United Airlines Forces Man off of oversold flight

[anniemae]

LOL!!!!! This is exactly how it went down!!!!

 

[bcla]

I look at this situation and I'm pretty sure that such bumping has happened before and we never heard a peep about it. Someone refuses when selected and perhaps refuses to exit the seat or maybe blocks the gate. Maybe someone rushing the gate and forcing the way onto the plane. Airport security (typically armed police) get called in and it deescalates or perhaps there's a by the book physical removal. What changed this time was the absolute screwup of a job trying to extract the passenger.

 

[LISAMWDW]

nul

 

[amberpi]

I look at this situation and I'm pretty sure that such bumping has happened before and we never heard a peep about it. Someone refuses when selected and perhaps refuses to exit the seat or maybe blocks the gate. Maybe someone rushing the gate and forcing the way onto the plane. Airport security (typically armed police) get called in and it deescalates or perhaps there's a by the book physical removal. What changed this time was the absolute screwup of a job trying to extract the passenger.

I've seen, and before I had status when I was young I was bumped a view times, tons of people denied boarding in oversell situations, especially when certain planes were getting out and small ones weren't due to weather. I've never heard of anyone asking for volunteers to deplane. I've been on thousands of flights, so that's a pretty good sample.

 

[amberpi]

View attachment 231066

There's an even more recent one on FB, but I'm afraid it might be political. I just thought it was hilarious.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

For the 4 passengers on this flight, the amount of compensation due was 4 times the amount of their one-way fares, up to a maximum of $1350. Not all IDB passengers will get $1350.

If the OW fare was $150, they get $600. If the OW fare was $400, they don't get $1600, just the $1350 maximum.

I believe that's the policy! It's just missing the forest for the trees in the age of cell phone cameras and the internet!

Time to have a MARKET PRICE policy when it comes to bumping people. Never need to forcibly remove. Ta da!

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

From twitter: "Attendant on my Southwest flight tells passengers: "We're going to need four passengers ... just kidding.""

 

[rotlex]

And this is why I never fly. Freaking ridiculous. I hope he sues and can retire from the settlement.

 

[maxiesmom]

I've seen, and before I had status when I was young I was bumped a view times, tons of people denied boarding in oversell situations, especially when certain planes were getting out and small ones weren't due to weather. I've never heard of anyone asking for volunteers to deplane. I've been on thousands of flights, so that's a pretty good sample.

I have. I'm pretty sure it was on Delta. I've heard it offered more than once. But they have never had to offer too much to get people to volunteer. Certainly they have never grabbed a passenger and dragged them down the aisle, after smashing their face into the armrest.

 

[bcla]

I've seen, and before I had status when I was young I was bumped a view times, tons of people denied boarding in oversell situations, especially when certain planes were getting out and small ones weren't due to weather. I've never heard of anyone asking for volunteers to deplane. I've been on thousands of flights, so that's a pretty good sample.

I've heard of at least one case. May not have been booted off of a flight completely, but certainly out of business class for a deadheading pilot or even an air marshal.

http://elliott.org/blog/kicked-out-of-my-first-class-seat-to-make-room-for-a-crewmember/
http://travelskills.com/2015/06/05/bumped-out-of-first-class-by-an-air-marshal/

 

[amberpi]

I've heard of at least one case. May not have been booted off of a flight completely, but certainly out of business class for a deadheading pilot or even an air marshal.

http://elliott.org/blog/kicked-out-of-my-first-class-seat-to-make-room-for-a-crewmember/
http://travelskills.com/2015/06/05/bumped-out-of-first-class-by-an-air-marshal/

I have seen people bumped from business and first. I've never seen it for a crewmember. I would have been pissed it that happened to me on a long haul. When I've seen its been for overselling bus/first. I did wonder time if it was an air marshall that did, but they didn't broadcast it of course. I've just never witnessed deplaning. Of course, I usually go to sleep before the wheels are up

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Pepsi board of directors reacts to United PR snafu.

 

[anniemae]

From twitter: "Attendant on my Southwest flight tells passengers: "We're going to need four passengers ... just kidding.""

OMG that is hilarious!!!! I would have died laughing if I was on that SW flight.

 

[amberpi]

And this is why I never fly. Freaking ridiculous. I hope he sues and can retire from the settlement.

Not everybody can make that call though, so we have to lobby for better passengers rights.

 

[TropicalDIS]

No doubt. But if they routinely overbook, and routinely need to bump people, they better have a better plan than "just hope enough people take an offer below our approved amount". I would assume there's someone on call 24/7 who can authorize exceeding that amount if needed.

I do agree with what you are saying, but most bumping of passengers takes place before the plane is boarded, in which case the airline can just bump you, no questions asked.

 

[bcla]

The passenger is now speaking publicly, although he isn't saying much. He's still in Chicago receiving treatment for his injuries.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...ed-fallout-stock-0412-biz-20170411-story.html

 

[Westcoastwild]

The passenger is now speaking publicly, although he isn't saying much. He's still in Chicago receiving treatment for his injuries.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...ed-fallout-stock-0412-biz-20170411-story.html

"Truly horrific" and "never too late to do the right thing"...seriously, who the heck hired Munoz in the first place? He's so obviously trying to save face after the "re-accommodating" remark, it's a little like the public is the bull and Munoz is the red flag. A grossly incompetent red flag. SNL needs to do a skit of this.

What do you want to bet that they'll "review" the policies, settle with Dao; and not change a darn thing?

 

[Hikergirl]

It really bothers me that United keeps saying "they overbooked the flight". Just come clean and admit what it really was, there was no overbooking, they kick passengers off to accommodate their employees. That is their policy.
If you are going to issue an apology then apologize for what your did, not what you want the public to think you did. Its not like its a secret, this is a PR nightmare, just tell it like it is.
They had no problem in the legging incident touting their policy, yet here they are just covering their butts.

 

[mummabear]

United didn't drag off any paying customers either. They overbooked and offered compensation, that's fine.

The police dragged off the passenger, not United staff.

At Uniteds request.

after an investigation shows this. We KNOW what United did. Have no idea right now what the officers or his man did BEFORE that cell phone video.

They info coming out from fellow passangers was that he was calm until the officers touched him.

A lot of posters keep mentioning "maximum" compensation. There are DOT regulations that say "maximum of $1350" but would United really be prohibited from offering $1500 or $2000 if that's what it took to get "volunteers"?

Exactly maximum required not max the can offer.

Sorry if this has been mentioned, but they said on the Today show this morning that part of the fine print when you purchase a plane ticket is that the airline is within their right to "bump" you from that flight to another one. Not sure how true that is, but I know having worked at a hotel, we reserved the right to "bump" you to another hotel (at our expense) if we were oversold. And hotels/airlines always oversell, because all of us would be paying much more for these services if they did not.

I think the more fair solution would have been for United to take the last 4 people who boarded off, or cut off boarding before the last 4 people, but they chose to do it at random and had to stick with the random 4 they chose. It would not have been fair for them to give in and let the doctor stay, and pick someone else. Then it would be like jury duty - the next guy would say he's a doctor too, or that they're going to a funeral, or some other reason they NEED to be home that afternoon.

Or the most fair way was bump no one. And deal with requiring 4 staff members to crew a flight the next day in any number of other ways

 

[sonnyjane]

From twitter: "Attendant on my Southwest flight tells passengers: "We're going to need four passengers ... just kidding.""

I hope Southwest doesn't make a big screw-up like this. I know they have little screw-ups... I'm fine with that, but right now I try to almost exclusively fly Southwest whenever possible (and now they even have some international flights). I don't want to ever have to breakup with them.