DONE with United Airlines

[TNSparky]

I'm not the type to complain either. But this one was a no-brainer. It was wrong, however you look at it, regardless of what you think of the passenger's background or the tone in which he yells (while being assaulted, mind you).

 

[TNSparky]

If you buy a first class ticket they will never ask

No airline will ever ask again if overbooking is banned by law.

 

[Dleg]

Yep, the crazy screaming stuff happened when the security guy grabbed him and started forcibly pulling him off the plane. I don't believe there is any type of contract where that is allowable, outside mafia contracts anyway.

 

[csb]

I'm looking at the fact that there were 175 other people on the plane who could have volunteered, but all thought they couldn't do so. Then you figure there are at least twenty or so people who can hear the guy being asked to get off the plane and hear him saying, "I'm a doctor" and all that jazz and STILL don't volunteer. Suddenly, when **** hits the fan, they don't even volunteer then, but grab their phones to start filming. 

No one else volunteered. You're telling me that entire plane couldn't be bothered to drive to Louisville instead of flying on that flight? 

Yeah, United screwed the pooch on this one. They limited compensation before they cried uncle and it's going to cost them dearly, but cripes. I think it's telling of the reactions of the fellow passengers. 

 

[Road Guy]

1 minute ago, Road Guy said: I think I would actually have more sympathy for the passenger if he were anything other than a doctor. Let's face it 90% of doctors don't really do anything exciting but cash ridiculous paychecks and treat everyone else like their time is less valuable than others... Yeah I am sure some kids with acne were seriously damaged by not seeing their dermatologists...

Your negative view of doctor's has no bearing on the unjustified, unnecessary, and horrific actions taken on this passenger. This guy was treated like an animal and they put everyone else on the plane at risk to by being grossly negligent. I hope the doc gets a fortune off this.

It certainly does. He was asked "nicely" several times to get off the plane. He refused. Again he doesn't own the plane. The owners of the plane decided he and three others needed to go. 3 people said oh well this sucks and got off the plane, this 1 person acted like a bitch and got treated like one. I hope he doesn't get a cent.

I fault the doctor more so than I do the blue collar cops who are just doing the airlines bidding...there was no reason for him to think he was anymore important than anyone else on the plane..

Why is no one crying for the 3 that did what was asked of them?

 

[TNSparky]

I'm looking at the fact that there were 175 other people on the plane who could have volunteered, but all thought they couldn't do so. Then you figure there are at least twenty or so people who can hear the guy being asked to get off the plane and hear him saying, "I'm a doctor" and all that jazz and STILL don't volunteer. Suddenly, when **** hits the fan, they don't even volunteer then, but grab their phones to start filming. 

No one else volunteered. You're telling me that entire plane couldn't be bothered to drive to Louisville instead of flying on that flight? 

Yeah, United screwed the pooch on this one. They limited compensation before they cried uncle and it's going to cost them dearly, but cripes. I think it's telling of the reactions of the fellow passengers. 

Yeah. If they were that desperate and knew what was gonna happen, I would have squeezed at least $1500 out of em.

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

I'm looking at the fact that there were 175 other people on the plane who could have volunteered, but all thought they couldn't do so. Then you figure there are at least twenty or so people who can hear the guy being asked to get off the plane and hear him saying, "I'm a doctor" and all that jazz and STILL don't volunteer. Suddenly, when **** hits the fan, they don't even volunteer then, but grab their phones to start filming. 

No one else volunteered. You're telling me that entire plane couldn't be bothered to drive to Louisville instead of flying on that flight? 

Yeah, United screwed the pooch on this one. They limited compensation before they cried uncle and it's going to cost them dearly, but cripes. I think it's telling of the reactions of the fellow passengers. 

And not only that, about the limit to United's culpability in the whole scenario was that they <gasp> called security.  Security and the Chicago police came and kicked the man's ass. 

 

[TNSparky]

It certainly does. He was asked "nicely" several times to get off the plane. He refused. Again he doesn't own the plane. The owners of the plane decided he and three others needed to go. 3 people said oh well this sucks and got off the plane, this 1 person acted like a bitch and got treated like one. I hope he doesn't get a cent.

I fault the doctor more so than I do the blue collar cops who are just doing the airlines bidding...there was no reason for him to think he was anymore important than anyone else on the plane..

Why is no one crying for the 3 that did what was asked of them?

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.

 

[Dleg]

^Exactly.

 

[leggo PE]

I just don't know how over-selling a flight is even allowed. I've seen it happen to someone before the flight I was on was boarded. It didn't make any sense to me, but it was handled far better than any of this was.

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

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.

Except that's not how it works.  If someone is in your home and starts acting unruly... you ask them to leave and they don't, what do you do?  A lot of people call the cops.

 

[Dleg]

It's not a house, it's a place of business and the guy paid for a service.  That's NOT how to treat a customer.  I hope United gets royally ****** in court.

 

[TNSparky]

Except that's not how it works.  If someone is in your home and starts acting unruly... you ask them to leave and they don't, what do you do?  A lot of people call the cops.

I don't think he was acting "unruly." He was simply stating that he was not giving up the seat hat he legally and validly paid for and had a pressing need to be on that plane.

 

[leggo PE]

I also, in general, don't fly much any more. But I prefer JetBlue over nearly every other national airline out there. And now that they are partnered with Hawaiian Airline, yay!

Also, I'm excited to try Virgin for the first time in June!

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

It's not a house, it's a place of business and the guy paid for a service.  That's NOT how to treat a customer.  I hope United gets royally ****** in court.

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.

 

[knight1fox3]

I've been told flying is easy. It's landing that's hard. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@Flyer_PE, is this true? :huh:

 

[Dleg]

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.

Again, what legal contract do you know of where once you have paid for a service, the business can not only deny you the service as a result of a random selection  but also have you forcibly removed from the service?

 

[TNSparky]

Suitable (Potential) Solutions for This:

1. Overbooking is banned by law.....YESTERDAY.

2. Law enforcement have a "no-intervention" policy strictly for cases of overbooking.

3. A hefty fine is assigned to airlines holding up a gate for every 10 minutes they delay departure due to their inability to figure out 1 seat = 1 physical passenger. This get more corporate skin in the game.

4. The overbooking compensation keeps increasing with no cap until enough passengers take it.

5. Overbooking compensations come in the form of certified checks, to be delivered no later than 2 weeks after affected flight.

6. The relief crew gets a bus. United pays the fine associated with the grievance.

Any one of the above would have resolved the situation that occurred yesterday, far before it escalated where it did and for way less trouble.

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

Again, what legal contract do you know of where once you have paid for a service, the business can not only deny you the service as a result of a random selection  but also have you forcibly removed from the service?

Only airline contracts.  But it's a contract millions of people agree to every day, and it's not unique to United.

 

[Dleg]

The real problem here is the police-like authority that airline employees feel that they have gained since 9-11.  If this were any other customer-service situation, a manager would have come on board, given up immediatley on the doctor, then calmly explained the situation to the rest of the plane, (we're not taking off until someone gives their seat up") and then sat there until someone did.  Utterly stupid.