Midpack
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
"Involuntary bumping" is part of the US DOT regs which presumably overrides an individual carriers rules? If you offer compensation and passengers still don't comply voluntarily, evidently the police get involved. Reports say two officers tried to convince the passenger, and when that failed, a third removed him forcibly. I read another report this morning (I've read more than I wanted already) that 46,000 people were bumped, voluntarily or involuntarily, in 2015 - without incident judging by the lack of reports.Here's UA Contract of Carriage https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/contract-of-carriage.aspx#sec21
Does it really say they can remove someone after boarding and occupying their assigned seat, to make space for someone else? It is long and I didn't read the entire agreement, but looking at the applicable sections, this is not so clear cut.
Rule 21, "Refusal to Transport" does not include overbooking or needing a seat for someone else, Rule 5 "Cancellation of Reservations" seems to cover travelers before they board, and United's "reseating" rights mean the traveler gets another seat. Finally, the entire section on denied boarding (rule 25) all describe a situation where the traveler has not yet boarded the aircraft.
It seems that once a passenger has boarded, the airline can move him or her, but as long as they are complying with the contract and federal regulations, it is not clearly spelled out that they can be involuntarily removed from the aircraft. Of course, I am not a lawyer, draw no conclusions from media reports, and offer no judgement on this situation.
https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/fly-rights
One of the aviation police was 'placed on leave' as a result of the incident.
Again a very unfortunate event, that could have been handled better on all sides, but UA was between a rock and a hard place. I am sure they'll develop other options for the future as a result of yesterday's fiasco.
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