Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Normal
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.
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.
