7 ms·

Based on the circumstances (he wasn't a danger to anyone or acting out in any unreasonable way) the better choice probably would have been to just leave him be.

Based on the circumstances (he wasn't a danger to anyone or acting out in any unreasonable way) the better choice probably would have been to just leave him be. He may not have had a legal "right" to be on the plane and United may have been within their rights to remove him but it can't have been worth the image hit to have him strongarmed off the plane. If they had given up on removing him and just picked someone else, or raised the compensation for someone to voluntarily give up their seat, or found another way to get their crew to their destination, this wouldn't have even been a story.

mcv 10y ago
Did he not have a legal right? I thought the only reason they removed him was because the plane was overbooked and they wanted the seat for their own employees. Sounds like he had a valid ticket and every right to be on that plane. The airline should not have overbooked, and discovering that they had, they should have put their own employee on the next plane. Treating paying customers like this is inexcusable.
- MattSteelblade 10y ago
  Airlines are legally allowed to overbook. It's an established practice.
  - khedoros1 10y ago
    Well, yes, but established practice is to deny people the opportunity to board the plane, not to violently remove them after they've already been seated.
    - cema 10y ago
      Seems like it may be crucial. I am really eager to see how it resolves!
  - ptero 10y ago
    Yes, but then there is a prescribed compensation that everyone involuntarily denied boarding (IDB) is entitled. The vouchers is an attempt to avoid this IDB by getting someone to voluntarily fly later. Plus, I am not a lawyer, but I think IDB means just that -- boarding. Once you board the airline cannot change its mind, not for commercial reasons (although it might be able to weasel out of that by getting everyone off and re-boarding without some people). Again, take with a grain of salt; this is just what I heard.
  - mcv 10y ago
    It's a terrible practice and it should be punished more so it will stop.
  - syshum 10y ago
    Just because it is legally allowed or an established practice does not make it right Lots of things were legally allowed established practices until they were not; people realized they were unethical and immoral, hopefully people will begin to realize this practice is also unethical and work to abolish legal overselling
    - FabHK 10y ago
      Yes, lots of things that are legal or established practice are not right. But overbooking is almost certainly right. Look, fact is that some pax won't show up for their reservation. Without overbooking, planes would fly emptier, wasting money and damaging the environment. The airlines have fairly good predictions in most cases, and people have different preferences, so that almost always in the small number of cases where there is not enough space you can get people to get bumped voluntarily. It's really a win-win.
- londons_explore 10y ago
  A ticket is just a deal between you and the airline. At any point the airline can decide it's not going to uphold that deal. Sure, you can try to go to the courts to get monetary compensation for that, but you can't force them to provide the service.
  - mcv 10y ago
    That makes them an unreliable partner to deal with. A ticket is not just a simple product, there are other deals depending on it. You may have a vacation booked, an important meeting, a funeral, or anything else. Missing your flight could mean missing a lot more than just the flight. The airline should take their agreements a lot more seriously than this.
    - maxerickson 10y ago
      And yet the thing people actually shop on is price.
      - dvcc 10y ago
        Well, differentiating airlines is hard. To me, a for the most part non-traveler, they all offer pretty much the same product, quality-wise. Unless I was to up my ticket to some other class, every coach ticket is pretty much the same. So what am I supposed to differentiate on other than price?
        maxerickson 10y ago
        Sure, but part of the point is that it isn't an accident. Airlines are paying attention to what people respond to so instead of going out of their way to compete on quality or whatever other factors, they compete on price.
        dvcc 10y ago
        I understand, but I don't think we can put the blame on the consumer alone. When all pretty-much compete on price alone, we can only compare on price alone.

mcv 10y ago

Did he not have a legal right? I thought the only reason they removed him was because the plane was overbooked and they wanted the seat for their own employees. Sounds like he had a valid ticket and every right to be on that plane. The airline should not have overbooked, and discovering that they had, they should have put their own employee on the next plane. Treating paying customers like this is inexcusable.

MattSteelblade 10y ago
Airlines are legally allowed to overbook. It's an established practice.
- khedoros1 10y ago
  Well, yes, but established practice is to deny people the opportunity to board the plane, not to violently remove them after they've already been seated.
  - cema 10y ago
    Seems like it may be crucial. I am really eager to see how it resolves!
- ptero 10y ago
  Yes, but then there is a prescribed compensation that everyone involuntarily denied boarding (IDB) is entitled. The vouchers is an attempt to avoid this IDB by getting someone to voluntarily fly later. Plus, I am not a lawyer, but I think IDB means just that -- boarding. Once you board the airline cannot change its mind, not for commercial reasons (although it might be able to weasel out of that by getting everyone off and re-boarding without some people). Again, take with a grain of salt; this is just what I heard.
- mcv 10y ago
  It's a terrible practice and it should be punished more so it will stop.
- syshum 10y ago
  Just because it is legally allowed or an established practice does not make it right Lots of things were legally allowed established practices until they were not; people realized they were unethical and immoral, hopefully people will begin to realize this practice is also unethical and work to abolish legal overselling
  - FabHK 10y ago
    Yes, lots of things that are legal or established practice are not right. But overbooking is almost certainly right. Look, fact is that some pax won't show up for their reservation. Without overbooking, planes would fly emptier, wasting money and damaging the environment. The airlines have fairly good predictions in most cases, and people have different preferences, so that almost always in the small number of cases where there is not enough space you can get people to get bumped voluntarily. It's really a win-win.
londons_explore 10y ago
A ticket is just a deal between you and the airline. At any point the airline can decide it's not going to uphold that deal. Sure, you can try to go to the courts to get monetary compensation for that, but you can't force them to provide the service.
- mcv 10y ago
  That makes them an unreliable partner to deal with. A ticket is not just a simple product, there are other deals depending on it. You may have a vacation booked, an important meeting, a funeral, or anything else. Missing your flight could mean missing a lot more than just the flight. The airline should take their agreements a lot more seriously than this.
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    And yet the thing people actually shop on is price.
    - dvcc 10y ago
      Well, differentiating airlines is hard. To me, a for the most part non-traveler, they all offer pretty much the same product, quality-wise. Unless I was to up my ticket to some other class, every coach ticket is pretty much the same. So what am I supposed to differentiate on other than price?
      - maxerickson 10y ago
        Sure, but part of the point is that it isn't an accident. Airlines are paying attention to what people respond to so instead of going out of their way to compete on quality or whatever other factors, they compete on price.
        dvcc 10y ago
        I understand, but I don't think we can put the blame on the consumer alone. When all pretty-much compete on price alone, we can only compare on price alone.