I have mostly had positive experiences in my decades of flying, so bad times do stick out and are memorable.
Count me as the rare passenger who has had no issues whatsoever with AA, much less have they been “hardly usable.” We are almost always able to buy with miles or upgrade, have never been bumped or cancelled for non-weather situations, have never experienced rude treatment, etc.
Knocks wood as we are flying AA to Charleston next week…
If the flight is delayed and delayed, it’s AA. They are very good at that. We “have to” fly AA. Not many other choices. Haven’t had a flight leaving on time and I call anything on time if it leaves withing the hour.
I fly Southwest all the time and I’ve never had a problem. Not only are my flights never delayed, we usually get to our destination early. Plus, the flight attendants/gate attendants are always nice and upbeat.
Before Southwest and Jet Blue came to town I was pretty much stuck with USAir (now AA) and had to always go to one of their hubs to connect. Now my flights to Florida are non stop. The fewer stops the less chance of having a problem.
I have tons of miles on AA but I’d rather pay to fly on SW then for free on AA.
SW also lets you change flight for free and you don’t pay for baggage either.
We use SW all the time for our short treks. HATE HATE the cattle call feeling to boarding with no assigned seating, but it’s really the only downside. I don’t like to do flights with connections, so that eliminates SW from contention many times. But they do have a really good corporate culture, so the employees seem happier and friendlier. My Dad is retired from both AA and SW. He loved his 17 years at SWA.
I don’t mind the SW boarding process as it’s no worse than the other airlines with all the economy passengers jockeying for line positions trying to get to the gate. SW is what it is, no pretensions that it’s somehow better, and delivers and superior product based on expectations. They also don’t try to fleece you with the ridiculous baggage fees.
The CEO seems determined to put an end to this practice. He commented that no paying customer will have the police called on him to be removed. It sounds like those passengers that stand their ground will be allowed to remain seated. They will now be looking for those individuals who will capitulate to the wishes of the flight crew. Hopefully this will bring about a much more civilized handling of these re-accommodation incidents.
What UAL needs to do is to bring back its customer service culture that was lost in the bankruptcies, mergers, and general deterioration of its brand name. Give the customer a reason to pick them over the competition.
That’s interesting, because I feel just the opposite about it! I flew Southwest last month and loved lining up next to the pole with my ticket number range on it (such as 40-45). Everyone stood politely in line and filed onto the plane one by one, instead of the typical mob that tries to get on as soon as their group number is called.
A little update on the United case, specifically comments from lawyers on the strength of Dao’s case if he sues.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/13/news/companies/united-legal-issues/index.html
We don’t fly UAL, and the only time I bought tickets to fly them, we did not even get to fly, but the experience was a good one. We must have ran in an old-timer gate agent who has not been assimilated by the UAL Borg when the first leg of our flight from Atlanta got delayed. We would have missed the second flight… She went out of the way to find two seats for us - on the non-stop Delta flight that I did not buy because it was $300 more. 
NPR had an interesting spot about Airlines and discussion on the issues, the psychology on how to handle various things. I agreed with what was said. They probably will replay with the evening broadcasting, or maybe see something on their web site.
Well, those comments are from a plaintiffs’ lawyer, so don’t bank on anything coming out of his mouth. I agree that the guy is going to get a good settlement mainly because of the publicity and the court of public opinion. No one is going to care about what an idiot he was himself.
I certainly don’t care. It’s about time to call out on airlines.
@MomofWildChild Three different lawyers from three different firms were quoted, none of whom are representing him. The article explicitly says Dao’s lawyer did not respond to a request to comment.
Only Clyde & Co is a defense firm. The other two represent plaintiffs (I didn’t say THIS plaintiff). I’m not saying the guy doesn’t have a case against someone. But the plaintiff firms are big talkers.
They should be holding a press conference today. I wonder how liable United is in this case given that most of the harm was caused by the police.
If I call the police to say I have a trespasser on my property and they come and remove him forcefully, can I be sued? Am I liable?
I am curious as to what United could have done instead of call security. I agree that only those that agree should leave. It was apparent that he refused to give up his seat and it sounds like the squeaky wheel should be allowed to remain. I guess the option is to go to another person and try to bully them to leaving. Continue this until you find a person who will knuckle under and walk off of the plane.
There are so many facets to this situation. Where does one start?
- they could have offered more money
- they could have offered other perks (next flight first class, vouchers for free luggage on other flights, extra FF miles…)
- the pilot could have announced he can not take off until x number of passengers get off the plane
- the could have possible put the commuting crew on another flight on another airline
- they could have dealt with this before boarding the plane
There is a video now from the guy sitting behind him in which you can hear him explaining calmly why he doesn’t want to be bumped. He wasn’t belligerent. United still has to get on top of this to control the damage. I mean in the short and long term.
It is an interesting question about the excessive force used by the airport police. Not United’s fault if the officers overdid it. But that may be the legal position. In the eyes of public opinion, it is United’s fault.
I am a lawyer for a major company. We are in a suit where we called the police and the customer is suing us and the police for harm (false arrest, defamation, etc). The customer was guilty, but for various reasons the prosecution didn’t proceed and the case was dismissed. You can be dragged into a suit and put to a lot of expense even if you didn’t do anything.
Yes, in a perfect world the United situation would have been handled a little differently. If you find the blog article by a pilot’s wife about this situation (not a pilot connected to the incident), it presents a different side of the matter. Google The PilotWifeLife since we aren’t allowed to link blogs. It’s on wordpress.