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Quote:

Originally Posted by group911@aol.co (Post 9548584)

Well, of course you would. Because that makes complete sense to potentially do 4350 time a day.
The offer was up to $1000 to take another flight plus meals and a hotel and the airlines are legally limited to $1350. Should they have upped the offer- of course but my guess is the situation went south before that happened.

Where does 4350 come from? Is that a real stat or just for example?

If it is real then they have more problems than just this one flight.

Either way, this will cost them, and already has cost them in lost stock value more than my COA would have ever cost them.

Which airline do you work for?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/04/13/united-airlines-david-dao-family-press-conference/100409492/

Quote:

A daughter of the Kentucky physician at the center of a global uproar over his forced removal from a United Airlines flight said Thursday that the family was "horrified, shocked and sickened" by the incident.

"What happened to my dad should never have happened to any human being, regardless of the circumstances," Crystal Pepper said at a news conference in Chicago.

David Dao, 69, suffered a concussion, broken nose and damaged sinuses and lost two front teeth when he was dragged off a flight Sunday to make room for United personnel, lawyer Thomas Demetrio said. He said Dao has been released from the hospital and is staying in a "secure" location.

A lawsuit will be filed at some point, and a hearing on preserving evidence is set for Monday in Chicago, Demetrio said. He also said United and other airlines have "bullied" customers for a long time.

"Dr. Dao, I believe to his great credit, has come to understand that he is the guy, he's the the guy to stand up for passengers going forward," Demetrio said.

Social media outrage rained down on the Chicago-based airline after videos emerged of Sunday night's violent confrontation on United Express Flight 3411 at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, drawing hundreds of millions of views around the world.

Demetrio called the video "rather disturbing." He said that neither United CEO Oscar Munoz nor other United officials have reached out to Dao. He also said he accepted Munoz's public apology — even though Demetrio called Munoz's appearance Wednesday on Good Morning America "staged."

"I think his PR people said 'We're taking a beating here,'" he said. "I think he was told to get out there."

After the news conference, United issued a statement saying Munoz and the company had called Dao "on numerous occasions" to apologize.

"We continue to express our sincerest apology to Dr. Dao," the statement said. "We cannot stress enough that we remain steadfast in our commitment to make this right."

United has said that all 70 seats on the Louisville-bound flight were filled when four passengers were told they had to give up their seats to accommodate crew members needed in Louisville the next day. The passengers were selected based on a combination of criteria spelled out in United’s contract of carriage, including frequent-flier status, fare type, check-in time and connecting flight implications, among others, according to United.

Three passengers went quietly. Dao, a father of five who was flying with his wife, balked. Chicago aviation authorities were called and a wild scramble ensued as passengers recorded away. The videos show three security officers speaking to Dao. One of the men grabs him, and he screams as he is yanked out of his seat and pulled down the aisle. Another video shows him bloodied and repeatedly saying, "I have to go home."

"He is a 69-year-old man," Demetrio said. "Is that really how we want to treat the aged?"

Three Chicago Aviation police officers have been placed on leave. The airline offered a string of sometimes awkward apologies and issued a refund for everyone on the flight. That was small change to United — a precipitous drop in stock price cost the company $250 million in value.

Eric Schiffer, CEO of Reputation Management Consultants, watched the news conference and said he agreed with much of what Demetrio had to say.

"Dao is now the protagonist for people refusing to be bashed in the teeth, horrified and bullied for United's failure to expect the unexpected," Schiffer said. "Dao's attorney is right that fliers deserve fairness, respect and dignity and not to get clobbered."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Bob (Post 9549285)

United reimbursed all passengers on the flight for their tickets in a blatant act of payola for their cooperation or whatever....

Very likely, in small print somewhere, those reimbursements come with a release attached.

I.e., if you accept the reimbursement, you release United from all possible claims that you have against United.

They did the same thing on my International flight that United had issues on. Almost everyone took the $200 United offered, on the spot. I declined it, and ended up with 45x that amount.

In this case, United is certainly afraid that other passengers will join in and file suit for "trauma," etc. Getting their releases for the reimbursement of a $300 airline tickets is the cheapest releases they'll ever get.

They also sign a non-disclosure agreement, no doubt.

So after they knocked out his teeth and dragged his unconscious body off the plane, did they give him the $800 voucher?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tobra (Post 9549616)

So after they knocked out his teeth and dragged his unconscious body off the plane, did they give him the $800 voucher?

They did so after saying " It was a pleasure to re-accommodate you." SmileWavy

......they had to give up their seats to accommodate crew members needed in Louisville the next day......

This might get interesting.

Depending on "when" the next day they were needed may have made the sense of urgency really just a case of what was more convenient for the crew.

Lets be real for a second: United airlines didn't beat the guy up. they didn't knock his teeth out. All they did was call the cops to remove a passenger. the rest is on the cops.

But .... the bigger picture here is over-booking.
A flight should never be over-booked.
You can't sell the same thing to two different people and expect it to go well.

The airlines industry treats people like cargo and has about that much respect for their customers.
This is reflected in the practice of over-booking.
They just don't give a *** about inconveniencing cargo.

Until that is admitted and resolved, there are gonna be problems.

The two possible outcome extremes:

1). Anarchy and snowflakes rule the world. Everyone gets special privileges whenever and whatever they want. There are no longer rules because none can be enforced. The slightest provocation ends in a public blowup every time to media onslaught and lawsuits against the company galore. Airlines begin to charge more just to cover the costs. Eventually most go out of business and only 2-3 remain after worldwide consolidation.

2). Oppression and corporate dominance take over. Passengers are nothing but cattle and existing conditions become exponentially so. Just like cruise ships in international waters there are no rules except what the airlines chooses. Anyone who steps out of line can be injured without recourse. Airlines overbook many times over and conduct lotteries/auctions at the gate.

Yep, they sell more tickets can seats.

No other business can do that. At every arena be it 100 or 110,000 if you buy a legit ticket for an assigned seat, you get to sit there and no one will come along and say they have that seat.

The airlines are just selling a seat more than once. That needs to stop.

That's not the issue in this case. United bumped 4 passengers off this flight so that 4 employees could crew another flight instead. None of those seats were sold twice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton (Post 9549681)

That's not the issue in this case. United bumped 4 passengers off this flight so that 4 employees could crew another flight instead. None of those seats were sold twice.

So get those employees a rental car.

I find it hard to believe that a company the size of United is not prepared to have 4 Flight Attendants ready in any given city if something happened to a crew and they couldn't make it.

We're not talking about Allegiant or Spirit here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AFC-911 (Post 9549693)

Actually we are talking smaller than Spirit.

This was a United Express flight. It's not United's planes or crew. United Express routes are subcontracted out to around a half dozen smaller regional carriers who operate under the United brand. They are DBA's. In this instance it's Republic.

The question becomes, was this an unscheduled replacement crew for a working crew that was timing out? Seems unlikely if they were not to be on duty till the following day.

If it was a regularly scheduled crew then that is problematic. You already know you need to transit them and if you have not allocated their seats it's effectively the same end result as a double book.

My problem with the "just comply" crowd is their sheeple mentality that it's somehow acceptable for an entity to solve a problem of its own making by making it someone else's problem. That's bull****.

People are fed up and I don't think this will be the last time we see this. I predict a lot more situations where customers tell them to go **** off.

A fox anchor commented that considering what this is costing United, the airline would have been better off buying him a private jet with a pilot...Coffee out my nose.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sammyg2 (Post 9549660)

This is true but the perception is they had the guy beat up for not giving up his seat for their crew. The story floating around about someone being threatened with handcuffs for not giving up a seat doesn't help. Nor does the fact that they seem to like to do this AFTER boarding.

"concussion, broken nose and damaged sinuses and lost two front teeth"

And then, I'm reading, they kicked his wife off the flight . . .

United passenger dragged from plane has concussion, broken nose: lawyer | Reuters
"Dao's wife was told to leave the plane after he was dragged off, Golan said."

So UAL chose to throw one spouse off the plane and leave the other spouse to fly alone? WTF?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton (Post 9549681)

That's not the issue in this case. United bumped 4 passengers off this flight so that 4 employees could crew another flight instead. None of those seats were sold twice.

https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/fly-rights

"Involuntary Bumping
........
If the substitute transportation is scheduled to get you to your destination more than two hours later (four hours internationally), or if the airline does not make any substitute travel arrangements for you, the compensation doubles (400% of your one-way fare, $1350 maximum)."

On top of all that, UAL was NOT legally permitted to remove him, even under its own contract language.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-13/united-broke-its-contract-with-frequent-flyers

Quote:

Originally Posted by dad911 (Post 9549812)

And that maximum is only what they are legally required to pay.

They can voluntarily pay as much as they want.

John, that is what I meant by saying they need to follow their own protocol.

BTW Sam, not cops, airport security, wannabe cops.