Don't fly United

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to new article on WaPo, entire flight had boarded (people in seats) AND THEN the four United employees approached the gate agent saying they needed a seat.

So that is why this happened after everyone had boarded. So next time you get on an airplane, you aren't really safe until it takes off, because they can just come on board and remove you. This was not an overbooked or oversold flight. This was an example of entitlement by United employees, all of them.

How were they cutting it that close? If four crewmembers had to get to Louisville, how was it that the first time the gate agents were made aware of this fact was when they showed up at the gate? Clearly the crew were notified and had time to dress, pack and travel to the airport. And yet their seats were not reserved before the whole plane was boarded? WTF?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now Emirates has joined the fray calling out Munoz by name and asking people to Fly the Friendly Skies of a Rral Airline.

Link?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since this whole thread is a groupthink exercise and because generally I believe it, i will take the other side.

1. Every ticket you buy comes with a disclaimer that they overbook.

2. They tried, as most flights to, to get people to take the deal to get off the flight.

3. No takers. They had to get the crew to the destination or they would have cancelled the flight and inconvenienced a hundred other people.

4. After no takers, they chose at random.


Could they have paid more or should they have paid more - YES. Without question.


That said, he bought a ticket with this condition baked in. Every ticket that anyone has ever bought has this condition. You are not flying private. It is not your plane and you don't make the rules.

When somebody from the airline tells you to get off a plane, you get off the plane. That would have solved this problem very quickly. Take the $800, maybe even negotiate but this chaos could have been avoided. Of course it is inconvenient but very little about air travel is convenient.

United has a mess on its hands without a doubt and somewhere they crossed the line to forcible removal which was horrible judgment but at the same time, this guy had a personal responsibility that he didn't live up to in this case.

They didn't try very hard. They could have offered more than an $800 voucher. One passenger said he'd go for $1600 and the gate agent laughed at him. People have their price, United would have found it if they had tried just a little bit harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But this flight wasn't oversold! It was full, all seats sold and everyone showed up. No no-shows. This is a case of United needing 4 seats for employees commuting via personal passes to hero their personal HUB of Louisville. By flying via personal pass the United employees get to their HUB for free.

So all this discussion of passenger bill of rights and codes of conduct, etc are irrelevant because this wasn't an oversold situation. They needed to bump people for their own employees' commutes.

How does a personal pass work? Do they fly standby? Do they make a reservation in advance (if so how far)? I think this is a new kind of rare situation, or at least for the airline to get caught I. One. What are the passenger's rights when the airline tries to bump them for an employee but the flight isn't oversold?

They should add belts to seats in the toilet and let their crew fly that way. Not kick off passengers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But this flight wasn't oversold! It was full, all seats sold and everyone showed up. No no-shows. This is a case of United needing 4 seats for employees commuting via personal passes to hero their personal HUB of Louisville. By flying via personal pass the United employees get to their HUB for free.

So all this discussion of passenger bill of rights and codes of conduct, etc are irrelevant because this wasn't an oversold situation. They needed to bump people for their own employees' commutes.

How does a personal pass work? Do they fly standby? Do they make a reservation in advance (if so how far)? I think this is a new kind of rare situation, or at least for the airline to get caught I. One. What are the passenger's rights when the airline tries to bump them for an employee but the flight isn't oversold?

Louisville is not a HUB for United by any means. They have only 10 flights/day total out of there.

The employees were assigned to work the Monday morning flight at the last minute, due to a staff shortage.

This isn't a typical case of an employee knowing well in advance about the need to commute, and United doesn't have a lot of staff in Louisville to pick up the slack.

[Anonymous]

United acted like assholes but was within their rights. People should be mad, boycott, protest, etc.

When you are asked to deplane you should do so .. argue / throw a fit / etc. fine but get the fuck off the plane. If LEO/security comes to then further remove you. Comply. Simple as that. Why everyone act like this guy was not a complete asshole for trying to be combative at the point I don't understand. United didn't manhandle him... security did once he wouldn't comply. Pretty much every party involved here was an asshole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But this flight wasn't oversold! It was full, all seats sold and everyone showed up. No no-shows. This is a case of United needing 4 seats for employees commuting via personal passes to hero their personal HUB of Louisville. By flying via personal pass the United employees get to their HUB for free.

So all this discussion of passenger bill of rights and codes of conduct, etc are irrelevant because this wasn't an oversold situation. They needed to bump people for their own employees' commutes.

How does a personal pass work? Do they fly standby? Do they make a reservation in advance (if so how far)? I think this is a new kind of rare situation, or at least for the airline to get caught I. One. What are the passenger's rights when the airline tries to bump them for an employee but the flight isn't oversold?

They should add belts to seats in the toilet and let their crew fly that way. Not kick off passengers.

Against FAA regs on a commercial aircraft. Also against union rules (same with jumpseating on company-mandated travel).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since this whole thread is a groupthink exercise and because generally I believe it, i will take the other side.

1. Every ticket you buy comes with a disclaimer that they overbook.

2. They tried, as most flights to, to get people to take the deal to get off the flight.

3. No takers. They had to get the crew to the destination or they would have cancelled the flight and inconvenienced a hundred other people.

4. After no takers, they chose at random.


Could they have paid more or should they have paid more - YES. Without question.


That said, he bought a ticket with this condition baked in. Every ticket that anyone has ever bought has this condition. You are not flying private. It is not your plane and you don't make the rules.

When somebody from the airline tells you to get off a plane, you get off the plane. That would have solved this problem very quickly. Take the $800, maybe even negotiate but this chaos could have been avoided. Of course it is inconvenient but very little about air travel is convenient.

United has a mess on its hands without a doubt and somewhere they crossed the line to forcible removal which was horrible judgment but at the same time, this guy had a personal responsibility that he didn't live up to in this case.

They didn't try very hard. They could have offered more than an $800 voucher. One passenger said he'd go for $1600 and the gate agent laughed at him. People have their price, United would have found it if they had tried just a little bit harder.

Sometimes no amount of money matters. I need to get from point a to point b with minimum hassles. If I've bought a ticket with a carrier, I trust them to do that. Their priorities are not my priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to new article on WaPo, entire flight had boarded (people in seats) AND THEN the four United employees approached the gate agent saying they needed a seat.

So that is why this happened after everyone had boarded. So next time you get on an airplane, you aren't really safe until it takes off, because they can just come on board and remove you. This was not an overbooked or oversold flight. This was an example of entitlement by United employees, all of them.

Sorry, link here https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2017/04/11/amid-pr-fiasco-over-dragged-passenger-united-ceo-defends-his-crew/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.fc773c41ee25

Are you new to this thread? This is not new information....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to new article on WaPo, entire flight had boarded (people in seats) AND THEN the four United employees approached the gate agent saying they needed a seat.

So that is why this happened after everyone had boarded. So next time you get on an airplane, you aren't really safe until it takes off, because they can just come on board and remove you. This was not an overbooked or oversold flight. This was an example of entitlement by United employees, all of them.

How were they cutting it that close? If four crewmembers had to get to Louisville, how was it that the first time the gate agents were made aware of this fact was when they showed up at the gate? Clearly the crew were notified and had time to dress, pack and travel to the airport. And yet their seats were not reserved before the whole plane was boarded? WTF?

I don't know why the employees cut it so close, but according to the Post that information came from the CEO's memo. The 4 employees literally asked to get a seat after everyone had boarded, totally last minute. Eye witness accounts from people on the plane said when the 4 crew members came on to take the empty seats people started yelling at them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now Emirates has joined the fray calling out Munoz by name and asking people to Fly the Friendly Skies of a Rral Airline.

Link?

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1146094045500343&id=158307244279033

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to new article on WaPo, entire flight had boarded (people in seats) AND THEN the four United employees approached the gate agent saying they needed a seat.

So that is why this happened after everyone had boarded. So next time you get on an airplane, you aren't really safe until it takes off, because they can just come on board and remove you. This was not an overbooked or oversold flight. This was an example of entitlement by United employees, all of them.

How were they cutting it that close? If four crewmembers had to get to Louisville, how was it that the first time the gate agents were made aware of this fact was when they showed up at the gate? Clearly the crew were notified and had time to dress, pack and travel to the airport. And yet their seats were not reserved before the whole plane was boarded? WTF?

I don't know why the employees cut it so close, but according to the Post that information came from the CEO's memo. The 4 employees literally asked to get a seat after everyone had boarded, totally last minute. Eye witness accounts from people on the plane said when the 4 crew members came on to take the empty seats people started yelling at them.

The employees didn't do it for fun. It was either a last minute reassignment or their incoming flight was late (no surprise at O'Hare).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to new article on WaPo, entire flight had boarded (people in seats) AND THEN the four United employees approached the gate agent saying they needed a seat.

So that is why this happened after everyone had boarded. So next time you get on an airplane, you aren't really safe until it takes off, because they can just come on board and remove you. This was not an overbooked or oversold flight. This was an example of entitlement by United employees, all of them.

How were they cutting it that close? If four crewmembers had to get to Louisville, how was it that the first time the gate agents were made aware of this fact was when they showed up at the gate? Clearly the crew were notified and had time to dress, pack and travel to the airport. And yet their seats were not reserved before the whole plane was boarded? WTF?

I don't know why the employees cut it so close, but according to the Post that information came from the CEO's memo. The 4 employees literally asked to get a seat after everyone had boarded, totally last minute. Eye witness accounts from people on the plane said when the 4 crew members came on to take the empty seats people started yelling at them.

ooh awkward!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to new article on WaPo, entire flight had boarded (people in seats) AND THEN the four United employees approached the gate agent saying they needed a seat.

So that is why this happened after everyone had boarded. So next time you get on an airplane, you aren't really safe until it takes off, because they can just come on board and remove you. This was not an overbooked or oversold flight. This was an example of entitlement by United employees, all of them.

Sorry, link here https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2017/04/11/amid-pr-fiasco-over-dragged-passenger-united-ceo-defends-his-crew/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.fc773c41ee25

Are you new to this thread? This is not new information....

No I am not new. But there has been much discussion re the limit of cash that can be offered to passengers if they get bumped for oversold, and what their rights are. Hut this article clearly states this wasn't an oversold situation, which closes one can of worms posters continue to discuss and opens a brand new one. There has also been much discussion on why did they wait for everyone to board, what does boarding mean, etc. this article is relevant to that.

Relax man.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now Emirates has joined the fray calling out Munoz by name and asking people to Fly the Friendly Skies of a Rral Airline.

Link?

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1146094045500343&id=158307244279033

Great! When will they start US domestic service and create some competition!?