3 ms·

I keep seeing $1350 mentioned. It's not a ceiling. $1350 (or 4x the cost of the leg, whichever is lower), is the maximum the airline is legally obligated to o

by soneil 10y ago

I keep seeing $1350 mentioned. It's not a ceiling. $1350 (or 4x the cost of the leg, whichever is lower), is the maximum the airline is legally obligated to offer an involuntary refused-boarding. They're free to offer $2000, $3000 if they think it's in their best interests (or in this case, cheaper than the inevitable suit). $1350 is just a cap on their legal obligation, not their moral.

guelo 10y ago
Indeed. But I also keep thinking that regulation is broken. It should be just 4x, not 4x with a cap. If you paid $2k for the ticket the cap means the airline can steal from you. I'm sure airline lobbyists influenced that regulation.
- ghaff 10y ago
  >If you paid $2k for the ticket the cap means the airline can steal from you. I don't have a real opinion on what compensation levels should be. (Although there are enough IDB's that the answer is probably "not enough.") However, in addition to the compensation, the airline still has to get you to your destination.
- bpodgursky 10y ago
  It's in addition to the original ticket price.
- kelnos 10y ago
  The airline is left to choose who they'll involuntarily bump. Typically someone paying $2k for a ticket is likely in business class, and they'd only ever bump someone from economy. Note that the monetary compensation is in addition to rebooking the bumped passenger on a later flight, so even if an economy passenger had paid more than $1350 for the ticket initially, they are still getting $1350 in addition to a seat on another flight.
  - gambiting 10y ago
    There was an article here yesterday saying that someone got kicked out of a 1st class seat on United plane(after already being seated) because they had to use a different plane that had fewer 1st class seats than the original plane planned for that flight - so after seating him, they kicked him out for a "higher priority" passenger.
  - zerkten 10y ago
    >> Typically someone paying $2k for a ticket is likely in business class, and they'd only ever bump someone from economy. That is not true. There are cases of business and first class being bumped (http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-united-low-priority-passenger-20170412-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-united...).
    - kelnos 10y ago
      The guy didn't get bumped; he got moved to a lower class of service. Same rules don't apply there. Either way, my other point makes this not really matter; the compensation isn't a "refund" for the seat. It's compensation for the inconvenience, and the airline is still required to get you to your destination in addition.
presto8 10y ago
I'm sure you know this, but for the benefit of others: the money from being involuntarily denied boarding (in this case, the $1350 maximum) is cold hard cash. The money they offer to voluntarily give up your seat is vouchers which are only redeemable for travel on the airline and expire after some period (usually 1 year). The airlines really hate giving up the cold hard cash since it hits their bottom line immediately, whereas the voucher is essentially "free" money.
mcv 10y ago
So even if that rule applied here (which it doesn't), then United would still be in the wrong for not offering up to that limit.

by soneil 10y ago

guelo 10y ago

Indeed. But I also keep thinking that regulation is broken. It should be just 4x, not 4x with a cap. If you paid $2k for the ticket the cap means the airline can steal from you. I'm sure airline lobbyists influenced that regulation.

ghaff 10y ago
>If you paid $2k for the ticket the cap means the airline can steal from you. I don't have a real opinion on what compensation levels should be. (Although there are enough IDB's that the answer is probably "not enough.") However, in addition to the compensation, the airline still has to get you to your destination.
bpodgursky 10y ago
It's in addition to the original ticket price.
kelnos 10y ago
The airline is left to choose who they'll involuntarily bump. Typically someone paying $2k for a ticket is likely in business class, and they'd only ever bump someone from economy. Note that the monetary compensation is in addition to rebooking the bumped passenger on a later flight, so even if an economy passenger had paid more than $1350 for the ticket initially, they are still getting $1350 in addition to a seat on another flight.
- gambiting 10y ago
  There was an article here yesterday saying that someone got kicked out of a 1st class seat on United plane(after already being seated) because they had to use a different plane that had fewer 1st class seats than the original plane planned for that flight - so after seating him, they kicked him out for a "higher priority" passenger.
- zerkten 10y ago
  >> Typically someone paying $2k for a ticket is likely in business class, and they'd only ever bump someone from economy. That is not true. There are cases of business and first class being bumped (http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-united-low-priority-passenger-20170412-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-united...).
  - kelnos 10y ago
    The guy didn't get bumped; he got moved to a lower class of service. Same rules don't apply there. Either way, my other point makes this not really matter; the compensation isn't a "refund" for the seat. It's compensation for the inconvenience, and the airline is still required to get you to your destination in addition.

presto8 10y ago

I'm sure you know this, but for the benefit of others: the money from being involuntarily denied boarding (in this case, the $1350 maximum) is cold hard cash. The money they offer to voluntarily give up your seat is vouchers which are only redeemable for travel on the airline and expire after some period (usually 1 year). The airlines really hate giving up the cold hard cash since it hits their bottom line immediately, whereas the voucher is essentially "free" money.

mcv 10y ago

So even if that rule applied here (which it doesn't), then United would still be in the wrong for not offering up to that limit.