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Agreed. All the paid passengers got there on time and seated in a timely manner. If the 4 standby United employees notified the flight or proper personnel earlier things would have been handled at the gate and not while paid passengers were already seated.
Or are we going to make excuses for why the late notification of the 4 United employees? Sorry, if you're late you don't get on or find other accommodations. All seats are already taken by paid passengers. Other airlines will take on crews from competitors at a very discounted rate. There were many flights later on flying from Chicago to Louisville.
There were two: one on UA (but on a different regional carrier, so perhaps not easily bookable by this Gate Agent) and one on AA. And UA does interline with AA, so both of those departures should have been checked, although who knows how many seats were available. AA usually retains at least J1 (one seat in full-fare domestic first) until 30 minutes before every flight, and that's why one upgrader usually clears, and his seat in coach then goes to number one on the standby list. Not always, but most times, this is how it works on AA.
I suspect that the last UA flight was also booked full, and I would wager that the G/A did NOT phone her AA counterparty to ask about inventory. Why? Because it takes a few minutes on the phone, and she was probably overwhelmed with boarding the full flight (and these small regional jets have to have almost all roll-aboards tagged at the gate) plus handling four positive-space deadheaders, who appeared at her gate at the last minute. I further wager that she was probably quick to escalate the situation to the next authority level, these security guards. Probably not in a great mood, Sunday night being not a popular time to work the gate, late in her shift, FOUR denied boardings needed last minute from a fully boarded plane, etc.
I can't think of any valid excuse for the airline to bump you off if you already paid for your ticket, picked your seats, and checked in and got to the gate on time. If doing all of the above doesn't guarantee that you won't be kicked off because the flight is overbooked, then please enlighten me.
When I travel I generally book my flight and choose my seat 6 months in advance. I check into my flight online 24 hours ahead of time. I make sure I'm at the gate 2 hours before boarding even if that means waking up at 3am to get there. I'll be damned if I'm giving up my seat.
I can't think of any valid excuse for the airline to bump you off if you already paid for your ticket, picked your seats, and checked in and got to the gate on time. If doing all of the above doesn't guarantee that you won't be kicked off because the flight is overbooked, then please enlighten me.
Because it's in the fine print when you book your flight that they reserve the right to bump you from the flight. You agreed when you paid. Doesn't make it right and it's certainly not American!
There is a semantics difference between "overbooked" which refers to PAYING passengers and "over capacity"...
And United is not being forthcoming about WHY those people needed to get on that plane--vs another at another time going to same location...
My take--and until I get clarity I am sticking with it--is that someone in scheduling screwed up and made mistake that resulted in that confrontation...
Semantics.
The bottom line is United handled the situation horribly.
The bottom line is United handled the situation horribly.
The Law Enforcement Person handled it horribly.
All because they were all in a rush, overwhelmed, running over schedule, oversold... etc. Really a perfect storm of things going wrong. Stretch the resources too thin though, and eventually something's going to give.
Some lawyer will take on this case, sue for millions, and the airline will settle big time to minimize the publicity. The victim will become an instant millionaire and maybe get enough to buy his own plane. That's how the system works.
I can't think of any valid excuse for the airline to bump you off if you already paid for your ticket, picked your seats, and checked in and got to the gate on time. If doing all of the above doesn't guarantee that you won't be kicked off because the flight is overbooked, then please enlighten me.
When you buy a ticket, you are accepting the terms of a contract, read the fine print:
The airline can change the rules or the contract, in other words, there's no guarantees. Still, they are in the customer service business, they should have handled this better. If they offered him thousands, it probably would have cost them less than it's going to now.
If the airline has a crew that needs to get to your destination, they are priority because they fly and man the planes that make that airline money.
In general, I agree with this. In this particular case of the doctor though, I find myself with questions: Is United's system so fragile, and their planning so poor, that if ONE crewmember had not been able to board that particular plane in place of the doctor it would ground an entire other plane? The crewmember couldn't take another plane because United had left themselves no cushion whatsoever in their arrangements for that crewmember's transport?
I wondered why they didn't seem to have backups. Most major businesses think in terms of failsafes and resiliencies, don't they? Why did United have such a critical crewmember who was needed the very next morning, transported only the night before when presumably only one flight was available to use?
No seat is sacred, apparently, except the pilot's seat. :-)
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