4 ms·

They messed up and overbooked the flight, sure. But why on earth would they forcefully drag people out of the plane, while they could just find volunteers? The

by bello 9y ago

They messed up and overbooked the flight, sure. But why on earth would they forcefully drag people out of the plane, while they could just find volunteers? They could offer cash/miles to whoever volunteered, increasing the offer until someone accepted. I've seen other airlines do this on several occasions. They couldn't have handled it worse than they did.

panzagl 9y ago
They did, they went up to $800 and nobody volunteered. They were too cheap to offer any more.
- jessaustin 9y ago
  This is the problem here. If they would have offered $5000 they would have had four seats immediately. They're going to pay a lot more than $20,000 for this disaster.
  - ryandrake 9y ago
    Why offer $5000 when you can just beat people's faces in and drag them away?
- AnimalMuppet 9y ago
  What are they legally required to offer before they can just pick people?
  - panzagl 9y ago
    If they pick someone they are entitled to 4 x ticket capped at $1350.
    - johnnyo 9y ago
      Which is why they "randomly" pick the people who paid the least for their ticket.
    - AnimalMuppet 9y ago
      Hmm. So for Chicago to Louisville, $800 could plausibly have been 4 x ticket. So that could be the max that United was required to offer. Note the weasel wording. I don't actually know.
  - btbuildem 9y ago
    $1350
colinramsay 9y ago
The idea of offering cash is specifically mentioned in the article.
Flammy 9y ago
> They messed up and overbooked the flight, sure. To be clear, every flight is overbooked. The airlines have run the numbers, and it is clearly more profitable to sell (for example) 105% of the plane, and then if more than 100% show up, pay people off to take a different flight.
- John23832 9y ago
  > The airlines have run the numbers, and it is clearly more profitable to sell (for example) 105% of the plane, and then if more than 100% show up, pay people off to take a different flight. I guess the op's question is, why was it not done here? (Sadly) Everyone has a price for everything. Obviously that guy's price was not met. As you say, the airline has done the math... does their math include the cost of dragging a passenger bruised and bleeding off of their plane? Probably... Does it include the cost of cameras capturing the whole thing? Probably not.
  - Symmetry 9y ago
    I imagine that the there was effectively a "CAN'T HAPPEN" comment on what to do when nobody bit at $800. I can imagine the people writing the policy imagining that their employees might collude with friends on board to pocket the money if they let the offer get too high.
    - John23832 9y ago
      That's a problem with the processes in place in the airline. They have to do their own due diligence. Who's to say that this man's price was the lowest price? Turn it into a bidding process, the lowest 5 bids on the plane get paid, and the airline gets their seats. The potential for misuse is not a good excuse for accepting negative actions.
      - Symmetry 9y ago
        Oh, yes, I totally agree. When you have a "CAN'T HAPPEN" in a code comment that's a sign of laziness or bad design and the same applies to company procedures. Hopefully United will go back and seriously rethink how they go about this now. It's just sad it had to come to this to make it happen.
btian 9y ago
They made offers - 1) $400 2) $800 3 and final) Leave the airplane or we'll beat the shit out of you. Glad I made the decision to not fly United 4 years ago.
- raverbashing 9y ago
  They don't even need to offer more money. Offer $1000 and two free return tickets to anywhere in the US, or miles. I find it hard to believe no one volunteered, even for a small amount, unless they were already delayed
  - douche 9y ago
    When they do this, it's usually a shittier offer than it sounds. They're not offering cash, but value in tickets, which has an expiration a short time in the future, and can only be applied to certain flights. It'd be interesting to see statistics on how often these offers are even redeemed.
    - jasonlfunk 9y ago
      The few times I've taken the offer, the tickets were good for a year. But for someone who doesn't fly a lot, that is a relatively short amount of time.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
williamle8300 9y ago
In United's public statement they said had to remove the guy cause he wasn't "willingly volunteering" to leave. Hmmmmm....

by bello 9y ago

panzagl 9y ago

They did, they went up to $800 and nobody volunteered. They were too cheap to offer any more.

jessaustin 9y ago
This is the problem here. If they would have offered $5000 they would have had four seats immediately. They're going to pay a lot more than $20,000 for this disaster.
- ryandrake 9y ago
  Why offer $5000 when you can just beat people's faces in and drag them away?
AnimalMuppet 9y ago
What are they legally required to offer before they can just pick people?
- panzagl 9y ago
  If they pick someone they are entitled to 4 x ticket capped at $1350.
  - johnnyo 9y ago
    Which is why they "randomly" pick the people who paid the least for their ticket.
  - AnimalMuppet 9y ago
    Hmm. So for Chicago to Louisville, $800 could plausibly have been 4 x ticket. So that could be the max that United was required to offer. Note the weasel wording. I don't actually know.
- btbuildem 9y ago
  $1350

colinramsay 9y ago

The idea of offering cash is specifically mentioned in the article.

Flammy 9y ago

> They messed up and overbooked the flight, sure. To be clear, every flight is overbooked. The airlines have run the numbers, and it is clearly more profitable to sell (for example) 105% of the plane, and then if more than 100% show up, pay people off to take a different flight.

John23832 9y ago
> The airlines have run the numbers, and it is clearly more profitable to sell (for example) 105% of the plane, and then if more than 100% show up, pay people off to take a different flight. I guess the op's question is, why was it not done here? (Sadly) Everyone has a price for everything. Obviously that guy's price was not met. As you say, the airline has done the math... does their math include the cost of dragging a passenger bruised and bleeding off of their plane? Probably... Does it include the cost of cameras capturing the whole thing? Probably not.
- Symmetry 9y ago
  I imagine that the there was effectively a "CAN'T HAPPEN" comment on what to do when nobody bit at $800. I can imagine the people writing the policy imagining that their employees might collude with friends on board to pocket the money if they let the offer get too high.
  - John23832 9y ago
    That's a problem with the processes in place in the airline. They have to do their own due diligence. Who's to say that this man's price was the lowest price? Turn it into a bidding process, the lowest 5 bids on the plane get paid, and the airline gets their seats. The potential for misuse is not a good excuse for accepting negative actions.
    - Symmetry 9y ago
      Oh, yes, I totally agree. When you have a "CAN'T HAPPEN" in a code comment that's a sign of laziness or bad design and the same applies to company procedures. Hopefully United will go back and seriously rethink how they go about this now. It's just sad it had to come to this to make it happen.

btian 9y ago

They made offers - 1) $400 2) $800 3 and final) Leave the airplane or we'll beat the shit out of you. Glad I made the decision to not fly United 4 years ago.

raverbashing 9y ago
They don't even need to offer more money. Offer $1000 and two free return tickets to anywhere in the US, or miles. I find it hard to believe no one volunteered, even for a small amount, unless they were already delayed
- douche 9y ago
  When they do this, it's usually a shittier offer than it sounds. They're not offering cash, but value in tickets, which has an expiration a short time in the future, and can only be applied to certain flights. It'd be interesting to see statistics on how often these offers are even redeemed.
  - jasonlfunk 9y ago
    The few times I've taken the offer, the tickets were good for a year. But for someone who doesn't fly a lot, that is a relatively short amount of time.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]

williamle8300 9y ago

In United's public statement they said had to remove the guy cause he wasn't "willingly volunteering" to leave. Hmmmmm....