Doctor dragged off United plane

[BuccaneerBrad]

What a shit storm this has created.   United is in big trouble financially as a result of this. 

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

It is not all bad news for United.

http://www.duffelblog.com/2017/04/pentagon-awards-contract-united-airlines-forcibly-remove-assad/

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Chris Christe has called on Trump to ban the overbooking of flights. 

Trump who tweets non stop has yet to condemn United for the handling of this.  Yuge mistake.  And I mean YUGE.  If there is one issue that unites Democrats and Republicans it is that airlines should treat overbooked passengers better. 

Trump actually has a legitimate chance to find common ground with Ralph Nader and Bernie Sanders and has gone silent. 

[Spider-Dan]

Banning the overbooking of flights is like requiring all flights to have economy plus legroom or mandating at least two free checked bags.

The reason why flights are as cheap as they are is because of practices like nickel-and-diming and overbooking.  And for all the bluster that people make about leg room and bag fees and overbooking, when they have an opportunity to take an airline without those practices, they pass because tickets are cheaper through Delta etc.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Banning the overbooking of flights is like requiring all flights to have economy plus legroom or mandating at least two free checked bags.

The reason why flights are as cheap as they are is because of practices like nickel-and-diming and overbooking.  And for all the bluster that people make about leg room and bag fees and overbooking, when they have an opportunity to take an airline without those practices, they pass because tickets are cheaper through Delta etc.

No overbooking flights is different than the rest.  It would be like the Dolphins selling 70,000 tickets then hoping 5000 people don't show up.  And more do those not allowed in get a ticket to a future game. 

Simple proposal: airlines can sell as many tickets as they have seats, and sell "standby" tickets to customers based on anticipated extra space which are boarded last and know they have a good chance of not flying. 

When airlines started the practice of overbooking it was back when customers could get refunds for tickets not used or chance flights with little or no penalty, so customers created a decent number of empty seats. If airlines sell non refundable tickets, they should be fully guaranteed.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Hey Pappy, you guys at southwest having fun?

[pondwater]

No overbooking flights is different than the rest.  It would be like the Dolphins selling 70,000 tickets then hoping 5000 people don't show up.  And more do those not allowed in get a ticket to a future game. 

Simple proposal: airlines can sell as many tickets as they have seats, and sell "standby" tickets to customers based on anticipated extra space which are boarded last and know they have a good chance of not flying. 

When airlines started the practice of overbooking it was back when customers could get refunds for tickets not used or chance flights with little or no penalty, so customers created a decent number of empty seats. If airlines sell non refundable tickets, they should be fully guaranteed.

Aren't most tickets non refundable these days? If that's the case, why does the airline care if the customer shows up or not?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Aren't most tickets non refundable these days? If that's the case, why does the airline care if the customer shows up or not?

They are double dipping.  Have 100 seats sell 110 tickets.  If 99people show up they get paid for 110 fares and 11 people lose their money.  106 people show up.  The 4 no show doesn't get a refund, 6 people do, but they still make money on 104 people rather than the 100 they would have if they didn't overbook.  Never mind that someone misses out on attending a friends wedding or an important meeting -- that doesn't matter to the airline.

[Fau Teixeira]

it's corporate douchebaggery and therefore Trump will continue to be silent about it cause  we live in the corporate states of america.

[Spider-Dan]

To be fair, there are federal regulations that say that if you are taken off a plane due to overbooking, you must be put on another flight that lands within 1 hour of your original arrival time or you are entitled to compensation (above and beyond any potential ticket refund).

If your replacement flight lands more than 1 hour (but less than 2) after the original arrival time, you are entitled to 2x the original one-way ticket price ($up to $650)... in cash, not vouchers.
If your replacement flight lands more than 2 hours after the original arrival time, you are entitled to 4x the original one-way ticket price (up to $1300)... again, in cash.

This was part of the reason people were mad at United: their offers of $400 and $800 were lowballs.

[Pappy13]

Hey Pappy, you guys at southwest having fun?

Well let's just say that we are not crying for United. 

But the thing is that in this case the flight was NOT overbooked. United needed to get a flight crew to an A/C without a flight crew. If they don't make room for the crew on this A/C than an entire A/C full of people somewhere else is going to be kicked off their A/C. It was a bad situation and United handled it poorly, but all the passengers on that flight were also to blame. Anyone of those people on the flight could have said "I'll take the $800, you can have my seat", but nope they all sat there and watched it happen and got their camera's out. This could have been avoided if there was just 1 decent person on the flight. Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

[Pappy13]

To be fair, there are federal regulations that say that if you are taken off a plane due to overbooking, you must be put on another flight that lands within 1 hour of your original arrival time or you are entitled to compensation (above and beyond any potential ticket refund).

If your replacement flight lands more than 1 hour (but less than 2) after the original arrival time, you are entitled to 2x the original one-way ticket price ($up to $650)... in cash, not vouchers.
If your replacement flight lands more than 2 hours after the original arrival time, you are entitled to 4x the original one-way ticket price (up to $1300)... again, in cash.

This was part of the reason people were mad at United: their offers of $400 and $800 were lowballs.

How is $800 lowballing you? Your ticket will be refunded or applied to another flight, the $800 goes straight into your pocket. You're assuming that the 1 way ticket was at least $325? Please.

[Pappy13]

If airlines sell non refundable tickets, they should be fully guaranteed.

Most tickets are refundable up to a certain point...at least at Southwest. And the reason that there's a point is because people were booking flights and then cancelling them when they found a cheaper flight on another airline. Airlines were even booking flights on other airlines so that it would appear the flight was full to force people to book on their airline and then cancel. Lot's of really bad things happen when you allow people to cancel their flight all the way up to the time the flight leaves. At some point you have to lock people into their flight to prevent them from playing games.

[Spider-Dan]

How is $800 lowballing you?

$1300 is the federal maximum for required reimbursement, which is not a restriction on the upper limit of what United may offer.  Obviously no one on board was willing to reschedule their plans for $800, and United made the (incorrect) decision that physically forcing a passenger off the plane was a better choice than simply increasing the payoff until you had a taker.

As you correctly pointed out, this was not a plain-old overbooking; there was no crew in Louisville to man a flight.  Therefore, these passengers were being inconvenienced to resolve an internal United personnel issue.  United should have been more willing to take a loss.

It was a bad situation and United handled it poorly, but all the passengers on that flight were also to blame. Anyone of those people on the flight could have said "I'll take the $800, you can have my seat", but nope they all sat there and watched it happen and got their camera's out. This could have been avoided if there was just 1 decent person on the flight. Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

And this kind of haughty indifference is exactly why United is scrambling to perform damage control right now.

Based on your response, it appears that the idea that "if you won't take $800 to scuttle your travel plans, you are not a decent person" is not an uncommon viewpoint in the airline industry.  To the rest of us, such a position is utter insanity.

[masterfins]

Side Note:  It annoys me that the headlines state a "doctor" was dragged off the plane, as if it should make a difference that this guy was a doctor; that he is some how more entitled to be treated better.  What it if it was an accountant, or a computer programmer, or a mechanic?  Or on the hand, what if it was a young black male that was traveling home from college on spring break, I can only imagine the headlines.  And as it turns out this guy has some questionable medical practices.  Overall this was just handled poorly, the check in people never should have let everyone board the plane when there weren't seats for everyone.