Anyone Care To Fly United Airlines

[Daniel50]

Dr dragged off plane for refusing to give up his seat. He told them he was a Dr. and needed to be at his destination to see patients. Come fly with us, what do you think?

 

[Davita]

I've never heard of a situation like this get so out of hand.
Clearly, any airline has the responsibility to offload any passenger that threatens the security of others but this passenger seemed innocent of anything other than he didn't want to be offloaded arbitrarily.
Normally, when a plane is overbooked, passengers are offered incentives to catch the next flight...I believe in USA this can be as much as 4 times the ticket value. I cannot comprehend that some, if offered that amount, wouldn't volunteer.... so I wonder how this got so out of hand.
Maybe they didn't clarify the incentive...or even offer at the initial stage prior to choosing who will be offloaded.
I think eventually this fellow will be getting substantially more than 4 times his ticket and some heads will roll in United Airlines Passenger Relations Dept....I hope so.

 

[Ruserious]

Davita they offered up to $800 but didn't have many takers. I'm sure this guy will get a nice settlement a lot more than that out of it now though....

But seriously US airlines are uselss at overbooking and seat assignment. Its like a madhouse once the doors closed with everyone swapping seats. They are starting to get better now but before they wouldn't even assign young kids next to the parents - asking them instead to try to negotiate once they got onboard. Crazy!

 

[Anglian]

I flew Frankfurt to here by Lufthansa, they were overboooked, they offered anyone €900 plus accomadation, was tempted, but didn't think the company would be very impressed if I volenteered, but United should have asked before passengers were boarded, not handled very well

 

[Daniel50]

The loss of dignity to this man and the complete arrogance of the airline incuding/esp. the ceo., is crazy( the CEO apologized for having to "re-accomodate" a passenger, what an ass). This man dragged down the aisle like a sack of........in front of everyone, this is reprehensible. I hope he sues for a lot and I hope people boycott this airline. (someone interviewed said it is not an actual $800 offered anyways. They are actually United Airline dollars, not that it changes the treatment he received).

 

[sumyunggai]

It's not $800, it's $800 in travel vouchers which are inflexible and in reality if there are two people might cost you another few hundred to actually go anywhere.

So it doesn't really cost them anything.

$800 in cash would be a different equation. There is zero cash whatsoever on offer.

 

[Davita]

Davita they offered up to $800 but didn't have many takers.

Thanks.
I wasn't sure if they'd announced an incentive but clearly...it wasn't enough. That's when they should have upped the offer until they got a volunteer...that's called management!

As an ex-airline employee I fly on discount fare but we are the first to be offloaded if seats are needed for fare-paying passengers. It's rare to have to wait that long to be offloaded...generally it is at the checking-in stage, not after boarding. Happened to me once when a seat became unserviceable.... I had to give up my seat that worked.

edit: I was right...domestic passengers in USA can be compensated up to 400% of the ticket (max$1350).

 

[macvert]

Unbelievable ..... why don't they just install ejector seats throughout?

 

[R Cameron]

edit: I was right...domestic passengers in USA can be compensated up to 400% of the ticket (max$1350).

I've seen this mentioned in several articles about this incident, though it's a bit misleading when stated that way. 400% up to $1350 is the amount the bumped passenger is entitled to if bumped and delayed more than a couple hours, however the airline is absolutely free to offer more. And in this case I'm sure they regret not doing so.

 

[Daniel50]

A legal expert saying he read the 46 pg. policy United has on overbooking and it only covers preboarding and the fact the ailine took him off not for other passengers but for their own employees could equal breach of contract. Some of this is a repeat of the video of the passenger being hauled off.

 

[macvert]

Unbelievable ..... why don't they just install ejector seats throughout?

& they could be fair about it & make it like a TV quiz show to see who loses their seat .... The Weakest Link maybe .... Goodbye (presses ejector seat button)

 

[scouser59]

I hope he sues the ass off them ! im sure there will be a long Que of lawyers waiting to assist . All the $ they have wasted on adds , unbelievable !

 

[kratos]

United just kickass, Full of Passengers with Smartphone on, and they still kickass

"respect my authoritah"- Eric Cartmann

 

[Daniel50]

"Fly The Friendly Skies"

 

[Davita]

United airlines shares slump 6% on the pre-opening in Wall Street...going to be interesting.

 

[dafluff]

An important difference here is that this is NOT a case where the flight was overbooked, and he was bumped for other passengers. Normally the procedure for this does not involved dragging anyone already seated. In that situation if no one/not enough volunteers, the overbooked passengers simply do not board.

This was United needing 4 seats for THEIR OWN EMPLOYEES, and bumping someone who was already boarded in preference for these employees. He should sue, and United should get their asses handed to them.

In retrospect United should have chartered a private jet for these 4 employees, as no doubt this would have been much cheaper.

 

[Davita]

An important difference here is that this is NOT a case where the flight was overbooked, and he was bumped for other passengers. Normally the procedure for this does not involved dragging anyone already seated. In that situation if no one/not enough volunteers, the overbooked passengers simply do not board.

This was United needing 4 seats for THEIR OWN EMPLOYEES, and bumping someone who was already boarded in preference for these employees. He should sue, and United should get their asses handed to them.

In retrospect United should have chartered a private jet for these 4 employees, as no doubt this would have been much cheaper.

Whilst I agree with the total mishandling of the situation, and I'd hope he will be adequately compensated 'out of court', I would question what he could sue for.

If anyone refuses an order from security/crew/police they are at risk to be arrested.....just like any other arrest situation. He should have complied with the officer's request, and not subsequently resisted when force was used.

 

[Daniel50]

Whilst I agree with the total mishandling of the situation, and I'd hope he will be adequately compensated 'out of court', I would question what he could sue for.

If anyone refuses an order from security/crew/police they are at risk to be arrested.....just like any other arrest situation. He should have complied with the officer's request, and not subsequently resisted when force was used.

A legal expert saying he read the 46 pg. policy United has on overbooking and it only covers preboarding and the fact the ailine took him off not for other passengers but for their own employees could equal breach of contract. Some of this is a repeat of the video of the passenger being hauled off.

Maybe this is how.

 

[Euc-]

An important difference here is that this is NOT a case where the flight was overbooked, and he was bumped for other passengers. Normally the procedure for this does not involved dragging anyone already seated. In that situation if no one/not enough volunteers, the overbooked passengers simply do not board.

This was United needing 4 seats for THEIR OWN EMPLOYEES, and bumping someone who was already boarded in preference for these employees. He should sue, and United should get their asses handed to them.

In retrospect United should have chartered a private jet for these 4 employees, as no doubt this would have been much cheaper.

I saw somewhere that that crew only had a flight to make the next morning, that the distance between the 2 airports by car would be 4/5 hours, and an Uber would've been around 400 USD.

So, it would've been cheaper and feasible for those employees to take an Uber to the destination compared to even 1 guy taking UA up on that offer.

 

[Davita]

I watched the video and still do not see what he can sue for other than a potential breach of contract (good luck). That's what I would have threatened and squeezed an 'out of court' settlement. The airlines in USA seem to have this fairly well covered and it isn't the first time passengers have been removed after boarding. Also, flights get canceled, or diverted to other airports, all the time....I've never heard of a 'breach of contract' in those cases.

On the other hand he disobeyed a legal order by the police/security to deplane...that in itself could have made him subject to an arrest. If he wishes to sue for the way he was handled then surely that has nothing to do with the airline. It wasn't airline employees who removed him...it was airport security. BTW, I read one of them has been suspended....I'm guessing the one with the crap jeans.

I'm not condoning the ridiculous situation...I think it was deplorable. I'm just playing Devil's advocate on the legal aspect.