have to address their customer service problems or face extinction in the market. No amount of fine print will change that reality.
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