United Air forcibly removes passenger on overbooked flight

[SMiller]

Sorry, don't buy all this UA bashing. When you buy a ticket you agree to the airline's rules, which include overbooking (which besides keeping revenues up for the airline, also makes it easier to handle cancellations for less cost to the customer). This is not news, airlines have worked this way for years. Whether they needed the seats for other passengers or employees is irrelevant. And speaking of bad planning, when you know you have to be at work Monday morning and you schedule your return flight for Sunday evening...


I note that three other passenger were able to follow the rules. When this guy refused to leave and made the cops drag him out he was being an ass. He turned a civil matter into a criminal one. Sure UA could have tried to bribe him some more, but he agreed to the rules when he bought the ticket. Anybody can sue for anything, but I'll bet this does not go far. All he would be arguing is that he is entitled to more than he paid for.

See Rules 5 & 25: https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/contract-of-carriage.aspx#sec5

You would not make a good lawyer...

 

[SMiller]

He may have cooperated if they would have offered him both.

The man is a Dr., guessing $800 doesn't mean much when he has a full schedule lined up the next day but on the upswing he now gets to sue for all the lost revenue as now he will be unable to see any patients for the next year over physical and mental anguish$$$

 

[spec4]

So how many of us buying tickets read "the rules"? You book a flight, pay your money, and get the ticket. Absent mechanical or weather issues one should have every expectation of reaching their destination as agreed. Flying is enough of a hassle without this. Personally, I'd like to be able to never fly commercial again but will no doubt be overruled by wife.

 

[BigMatt]

So how many of us buying tickets read "the rules"? You book a flight, pay your money, and get the ticket. Absent mechanical or weather issues one should have every expectation of reaching their destination as agreed. Flying is enough of a hassle without this. Personally, I'd like to be able to never fly commercial again but will no doubt be overruled by wife.

This^^^

I have never agreed with overbooking a flight.

The airline should have to raise the price to get someone to give up their ticket. Maybe the price would have gotten to $1,500. Probably not.

IMO, United shouldn't just remove you from your seat.

 

[edporch]

That's a $700 uber from ohare to Louisville.

but better to **** off customers and get sued I guess. But the doc acted like an idiot if he truly ran to the back of the plane and "was disoriented" after "being dragged off the plane"

united should have kept raising $$ until someone accepted. Lesson learned I guess

They used to keep offering until enough got off the plane.

The Field Service guys I used to work with told me many times of REALLY high payments the airline had to make to get people off the plane.
They just kept upping the offer.

THE POINT is, it's the airline that INTENTIONALLY overbooked the flight.

These people thrown off the plane should sue, and they'll likely get way more than if the airline would've just offered enough in the first place.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Is it possible this flight crew had been on a delayed flight and they missed their connection earlier in the day? So they had to be on last one out which caused the "overbook"?

 

[jedi]

This^^^

I have never agreed with overbooking a flight.

The airline should have to raise the price to get someone to give up their ticket. Maybe the price would have gotten to $1,500. Probably not.

IMO, United shouldn't just remove you from your seat.

Correction it was not united that removed him. They had the jbt do that for them. How nice of the jbt to do it for the airline hu.

 

[Dean C.]

This is inexcusable, and seriously yanking a MD who has patients the next day is a pretty ****ty thing to do as that is actually kinda important.... I hope the manager or whomever made the call to have the passenger forcibly removed is fired and sued also.

 

[singlesix]

So how many of us buying tickets read "the rules"? You book a flight, pay your money, and get the ticket. Absent mechanical or weather issues one should have every expectation of reaching their destination as agreed. Flying is enough of a hassle without this. Personally, I'd like to be able to never fly commercial again but will no doubt be overruled by wife.

While the "rules" don't apply in this case since he was boarded, are you saying if you don't read the rules it doesn't apply to you? Yeah I've been bumped many times, did I read the rules before my ticket purchase, nope. Did I make a scene nope. Have I wanted to reach over the counter and punch the living daylights out of that worthless, walrus of a desk agent, you betcha you.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

A scalding hot take from actor John Cho.

It's hard not to see a connection between the environment Trump has created and what happened on that @united flight.

https://twitter.com/JohnTheCho/status/851527805129023488

 

[Sylvain]

A scalding hot take from actor John Cho.



https://twitter.com/JohnTheCho/status/851527805129023488

I knew it! Trump is the president of that airline and the reason why they run things so poorly, right?
There was never any problem on flights during Obama.

 

[JTScribe]

"The Nazi thing could never happen in America, the people would never sit and watch."

Hmm.

 

[Sylvain]

"The Nazi thing could never happen in America, the people would never sit and watch."

Hmm.

They kept shouting "Oh my god!" ... I'm sure it would have stopped the Nazis.

 

[JTScribe]

They kept shouting "Oh my god!" ... I'm sure it would have stopped the Nazis.

Right?

 

[BugI02]

^this
The contract for the airplane ticket is you can be bumped from your flight for whatever reason PRIOR to boarding. Meanibg prior to you giving your ticket to the gate attendant and s/he scanning it. Once they scan/accept it that part of the contract is null as you have boarded and the airline "boarded" you.

Doesn't work that way. One example, weather at the destination deteriorates and route of flight changes and/or an alternate is required - the required fuel load increases. If the new fuel requirement exceeds the a/c's max ATOG then you have three options (all of which are used to reduce the a/c's zero fuel weight) pull baggage, pull freight or pull bodies; and the airline is within its rights to do any or all, even if you have been issued a boarding pass and are in your seat

 

[jedi]

A scalding hot take from actor John Cho.



https://twitter.com/JohnTheCho/status/851527805129023488

??? Was the doc not a white guy??
R they really blaming trump for this

 

[singlesix]

??? Was the doc not a white guy??
R they really blaming trump for this

At least they stopped blaming Bush.

 

[BugI02]

This is inexcusable, and seriously yanking a MD who has patients the next day is a pretty ****ty thing to do as that is actually kinda important.... I hope the manager or whomever made the call to have the passenger forcibly removed is fired and sued also.

Did you skim the referenced Rule 25? There is a hierarchy governing who gets pulled; better not to fly on a cheap seat or on an airline on which you have little status if you absolutely positively have to get there. If you have to get there, don't book the last flight out. The airlines have quite sophisticated algorithms to recover from large scale disruptions like weather, computer outages etc. It is quite possible that that crew needed to reach their destination in time to get 'adequate rest', which is mandated by law, so they would be legal to crew a flight the next day that was important to the recovery plan. By pissing off one passenger, who likely isn't a very important united customer or he would have had status, they may have saved themselves tens of thousands of dollars by preventing the need to cancel one or more flights the next day.

And the captain of your flight can have you removed for any reason or no reason at all, he has absolute authority over (and responsibility for) the aircraft once that cabin door closes. there are details here that we are not privy to. He might sue, but it will go nowhere

 

[BugI02]

I knew it! Trump is the president of that airline and the reason why they run things so poorly, right?
There was never any problem on flights during Obama.

Nope, look at Post #6 again - guy looks Asian
Racism > Trump (or AirBnB)

 

[jedi]

Sue or not they now have 2 percieved faults in under 90 days. The legging issue which i agree with but to the common sheep all they hear was leggings on kids and kid was kicked off and now a doc is removed by force cause he qould not volunteer.

The pr mess will cost them much more. Just like target is getting boycotted for the bathroom policy.

In this day and age when stupid facebook, youtube, twitter spreads the incomplete news its just not worth it.

Case in point sarah palin did not say she could see russia from her house but that skit was all people remember.

They should have continued to increase the money and someone would have evwntually said yes. That would have been the cheapest solution then the mess they are in now.