Im sure the guy did become belligerant. You dont get hurt by getting up and walking off on your own accord.
If somebody buys their tickets and no shows should they be denied a refund? That would end the need for overbooking.This whole deal of overbooking flights should be illegal. How can you sell more of a product and not be able to provide it? The overbooked people still had to pay for a ticket. It would be like an online store only sending you half your order because they don't have the ability to actually supply what you ordered, but still charged you for it.
If somebody buys their tickets and no shows should they be denied a refund? That would end the need for overbooking.
Given that a grand total of 0.04% of passengers are involuntarily denied seats its not typically a big deal. Airlines are more likely to be flexible with last minute changes due to a passenger's mistakes, personal emergencies etc if they know they can still get revenue for a seat. Get rid of overbooking and I'd expect we'd see an increase in change fees\lowered discretion on waving fees.
Sadly its not. Federal law says you must comply with FA instructions. If that is "Get off the plane we need your seat" and you don't you have now violated federal law. I'm not saying its right but it is legal
I believe boarding has long been expanded to include up to door closure. You may have been allowed to take your seat but its not considered officially 'boarded' until all the paperwork has been completed and handed off to ground staff.
Is that not already how it works? I thought if you don't show up or can't make it it's too bad so sad, or it's within a certain time period then you can rebook for a fee. If that's not how it works, then perhaps that would be the best solution. That works for pretty much any type of scheduled event, if you buy tickets or book something but don't show, you don't get a refund, or only get a partial refund. Hotels, etc.
TMIMy only experience with this is when I was flying for work. I flew about 40 times in close to 2 years. I ended up banging my assistant for the weekend on the last day of the trip and overslept my flight from San Diego back to Newark, NJ. Total cost was $50 for a change of flight. I was surprised. This was flying on Continental before United took them over. Newark was one of their hubs.
Tell that to the CEO of the company Oscar Munoz. He clearly said in his dismissive email to employees about the situation that all the passengers had boarded. Once they boarded, those four employees should have found other methods to get to their destination. It is not the man's problem that United wanted to move their employees around. He paid for the seat and entered into a contract. They should not be allowed use force to force someone off the plane who did nothing wrong except wanting to go home.
Based on fares paid= first class excluded. Based on frequent flyer miles= first class excluded.
Pregnant women might not be excluded because they don't know who's pregnant or not but once they find out, you think they're going to beat up pregnant woman? Actually, United might.
Oh airlines are flexible alright - if you pay them.
Want to cancel your ticket months in advance? Cancellation fee.
Miss your flight and want to reschedule? Just fine, as long as you pay for another one.
Want to change your flight? Rebooking fee.
Tell that to the CEO of the company Oscar Munoz. He clearly said in his dismissive email to employees about the situation that all the passengers had boarded. Once they boarded, those four employees should have found other methods to get to their destination. It is not the man's problem that United wanted to move their employees around. He paid for the seat and entered into a contract. They should not be allowed use force to force someone off the plane who did nothing wrong except wanting to go home.
How much less could they care? I'd really like to know.This airline is like the Comcast of the airways. They could care less about the negative publicity. I, personally, will avoid them ... but they could care less.
Yeah thats not true at all. You can be bumped in first class and it does happen, although with much less frequency as there are fewer seats and there is a decent chance you can be accommodated in economy. (And then different compensation rules apply) It's lowest fare by fare bucket for the affected bucket. If business or first is oversold\downsized due to equipment swap they don't kick an economy passenger off so if economy is full the lowest J or F ticket gets the boot. In this case I am assuming UA's computers have certain fare buckets to look at for certain situations and they are not going to choose a first class or business class bucket to accommodate employees
I think you've lost track of who actually removed the passenger from the plane. UA didn't cause the passenger to "fall". Technically this wasn't even a United operated flight.
Except for the fact that the largest domestic carrier by passenger volume does not charge a cancellation fee, change fee or a rebooking fee. They are also one of the worst IDB offenders - more than double UA.
For those that do charge there is a decent chance you can get the fees removed.
I don't think we'll reach a consensus without a court case and appeal but I suspect this is a matter poor word choice and using 'boarded' as the more common 'the person walked onto a plane' manner as opposed to the 'Contractually, passengers are not considered boarded until the manifest has been handed in and the boarding door closed.' esp given that he said the passenger was IDB'd in the next line. IANAL so I don't know what ramifications his word choice has but certainly poor wording regardless
CEO email to staff. Basically they did nothing wrong.
https://twitter.com/mikedelmoro/status/851577272502976517
Of course there was nothing wrong with it. It was legal, it was in line with policy, and the airline got what it wanted. Exactly what a CEO would want to happen.
still don't know who Jaime King is.I didn't know who Jaime King was until today.
"Hey @united - never flying on your airline again," she wrote. "Know I'm not the only one. Your statement is abhorrently vague & without accountability."
I have to agree though, that statement from the CEO was lame.
BTW, this is what Joss Whedon had to say.
"For the comfort and safety of the other passengers, please remember we will be resorting to cannibalism BY GROUP NUMBER."
not sure the CEO would want this level of outrage/backlash thats going on
business travelers buy full fare coach when there's a chance they might have to travel.This whole deal of overbooking flights should be illegal. How can you sell more of a product and not be able to provide it? The overbooked people still had to pay for a ticket. It would be like an online store only sending you half your order because they don't have the ability to actually supply what you ordered, but still charged you for it.
CEO email to staff. Basically they did nothing wrong.
https://twitter.com/mikedelmoro/status/851577272502976517
Jaime Kingstill don't know who Jaime King is.
United finds a new way to make itself look awful, and then its CEO shows how to make things worseand what did the ceo of united say?
Jaime King
United finds a new way to make itself look awful, and then its CEO shows how to make things worse
"This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers."
Re-accomodate is now trending on twitter