United Airlines Forces Man off of oversold flight

That's a choice. Maybe not a good one. But, still a choice. Not all choices in life are optimal. If enough people said "I refuse to board another United jet ever again" their customer service would improve. But, by continuing to fly them because the "other" choices are worse, they have no incentive to change their service. They are "doing enough" to keep you on board.

I guess you can't entirely blame United and Spirit for their poor customer service. I think their bean counters have told them that customer service doesn't matter. Too many customers will search for airline fares and even if United is $1 cheaper than Delta they will book United.
 
I guess you can't entirely blame United and Spirit for their poor customer service. I think their bean counters have told them that customer service doesn't matter. Too many customers will search for airline fares and even if United is $1 cheaper than Delta they will book United.
Of course you can blame the company! These "bean counters" are part of the company. Company leadership makes decisions wrt bottom line and any possible customer service trade offs. They are fully responsible.

Individual gate agents I blame less, if they are working under policies that don't empower them to use basic common sense.

And while a culture of good customer service starts at the top, those managing/overseeing that function still have an impact. I see so many apathetic employees at many airlines.
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ETA: I do see what you're saying, though! If people are willing to pick ONLY based on low price, then companies might decide that just getting the price as low as possible is all that matters. But that's where I think market segmentation can come in... the lower-cost carriers, middle and a tad higher. I think the issue is that the "middle" ones are acting like low-cost carriers now -- at least from my perspective.
 
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I guess you can't entirely blame United and Spirit for their poor customer service. I think their bean counters have told them that customer service doesn't matter. Too many customers will search for airline fares and even if United is $1 cheaper than Delta they will book United.

Strangely enough I have no real complaints about Spirit after flying with them round trip. In many ways it was a better experience with most passengers understanding what they're getting into. Once we were slightly overweight (although their 40 lbs basic limit is ludicrously low) with our bag and the agent let it slide. Both flights were some of the smoothest boardings I've seen in ages. Very few passengers had anything to place in the overheads, and they stop anyone from using them who doesn't pay the carryon fee. With few people using the overhead bins there was less blocking of the aisle or people going up/down looking for bin space. Nobody dared show up late with their policies about charging extra. All ticketed passengers were on board and we left the gate 10 minutes before scheduled departure.
 
It's a one off thing. It was not good. Do we really need to rant and rave against the entire industry (or even ALL of United) because of the actions on ONE flight on ONE "commuter" affiliate of United? I don't think so. That's why I think this needs to be handled by this passenger pursuing his legal rights in a court of law...it's going to get sorted out one way or the other there. No need to go all "OMG, the entire thing needs to change!" Involuntary bumps occurred 40,000+ times last year, and I do not recall reading of a single instance among those 40,000+ involuntary bumps where a passenger was dragged from a plane. In other words, the system the airlines have for involuntary bumps seems to work pretty well. BTW, United is NOT the airline with the most involuntary bumps. That honor belongs to Southwest (with the highest rate per passenger flown on major airlines....there was a regional carrier (not for United) with a higher rate). United's rate of involuntary bumping was less than 1/2 of Southwests. So, if you don't want to be bumped involuntarily, I'd avoid Southwest.

But did it work well for those 40,000 people?
 


But did it work well for those 40,000 people?

Depends. The legal requirement by the US DOT is 4x (up to $1350) the ticket price in cash and a full refund of the ticket price if requested. On top of that, most airlines (including United) allow IDB passengers to receive any previously offered compensation for voluntary bumping. That might make sense if the ticket price is $125 but the previous offer was an $800 voucher, an airport meal voucher, and and a hotel room.

Quite a few people are trying to work their way into an IDB situation.
 
Like I said earlier, there are people who LOVE the overbooking....they want to be bumped. There are entire blogs and postings devoted to how to increase your chances of being bumped. Some people don't like. Some people do.

honestly, i would be more incline to get a bump if i show up to the airport and asked during check in... but the fact that after waiting 3 hours at the airport, then got onto the plane and then asked... i honestly wouldnt want to get off. Timing is important imo...
 


I think the thing about this thread is that it depends on what you're outraged about. Don't get the people who are outraged over the actual overbooking and bumping. As you say, everyone does it. I don't agree with the people who are upset security removed the guy from the flight either- that was pretty much the expected outcome once involuntary bumping came into play. But I think this person is just disgusted with United customer service, and that, I totally agree with. Alaskan and Jet Blue are both a lot more pleasant to fly with. United has the customer service of Spirit but it's not an ULCC- and that comparison may actually be insulting to Spirit.

I agree. I fly frequently and I have the worst "luck" with United. And then when I'm trying to figure out plan b, I've found them generally unhelpful.

For example, I had 4 award flights booked on United in business from US to New Zealand. I was looking online and happened to see that this particular route with United was cancelled. I received no notification of cancellation and when I called, they basically told me too bad. It was up to the customer to monitor their flights (according to the ticket fine print). I've always received notifications of flight changes so it's crazy to me that United did this. I ended up rebooking myself, but I'll definitely avoid flying United unless I have to.
 

Compeltely different. Couple says they only did it once. Airline and marshall who was flying said it was more than once and they were not following crew instructions and had in fact been trying to move to seats that were upcharges. If someone is sitting in your assigned seat when you board you tell the FA then you don't decide to move. Plus can't imagine in the time it to to board some guy was already napping across two seats.
 
I read an article earlier that said it was the US Marshal on the the plane that kicked them off not the flight crew.

Something is weird about the reporting on this, since the US Marshals Service isn't normally in the business of air travel unless it's maybe escorting a prisoner. Maybe it was a federal air marshal?

Right now it's just their word against the airline. Unless video shows up.
 
Compeltely different. Couple says they only did it once. Airline and marshall who was flying said it was more than once and they were not following crew instructions and had in fact been trying to move to seats that were upcharges. If someone is sitting in your assigned seat when you board you tell the FA then you don't decide to move. Plus can't imagine in the time it to to board some guy was already napping across two seats.

I can imagine that. Maybe someone doing that hoping that any passenger assigned to those seats just looks elsewhere. Certainly on Southwest I've heard about people who will just place clothing on seats like they're being saved for someone going to the lavatory. Or two people boarding early taking the window and aisle seat so that maybe nobody wants the middle.

I have accidentally sat in the wrong row before, but it was one row ahead. It was an exit row, which did have an uncharge. Nobody else was seated in the exit rows and no flight attendant said anything.
 
I can imagine that. Maybe someone doing that hoping that any passenger assigned to those seats just looks elsewhere. Certainly on Southwest I've heard about people who will just place clothing on seats like they're being saved for someone going to the lavatory. Or two people boarding early taking the window and aisle seat so that maybe nobody wants the middle.

I have accidentally sat in the wrong row before, but it was one row ahead. It was an exit row, which did have an uncharge. Nobody else was seated in the exit rows and no flight attendant said anything.

On southwest I could see someone trying to take up more then one seat but if you are on an airline that assigns seats and you get to yours and it is full everyone is benefits by you speaking with a FA. I see this all the time though and the movies, theater, sporting events, and flights. People don't want to pay for the expensive seats so will jsut sit there and hope no one makes a stink when it is occupied or with movies they figure no one will say anything. Problem is that it creates a rippled effect where a bunch of people now have moved.
 
On southwest I could see someone trying to take up more then one seat but if you are on an airline that assigns seats and you get to yours and it is full everyone is benefits by you speaking with a FA. I see this all the time though and the movies, theater, sporting events, and flights. People don't want to pay for the expensive seats so will jsut sit there and hope no one makes a stink when it is occupied or with movies they figure no one will say anything. Problem is that it creates a rippled effect where a bunch of people now have moved.

One issue with Southwest is people who pay for Early Bird boarding and stake out and entire row for the rest of the party boarding later. Southwest doesn't have any clear guidelines on it.

I'll go to baseball games with general seating areas. The rule is clear that one person already there is allowed to save exactly one seat.
 
Read back some and you'll see the JetBlue data appear to be the result of a temporary adjustment to changes in aircraft. The screenshot you posted is NOT typical JB experience.

And Alaska may well be explained by standby activity.

And OBVIOUSLY customer service is more than just bumping. JB & Alaska do a better job across the board IMO.
Ah, rats! Here I was hoping to finally get bumped from a jetBlue flight...
Never said I was captive to ONE AIRLINE -- the choices are VERY LIMITED as compared to most markets.
You took mnrose's statement "vote with your feet" too literally, if such a situation were possible. Vote with one's feet means bring your business to a competitor.
 
Yes and no... If you live in New Jersey near Newark or on in the north suburbs of Houston the extensive list of cities that United flies to non-stop is probably going to outweigh the crappy customer service.
I live in north jersey and the last time I flew United it was continental because the customer service is so bad. The beauty of where I live is having three major airports, and two minor airports relatively close so when we look for flights we check several places. Now some we do try to avoid (looking at you lga) but depending on times, fares we may go with them.
JetBlue is my go to. We did have a couple issues a few years ago but they resolved them in an ok manner. Although once they did try to tell dh that his seat that was 2/3 occupied by the person next to him was perfectly fine for him to sit in. No acknowledgement that they seated the person there when they pre boarded them and should have realized there was an issue prior to dh boarding. And the plane was full because they released the standby passengers prematurely. It took some doing but we got a seat for him
 
I can imagine that. Maybe someone doing that hoping that any passenger assigned to those seats just looks elsewhere.
I don't have to imagine it, I lived it. DS, DW, and I flew to Europe last week. Because of a delay on our original flight, we were extremely late boarding the trans-Atlantic. I had upgraded our seats on that flight to Delta's comfort plus. When we boarded (again, among the last to board), there was someone sitting in DS' window seat. I told him that was DS' seat so he got up and moved... to MY aisle seat (no middle)! When I told him that was taken, he went to the row behind us (still comfort +). I have no doubt he was upgrading himself.
 

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