United Airlines customer service

There always is.

However, United had the opportunity in the terminal to "rightsize" before boarding, but couldn't pull their act together and removed 4 more after boarding.

I've been one of those "booted" passengers on a Delta flight. It wasn't acceptable to me then, either, as I missed a significant commitment. In my case, Delta made no attempt to solicit volunteers before making their selection of "you, get off the plane, you're not going to fly today."




"An airline supervisor walked onto the plane and brusquely announced: 'We have United employees that need to fly to Louisville tonight. … This flight’s not leaving until four people get off.' "​
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...off-battered-and-limp/?utm_term=.e8c6594830a9
 
I think United needs to come up with "their side of the story", whatever it is, a little sooner. They had the same problem in the leggings incident.

How do they pick the unlucky passenger who is required to get off?
 
Looks like it was the police that injured him. How is that United's fault?
 
Back in the good old days, I'm pretty sure I could have gotten the rest of the pax to deplane in solidarity.

Nowadays, not so much.

Rich
 
Greg Bockelman said:
Not sure how you figure that based on the information at hand.
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They had other ways of dealing with the issue.

Offer customers more money until someone got off, buy a ticket on another airline, rent a car, get a chartered flight.

This isn't just standard FAA-regulated overbooking. They decided to add 4 United Employees to an already full flight. There had many other ways to handle this, and they chose to remove their own customers using force instead.
 
Everskyward said:
I think United needs to come up with "their side of the story", whatever it is, a little sooner. They had the same problem in the leggings incident.

How do they pick the unlucky passenger who is required to get off?
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Chosen at random. They solicited for volunteers and when no one stepped up, they had 4 people randomly chosen by their computer.
 
Everskyward said:
How do they pick the unlucky passenger who is required to get off?
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That's what I don't undertstand. How can an airline overbook a flight and just force a revenue passenger off against their will.

How can they overbook a flight to begin with? They're basically gambling that some passengers won't show and if they do, then the airline is forced to give incentives to free up seats. Someone explain this.
 
RJM62 said:
An upgrade probably would have sweetened the deal, too.

I've always believed that bumping a passenger should require that the pax receive either a full refund or an upgrade, plus a seat on the next plane. I understand the necessity of overbooking, but I also believe that misjudging should hurt the airline as much as it inconveniences the passengers. A little tension and economic disincentive built into policies like this tends to prevent their being abused.

Rich
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I did that once with Northwest. They asked for volunteers to take the next flight with a bump up to first class. So I volunteered since I was in no hurry to get to my destination, and also got a voucher for a first class upgrade for my next flight. Funny part was I was the only volunteer. The 4 others that got bumped just got a seat in coach.

I gave the voucher to my mom.
 
Ryanb said:
That's what I don't undertstand. How can an airline overbook a flight and just force a revenue passenger off against their will.

How can they overbook a flight to begin with? They're basically gambling that some passengers won't show and if they do, then the airline is forced to give incentives to free up seats. Someone explain this.
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I was told once that last to check in, first to get bumped. That was something like 15 years ago and I have no idea if that is how it is now or ever done.
 
Zeldman said:
I was told once that last to check in, first to get bumped. That was something like 15 years ago and I have no idea if that is how it is now or ever done.
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I just don't understand how they can do that to somebody who purchased a ticket. You check in last and then you risk getting booted. Never has made sense to me. :dunno:
 
Flying the airlines once upon a time was a nice experience, now it's just Greyhound with wings.
 
James_Dean said:
They also didn't follow the DOT rules for involuntary bumps.
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How did you determine that?

Dude got involuntarily bumped, good for $625 or $1350 depending on how long it took them to accommodate him on another flight. He refused to leave, becoming a trespasser at that point and the airport security removed him. Buying the ticket does not grant you any particular right to be on that flight. The Contract of Carriage spells it all out, but I'm sure nobody on that flight even knows such an agreement exists.
 
Watched a story on local news this afternoon about a woman traveling with 2 kids on Delta. Her flight had been cancelled, next flight had problems, too and in the long run she ended up with $11,000 in vouchers! Yep, there's always another way to handle the situation. Go Delta.:rolleyes:
 
Ryanb said:
I just don't understand how they can do that to somebody who purchased a ticket. You check in last and then you risk getting booted. Never has made sense to me. :dunno:
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I'm with ya. It's like going to a nice restaurant with a confirmed reservation just to be told there will be an hour delay before your table will be ready. Did they not know I was coming.?
 
I'm confused by this.

You have paying passengers in their seats.

You have paying passengers not in their seats because the seats are full.

So you bump the ones not sitting. How is this hard?

Dragging a guy from his seat by force? Maybe it was within the rules but it's a customer relations NIGHTMARE.
 
Zeldman said:
I'm with ya. It's like going to a nice restaurant with a confirmed reservation just to be told there will be an hour delay before your table will be ready. Did they not know I was coming.?
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OK - Be mad at them, don't eat there again, tell people they suck, but they owe you nothing.
 
Greebo said:
I'm confused by this.

You have paying passengers in their seats.

You have paying passengers not in their seats because the seats are full.

So you bump the ones not sitting. How is this hard?

Dragging a guy from his seat by force? Maybe it was within the rules but it's a customer relations NIGHTMARE.
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The order is spelled out in the COC. Not as random as people want to think.
 
rsleeds said:
The order is spelled out in the COC. Not as random as people want to think.
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I believe that there's a defined order.

It doesn't change public perception. This is still going to haunt United.
 
And for the record, I'm not particularly a United lover - I actually travel very little by the airlines anymore and almost always in paid first, so it is better when I do. However, this guy created 100% of his own problem by refusing to leave when he was told to and fighting the security trying to remove him. Plenty of ways to have gotten his due and maybe more by not going outhouse rat crazy.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Except you've already paid for the meal in full.
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And in the United case scenario, there is a long agreement that says what happens when they can't accommodate you as you've paid for.
 
Greebo said:
I believe that there's a defined order.

It doesn't change public perception. This is still going to haunt United.
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Agreed - United does seem to have a knack for stepping into crap piles with less than grace.
 
rsleeds said:
How did you determine that?

Dude got involuntarily bumped, good for $625 or $1350 depending on how long it took them to accommodate him on another flight. He refused to leave, becoming a trespasser at that point and the airport security removed him. Buying the ticket does not grant you any particular right to be on that flight. The Contract of Carriage spells it all out, but I'm sure nobody on that flight even knows such an agreement exists.
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https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/fly-rights

"DOT requires each airline to give all passengers who are bumped involuntarily a written statement describing their rights and explaining how the carrier decides who gets on an oversold flight and who doesn't."
 
Ryanb said:
That's what I don't undertstand. How can an airline overbook a flight and just force a revenue passenger off against their will.

How can they overbook a flight to begin with? They're basically gambling that some passengers won't show and if they do, then the airline is forced to give incentives to free up seats. Someone explain this.
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Airlines have always overbooked, it just in recent history that it's become a problem.
 
Almost any planeload of airline passengers includes some people with urgent travel needs and others who may be more concerned about the cost of their tickets than about getting to their destination on time. DOT rules require airlines to seek out people who are willing to give up their seats for compensation before bumping anyone involuntarily.
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Guy says he was a doctor who had to get home to his patients. Seems like United could have done better.
 
Ryanb said:
Paging @Greg Bockelman. Can you explain the overbooking process?
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All airlines do it. Historically they look at data and find that X amount of people buy tickets but don't show up for the flight. The airline takes this data and sells X amount of extra seats because the data says that X amount of people no show.
 
Zeldman said:
I'm with ya. It's like going to a nice restaurant with a confirmed reservation just to be told there will be an hour delay before your table will be ready. Did they not know I was coming.?
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But during Airventure, an hour, often 2, is standard even with a reservation.
 
James_Dean said:
https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/fly-rights

"DOT requires each airline to give all passengers who are bumped involuntarily a written statement describing their rights and explaining how the carrier decides who gets on an oversold flight and who doesn't."
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A) Don't know if they did or didn't do that.
B) It's all in the COC and I'm sure they'd have happily done that and paid him his money once he'd got off their plane. He chose to make it worse.
 
Honestly, I'm on the passenger's side here. It's simply not reasonable to expect the millions of people who fly to be familiar with the details of the COC. If you think it is, tell me - what's in your user agreement with Microsoft you agreed to when you licensed Windows?
 
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