General Someone please explain to me this United Airline outrage

[teamquestnorth]

From what I understand, it was airport security that dragged that guy out of there not United personnel.

2nd, the dude was screaming and acting like a total bitch.

If I was on that flight I would have beat him myself long before security ever got there for wasting everybodys time.

Act like a bitch, get treated like a bitch.

Why is everybody so up in arms over this?

If I was the United CEO I wouldnt have apologized for shit.

 

[Jesus X]

people are fed up with over booking

 

[Yossarian]

From what I understand, it was airport security that dragged that guy out of there not United personnel.

But they (United) called airport security like a bitch, so they outbitched him.

 

[Leigh]

Overselling is bullshit but if you implement it, do it before boarding. Once a paying passenger is in their seat, pulling them out to seat someone else is completely unacceptable.

 

[Brigsy]

From what I understand, it was airport security that dragged that guy out of there not United personnel.

2nd, the dude was screaming and acting like a total bitch.

If I was on that flight I would have beat him myself long before security ever got there for wasting everybodys time.

Act like a bitch, get treated like a bitch.

Why is everybody so up in arms over this?

If I was the United CEO I wouldnt have apologized for shit.

I sure you are a real alpha and would have died before being removed from your seat. But in the real world, he wasn't removed for screaming, he was screaming after being manhandled. Treating a paying customer in that manner because of your own booking malpractice isn't acceptable in my book. Is that the sort of society you want to live in?

Fighting back in that situation may have been satisfying but would have only made his situation worse.

 

[teamquestnorth]

I sure you are a real alpha and would have died before being removed from your seat. But in the real world, he wasn't removed for screaming, he was screaming after being manhandled. Treating a paying customer in that manner because of your own booking malpractice isn't acceptable in my book. Is that the sort of society you want to live in?

Fighting back in that situation may have been satisfying but would have only made his situation worse.

Im an adult so I wouldnt have started screaming and crying like a toddler who is being picked up for a nap.

I wouldnt have been happy about it but I would have taken the $800 voucher and free hotel stay and exited the plane like a mature adult.

 

[Hauler]

Overbooking flights is bullshit - and it happens all the time. And they were making room for an employee. It's just bad form.

I can't believe that nobody volunteered to get bumped. Usually you can negotiate a pretty sweet deal by catching a later flight.

That doctor did act like a bitch though. I will give you that. Although if my name was randomly selected after i had already boarded and I absolutely had to be somewhere, there's a good chance I'd be on the no fly list right about now.

 

[IschKabibble]

I can't believe that nobody volunteered to get bumped. Usually you can negotiate a pretty sweet deal by catching a later flight.

I read their highest offer was $800.

 

[member 3289]

To add to what @Leigh and @Alco Hauler said, overbooking IS actually standard practice for airlines, but it's extremely rare to bump someone from a flight AFTER he/she has already boarded. If you do it at the check-in counter, you'll get people who are mad or even irate, but you'll avoid this.

In addition, United offered $400 plus a night's hotel stay and no one volunteered to give up their seat. Then they increased the offer to $800 and a night's hotel stay. Still, no one came forward to volunteer.

But everyone has a price. If it had been that important to United to get those 4 stand-by employees to Lousiville so they could work the next day, United could have increased the offer. Maybe some people were holding out for $1K, who knows?

But they handled it very, very poorly. First by letting everyone board the plane before informing them that 4 would need to get off, second by not trying harder to handle it in a better way.

 

[Hauler]

I read their highest offer was $800.

For $800 I would have rented a car for $80 and drove the 4.5 hours from Chicago to Louisville. Done.

 

[Hauler]

I wish I was on that flight. I would have pulled a Jack T. Colton from Romancing the Stone:

"Now I ain't cheap...but I can be had."

 

[member 3289]

For $800 I would have rented a car for $80 and drove the 4.5 hours from Chicago to Louisville. Done.

Or, even if you don't want to drive...

 

[Shinkicker]

When sis came home in January (on United) when she reached her lay over in Charlotte NC they told her they cancelled her flight here due to not having a crew available. They would get her here by 9pm. This was at 7 am. I looked online and there were all kinds of flights out of there. Up there they were telling her they couldn't help her. I told her to go back to counter and ask about a flight to Nashville or Atlanta. The guy asked for her ticket. When she handed it over he held it up in front of her face and started ripping it into little pieces. Lmao.
She was furious. She called the home office and they got her on a flight to Nashville. I drove there to pick her up.

I can't wait to talk to her this morning. She had no idea how she narrowly missed an ass beating.

 

[member 3289]

^^^Still only making about $480 off the deal. I would've told United to give me an extra $200 instead of the hotel stay, pocketed the $680 after paying for the Uber, and slept in the uber driver's car for the 4.5-hour drive.

 

[Hauler]

The guy asked for her ticket. When she handed it over he held it up in front of her face and started ripping it into little pieces. Lmao.

Seriously? I would have punched that smug fucker right in the nose. What an asshole.

 

[Hauler]

^^^Still only making about $480 off the deal. I would've told United to give me an extra $200 instead of the hotel stay, pocketed the $680 after paying for the Uber, and slept in the uber driver's car for the 4.5-hour drive.

I'm surprised that's not more to be honest. The Uber dude has to get his ass back to Chicago, so that's a minimum of 9 hours in the car. That's a long fucking day.

 

[Shinkicker]

Seriously? I would have punched that smug fucker right in the nose. What an asshole.

Usually she would have. They had already treated her like a terrorist for having fingernail clippers In her bag.

Had I known how mad she still was when I picked her up in Nashville I would have recorded. She started ranting before I got my car put in park. Lol

 

[member 3289]

I'm surprised that's not more to be honest. The Uber dude has to get his ass back to Chicago, so that's a minimum of 9 hours in the car. That's a long fucking day.

AND he's only collecting 75% of that.

But Uber gives zero fucks about their drivers, so the smart thing to do would be to make a side cash deal with the passenger.

 

[Robbie Hart]

I would have accepted $5,000, 2 nights in a hotel, all meals paid for, free flight back prior to getting on the plane.

If I'm on the plane, you would never get me off, no way.......

 

[b00ts]

I was on an overbooked Delta flight when all that shit happened last weekend. They offered a flight an hour or two later that night, food voucher good for drinks as well, and like $400. Me and a few other people volunteered, so we roshambo'd for it.

 

[Judobill]

Okay, here I go. I am a pilot for a United Express carrier, not the one involved though. I fucking hate that they overbook flights, but it does happen. They usually do get the volunteers in the gate area, but sometimes, like this time, it happens when we are boarded up. Sometimes we might be overweight and have to bump passengers also. Usually, the passengers are cool about it, but sometimes they get a little pissed off. In this case, they had to get other flight crews to the destination to cover other flying, if they can't get on, then the airline has to cancel flights, and when that happens, it can turn into a huge snowball effect for a lot more than just the passengers who were pulled off the original flight. When we have to pull passengers off the plane, I don't get involved at all. I just tell the gate agent how many to remove, then I close the door, it's embarrassing. Hopefully, with this amount of media coverage, all the airlines will be forced to stop the practice of overbooking, of at least force them to increase the compensation. Also, the passenger to be removed is not a random computer selection, for United anyway, it is done by the person who paid the least amount of money for their ticket. I think Southwest chooses theirs by whoever checked in last.

 

[Shinkicker]

Okay, here I go. I am a pilot for a United Express carrier, not the one involved though. I fucking hate that they overbook flights, but it does happen. They usually do get the volunteers in the gate area, but sometimes, like this time, it happens when we are boarded up. Sometimes we might be overweight and have to bump passengers also. Usually, the passengers are cool about it, but sometimes they get a little pissed off. In this case, they had to get other flight crews to the destination to cover other flying, if they can't get on, then the airline has to cancel flights, and when that happens, it can turn into a huge snowball effect for a lot more than just the passengers who were pulled off the original flight. When we have to pull passengers off the plane, I don't get involved at all. I just tell the gate agent how many to remove, then I close the door, it's embarrassing. Hopefully, with this amount of media coverage, all the airlines will be forced to stop the practice of overbooking, of at least force them to increase the compensation. Also, the passenger to be removed is not a random computer selection, for United anyway, it is done by the person who paid the least amount of money for their ticket. I think Southwest chooses theirs by whoever checked in last.

Sounds like you might do a better job of negotiating this though.

 

[member 3289]

If I'm on the plane, you would never get me off, no way.......

 

[Splinty]

Also, the passenger to be removed is not a random computer selection, for United anyway, it is done by the person who paid the least amount of money for their ticket

wow.
That's the biggest bullshit portion. That is a bad bet about that customers return or loyalty to future spending.

 

[Judobill]

wow.
That's the biggest bullshit portion. That is a bad bet about that customers return or loyalty to future spending.

Yeah, it's always rubbed me wrong too. It's like they get penalized for good planning.