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This also happens, BTW. It has happened to me. I think there was a Seinfeld episode about it, too?
It has never happened to me but, it was just an issue worth comparison. Rental cars though are much easier to access than flights. Can't just find a plane as easily as a rental car (or even taxi), so the market is skewed here for flights. The guy who got dragged out needed to get home since there was no other flight until Monday at 2:30pm and he had to be at work.
If anything, United since it makes billions per year, spend $5 billion and invest in smaller planes to address emergency situations like this and park it at many airports having it ready to go.
Makes no sense after a passenger has paid. That's like paying for a rental car, getting into the car and then getting kicked out because it was needed by the company for business purposes.
Congress needs to step in here and regulate. As soon as you board the plane, you are entitled to the flight period if you've paid for the flight. There is no "oops sorry". That should be up to the company to figure it out since they are in the business of logistics.
Second, you don't call law enforcement to resolve civil disputes. If businesses can do that to kick people out, why can't I call law enforcement to kick the flight crew out since 4 people have paid for the seat?
The passenger agreed to the terms. Consensual pact. Not our business.
I agree that United should have used its own agents to remove the aggressor.
United is pretty much screwed, really have to wonder if they can ever recover from this. Overbooking should be illegal in the first place, or used a charter plane, or a rental car as others have suggested. But even if it isn't United should have been smart enough to offer enough incentive so that they could have gotten volunteers. The few dollars they saved will be a pittance compared to the harm they did to their self image.
Really makes you wonder about the managers in companies like this. I guess it's just another example of Darwinism, survival of the fittest on the corporate level. We can quibble all day about whether these actions were legal, but just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD do it. Just a dumb move by United on every level.
In any event another great example of social media in action. Companies can't get away with crap like they used to. Stockholders and passengers will surely be voting with their wallets. I know I will.
Lol, this actually happened to me at a hotel. The clerk placed me in a room normally reserved for an airline pilot. I awoke to aggressive attempts to open the door against the chain lock. This was followed by a call from the front desk telling me I was mistakenly placed in a hotel room normally reserved for the airline employees. I told them that I was in bed for the night and hung up.
I'm glad they didn't use a battering ram to get in! That's nuts. I look at it as they made their problem into your problem. I am all for accommodating others and being reasonable. But sometimes they just have to fuggedaboutit.
United is pretty much screwed, really have to wonder if they can ever recover from this. Overbooking should be illegal in the first place. But even if it isn't United should have been smart enough to offer enough incentive so that they could have gotten volunteers. The few dollars they saved will be a pittance compared to the harm they did to their self image.
Really makes you wonder about the managers in companies like this. I guess it's just another example of Darwinism, survival of the fittest on the corporate level.
In any event another great example of social media in action. Companies can't get away with crap like they used to.
They went up to $1,000. I'm surprised nobody took it.
Agreed though. Public perception of dragging a man off the plane should have kept the bidding going.
United is pretty much screwed, really have to wonder if they can ever recover from this. Overbooking should be illegal in the first place. But even if it isn't United should have been smart enough to offer enough incentive so that they could have gotten volunteers. The few dollars they saved will be a pittance compared to the harm they did to their self image.
Really makes you wonder about the managers in companies like this. I guess it's just another example of Darwinism, survival of the fittest on the corporate level.
In any event another great example of social media in action. Companies can't get away with crap like they used to.
I think it shouldn't be illegal as overbooking is a necessary behavior to allow people to receive refunds. However, given how hard it is to get a refund from airlines nowadays without penalty, it needs regulations on refunds and procedures. Airlines can't make it impossible to get a refund or penalize you for getting refund unless it's at the last minute.
It also needs tougher regulations on overbooking in the case when there are more passengers who show up than seats available. Then the airlines should be forced to provide acceptable alternative. Either through another flight on it's own fleet or a competitors fleet and that should happen within x hours. If it's the last flight of the day like this situation and this happens, the airline should be heavily penalized for failure of logistics. Something ridiculous like the passenger should get a full refund, $50 for food for the night, hotel stay, flight from same airport to same destination next day at the expense of the airlines + say $5000 of lost time.
Even if congress were to enact some kind of anti-overbooking law. Maybe they can only book by x % of their flights. Airliners are just going to make up that lost difference by increasing flight costs.
In the end of the day airliners are going to win or consumers are going to pay more in flights.
It's a crappy situation all around but if you look at the amount of consumers that fly each year & how many times a passenger is screwed over it's gotta be far less than 1% of all passengers.
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