cgksheff Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 It may be common practice but perhaps it should be made illegal after this event. Allowing a company to maximise profits at the potential risk of passenger safety shouldn't not be a thing. Overbooking will be allowed to continue as will bumping at the gate. Bumping a passenger that has already been allowed to board and be seated should be a breach of contract. Removal of any passenger at the request of the captain will always remain the right of any airline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geared Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 Yes overbooking is common practise, but they should bump people at the gate or at check-in. This guy wasn't dragged off the plane to give another passenger a seat, he was dragged off so another flight crew could take his seat. Apparently they needed to get to work the next day more than he did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berberis Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 I always reckon that when a company overbooks it boils down to greed. I suppose it would be justifiable if they refunded someone who cancelled but most want it both ways. Having said that I have only previously had praise for United Airlines. Once due to our own fault, we were delayed at Queens and they let us get the next flight from New York to Miami with no problems at all and no extra charges. If that had been B A I'm sure we would have been charged in full as happened to some friends when they were late arriving at Manchester for thier shuttle flight to Heathrow. In the case on this thread. Why this particular chap ? They have not explained but I thought the same as tinfoilhat, that it must be, last one booked, but what a mess. You could say that overbooking is a symptom of their greed. If customers received refunds they would be more likely to notify the airline if they were unable to make the flight, but if you do not receive a refund, why bother. Airlines are fast becoming as disliked as estate agents etc and it's purely down to their actions. You may be aware of the story of the guy who legally changed his name as it was cheaper to do so other then changing his name on his ticket due to a typo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna B Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 Would I fly with United Airlines? No, I wouldn't. America, land of the free, seems to be one of the worst for trampling on the rights of the common man when it suits them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mossway Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 The flight wasn't overbooked, it was fully booked. The company then decided it needed to get a crew (2 pilots and 2 cabin crew - it's called 'dead heading) to St Louis or wherever at short notice but after everyone had boarded. They then decided to offer incentives to get 4 passengers to leave their previously booked and paid for seats.This Dr, having initially agreed then found the next flight was some 24+ hours later, declined the offer. It went seriously downhill from there on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Smith Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 (edited) Yes overbooking is common practise, but they should bump people at the gate or at check-in. This guy wasn't dragged off the plane to give another passenger a seat, he was dragged off so another flight crew could take his seat. Apparently they needed to get to work the next day more than he did. I was shocked to find that a passenger was bumped out of the plane (as opposed to a check in). Quiet apart from anything else don`t they then have to get his luggage off ? As the travel correspondent on the BBC said, if any airline gets caught out over booking there is only one reasonable solution, throw money at it. Which is what I thought they usually did. Keep increasing how much money they`re prepared to pay (for a passenger to get the next flight) until someone accepts. In answer to the thread title, it`d put me off using United. I`m not saying I`d never use them, but they`d drop down the list. Just like BA. I hate the fact they (not a low fares airline remember) charge to prebook your seat, even in Premium or Business class. That wouldn`t totally stop me using them, but their offer would have to be significantly better than the competition. This is an interesting example of "brand value". Brand value is when customers would, on the margin, prefer to use a company or product. To me, United now join BA, as having "negative brand value". Edited April 12, 2017 by Justin Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barleycorn Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 He didn't initially accept the offer. Only one person accepted (not him), they then randomly seleted three passengers to leave the flight two of which complied. One the one hand the cabin crew have the legal right to chuck anyone off the plane they like, on the other using armed police to drag a 69 year Doctor out of his seat smashing his face in the prossess (and possibly knocking him unconscious) is a little heavy handed. Especially as they could have just ferried the extra crew to Louisvillein a taxi and have them arrrive in plenty of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Smith Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 He didn't initially accept the offer. Only one person accepted (not him), they then randomly seleted three passengers to leave the flight two of which complied. On the one hand the cabin crew have the legal right to chuck anyone off the plane they like, on the other using armed police to drag a 69 year Doctor out of his seat smashing his face in the prossess (and possibly knocking him unconscious) is a little heavy handed. Especially as they could have just ferried the extra crew to Louisvillein a taxi and have them arrrive in plenty of time. I thought the airline then just kept increasing the offer till they had sufficient takers ? That`s certainly how it`s supposed to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldo Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 They should stop the practice. No more over booking, just charge a little bit more for each ticket. No-one would have a problem with that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barleycorn Posted April 12, 2017 Share Posted April 12, 2017 (edited) They can, they chose not to. The intial offer was $400 which they upped to $800 (in vouchers, you don't get hard cash). ---------- Post added 12-04-2017 at 13:45 ---------- They should stop the practice. No more over booking, just charge a little bit more for each ticket. No-one would have a problem with that... Once a flight is fully booked they should just sell standy tickets so you know that when you turn up at the airport you waiting on a no show in order for you to get on. If there are none, or other people are ahead of you in the standby queue, then you should be automatically bumped up a class (if seats available) or put on the next flight. Hell, they could even sell standby tickets at the ouutset, they'd be plenty of people willing to take the risk of having to get a later flight if they had the chance of getting bumped to first class. Edited April 12, 2017 by barleycorn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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