United now admitting it was not an oversold situation, they just wanted to bump four passengers to make room for crew as previously mentioned.
People were probably stunned, shocked, and terrified… It looks like the situation escalated rather quickly.
I remember reading a while ago that the airlines didn’t drop prices as their fuel prices dropped over the last few years, so their profits went up quite a bit on that windfall.
If I were on that plane I’d worry that the same thing could happen to me if I tried to help him. Emotions, including those of United and security staff, seemed to be running pretty high.
Wow! $600M? Penny wise and ton FOOLISH!!
But any idiot could have predicted this. Get a new CEO and new policies.
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The algorithm indeed favors folks with disabilities (
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I figured, but not everyone would disclose a disability or disorder that didn’t need special airline help. A diabetic wouldn’t necessarily disclose to the airline, but might not have enough insulin to go an extra day. Someone with a mental illness/anxiety/whatever wouldn’t have necessarily told the airline either.
Indeed. It’s one thing if the CEO says, “Sorry, this is wrong and won’t happen again.”
Instead the CEO says, “Great job on following our policy guys, I stand behind you 100%.”
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I agree ^^^ And when he gets back on, no one goes up to him to comfort him.
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Are you kidding??? With their gestapo-like tactics, the others were probably afraid to show ANY support for this victim. Doing so could have resulted in THEM being thrown off the plane in a similar manner.
This is what you get when the airlines have too much power…
No one lost money on the stock unless they sold it.
You guys overestimate the attention span of the American public.
In a week the next outrage will happen, and this will fade into the background. It will have little to no long term impact on the stock price, IMO. Unfortunately.
To me this whole situation sums up - in a very graphic way - how miserable it is to fly today. This is everyone’s nightmare after running the gamut of getting to the airport, through security, and finally getting on the plane and getting underway, only to be thwarted for a reason that doesn’t make sense to the traveler (no matter how much sense it makes to the airline).
This person was treated in a shocking way that should not be condoned.
The only question I have, for myself and others, is that I have been taught (and taught my children) that when a flight crew member asks (or tells) you to do something, you should probably do it unless there is very good reason not to (i.e., something illegal, patently wrong, etc.).
On the other hand, if the guy had gone quietly - most people would remain relatively unaware that this scenario can happen (unless you travel relatively frequently).
Bad situation for United . . . and did I read somewhere the guy got back on the plane? So did they scuttle their original plan for the crew members to take his seat?
Is my understanding correct that they needed to bump 6 passengers, and that this flight only had 50 passenger seats? That’s a big percentage of the people on this flight.
The answer is that your $10K investment would basically be worthless today, because the bankruptcy event I talked about in my previous post made your shares worthless. So you see, when you have a “multiply by zero” event, it matters little how much money the restructured company makes in the future.
This is what I mean when I say that the airline industry is, over the long term, one of the least profitable in existence.
Pre-merger, the companies’ stock symbols were CAL (Continental Airlines) and UAUA (United Airlines). However, it seems to be hard to find charts of discontinued stock symbols (some of which may be reused, as CAL has been by an unrelated company).
Regarding how profitable airlines are in this country (from the Chicago Business Journal):
United pulled in a 14% operating margin for 2016.
"United Airlines, which has repeatedly stated it is working to improve every aspect of its financials, came in last among the big four U.S. carriers in the Airline Weekly rankings with a 14 percent operating margin — good enough, however, for No. 22 among all 72 ranked carriers.
Though there is always room for improvement, Airline Weekly’s Seth Kaplan said United States-based airlines in general remain highly profitable compared to others around the world. Kaplan noted that the current situation is in marked contrast to the previous decade, when most major U.S. airlines were, at some point, in bankruptcy."
“Certainly! Not airline should be putting any bumped passenger in a crappy motel…the options should be Marriotts, Hiltons, etc.”
The one time I got put up in a hotel by an airline due to a flight cancellation. it was a fleabag - a run-down motel located near the airport that appeared to exist solely for purpose of putting up stranded airline passengers as cheaply as possible.
“And when he gets back on, no one goes up to him to comfort him.”
After seeing their fellow passenger get assaulted in that way, the others were probably keeping their heads down trying avoid the basilisk gaze of the flight crew.
So according to the link in #260 it looks like these 4 Republic crew members were considered “must fly” passengers. So I suppose the question from the legal perspective is “do “must fly” passengers have priority over paying and confirmed passengers?” The answer to that would help in determining whether the underlying request to de-board was a legitimate one.
My quick googling is coming up with that as long as these crew members were heading to an assignment they would take priority over any other customers. Coming back from an assignment they would not have priority. The term “deadheading” is being used but it is not clear to me what that means.
There is something missing in this story.
About 10 years ago…so post 9/11, my DH was a very frequent flyer with an airline as a business traveler. The flight was overbooked and they needed one person to leave the plane. No one volunteered…so “the computer” randomly chose…my husband. He was less than thrilled but got off the plane…and then complained big time to the ticket counter folks.
He received a $400 voucher (which was fine because that meant anyone could use it), a hotel for the night, a food voucher, and transport to and from the hotel. He was booked on the first flight the NEXT day. And yes, this meant he lost a full day of work.
The airlines are fully within their rights to ask passengers to leave flights…for any reason.
So…regardless of,the reason, this passenger should,have gotten off the plane…himself. Apparently that didn’t happen.
I’m not excusing the way he was apparently handled by the security folks…but it wouldn’t have happened if he had just walked off the plane…right?
I agree. This will all blow over very soon. American’s attention span is not very long.
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There is something missing in this story.
About 10 years ago…so post 9/11, my DH was a very frequent flyer with an airline as a business traveler. The flight was overbooked and they needed one person to leave the plane. No one volunteered…so “the computer” randomly chose…my husband. He was less than thrilled but got off the plane…and then complained big time to the ticket counter folks.
He received a $400 voucher (which was fine because that meant anyone could use it), a hotel for the night, a food voucher, and transport to and from the hotel. He was booked on the first flight the NEXT day. And yes, this meant he lost a full day of work.
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Even with this story, something seems “off”.
The entire plane should have been offered that $400 voucher which would have been an incentive for someone to volunteer. Few will volunteer for nothing. Few will volunteer for $200. But, once you start waiving $400+ waivers around, then you’re talking…