Man dragged off of an over booked flight

[URY914]

How in the world can this be legal. They ask for volunteers and don't get any, then they draw names randomly. You have to give up your seat? What happened to "I was here first"?

Video surfaces of man being dragged from overbooked United flight

[Tervuren]

Well, I'm sure their customer service people will see he is taken care of.

[stomachmonkey]

What i don't understand about this whole overbooking thing is how you can remove one person just to give their seat to someone else.

The policy should be in an over book the people already checked in stay unless they volunteer to switch flights.

Show up at the airport late and you run the risk of not getting on the flight.

Pretty simple concept.

[Rickysa]

Folks, think about that for a minute....

Isn't there something about "The right of the people to be secure in their persons"

If there are not enough volunteers, other Passengers may be denied boarding involuntarily in accordance with UA’s boarding priority:

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/contract-of-carriage.aspx#sec25

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

What i don't understand about this whole overbooking thing is how you can remove one person just to give their seat to someone else.

The policy should be in an over book the people already checked in stay unless they volunteer to switch flights.

Show up at the airport late and you run the risk of not getting on the flight.

Pretty simple concept.

Your idea is totally logical and I agree.

I think the problem occurs with premium seating and upgrades etc.


Example: The flight is overbooked, EVERYONE bought economy seats.

Joe Blow saunters in last minute and buys a Business Class or First seat, because they will show up as "available seats." Even an hour before the flight.

Airline is in a huge pickle and they have to kick 'someone' off. Kick off the ECONOMY passenger who checked in last, not the person who paid top dollar.


Overbooking is a total crapshow for sure.

[flipper35]

Years ago I flew with family on United and they let all my family except me board and I was put on a flight that was four hours later. At first they offered a $10 meal voucher. Really? Where can you get a decent meal for $10 at an airport. They never did resolve it to our satisfaction as someone had to drive back to the airport late at night to get me and my luggage. They didn't even offer a rental car. I did get to say hello to Sinbad because if it though.

[id10t]

Originally Posted by Rickysa

Folks, think about that for a minute....

Isn't there something about "The right of the people to be secure in their persons"




https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/contract-of-carriage.aspx#sec25

Only the government can infringe on your rights.

[Porchdog]

He was bumped because Crew needed a ride to another flight.

[matthewb0051]

WTF?

He was being bumped for United employees. Huh?

So he buys a ticket but the free flying employee needs to get to destination takes precedent over his purchase.

I am a United mileage holder and cc user. Never had issues but this gives me pause.

There should be no way for the airlines to overbook. That just gives airlines incentive to treat passengers poorly and use 'rules' that you cannot negotiate over to pick and choose who flies.

[URY914]

That guy is going to own a piece of United after his lawyer is done with them.

[Rick Lee]

If they need to get employees to other destinations to make those flights run on time, then I have no problem with them kicking passengers off. But to let them all board first and then start the selection process? WTF? Who thought that wasn't going to end badly?

[Gogar]

If the next plane doesn't fly, United loses lots of money and inconveniences 180+ more people. Perhaps the next plane after that as well.

They have an obligation to serve the highest percentage of passengers well, and they also have the right to choose 'how' they decide to do that.
This was unfortunate.

I bet they would've compensated that guy quite well for the inconvenience until he started snowflaking.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Gogar

I bet they would've compensated that guy quite well for the inconvenience until he started snowflaking.

When his lawyer starts schitstorming, they'll comp. him exponentially more. UAL is gonna be paying a lot for this, probably more than they took in for that whole flight.

[URY914]

So they get him off the plane then they start the negotiations after he loses his leverage? They should just make an announcement, "Who wants to give up their seats for $200?" No response...... "do I hear $250"???

[red-beard]

I don't understand. He was already boarded. Why would they REMOVE him from the flight. The person at the gate should have been given the "too bad" situation. Unless it was a situation where the airline needed the seat for themselves, for whatever reason. I have never seen a lottery for overbooked flights where a seated passenger loses his seat.

I saw a similar problem a few years back, where two people had the same seat assignment. The SMART person refused to move from the seat (possession 9/10th).

Where I see the potential for someone to get screwed is where you book a flight, get a seat assignment, then the airline change the aircraft. All seat assignments are then null and void.

On The Other Hand...This was United.

[Rickysa]

Nowhere in their posted policy says they have the right to forcibly remove a seated passenger. Keeping them from boarding, yes, but not forcibly remove.

That was f***ing assault.

[legion]

Originally Posted by id10t

Only the government can infringe on your rights.

In this case, they have delegated that self-taken authority.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by URY914

So they get him off the plane then they start the negotiations after he loses his leverage? They should just make an announcement, "Who wants to give up their seats for $200?" No response...... "do I hear $250"???

This. Many will not budge for just $200 but $2,000 or $5,000 will have people fighting to volunteer. No bad publicity, just a happy client that made enough to spend a night in a nice hotel and pay for a ride to and from the airport and have a fancy dinner.

[legion]

Originally Posted by Rickysa

Nowhere in their posted policy says they have the right to forcibly remove a seated passenger. Keeping them from boarding, yes, but not forcibly remove.

That was f***ing assault.

I don't disagree. However, the FAA has given airlines broad authority under the guise of "safety". The airlines know they hold all the cards and they can find a crime to get you charged with if you refuse to comply. I'm sure they were thinking about charging this guy with "impeding the safe operation of an aircraft" or something. And in the days before cell phone cameras, that's what would have happened. It would have been just a blurb on the local news about a delayed flight because of an unruly passenger. Just because this is the first we've heard about this doesn't mean this is the first time this has happened.

[matthewb0051]

Originally Posted by legion

I don't disagree. However, the FAA has given airlines broad authority under the guise of "safety". The airlines know they hold all the cards and they can find a crime to get you charged with if you refuse to comply.

Yep, you have no bargaining position. I remember somewhere from law school that there has to be a meeting of the minds to form a contract. That really doesn't exist here. The carriers have long, well written policies that no one ever reads. You buy the ticket thinking that is the entire deal but even if you disagree with the policies, you cannot negotiate them away.

There really should be some statutory penalty to the carrier. If they can't manage their employee transit and over sell flights then a penalty kicks in and the disenfranchised passenger gets rewarded. That may stop their BS.

But I doubt it...