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A Hawaii mom says she was forced to hold her 2-year-old son in her lap for over three hours when United Airlines accidentally sold his plane seat to another passenger.
Shirley Yamauchi told Hawaii News Now she paid nearly $1,000 for her son’s ticket to Boston, where she was attending a teacher’s conference last week.
While her toddler, 27-month-old Taizo, had his own seat for the first leg of the trip, from Hawaii to Houston, Yamauchi was surprised when a man approached her on their flight to Boston, revealing he had the same seat number as her son.
“I told him that I bought both of these tickets and he tells me that he got the ticket on standby. Then he proceeds to sit in the center,” she said.
“I had to move my son onto my lap. He’s 25 pounds. He’s half my height. I was very uncomfortable. My hand, my left arm was smashed up against the wall. I lost feeling in my legs and left arm,” she told Hawaii News Now. [clip]
When will the airlines learn to treat passengers better? They do a good job of running the business but there seems to be a little mishap happening too often these days.
When will the airlines learn to treat passengers better? They do a good job of running the business but there seems to be a little mishap happening too often these days.
That mom should have gone out to the ticketing agent, and told them they made a mistake. The problem might have been easily resolved, if she'd tried. Apparently passengers now are terrified of speaking up, because of past scandals with the airline? But while boarding was proceeding, she easily could have gone out to the gate, to point out the error.
That mom should have gone out to the ticketing agent, and told them they made a mistake. Or told a flight attendant to talk to the ticketing agent. There was no vacant seat to give away to a standby customer. The problem might have been easily resolved, if she'd tried.
She did try, and the FA just said that the plane was full. The mother was afraid to make a fuss, given that United seems to be ok with beating up passengers who don't do as they are told.
I don’t believe you can leave the plane after you’ve boarded, if you do you possibly will lose your seat as well. The flight attendant needed to resolve the issue, possibly contacting the gate agent. But as a passenger who has boarded the plane I think you’re required to stay there or miss your flight all together. The flight attendant should have removed the “standby” passenger.
When will the airlines learn to treat passengers better? They do a good job of running the business but there seems to be a little mishap happening too often these days.
I'm sorry, I would not have removed my child from the seat I PAID FOR, the stand-by passenger would have been the one to have to deal with this problem. I would let it escalate into the airlines calling security, while I got passengers to call 911 for me. This was a United Airlines problem, NOT mine, so I would let them OWN it. Let them deal with an angry mother (me) and an angry stand-by passenger at the same time, never mind the rest of the passengers who are aware of past practices.
I'm sorry, I would not have removed my child from the seat I PAID FOR, the stand-by passenger would have been the one to have to deal with this problem. I would let it escalate into the airlines calling security, while I got passengers to call 911 for me. This was a United Airlines problem, NOT mine, so I would let them OWN it. Let them deal with an angry mother (me) and an angry stand-by passenger at the same time, never mind the rest of the passengers who are aware of past practices.
This^. The mother should have never given the seat up and told the standby guy to go pound sand. I definitely would have. My toddler and I would both have to be physically removed from the plane if we had both purchased tickets and were already seated.
This^. The mother should have never given the seat up and told the standby guy to go pound sand. I definitely would have. My toddler and I would both have to be physically removed from the plane if we had both purchased tickets and were already seated.
Which is exactly what United would have done, and based on past evidence, you would have probably gone to the hospital in the process, possibly your child as well. United has proven time and again, they will stop at nothing to protect their profits, and don't care what happens to their customers. They don't even care about violating federal safety regulations, if it is in their financial interest, as this case proves.
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