United overbooked a flight so they dragged a passenger off the plane

[GreenJesus]

omg guys... United Breaks Guitars! "Uniiiiteeed, you broke my Taylor Guitar"

[scarfdeath]

did i say i support it? I said acting like a fucking manchild on the plane like he did doesnt solve fucking shit. And as long as you buy a ticket and agree to the fine print you have to abide by thier policies. Dont like it? Dont buy a ticket through them.

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Well apparntly it did here.

as a lawyer i can say i would love to be this "manchild"

he just won a easy 500.000 dollars in court.

the airline just fucked but this case.

[IIamaKing]

Well, was it worth it United? Wouldve been easier spending time finding another volunteer. Instead you injure someone and cause a 2 hour delay. They couldve easily gotten the volunteers before boarding.

NO ONE volunteered, thats why they had to go to a lottery. They announced this BEFORE boarding. So your whole post is wrong.

[petej0]

We're not talking about half full flights.

I dont know what you are talking about then.

I only fart once a week, so I guess farting is a rare thing for humans to do.

Okay.

Umm...Sure..ok. If you want to argue bumping isnt rare, argue your point. Otherwise its just noise.

The biggest 2008 bumper according to the U.S Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings, was Atlantic Southeast Airlines, which averaged 3.89 bumps per 10,000 fliers. Other chronic over-sellers included Comair and American Eagle Airlines, which averaged 3.41 and 2.44 bumps, respectively, per 10,000 customers.

https://www.forbes.com/2009/04/16/ai...verbooked.html
A rate of 1 bump every 34 flights if you take 787 with a capcity of 290 passengers.

I'm going to need some actual evidence that 50% of people don't show up to their flights if you're going to keep slinging this bullshit around.

I havent found any statistics published by an airline, but I did find this article, that nearly 40% of passengers arrive late every day. Which means a portion of those passengers could be expected to miss connecting flights.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielr.../#38e3595e74bd

then you have this, 70k people have missed American Airlines flights due to security delays during the first 5 months of 2016
http://time.com/money/4349082/missed...es-long-lines/

Also it isnt just people "missing" their flights. It could be people who choose to fly standby, people who reschedule for a different flight etc..

There is a whole math equation to figuring out overbooking
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-s...oking-flights/
http://mathemathinking.blogspot.com/...g-flights.html
and a TED talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFNstNKgEDI

[Wyrt]

All major airlines have overbooking and can remove you. This wasn't an isolated incident in America. It happens anywhere, multiple times a year. A passenger not complying is what's new here.

And it shouldn't happen at all. Hopefully this guy draws attention to the problem and can lead to it being fixed.

Tough.

Just because there are no alternative, doesn't mean you can ignore agreements.

He can:
1) leave as he was asked to
2) pay for more expensive flights so less likely to be kicked off
3) pay someone on the spot to leave in his place

Or corporations could be made to stop fucking over people.

[PACOX]

Tough.

Just because there are no alternative, doesn't mean you can ignore agreements.

He can:
1) leave as he was asked to
2) pay for more expensive flights so less likely to be kicked off
3) pay someone on the spot to leave in his place

If there are no alternatives then you start to enter the territory violation of antitrust laws.

[Grym]

Or corporations could be made to stop fucking over people.

He knows the agreement, he decided to ignore it, he brought everything upon himself.

"Oh I got selected? OK let me get my stuff" is the most appropriate respond there.

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If there are no alternatives then you start to enter the territory violation of antitrust laws.

The 3 (especially number 1) choices I included are perfectly acceptable alternatives.

[Anastacy]

Umm...Sure..ok. If you want to argue bumping isnt rare, argue your point. Otherwise its just noise.

I invite you to read over what I was "arguing"; I don't see a need to repeat it.

[PACOX]

He knows the agreement, he decided to ignore it, he brought everything upon himself.

"Oh I got selected? OK let me get my stuff" is the most appropriate respond there.

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The 3 (especially number 1) choices I included are perfectly acceptable alternatives.

Your 3 "alternatives" are exactly why antitrust laws exists.

[Anastacy]

Not necessarily. Its possible the need for a flight pops up today that has a person flying on Wednesday.

True. Just like my need to make sure I had a flight booked a month ago likely popped up before I bought the ticket.

[Wyrt]

He knows the agreement, he decided to ignore it, he brought everything upon himself.

"Oh I got selected? OK let me get my stuff" is the most appropriate respond there.

This is one of the times the government needs to step in and protect people. This is what regulations are for.

I mean, ideally that's what would happen. Unfortunately the US government is owned by corporations.

[Grym]

Your 3 "alternatives" are exactly why antitrust laws exists.

This is not exactly a new practice, as far as I know it has always been there.

They haven't made legislation against it yet, so in the eye of the law, it is still totally acceptable.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

NO ONE volunteered, thats why they had to go to a lottery. They announced this BEFORE boarding. So your whole post is wrong.

Straight from the OP dude:

United overbooked the flight and after no one volunteered to leave the plane and take a later flight, police were called in to forcibly drag a man from his seat and off the plane:

You can't leave a plane that you haven't boarded. This should never have gotten to the point where anyone had to be removed from the plane. It should have been dealt with at the gate.

[WskyDK]

Trying to find anything that proves United actually overbooked, or they just used that as an excuse.
Overbooking would indicate they sold too many tickets, whereas everything I can find online says the people were only removed due to UA trying to stuff deadheads on (meaning everyone actually had a seat, and overbooking didn't actually happen)

[IIamaKing]

Straight from the OP dude:




You can't leave a plane that you haven't boarded. This should never have gotten to the point where anyone had to be removed from the plane. It should have been dealt with at the gate.

Passengers were told at the gate that the flight was overbooked and United, offering $400 and a hotel stay, was looking for one volunteer to take another flight to Louisville at 3 p.m.

Whoops, missed that one ehh dude?

[Grym]

Trying to find anything that proves United actually overbooked, or they just used that as an excuse.
Overbooking would indicate they sold too many tickets, whereas everything I can find online says the people were only removed due to UA trying to stuff deadheads on (meaning everyone actually had a seat, and overbooking didn't actually happen)

All airline overbook, because more often than not, someone would miss the flight or cancel.

[WskyDK]

All airline overbook, because more often than not, someone would miss the flight or cancel.

The numbers say otherwise in this case. Four (last minute) crew members were shuffled in, while four paying passengers were disembarked.
Certainly doesn't sound like overbooking

[Osmeric]

The numbers say otherwise in this case. Four (last minute) crew members were shuffled in, while four paying passengers were disembarked.
Certainly doesn't sound like overbooking

Discovery phase in the lawsuit should be a hoot.

[lockedout]

as a lawyer i can say i would love to be this "manchild"

he just won a easy 500.000 dollars in court.

the airline just fucked but this case.

You're a lawyer and you didn't even realize the airport security are the ones who injured the man? I'm calling shenanigans.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Passengers were told at the gate that the flight was overbooked and United, offering $400 and a hotel stay, was looking for one volunteer to take another flight to Louisville at 3 p.m.

Whoops, missed that one ehh dude?

I didn't "miss" anything. The article in the OP does not state that they were asked to volunteer at the gate.

And still...why board the plane at all before settling who is going to be removed?