United Airlines PR fiasco - police forcibly remove man from overbooked flight

[Ironbutt62]

Watched this over lunch with wife today. She asked me how many times over the years have I accepted offers from airlines to bump my seat. I fly often enough...several times a month, so I had to really think. It's a big number. It's kind of a game for me to see how much my cooperation will net me.
I get, it can be a gigantic inconvenience for most people to get bumped. I agree it's "not fair" and is actually really shitty customer service and United should seriously revisit their policy. But that said, negotiate for the best incentive you can get and walk off. Don't get dragged...unless, of course, your long term goal was a lawsuit to begin with... hmmmm

 

[BrewDog]

This is 100% United's fuckup. The police will of course come drag you away if the captain says you have to get off the plane. This isn't a government abuse. United seriously screwed the pooch on this one and if I were corporate management, I would be furious with the crew about this PR nightmare.

United overbooked that flight and then demanded that people get off the plane. Those passengers paid their fares and have every reasonable expectation that their transit on that flight will be honored. Some people very well do NEED to be at their destinations. That's why they're flying is because they need to be somewhere. Not everyone is flying for vacation.

I agree with the above posters that United should have kept increasing the monetary incentives until someone accepted. Overbooking, letting the passenger board the plane, and then having the police come drag someone off by force? United deserves a bloodier nose for this one than that doctor received.

 

[RIslander]

^If you review the contract of carriage you sign before buying an airline ticket you'd see they can remove anyone they like for overbooked flights. Obviously that is bad business practice and unethical, but it is legal. I'm sure plenty of passengers will swear they'll never fly United again... until next year when they book their annual Cancun trip and its $5 cheaper on Orbitz to fly United.

 

[Repo]

From what I read, airlines are required to offer up to $1350 before they can forcibly reomove someone. They only offered $800. Shit I would change flights for $1350 all day anyday.

 

[achromaticmike]

"There's video and whatnot at the link.

It's too bad United Airlines didn't think to offer some better incentive than "vouchers to rebook". That's frankly a slap in the face, if you're already on the goddamn plane."

- A slap in the face? The guy agreed to United's contract when he booked his flight. He could have selected a higher fare class which would have greatly reduced / eliminated the chances of this happening as well.

"Chicago to Louisville is only 300 miles, too, it ain't like they were flying across the Pacific."

- Great. So then take the $800 they have to give you and rent a fucking car.

"I have no idea if their actions were legal. Probably. But boy, what a fuckup. Just rent a goddamn car for the employees, or offer to sent passengers via limo or something if they give up their seats. Offer $1000 cash plus voucher, do anything but bring the police in. WTF did they think was going to happen once the cops were on board? If the passenger tells the cops no, they're not going to cooperate, the only card the cops have left is using violence to get compliance."

- It's only a PR fuck-up because of snowflakes that can't put together logical reasoning these days. Honestly though, I expected better here.

 

[achromaticmike]

From what I read, airlines are required to offer up to $1350 before they can forcibly reomove someone. They only offered $800. Shit I would change flights for $1350 all day anyday.

key part being: "up to"

It's based on a number of factors.

 

[achromaticmike]

It's unacceptable how this was handled and the whole ordeal should be a PR nightmare for the airline.

United should have upped the monetary incentive to get people off of the flight.

It was obvious the $800 voucher wasn't enough for people to voluntarily give up their seat. How about $1000, $1200, etc? At $1500, I would have given up my seat.

United fucked up when they were renting out seats on their planes to people who paid.

Even though the guy is a faker and a scam artist, he's a good scam artist and they should indeed offer more if nobody is willing to be bounced for $800.

No. They shouldn't offer more. That would make them less competitive with the rest of the industry and increase ticket prices across the board. If you don't like the terms, don't agree to them and book with another airline.

 

[Kona]

Most likely was a deadheading (re-positioning) crewmember who needed to be in position to operate another flight. I guarantee you it wasn't some employee on personal travel or non-essential personnel. One guy gets inconvenienced to allow 80+ others go. This happens every day.

If the airline tells you to get off, get off. If the cops tell you to get off... you're a fucking idiot if you don't. That drama queen phaggot deserved the ass beating and hopefully gets cited with felony failure to obey crewmember instructions.

Meanwhile, in the "Colorado Police Bodyslam Sorority Girl" thread from yesterday

Agreed. No one, male or female, deserves missing teeth or serious injuries for being a drunk and obviously not being a risk. Any cop worth his salt could of deescalated that situation and made an arrest without violence. A night in the drunk tank and public intox ticket is the appropriate punishment.

:dodgy:

Don't worry, I bet his opinion would be different if the doctor was a 110lbs drunken slut on her way home from vacation. :whip:

Nice try, wiseass. You try getting someone out of a tight enclosed place like an airplane without having to drag their ass out. Just a few months ago I had police drag a drunk white woman kicking and screaming off my aircraft and everyone clapped after. And I went back there and told her exactly what was going to happen if she didn't get off on her own.

Nice to hear someone throwing "wiseass" around. Its one of my favorites. You get a reputation point from me.

And I had know idea they got Chinese guys in Kentucky. I bet that's a blast.

Aloha!

 

[achromaticmike]

This is 100% United's fuckup.

- Wrong. It's not his plane and he was told to get off.


"The police will of course come drag you away if the captain says you have to get off the plane."

- Which is almost exactly what happened.

"This isn't a government abuse. United seriously screwed the pooch on this one and if I were corporate management, I would be furious with the crew about this PR nightmare.

United overbooked that flight and then demanded that people get off the plane. Those passengers paid their fares and have every reasonable expectation that their transit on that flight will be honored. Some people very well do NEED to be at their destinations. That's why they're flying is because they need to be somewhere. Not everyone is flying for vacation."

- Then those people should probably read the fucking contract and book a ticket in a higher fare class of which United has about 20 to avoid being bumped.

"I agree with the above posters that United should have kept increasing the monetary incentives until someone accepted. Overbooking, letting the passenger board the plane, and then having the police come drag someone off by force? United deserves a bloodier nose for this one than that doctor received."

- Ya absolutely. United should offer thousands, hell, millions for a Chicago - Louisville ticket that the guy probably paid $200 for considering he was the lowest fare class and bumped instead of them just following the clear terms of the contract of carriage and actual US law.

 

[Repo]

From what I read, airlines are required to offer up to $1350 before they can forcibly reomove someone. They only offered $800. Shit I would change flights for $1350 all day anyday.

key part being: "up to"

It's based on a number of factors.

Such as? The only factor I saw was if people don't accept they have to offer more up to that point.

 

[Ironbutt62]

From what I read, airlines are required to offer up to $1350 before they can forcibly reomove someone. They only offered $800. Shit I would change flights for $1350 all day anyday.

I have, many times. Or, I can usually get them to comp a nice room, cash, vouchers, etc. I have found that I can negotiate and get a lot of perks by staying polite and flirting a lot. Lol

 

[weambulance]

"There's video and whatnot at the link.

It's too bad United Airlines didn't think to offer some better incentive than "vouchers to rebook". That's frankly a slap in the face, if you're already on the goddamn plane."

- A slap in the face? The guy agreed to United's contract when he booked his flight. He could have selected a higher fare class which would have greatly reduced / eliminated the chances of this happening as well.

"Chicago to Louisville is only 300 miles, too, it ain't like they were flying across the Pacific."

- Great. So then take the $800 they have to give you and rent a fucking car.

"I have no idea if their actions were legal. Probably. But boy, what a fuckup. Just rent a goddamn car for the employees, or offer to sent passengers via limo or something if they give up their seats. Offer $1000 cash plus voucher, do anything but bring the police in. WTF did they think was going to happen once the cops were on board? If the passenger tells the cops no, they're not going to cooperate, the only card the cops have left is using violence to get compliance."

Well, now we know who to never hire for any customer facing position.

"I'm going to fuck you over because it's technically legal" is not a good customer service strategy when you rely on repeat business.

- It's only a PR fuck-up because of snowflakes that can't put together logical reasoning these days. Honestly though, I expected better here.

 

[ElFlaco]

No. They shouldn't offer more. That would make them less competitive with the rest of the industry and increase ticket prices across the board. If you don't like the terms, don't agree to them and book with another airline.

They didn't offer more. And how's that working out for them now?

Libertarians don't want to understand the unequal positions of corporations (with their huge legal teams and ability to influence regulations) and individual consumers. Boycotts and bad publicity are sometimes the only recourses available.

 

[Phoenix]

Biggest problem with the police is that people want to "do what they love", and there is a small segment of the community who would love to smash random strangers faces in, electrocute them, and shoot them. Just for fun. And the police happens to be the career you can do that without getting killed or jailed. I suppose its not easy to screen them. Like just ask them "an overbooked man won't get off a plane, what do you do?" and check they don't answer "punch his face in immediately!".

 

[achromaticmike]

"There's video and whatnot at the link.

It's too bad United Airlines didn't think to offer some better incentive than "vouchers to rebook". That's frankly a slap in the face, if you're already on the goddamn plane."

- A slap in the face? The guy agreed to United's contract when he booked his flight. He could have selected a higher fare class which would have greatly reduced / eliminated the chances of this happening as well.

"Chicago to Louisville is only 300 miles, too, it ain't like they were flying across the Pacific."

- Great. So then take the $800 they have to give you and rent a fucking car.

"I have no idea if their actions were legal. Probably. But boy, what a fuckup. Just rent a goddamn car for the employees, or offer to sent passengers via limo or something if they give up their seats. Offer $1000 cash plus voucher, do anything but bring the police in. WTF did they think was going to happen once the cops were on board? If the passenger tells the cops no, they're not going to cooperate, the only card the cops have left is using violence to get compliance."

Well, now we know who to never hire for any customer facing position.

"I'm going to fuck you over because it's technically legal" is not a good customer service strategy when you rely on repeat business.

- It's only a PR fuck-up because of snowflakes that can't put together logical reasoning these days. Honestly though, I expected better here.

They didn't fuck him over. They offered him $800 for a $200 seat that they needed to move their mechanics to Louisville to fix a plane so that an entire plane of people weren't cancelled the next day. I won't work with customers -- you don't work with logic deal?

 

[Phoenix]

Also I can just imagine acromaticmike sperging out and reading every clause of every contract of every ticket he ever buys. We all just scroll through software EULA agreements, but he prints them out and goes over them with a highlighter before he makes the lofty decision to bind himself by said contract.

There's a bunch of different ways you can deal with this problem without doing the equivalent of yelling "hey buddy you enjoying that seat? Well GET THE FUCK OF MY PLANE IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE I SAY SO AND THE CONTRACT ALLOWS IT SO FUCK YOU SUCK ON THAT BIG FAT LIBERTARIAN CONTRACT LAW AND HAVE A NICE DAY BITCH! RIGHT NOW OR FACE SMASH TIME!".

A reverse auction, for instance.

 

[achromaticmike]

From what I read, airlines are required to offer up to $1350 before they can forcibly reomove someone. They only offered $800. Shit I would change flights for $1350 all day anyday.

key part being: "up to"

It's based on a number of factors.

Such as? The only factor I saw was if people don't accept they have to offer more up to that point.

I don't know -- go look at the law. Probably fare price if I had to guess.

 

[SamuelBRoberts]

So if I'm reading the above posts right, this is a story about a gay Chinese guy who screamed racial discrimination when he was bumped from a flight, only to be brutally beaten by Black and Hispanic police officers?

But they work for The Man

It's reassuring to know that as a white guy, this is still my fault somehow.

 

[achromaticmike]

Also I can just imagine acromaticmike sperging out and reading every clause of every contract of every ticket he ever buys. We all just scroll through software EULA agreements, but he prints them out and goes over them with a highlighter before he makes the lofty decision to bind himself by said contract.

There's a bunch of different ways you can deal with this problem without doing the equivalent of yelling "hey buddy you enjoying that seat? Well GET THE FUCK OF MY PLANE IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE I SAY SO AND THE CONTRACT ALLOWS IT SO FUCK YOU SUCK ON THAT BIG FAT LIBERTARIAN CONTRACT LAW AND HAVE A NICE DAY BITCH! RIGHT NOW OR FACE SMASH TIME!".

A reverse auction, for instance.

I actually fly a lot so I'm pretty familiar with the overbooking policies. If someone wants to kick me off the plane and has to provide me with thousands in compensation because of it I'm fine with that.

At the point of being told to get the fuck off the contract is rather irrelevant. It turns into illegal trespass once you refuse and is a violation of FAA regulations. Property rights and all that jazz.

Please use more caps when you type

 

[Gmac]

No. They shouldn't offer more. That would make them less competitive with the rest of the industry and increase ticket prices across the board. If you don't like the terms, don't agree to them and book with another airline.

They didn't offer more. And how's that working out for them now?

Libertarians don't want to understand the unequal positions of corporations (with their huge legal teams and ability to influence regulations) and individual consumers. Boycotts and bad publicity are sometimes the only recourses available.

Bingo.