United Airlines Roughed Up Passenger to Give Up His Seat

[easysurfer]

So, on a United flight, the seats got overbooked so 4 unlucky people get randomly selected to get booted off. One one of them refused, authorities called in, and roughs up the passenger before dragging him out.


Definitely goes in the "What the ..." category.

Videos of a United Airlines passenger being forcibly dragged from his seat on a Sunday overbooked flight at O'Hare International Airport have been viewed more than 1 million times, and the airline's CEO on Monday called the incident "an upsetting event to all of us here at United."

In videos of the incident aboard a flight bound for Louisville, Ky., a man screams as security officers pull him from his seat. He then falls silent as they drag him by the hands, with his glasses askew and his shirt pulled up over his abdomen, down the aisle. Several passengers yell at the officers. "Oh my God, look at what you did to him," one woman yells.

The most common sense of all:

Travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt questioned why United didn't simply offer a larger sum.


"Everybody has their price. If they had allowed the agent to offer a higher incentive, we may never have heard about this," said Harteveldt, founder of Atmosphere Research Group.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-united-drags-passenger-0411-biz-20170410-story.html

 

[Big_Hitter]

you mean they kicked off a guy that paid for his seat so that some employees could fly for free?.

I wonder what they will settle this for? $2M?

 

[easysurfer]

you mean they kicked off a guy that paid for his seat so that some employees could fly for free?.

I wonder what they will settle this for? $2M?

That's what the situation sounds like. Booted off so employees could fly for free.

Once the flight was boarded, passengers were told four people needed to give up their seats for stand-by United employees that needed to be in Louisville for a Monday flight and the plane wouldn't depart until they had volunteers, Bridges said. United increased the offer to $800, but no one volunteered.

 

[Brat]

The employees were crew members they needed at the plane's destination.

Yes, they should have kept upping the amount they would pay for passengers to give up their seat.

 

[pb4uski]

I have never heard of anything like that... generally they just keep upping the incentives to give up your seat until someone volunteers.

If it was overbooked, I wonder if all passengers have an equal chance of being involuntarily bumped, or if they simply select from the cheapest fare codes.

Disturbing. I wonder how much the guy will end up getting from United for a settlement? Probably a lot. I suspect the lawyers are lining up at his door.

And he got bumped so some United employees? Even though the employees were flying for business and not pleasure, that is outrageous!

 

[ponyboy]

you mean they kicked off a guy that paid for his seat so that some employees could fly for free?.

I wonder what they will settle this for? $2M?

Hopefully its more than 2M...should have never happened.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

This is going to end up costing them a lot more in PR damage control and lost business than the better incentives for voluntarily being bumped would have. I've seen people involuntarily bumped before but always before they've actually boarded.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Yes, they should have kept upping the amount they would pay for passengers to give up their seat.

hey they were just being frugal

 

[easysurfer]

I have never heard of anything like that... generally they just keep upping the incentives to give up your seat until someone volunteers.

If it was overbooked, I wonder if all passengers have an equal chance of being involuntarily bumped, or if they simply select from the cheapest fare codes.

Disturbing. I wonder how much the guy will end up getting from United for a settlement? Probably a lot. I suspect the lawyers are lining up at his door.

I read, the passenger was talking to his lawyer on the phone when he got roughed up.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I read, may have been in a different article, the passenger was talking to his lawyer on the phone when he got roughed up.

he was - and he was apparently chosen at "random" along with a few others

 

[easysurfer]

This is going to end up costing them a lot more in PR damage control and lost business than the better incentives would have.

+1. I see a lawsuit and/or boycott in the works.

The irony, of course, is United's slogan of the friendly skies .

 

[FIREmenow]

hey they were just being frugal

....or is it "cheap"?

 

[tmm99]

I am glad someone recorded it - Without it, I am pretty sure the company would have reacted so swiftly.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Big_Hitter]

+1. I see a lawsuit and/or boycott in the works.

The irony, of course, is United's slogan of the friendly skies .

right after the "merger" I flew (what was) CO to Houston via Denver.

after sitting on the tarmac for an hour after we landed trying to get to the gate I missed my connection to Houston - the station attendants were totally unhelpful and I ended up sleeping on the floor in the terminal. I had to call and pretend to buy a new ticket to get on a flight in the morning.

the only time I fly them now is the direct we have to IAH

I'm getting to really dig SWA - been flying them for 30 years

 

[JoeWras]

There was some chaos in the system due to weather over the previous days that resulted in the system being full. I think this is why people were not volunteering.

Meanwhile, the airlines "compensation" is getting sketchy. I want money, not vouchers.

DW and I decided on a driving vacation this year because flying has become such a pain.

 

[NW-Bound]

We have some Indiana Jones on the crew here.

It could have been worse. "No ticket!"

 

[MRG]

+1. I see a lawsuit and/or boycott in the works.

The irony, of course, is United's slogan of the friendly skies .

if you have ever been on the wrong side of any airline(expecially before cell phones) none of them are friendly or fair. Personally I hope the guy gets a pile for their ignorance.

 

[CardsFan]

And he got bumped so some United employees? Even though the employees were flying for business and not pleasure, that is outrageous!

I don't want to appear to defend UA, and I agree they should have upped the incentive.

BUT, If the employees were needed to staff another flight (or 2, or 3) and did not arrive then you could have had a ripple effect causing hundreds of passengers to be delayed or have flights cancelled.

FWIW, $2million is an absurd amount. My guess is he gets one million ........frequent flier miles.

 

[Walt34]

If it was overbooked, I wonder if all passengers have an equal chance of being involuntarily bumped, or if they simply select from the cheapest fare codes.

Yes, along those lines. They select the ones who paid the lowest fare and fly the least frequently. So if you fly the airline a lot and/or paid a higher fare you're least likely to get bumped.

Disturbing. I wonder how much the guy will end up getting from United for a settlement? Probably a lot. I suspect the lawyers are lining up at his door.

I wouldn't bet on it. From what I read of it the airline was perfectly within their rights to do it that way. Stupid, but that's the way the airline chose to deal with it instead of simply upping the dollar amount of compensation until they had enough volunteers. Had they done that the event wouldn't have happened. Now they're going to spend a lot more on advertising, lawyers (maybe) and overtime for the PR folks.

 

[Meadbh]

The passenger was a physician who had to be at work today. He had every right to say no, otherwise what does "voluntarily" mean? He was also of Asian ethnicity. Was his ethnicity a contributing factor? He should sue the pants off them.

I will be boycotting United Airlines from now on, not that I use them very much anyway.

 

[ivinsfan]

They can "involuntarily" deny you boarding anytime they want to, it's in the C of C, in fact they pay less for that then they do a voluntary bump.The guy can say "No" all he wants to and it means nothing.I've known people that boarded and got put off the plane for weight and balance issues.

The random thing,perhaps they bumped the last ones to check-in, I've heard of that happening too.

 

[easysurfer]

I wonder now if the "Lottery" of booting folks off that flight included both first class and coach or just coach.

 

[samclem]

BUT, If the employees were needed to staff another flight (or 2, or 3) and did not arrive then you could have had a ripple effect causing hundreds of passengers to be delayed or have flights cancelled.

How many patients were inconvenienced because the physician couldn't be at work? And the families of those patients?
Folks know they can get bumped, but I think the market should prevail and the airline should have to keep going up in their offers until they get volunteers. If the price turns out to get really high, then the ridiculous practice of selling seats that may not be available will be curtailed.
Once the passengers were boarded, UA should have either put their crews on another airline or called up on-call crews at Louisville (and paid the extra money it might cost).

He was also of Asian ethnicity. Was his ethnicity a contributing factor?

Sorry, but this is ridiculous and unhelpful.

 

[NW-Bound]

Some years ago, on a flight from Phoenix to San Antonio, they asked for two volunteers to be bumped because they overbooked. Several passengers volunteered, and they picked us.

The rewards were a pair of round-trip tickets to anywhere in the conterminous US that this airline served. They then immediately booked us another flight to San Antonio with another airline. The real kick was that this new flight departed later, but arrived in San Antonio sooner than our original flight. How? It was a non-stop, while the original flight had a stop.

And there's more. That flight that we volunteered to be bumped from was booked with frequent miles, and did not cost us anything to begin with. Sometimes, you just keep on winning.

Of course many business travelers cannot afford to be bumped, or people who have a flight connection to make. We were traveling for leisure that time, so it did not matter.

PS. Why did they pick us? My wife suggested that it was because we were traveling as a pair. Perhaps it made it easier for them to book the same replacement flight for us, instead of two individuals.

PPS. We used the reward tickets to fly to Maine later, if my memory serves.

 

[braumeister]

I simply can't believe there isn't more to the story; it makes no sense as it is. That's not the way any airline has ever handled an overbooked condition in my experience.