Poll of the Day > united airlines acted like dicks, it's true, ok... but...

(+) Yeah! (+)

...at what point is a grown-ass man going to act like a fucking baby and scream and cry to stay on a plane after he was told to leave. it's a private company, they have every right to throw you off for any reason. you don't have a right to act like a fucking child, ok? at what point do grown ass men forget they're fucking men? lol smh

that being said, united dragging the dude out was a huge dick move, lol...
---

Just for others...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/united-air-flight-video-man-dragged_us_58eb79b3e4b058f0a0309da4

Looks like improper training and miscommunication.

I'd take the $800
---

Your average traveler might not plan for extra days when traveling for fun or for business. If a storm is causing a delay for all flights and might result in folks missing out on a day of vacation or a business meeting that's beyond anyone's control.

But if the airline is asking folks to waste away some of their vacation time or potentially miss a business meeting that is something they shouldn't and can't be asking. Not apple and oranges but I attended a conference once and due to a storm at my layover location my flight was delayed. If I had accepted the next free flight I would have miss out on the entire reason I was attending the conference. I was trying to minimize cost so didn't book to arrive a day early.

It is unlikely everyone on a flight is in a situation where they can't arrive late but sometimes even getting a free flight or free hotel room simply isn't good enough.

Zangulus posted...

he thought he was better than other people

That's the thing though. Why is him keeping to his schedule any less important than the other passengers? It's beyond stupid in my opinion to risk overbooking for the sake of maximizing profit. Of course in the end the airliners won't care. Losing some customers from overbooking will be made up from the profit in overbooking.
---

I don't think he thought he was better than other people. They couldn't get ANY volunteers and had to pick 4 people at random. When he gave them a legitimate reason why he shouldn't be selected (because he's a doctor and needed to be at the hospital.. to you know.. treat patients and potentially save lives) they decided to beat his ass and remove him forcibly because a company has shitty business practices and overbooks their flights expecting the customers to deal with the aftermath of that.
---

Also, some insight on overbooking,

If a plane seats 100 people, and an average of 3% of passengers don't show up for their flight, the airline will book 103 people for that flight. It will usually work out despite the uncertainty that they can get more or less no shows.
---

Zangulus posted...

No, this asshole escalated the situation because he thought he was better than other people. He refused a lawful command by a police office and was forcefully taken off the plane.

He could have got off the plane and complained on Twitter and would have likely had another airline fly him for free. But noooooppe.

this, exactly.
---

eating4fun posted...

It will usually work out despite the uncertainty that they can get more or less no shows.

That's my beef with this though. Just because the statistics suggest it'll work out doesn't mean it is a practice that should be done. Hell, some passengers don't buy insurances for cancelling their flights so the airline is more than likely to still get their money from the passenger who isn't flying.
---

I haven't fucked with United Airlines for a few years now, so can someone explain exactly how their overbooking policy works?

I guess I'm still unclear on why four seated passengers were asked to give up their seats. Were they going to be replaced with standby passengers?
---

eating4fun posted...

Also, some insight on overbooking,

If a plane seats 100 people, and an average of 3% of passengers don't show up for their flight, the airline will book 103 people for that flight. It will usually work out despite the uncertainty that they can get more or less no shows.

Everyone knows why they do it. But that doesn't make it right for them to forcibly remove people due to their own stupid practices. If 3% of people don't show up they already paid for their tickets. It's not like the airline will just refund you for not showing up.
---

RCtheWSBC posted...

I guess I'm still unclear on why four seated passengers were asked to give up their seats. Were they going to be replaced with standby passengers?

My coworker said they wanted to replace 4 people with other people/attendants who needed to catch connecting flights. But I can't see that info anywhere.
---

Should've just kept raising the reward for volunteers until someone bit.
---

SmokeMassTree posted...

I'd take the $800

They're required by law to give you more.
---

It is a tough argument to make as it is a corporation that is heavily subsidized by tax money in an industry that is heavily subsidized by tax money.

At what point do they have the right to operate how they want while still maintaining the standpoint that they aren't a necessary public service?
---

i like how everyone is acting shocked and outraged that this is happening, yet no one offers their spot to stop it. bunch of cowards. perfect analogy of our culture today.
---

I hope the airline sues that snowflake!

ZiggiStardust posted...

i like how everyone is acting shocked and outraged that this is happening, yet no one offers their spot to stop it. bunch of cowards. perfect analogy of our culture today.

In this particular case with giving up your seat, I think yielding to the request of the airlines will only further enforce their belief that they can continue this practice. Yielding would be the "coward" approach in my opinion because you're not standing up against an improper practice. You're just letting the system push you around. If all the passengers united and refuse to allow anyone to leave despite the delayed flight, of course this will never happen, more than likely that will light a fire under the airline arse.
---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFNstNKgEDI
---

Im off to america near the end of the year, if i had to give up my seat i wouldnt mind too much to be honest as long as i got some form of compensation and would be on a flight the next day or so due having a cruise booked which id rather not miss.

Hell the flight or so costs around £600 so if i got compensated that or even half id be more than happy to wait a day.

Overbooking (as a regular business practice, not as an accident) should be considered fraud.
---

ZiggiStardust posted...

i like how everyone is acting shocked and outraged that this is happening, yet no one offers their spot to stop it. bunch of cowards. perfect analogy of our culture today.

So you don't mind being bent over a barrel by companies? Cool!
---

I mean, the guy got the shit beat out of him for refusing to give up his seat.

United is a shit airline and I hope they go out of business.
---

So if they get to that point and select a mother of a family of five traveling, they choose a new person?

Did anyone catch the CEO's statement? "I apologize for having to re-accommodate these passengers."
That's a funny way of saying assaulting and dragging a man out of your plane.
---

I'm sure each passenger have varying degree of "importance" in getting to their destination but imagine if the passengers chosen resulted in missing out on a funeral, wedding, operation, etc, etc. Some won't care but imagine the repercussion from that. Though depending on the importance of the trip I'm sure some folks do book flights to arrive a day or two early to account for delays but sometimes that isn't always feasible.
---

United is shit. This isn't anything new.
---

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/what-youre-entitled-to-if-you-get-bumped-off-a-flight-2015-6
---

Zangulus posted...

No, this asshole escalated the situation because he thought he was better than other people.

Or because he had an urgent need to travel; not all travel reasons are created equal.

Hell, I just ran into this recently. I was teaching a course for my company in another city and was due to fly out the day before. The flight was oversold and I was put on standby - fortunately I got on, but I was very upset at the time because there were no more flights flying to my destination that day. If I hadn't been able to go, not only would I have wasted my own time, I would have missed the course *I* was teaching to 45 other people, which would have been an enormous expense for my company (I don't know the exact figure, but it would be on the scale of tens of thousands of dollars lost).

My father is in a similar boat - he hates delays because he is a doctor who runs his own practice and every day he's out of the office is ~$5000 lost in expenses, wages to his staff, and lost profits.

I mean, if you're coming home from a vacation and you lose a day of your weekend, that sucks and all... but sometimes that "Oh, gee, sorry, here's an $800 voucher" isn't good enough.

nurlen posted...

So if they get to that point and select a mother of a family of five traveling, they choose a new person?

They selected "bookings", not passengers. Bookings are done in groups - if you were part of a family of five, you would not have been chosen.

Jen0125 posted...

RCtheWSBC posted...

I guess I'm still unclear on why four seated passengers were asked to give up their seats. Were they going to be replaced with standby passengers?

My coworker said they wanted to replace 4 people with other people/attendants who needed to catch connecting flights. But I can't see that info anywhere.

They were being replaced with four United employees, who needed to catch that flight for undisclosed reasons. Which makes the optics of the whole thing even worse, really - bumping customers for employees is not going to make people happy with you.
---

Erik_P posted...

United is a shit airline and I hope they go out of business.

United is one of those "too big to fail" businesses. The government won't let them fail.
---

Airlines should have VTOL jets for the cases where flights are overbooked and no passenger is willing to accept a paid delay. Too costly? Then take less risks accordingly.
---

This situation kinda reminds me of the saying "Poor planning on your part does not necessitate an emergency on mine."
---

InfestedAdam posted...

This situation kinda reminds me of the saying "Poor planning on your part does not necessitate an emergency on mine."

I do like that quote, but it's a bit vague in this context - are you using the quote in perspective of the airline or the booted passenger?
---

United is awful on their own terms.

But I don't know why they didn't just keep raising the offer until someone finally gave in. As far as I know they only went up to $800. There's no way that's more expensive than the bad publicity.
---

Muffinz0rz posted...

are you using the quote in perspective of the airline or the booted passenger?

Touche. Poor planning could go either direction. The passengers who didn't book for an extra day or the airliner who must have their employees on this flight. I'd say the poor planning is on the airliner.
---

InfestedAdam posted...

Muffinz0rz posted...

are you using the quote in perspective of the airline or the booted passenger?

Touche. Poor planning could go either direction. The passengers who didn't book for an extra day or the airliner who must have their employees on this flight. I'd say the poor planning is on the airliner.

Kk good, wanted to make sure the quote referred to the airliner being at fault.

I can't possibly imagine a scenario in which this is solely the passenger's fault.
---

InfestedAdam posted...

Poor planning could go either direction. The passengers who didn't book for an extra day

Why is this poor planning?

If I have a reasonable expectation for you to provide a service I have requested and paid for, it is not indicative of poor planning on my part if you fail to deliver. I should not have to build contingencies into my own schedule (taking extra vacation time/booking more time out of the office, etc.) to accommodate someone else's incompetence.

The airline fucked up, as airlines are wont to do. In most other businesses, deliberately overselling a limited quantity of goods/services could charitably be considered fraud; I have no idea how the airline industry continues to get away with this shit. One would think they'd have pissed off someone important enough to make a change by now.
---

Smarkil posted...

United is awful on their own terms.

But I don't know why they didn't just keep raising the offer until someone finally gave in. As far as I know they only went up to $800. There's no way that's more expensive than the bad publicity.

Yep. Their own (in my opinion fraudulent) business practices got them into this situation. It would have been an easy solution, with minuscule damages even if they ended up having to compensate a few thousand dollars.
---

look, i'm not saying united isn't a shit company, just the opposite! but at one point does a grown man have the inner dialog with himself like, "you know... i'm going to make these guys look bad regardless. should i regain my stature as a man, and handle this calmly, and more maturely? or should i go full crying child and make the biggest scene possible, and basically let everyone know that this is how i solve all of my problems? plan b it is... engage"
---

ZiggiStardust posted...

look, i'm not saying united isn't a shit company, just the opposite! but at one point does a grown man have the inner dialog with himself like, "you know... i'm going to make these guys look bad regardless. should i regain my stature as a man, and handle this calmly, and more maturely? or should i go full crying child and make the biggest scene possible, and basically let everyone know that this is how i solve all of my problems? plan b it is... engage"

Wow, what an insensitive ***** you are.
---

Hejiru posted...

Wow, what an insensitive ***** you are.

hey man, i'm just saying, i'd be embarrassed as fuck if there was video of me all over the internet kicking and screaming like a fucking child, and being dragged out because i wasn't adult enough to handle it calmly, ok?
---

darkknight109 posted...

Why is this poor planning?

It depends on the flight, layovers, weather, time of the year, etc. My first time having a layover in Denver I didn't think much about the weather and unfortunately my flight was delayed due to a storm. I was kicking myself for not paying a little more and taking a straight flight to my destination.

The airliner can only do so much to try and get passengers to their destination on time. Some delays are beyond their control so sometimes some burden might be on the passenger to account for that.

I think it is no different from driving to an important event. If the GPS suggest it'll take one hour you shouldn't necessarily leave one hour away. There's still the time to find parking or walk over and worse case scenario an accident that no one expected. Certain events are beyond our control so depending on the importance of the destination, a buffer is sometime needed.
---

Wait but booking 103 seats on a plane when you can only fit 100 is totally within an airlines control. This isn't about unexpected delays. They book more than they can fit so that they can maximize their profit.
---

Erik_P posted...

Have you ever considered NOT being a complete idiot?

i was going to answer this seriously, but then i saw the user, lol
---

ZiggiStardust posted...

Hejiru posted...

Wow, what an insensitive ***** you are.

hey man, i'm just saying, i'd be embarrassed as fuck if there was video of me all over the internet kicking and screaming like a fucking child, and being dragged out because i wasn't adult enough to handle it calmly, ok?

You conveniently skip over the part where they bashed his friggin head in to drag him off.

Oh but no, he's clearly just a big attention-seeking baby, right?
---

Unfernal_Server posted...

This isn't about unexpected delays. They book more than they can fit so that they can maximize their profit.

Good point, apple and oranges then from what I'm saying. Overbooking is well within the airliner control so it wouldn't be a burden that the passengers should taken into account.
---

Hejiru posted...

You conveniently skip over the part where they bashed his friggin head in to drag him off.

Oh but no, he's clearly just a big attention-seeking baby, right?

letting it escalate to that point was childish enough. i'm not saying he deserved what he got, but at some point, his adult-alarm should have gone off and realized there were much better ways to go about this, ok?
---

This is exactly why I will always drive when it is an option. Do not give a fuck how much longer it takes. Airlines can all eat a dick.
---

You're being thick dude, there were much better ways for United to handle this. They could have continued to offer the compensation at a higher rate. But instead they decided it was head bashing time. Who is being more unreasonable, the guy who wants to continue to sit in the seat he paid for, or the company that would rather have someone assaulted than pay out an amount over $800 ?

Again, lets realize that this is the only logical conclusion to their practice of overbooking.
---

Guys, TC is clearly either trolling or deliberately being an asshole to keep his topic going.
---