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

[sonololo]

This is the first time I hear of overbooking being a common practice in any company though. What the hell? It is obviously illegal to sell more services than you actually have to offer, I'm surprised they haven't been drowned in lawsuits yet.

There is a point that law covers involuntary bumping, and gives minimum amount of compensation, so people don't take that to court. Some are even glad that they get a free 400% of ticket's price, and do not take that to court. And even if do, they hadn't endured hardships, so courts aren't on their side.

You usually can find 2-3 ppl on the flight that are willing to get the compensation, but four, as in that case, is rare. Three complied with the choosing and got compensation and bump, but fourth didn't.

In this case, he asked, if there is any flight on the same direction some 2-3 hours late, and there wasn't. If there were, he'd probably took it.

Maybe if they managed to lure him out with whatever else, his case won't be able to stand. But he got beaten to a pulp and endured pain and suffering, so there's a huge and solid court case.

[Allybeboba]

If the guy finds a good lawyer, he can get a lumpy sum out of this. Paying for the promised service from a rich corporation and not getting it is one of the best things that can happen to a person!

This is the first time I hear of overbooking being a common practice in any company though. What the hell? It is obviously illegal to sell more services than you actually have to offer, I'm surprised they haven't been drowned in lawsuits yet.

He won't find a lawyer the lawyer will find him.


As I stated earlier, hundreds of thousands of people each year get bumped due to over booking of flights worldwide. United is not the worst offender.
I am just surprised people did not know about this already.

[Wyrt]

Come on, we all know the reason.

Because corporations own the government.

[buck008]

reason is....................$$$$

Of course. Who gives a shit about the consumer, we need to allow the airlines to hedge their bets against people not showing up by allowing them to sell more of something than what actually exists.

[Not A Cat]

I didn't read the entire thread so someone might have already linked this.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20...ged-from-plane

The aviation security officer who pulled the man from his seat was placed on leave Monday, “pending a thorough review of the situation,” the Chicago Department of Aviation said in a statement. “The incident on United Flight 3411 was not in accordance with our standard operating procedure and the actions are obviously not condoned by the department.”

Looks like the officer might be taking the hit for this one

[Ragedaug]

I mean, as long as the customers are informed of the possibility to not be able to take a flight because of the overbooking practice, it obviously is legal. But otherwise, isn't it a regular case of fraud: being lied about the service you are purchasing?

It's in the fine print, has been practiced for decades, and is completely legal. Any airline will tell you that it is their right to remove a passenger from any flight, at any time, for any reason.

That said, it is a disgusting rule/practice, and I would love to see the airline industry held liable to their end of the bargain.

"We overbook, F you if we decide...what are you going to do take the bus?" They are the bully and they have the force of law behind them. Pretty sick.

[Allybeboba]

It's in the fine print, has been practiced for decades, and is completely legal. Any airline will tell you that it is their right to remove a passenger from any flight, at any time, for any reason.

That said, it is a disgusting rule/practice, and I would love to see the airline industry held liable to their end of the bargain.

"We overbook, F you if we decide...what are you going to do take the bus?" They are the bully and they have the force of law behind them. Pretty sick.

Until we boycott flying this practice will continue.

[May90]

There is a point that law covers involuntary bumping, and gives minimum amount of compensation, so people don't take that to court. Some are even glad that they get a free 400% of ticket's price, and do not take that to court. And even if do, they hadn't endured hardships, so courts aren't on their side.

You usually can find 2-3 ppl on the flight that are willing to get the compensation, but four, as in that case, is rare. Three complied with the choosing and got compensation and bump, but fourth didn't.

In this case, he asked, if there is any flight on the same direction some 2-3 hours late, and there wasn't. If there were, he'd probably took it.

Maybe if they managed to lure him out with whatever else, his case won't be able to stand. But he got beaten to a pulp and endured pain and suffering, so there's a huge and solid court case.

Honestly, I would probably accept the 400% ticket price. Especially if it is an international flight, with the price range of many hundreds. I didn't know the law covered this, it is really strange.

But yes, this case is special, because of the inhumane treatment the man had to endure. He probably will get a much bigger compensation in the end than 400% ticket price. And the company hopefully will change their policy on this a bit.

[buck008]

Until we stop flying this practice will continue.

If only there was a group of individuals that could... represent the common folk. People like that could come up with a set of rules that would protect people from getting taken advantage of, and also protect the companies at the same time. Man, that would be great.

[May90]

It's in the fine print, has been practiced for decades, and is completely legal. Any airline will tell you that it is their right to remove a passenger from any flight, at any time, for any reason.

That said, it is a disgusting rule/practice, and I would love to see the airline industry held liable to their end of the bargain.

"We overbook, F you if we decide...what are you going to do take the bus?" They are the bully and they have the force of law behind them. Pretty sick.

The problem is, this right collides with a lot of anti-discrimination laws in, pretty much, every civilized country in the world. So while it is within their right to do it theoretically, in practice they rarely should be able to do that without having to pay off some kind of compensation, either immediately, or through a lawsuit.

[Allybeboba]

I didn't read the entire thread so someone might have already linked this.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20...ged-from-plane



Looks like the officer might be taking the hit for this one

It really is shame, but he probably will. He was just trying to do his job and he may gotten a little overzealous. We may never know the full truth. Something may be set up for him behind the scenes.

[sonololo]

Honestly, I would probably accept the 400% ticket price. Especially if it is an international flight, with the price range of many hundreds. I didn't know the law covered this, it is really strange.

But yes, this case is special, because of the inhumane treatment the man had to endure. He probably will get a much bigger compensation in the end than 400% ticket price. And the company hopefully will change their policy on this a bit.

Though, even on the international flight, maximum you can get is $1350, though airline on their side can offer you more.

[Allybeboba]

If only there was a group of individuals that could... represent the common folk. People like that could come up with a set of rules that would protect people from getting taken advantage of, and also protect the companies at the same time. Man, that would be great.

Too bad those particular people are "professionals" at what they do.

[Wyrt]

Correct, but it's still an empty seat that COULD be filled.

It's not the consumer's fault whatsoever. An airline is only profitable as-is because they EXPECT people not to show up to some flights, even after paying for them.

Example (which is obviously only an example and not at all a real situation, but explains the situation well enough):

An airline needs to make $50,000 per flight. (Completely made up. No idea if that's accurate or not, and obviously there are other factors at play.)
Say they are overbooking flights by 10% and there's 100 seats. That means they sold 110 tickets for a flight with only 100 seats. But they EXPECT 12 people not to show up.
EXPECTATION says there will still be 2 empty seats, so they should be ok. To meet bottom line, each ticket at 100 seats would need to be $500 for a total of $50,000. Each seat at 110 seats would instead only cost the consumer $454.55 for the airline to make the same amount.

The lower price ensures people with tighter budgets can still fly, thereby attracting more customers. The problem ensues when MORE than the expected 98 people show up - Say 104. Since there are only 100 seats, 4 people now don't have a space to sit on the plane.

The airline still needs to charge them, else they've just lost $454.55 dollars on this flight per person. ($1800 dollars to round it out.)

Maybe they shouldn't pay their CEO 11 million a year then.

[xenogear3]

400% and $1350 are there for a good reason.

Why doesn't the airline offer $1350?
I am sure someone, like me, will take it.

[buck008]

Too bad those particular people are "professionals" at what they do.

Is professional a bad thing now? Did that word go the way of progressive and intellectual as well? Interesting.

[Wyrt]

That can be said of a lot of corporations. Which I would absolutely agree with, but it doesn't solve anything to say "Well maybe pay somebody else less then."

CEOs are way, way overpaid in the US. It's screwing over the middle class, both in cost of goods/services and in wages.

[Wries]

They intentionally overbook most flights because statistically so and so many passengers don't ever show up. If they couldn't overbook then they'd have to raise prices and we all know you wouldn't want to pay more for a plane ticket than a bus ticket, so here we are.

That said, this was NOT the right way to handle such a situation. I hope they get sued for lots and lots.

Just because the person is a doctor doesn't give him special privileges.

What? Of course it does. Some people have more urgent matters to attend to than others.

[Wyrt]

I'm well aware, as I said I would absolutely agree with paying CEOs less.

However, saying "Pay CEOs less" doesn't solve the problem of overbooking flights, which would still occur no matter how much their CEO is paid.

Stop overbooking, pay CEO less to make up the difference.

They intentionally overbook most flights because statistically so and so many passengers don't ever show up. If they couldn't overbook then they'd have to raise prices and we all know you wouldn't want to pay more for a plane ticket than a bus ticket, so here we are.

Seats are already paid for if someone doesn't show up. They aren't losing money.

[Deleted]

United Airlines call dragging passenger off plane to give his seat to their own staff - "involuntary denial of boarding process"

Classy.