United removes passenger from flight

[kenny]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt


The thing is though that United knew this would happen, they knew it would be broadcast everywhere via smartphone (it's 2017), and they did it anyway instead of offering another $200-500. It doesn't matter if the reaction is rational (it rarely is), it is virtually the only predictable outcome from something like this these days. People always get rewarded for stuff like this, sad but true. They already offered every passenger a refund, have a lawsuit coming, and a PR disaster to deal with when they could simply have a policy in place that guarantees stuff like this never happens. The public reaction was overblown as usual, but also United was pretty dumb.

Meh, hindsight is 20/20.

In 99.999999999999999999% of the cases after offering $800 and there are no takers, they select passengers to remove and they get off. Customers get their credits or gift cards whatever is agreed upon and the flight takes off as planned.

Pretty much no need to exceed whatever the amount is set in their policies as people remain civil (albeit a bit peeved at the inconvenience). It was a small regional operator (Republic Airlines) that operated this flight not United, so getting any more compensation probably would have been difficult anyway.

Posting that "they knew it would happen" makes no sense. Nobody knew this guy would act the way he did and nobody knew the airport police would rough him up.

[ZenOps]

I am so shocked and surprised.

That no one has sub dubbed "Allahu Ackbar!" in place of what the officer did before smashing his face.

Just saying, if it was an emirates flight with a guy in turban smashing a white blonds womans face until it bled - The US would be dropping nukes tomorrow.

[lilmira]

The part that's strange was the timing. Had they done it at pre-boarding, they wouldn't even need to offer 850. Just say, "Sorry Dr Dao, flight is full, fuck off." That would be the end of it. I doubt anyone would try to bust through the gate.

Did the crew just show up unannounced?

[phreezee]

Travel Tips #UnitedAirlines haha

[ZenOps]

Crew are obviously lazy late retards which did contribute to the problem.

[ZenOps]

What makes it even more disturbing to me is that is not a fair fight.

The guy was sitting down, possibly strapped in when they suckerpunched him. I mean shit, you want me to fight for a seat? Hand out two six inch blades to each party tie their hands together with iron chains and then have spectators stand ten feet back in a circle.

And at that, the only two that should be fighting are the ones going after the seat - not the boarding officers.

Morons.

[rage2]

Originally posted by kenny
It was a small regional operator (Republic Airlines) that operated this flight not United, so getting any more compensation probably would have been difficult anyway.

Thought it was a UA flight with Republic Airlines employees coming on board, but you're right, it's a codeshare.

http://www.airport-ohare.com/flight-departure/YX3411

So did people just target United because it's the most recognizable name or something? Why not Air Canada or randomly enough All Nippon Airways who is also codeshare on this flight? Or Republic Airlines cuz that's what it actually was?

Originally posted by lilmira
The part that's strange was the timing. Had they done it at pre-boarding, they wouldn't even need to offer 850. Just say, "Sorry Dr Dao, flight is full, fuck off." That would be the end of it. I doubt anyone would try to bust through the gate.

Did the crew just show up unannounced?

Like I said earlier, found that weird myself as well. But don't kid yourself, I've seen security and bumped passengers get confrontational at the gate a couple of times. Nobody cared enough to post it on social media though.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by rage2

Pretty much sums up what everyone who reads past the headlines knew.

#6 was fairly inaccurate though. He received his beating before he was dragged out of the aircraft, then ran back in, but he was never out of the secured area. Also, these weren't Federal LEO's, they are mall cops that work for the city, inside the airport. Not even part of the Chicago Police Department.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by kenny


Meh, hindsight is 20/20.

In 99.999999999999999999% of the cases after offering $800 and there are no takers, they select passengers to remove and they get off. Customers get their credits or gift cards whatever is agreed upon and the flight takes off as planned.

Pretty much no need to exceed whatever the amount is set in their policies as people remain civil (albeit a bit peeved at the inconvenience). It was a small regional operator (Republic Airlines) that operated this flight not United, so getting any more compensation probably would have been difficult anyway.

Posting that "they knew it would happen" makes no sense. Nobody knew this guy would act the way he did and nobody knew the airport police would rough him up.

I meant the removal period - regardless if he fought or not - would have still been video taped by half the plane and posted everywhere. They knew at least that much before they green lighted security to go get him. The headline would have just been slightly different "united uses security to remove paying customer from seat" or something.

[lilmira]

Haha I take it back. Coincidentally, there have been chinese people behaving badly provoked and unprovoked in airport and on plane. What I meant to say is that it would be a non story if the guy was denied to board at the gate which happens everyday.

[Manhattan]

How much are people making when a plane load of people rejects $800 for a minor inconvenience or re-routing? I would've ran this guy over to volunteer for that voucher or cash. It's all tax free too. You'd have to make about $1200 at your day job/business to get the same return. The likelihood that everyone on that flight needed to be somewhere at a specific time is almost none. Someone help me understand why no one else took that deal haha.

[lilmira]

I dunno. Probably because they were already seated and no one wanted to do the walk of shame.

[Disoblige]

Originally posted by lilmira
I dunno. Probably because they were already seated and no one wanted to do the walk of shame.

$800 + hotel stay? I'd walk down that aisle like it's Price is Right.

[lilmira]

Originally posted by Disoblige

$800 + hotel stay? I'd walk down that aisle like it's Price is Right.

totally irrelevant to the discussion but it's obligatory

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by Manhattan
How much are people making when a plane load of people rejects $800 for a minor inconvenience or re-routing? I would've ran this guy over to volunteer for that voucher or cash. It's all tax free too. You'd have to make about $1200 at your day job/business to get the same return. The likelihood that everyone on that flight needed to be somewhere at a specific time is almost none. Someone help me understand why no one else took that deal haha.

What I'm guessing happened is everything was poorly communicated. Also, the plane minions were probably hamstrung by United regulations that did not give them the authority to increase the payout. Its not like stewardesses are trained in proper people management, they're just schmucks following the rules.

Beyond that, it was probably a fluid situation that unfolded very quickly. Plane boardings are haphazard to begin with, let alone in this situation where people were already seated and then being asked to leave.

I completely agree though, I don't know if I have EVER been on a flight where a couple hour delay wouldn't be acceptable for $1k+. If it was overnight, that'd be a different story, but that would only affect me on maybe half of my flights.

[Swank]

I've been put up in a hotel due to a late plane causing me to miss a connection and I felt like I won the lottery. Cash on top of that would be

[rage2]

Originally posted by Disoblige
$800 + hotel stay? I'd walk down that aisle like it's Price is Right.

[kenny]

Originally posted by Manhattan
How much are people making when a plane load of people rejects $800 for a minor inconvenience or re-routing? I would've ran this guy over to volunteer for that voucher or cash. It's all tax free too. You'd have to make about $1200 at your day job/business to get the same return. The likelihood that everyone on that flight needed to be somewhere at a specific time is almost none. Someone help me understand why no one else took that deal haha.

It's usually offered as a flight credit which you can only use when booking through the airlines call center. It's a pain to use so to some people it's not worth it. I know you can negotiate with some airlines (including United) to get gift cards instead.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by Manhattan
How much are people making when a plane load of people rejects $800 for a minor inconvenience or re-routing? I would've ran this guy over to volunteer for that voucher or cash. It's all tax free too. You'd have to make about $1200 at your day job/business to get the same return. The likelihood that everyone on that flight needed to be somewhere at a specific time is almost none. Someone help me understand why no one else took that deal haha.

There are so many reasons. Depends on their travel plans on the other end (hotel / activity / car bookings), deadlines, appointments, weddings/events, having to take extra time off work, not having any more vacation time, etc. So many reasons not to accept that could cost way more than $800 equivalent. However, if you are traveling for unimportant business or something, or on you way home from a different trip with no further commitments, the money looks pretty good. On a short flight like that, chances are there were fewer major commitments, but still most people just don't want to do it. Also keep in mind they have already invested 3-4 hours of time getting to the airport, parking, waiting, going through security, etc. to get where they are now and most people despise air travel.

The other big thing is that they usually offer a voucher, not cash (and most people probably don't know cash is often an option). A voucher is not nearly as good as the same value in cash, and not very enticing. The United voucher I got when I got bumped had so many restrictions on it that it was literally unusable for me and went into the garbage.

When we were going to Japan, some guy volunteered to take $600 to step off and the next flight was a full day later. The strangest part about it was that there were still empty seats on the plane, even after accounting for staff.

[RX_EVOLV]

Many moons ago I was flying back JAL from Hong Kong, and when I got off the plane in Tokyo, they said they overbooked my next flight and just need 1 more seat for a family. They offered to redirect me to fly via Seattle instead of Vancouver to Calgary. I said yes because it doesn't impact my travel time at all. In exchange they upgraded me to First Class (awesome!) and then handed me 30,000 Yen cash in a white envelop, and escorted me to the JAL Business Lounge.

Best day ever.