United Airlines New "Passenger Removal" Tactics

[terrible one]

As far as I know they offered a delayed plane ride home and cash. Legally all they had to do was refund him his money and tell him to pound sand.

So yes they did offer means to correct their miskate.

If you don't understand their methods of removing you due to an overbooked flight then read your "terms of agreement" that you agree to when purchasing your next ticket.

 

[Corbic]

As far as I know they offered a delayed plane ride home and cash. Legally all they had to do was refund him his money and tell him to pound sand.

So yes they did offer means to correct their miskate.

If you don't understand their methods of removing you due to an overbooked flight then read your "terms of agreement" that you agree to when purchasing your next ticket.

 

[Sinister04L]

And do what, write a letter about how angry your are and post a bad review on yelp?


That will change things...

You can bring attention to a situation without breaking the law and inconviencing everyone else. You can also simply stop using that airline (although every airline bumps people off flights). I wish he'd get prosecuted.

 

[Corbic]

You can bring attention to a situation without breaking the law and inconviencing everyone else. You can also simply stop using that airline (although every airline bumps people off flights). I wish he'd get prosecuted.

Seriously shows how out of touch you are that you want to see him get prosecuted.

 

[Sinister04L]

Seriously shows how out of touch you are that you want to see him get prosecuted.

I'm not out of touch. Could they have handled it differently? Sure, but they were also well within their right. He was not.

 

[Bullitt1448]

Right, wrong or indifferent, i suspect there are law firms lining up to represent Mr.Passenger. The airline is going to spend a lot more defending themselves than it would have cost them to book their people onto a competitors airline that didn't over book their flight. Too bad they will likely settle out of court for an undisclosed sum and we will never know what they truely paid. Just because something is within the company's right, it doesn't always make the best business sense.

 

[Stanley]

If the airline followed the rules/laws they should fight it in court.

 

[SolarYellow]

HAHAHA but ignorance is not an excuse. Far too many people think their ignorance excuses them from issue(s).

 

[Corbic]

HAHAHA but ignorance is not an excuse. Far too many people think their ignorance excuses them from issue(s).

Stupidity is also not an excuse, but that didn't stop United....

 

[Coiled03]

The issue is that typically when a crew is dead-heading, customers are denied boarding in the first place to accommodate the crew. Once the gate agent has accepted their boarding pass, and the customer is on board, they can't be forcibly removed. At least, that's my understanding after doing some research.

 

[SolarYellow]

Stupidity is also not an excuse, but that didn't stop United....

Pictures aside, what matters are the details of the contract and the laws rather than feelings.

 

[GT Premi]

Wow i didn't realize there were so many of you who think the airline was in the right. So let me get this straight, you buy a ticket with YOUR money for a specific destination at a specific time and somehow you guys think you have no right to what you paid for? In what world does that make any sense?

...

In the American world. How many people have had their cars taken from them and sent to the crusher?

...

If I planned a trip carefully, desperately sought out several friends/family members asking if any of them could drop me off at the airport at a specific time early in the a.m. ... Question, does that make me entitled?

That first part of your question kind of does make you entitled. You're inconveniencing friends/family to accommodate your travel plans. It's even more egregious in the day of Uber/Lyft/taxis.

 

[Corbic]

Pictures aside, what matters are the details of the contract and the laws rather than feelings.

So your prediction is he goes to Jail and United doesn't pay one cent?

 

[03Sssnake]

The issue is that typically when a crew is dead-heading, customers are denied boarding in the first place to accommodate the crew. Once the gate agent has accepted their boarding pass, and the customer is on board, they can't be forcibly removed. At least, that's my understanding after doing some research.

that is what I have read and understand... unless its a flight safety/security matter, i.e. piss drunk, belligerent, fighting etc. You can be removed for those things. You cannot be removed to give someone else your seat, it wasn't a lawful order that he had to follow, at least according to some aviation legal experts. I have seen people denied boarding at the gate to accommodate another passenger/crew etc on over-booked flights, but never seen someone removed that has already boarded.

United whom already has a fairly bad public image can ill-afford more bad PR. Whether or not they are legally right or wrong, damage is done at this point.

 

[AustinSN]

Right, wrong or indifferent, i suspect there are law firms lining up to represent Mr.Passenger. The airline is going to spend a lot more defending themselves than it would have cost them to book their people onto a competitors airline that didn't over book their flight. Too bad they will likely settle out of court for an undisclosed sum and we will never know what they truely paid. Just because something is within the company's right, it doesn't always make the best business sense.

I keep seeing this thrown around, were there other flights available? The airlines take care of each other with stuff like that, I remember trying to get on a flight to Denver (stand-by, on United) and a SW plane broke. There were like 30 open seats an hour before take off and after that plane went down, United took all of the SW passengers over the next 2 flights or so.

 

[SolarYellow]

So your prediction is he goes to Jail and United doesn't pay one cent?

When I don't know the answer to a question I'll ask for clarification. My ego will not prevent me from doing so.

The guy will be paid a great sum of money for acting like a knuckle head but that doesn't take away what is written in the contract the man agreed to when purchasing his ticket and I don't know whether or not a carrier can remove someone for needing passage to whom they consider more important. Hence, why I ask.

Popular Mechanics and a a few pilots who have been interviewed on television and radio all say yes. Mr. Knucklehead's lawyer says no (big surprise). Lets keep the emotions out of it and focus on facts. That's all I want to know.