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Yes, but -- The counter argument is that businesses should be expected to conduct their business such that they do not need to call on the police to use force.

Yes, but -- The counter argument is that businesses should be expected to conduct their business such that they do not need to call on the police to use force. Especially if, by escalating to police, they are effectively avoiding the inherent costs of doing business. In this case, they could have offered another $1,000 apiece to get those last two volunteers, but there's no need to do that when you can just call the cops to drag passengers off the plane at no cost. Likewise, Wal-Mart has been widely criticized for not taking any steps to manage or problem-solve any issues in their stores, instead just relying on calls to police.

dragontamer 10y ago
After offering $800 + refund of ticket... Zero passengers volunteered. I have severe doubts that more money would solve the issue. The flight didn't cost more than $200 one way. Calling the police worked for 3 of the four passengers. There was just one last guy who continued to refuse even after getting his nose busted.
- apta 10y ago
  $800 didn't work, but what about $2000? If that didn't work, what about $5000? At some point it gets pretty likely that someone will take up the offer.
  - dragontamer 10y ago
    Why should airlines arbitrarily increase costs? Its as if you think you have an entitlement to fly or something. Aside from the costs you put up for your ticket (and a little bit more to pay for the hassle of getting off the plane), I think the 400% of ticket cost cap is very reasonable.
    - thatcat 10y ago
      Why should the airline be able to determine how much your time is worth? >its as if you think you have an entitlement to fly I think the 400% of ticket cost cap is very reasonable Isn't this what a ticket is? In any other business, once you buy something it's yours unless someone buys it from you. > I think the 400% of ticket cost cap is very reasonable If some one needs to conduct important business then making 600 extra dollars isn't enough to incentivize that person to give up their seat. Making it a percentage of the flight cost is arbitrary because it's not related to the amount of your time they are wasting or your opportunity cost of not taking that flight.
    - URSpider94 10y ago
      They should not arbitrarily increase costs. If they want to take the risk of over-selling their seats to make more money, then they should be willing to buy back the extra seat at open auction if too many people show up. That's perfectly reasonable. If you are offering the buy-out to a plane of 130 people, all it takes is one person saying yes to get you a seat. In this case, they needed four seats, so they'd have to go a little higher. I also think you are greatly underestimating the power of the dollar. As others have said, a few hundred dollars more, and I feel confident that multiple volunteers would have come forward. Also, they might try offering actual cash instead of vouchers. To be clear, the situation would also have been entirely different if they had dealt with it BEFORE they fully boarded the plane. It would have been much easier to find volunteers and deny boarding if needed when everyone was still in the terminal.
- donald123 10y ago
  $800 is not cash, it's airline vouchers with a lot of limitations and an expiration date (1 year). More money would have solved the issue, people on that plane said there were people told the gate agent they would volunteer if the offer is $1600, but gate agent just laughed about it.

dragontamer 10y ago

After offering $800 + refund of ticket... Zero passengers volunteered. I have severe doubts that more money would solve the issue. The flight didn't cost more than $200 one way. Calling the police worked for 3 of the four passengers. There was just one last guy who continued to refuse even after getting his nose busted.

apta 10y ago
$800 didn't work, but what about $2000? If that didn't work, what about $5000? At some point it gets pretty likely that someone will take up the offer.
- dragontamer 10y ago
  Why should airlines arbitrarily increase costs? Its as if you think you have an entitlement to fly or something. Aside from the costs you put up for your ticket (and a little bit more to pay for the hassle of getting off the plane), I think the 400% of ticket cost cap is very reasonable.
  - thatcat 10y ago
    Why should the airline be able to determine how much your time is worth? >its as if you think you have an entitlement to fly I think the 400% of ticket cost cap is very reasonable Isn't this what a ticket is? In any other business, once you buy something it's yours unless someone buys it from you. > I think the 400% of ticket cost cap is very reasonable If some one needs to conduct important business then making 600 extra dollars isn't enough to incentivize that person to give up their seat. Making it a percentage of the flight cost is arbitrary because it's not related to the amount of your time they are wasting or your opportunity cost of not taking that flight.
  - URSpider94 10y ago
    They should not arbitrarily increase costs. If they want to take the risk of over-selling their seats to make more money, then they should be willing to buy back the extra seat at open auction if too many people show up. That's perfectly reasonable. If you are offering the buy-out to a plane of 130 people, all it takes is one person saying yes to get you a seat. In this case, they needed four seats, so they'd have to go a little higher. I also think you are greatly underestimating the power of the dollar. As others have said, a few hundred dollars more, and I feel confident that multiple volunteers would have come forward. Also, they might try offering actual cash instead of vouchers. To be clear, the situation would also have been entirely different if they had dealt with it BEFORE they fully boarded the plane. It would have been much easier to find volunteers and deny boarding if needed when everyone was still in the terminal.
donald123 10y ago
$800 is not cash, it's airline vouchers with a lot of limitations and an expiration date (1 year). More money would have solved the issue, people on that plane said there were people told the gate agent they would volunteer if the offer is $1600, but gate agent just laughed about it.