Wow. Forcing paying customers off literally by gunpoint so 4 United employees could take the ride?

I'd love being in United's PR department today. They are getting immolated on social media.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.s...nj-homepage-featured

Man forcibly removed from overbooked United flight

A man who refused to surrender his seat on an overbooked United Airlines flight on Sunday was dragged off the plane by security, according to a video and an account provided by a witness.



Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMTpvzJp4ps

Four passengers on a flight scheduled from Chicago to Louisville were asked to take a flight the following day so United employees could take the seats in order to arrive in Kentucky in time for their next flights, Courier-Journal.com said.

The woman who shot the video, Audra D. Bridges, said United offered passengers $400 and a free night in a hotel to take a flight at 3 p.m. Monday. When no one said yes, the airline doubled the offer to $800. Again, no one accepted the deal.

Then, United said a computer would randomly choose which passengers had to depart the already-boarded flight.

Two gave up their seats willingly, but another passenger, a man who said he was a doctor, would not give up his seat when asked to leave the flight. The video shows him being approached by security, tossed against a metal armrest and then pulled from his seat and and dragged down the aisle as he screamed and other passengers looked on in horror.

The bloodied, disoriented man was eventually allowed to re-board flight 3411, which took off O'Hare International Airport two hours behind schedule.

The man was unwilling to give up his seat because he had patients to see in the Louisville-area early Monday.

Last month, United Airlines faces a social media uproar when three girls wearing leggings weren't allowed to board a flight. The airline defended the move, explaining that the three were girls were turned away because they were "pass riders" -- friends or relatives of an employee who can travel for free or at a heavily discounted price on a standby basis. "Pass riders" must adhere to a dress code.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BamaJeepster,

Do people not think their actions through?

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
Do people not think their actions through?

Apparently not. People and companies both seem to be severely lacking common sense these days.

Goddamned thugs.

And they break guitars, too.

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
Do people not think their actions through?

Apparently not. People and companies both seem to be severely lacking common sense these days.

I know what you mean. Dayum what a cluster.

quote:

Originally posted by SapperSteel:
Goddamned thugs.

And they break guitars, too.

Yep. United hates guitars.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:

quote:

Originally posted by SapperSteel:
Goddamned thugs.

And they break guitars, too.

Yep. United hates guitars.

They're like the H&K of airlines

The pass rider snafu wasn't on United but rather piss poor reporting by the media. I didn't have a problem with them doing that.

This on the other hand was stupid.

Prefer flying Delta but had to get back home on United yesterday from Vegas. Can't say the flying experience on United was any good. The Coach seat was at least moderately comfortable.

quote:

Originally posted by stoic-one:

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:

quote:

Originally posted by SapperSteel:
Goddamned thugs.

And they break guitars, too.

Yep. United hates guitars.

They're like thew H&K of airlines

Wait they load passengers in backwards?

Wonder how much that is going to cost them. . .

Idiots.

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
Do people not think their actions through?

Apparently not. People and companies both seem to be severely lacking common sense these days.

Well, seems to me that with all these damned mergers and acquisitions that all these "small" issues like customer service have taken a back seat to whatever the hell supervisors decide.

Unfortunately, I am booked on a United flight to Idaho and back and have non-refundable tickets.

Otherwise I would cancel and book with another line.

Before I retired I flew about a gazillion miles, many of which were on United. Had they treated passengers like that back then they would be out of business today.

And, on the outside chance that I ever fly again, after this trip, it will definitely NOT be with United.

Usually when I fly, it's because I need to be somewhere at a specific time. My time is money. These airlines don't seem to understand that, or only care about their own schedules.

Delta is on a mission to fill all of their planes full all the time with only 20% of first class open by 2020. Over sold flights are already a huge problem but will become substantially worse with nonsense like this.

I fly United regularly and have never seen anything like that. I would blame the people in the airport, obviously somebody messed up.

1999

That was the last time I flew commercially. You couldn't get me on one of those fucking flying cattle cars even at gunpoint.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
1999

That was the last time I flew commercially. You couldn't get me on one of those fucking flying cattle cars even at gunpoint.

That may be their next bright idea. Knock people unconscious and drag them onto the plane. I can hear some goober pitching that at the next board of director's meeting to 'enhance revenue'.

I understand the needs and urgencies of running an air transport system enough to see the reason in much of what goes on with it. I just don't want to participate in it. This is why Mrs DF and I just don't go anywhere anymore. If I can't drive there, I'm not going. I suppose that means I'll never see Spain.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
Having said all that, when you're told to get off the airplane by someone on uniform, you get off the f'n airplane and sort it out later! Call your attorney if you think you have a case.

The abundance of videos certainly won't hurt the lawsuit this man will most certainly bring.

My view on it is that there won't be any airline if there aren't any customers. Won't be any baggage handlers, won't be any pilots, won't be any flight attendants, won't be any service personnel and on and on. United has lost sight of what is most important - the customer.

On the front end of this, United (and just about every other commercial carrier) is at fault for overbooking and making the last few minutes before takeoff look like Let's Make a Deal with wings.

On the back end, flight crew members do have to get to where their next assignment originates without fail. If they don't, several flights could be delayed---stranding several hundred passengers---because commercial flight must have a certain number of crew members for both safety reasons and compliance with employment (union) contracts.

Once the situation got to the point where people had to be removed, that's one thing, and I can't speak to how the security people handled it. But none of this would have happened to begin with if not for the practice of overbooking.

Really stupid policy to randomly select people to be bumped. They should have just upped the offer auction style to find more volunteers. I'm not going to skip by flight and spend another night in a hotel for a $300 voucher, but you start upping the ante to $1000 or more and you'll get some volunteers. Meanwhile this custerfuck will probably cost them 100 times that or more in bad will.

quote:

Originally posted by bigwagon:
Really stupid policy to randomly select people to be bumped.

It's not a random selection. The person being bumped is the person who checked in last.