petitefrancaise

Man dragged forcibly off the plane by security personnel.....

The news report I watched United Airlines shows how to make a PR crisis a total disaster - Apr. 11, 2017

They also spoke about the number of people who are "bumped" off flights each year, although at the check in I guess. 40K+ last year alone

I had the opposite experience once. Someone was removed from the plane so I could get home. I was obviously pregnant and KLM had had to put a load of delayed passengers from the USA onto my Amsterdam-Glasgow flight....

I was booked to fly from Amsterdam to Glasgow on an early morning flight. I went to check in, only to be told that the flight was full and they would put me on a flight to Newcastle and then a taxi across the UK to Glasgow. I was upset, pregnant and not feeling great. The woman took one look at me after telling me all this then changed her mind and told me to go to the gate. The problem was that a flight from Florida had been delayed and a whole load of passengers bound for Glasgow that should have been flying the night before had to be suddenly put on my morning flight. The air stewards asked for volunteers to get off the plane so that I ( pregnant) could have a seat. They offered 2 free return flights in EU and £250 cash. No-one volunteered. They went through the passenger list and decided to remove a single young man travelling on his own. They escorted him off the plane and they put me in his seat. Did I feel all the eyes on me as I walked down the aisle to my seat....

Pulaski

I predict another fee coming: a seat guarantee fee - that you will not be bumped under any circumstances. Obviously only a limited number would be available on any one flight, say 20% of seats.

scrubbedexpat091

Air Canada does something similar.

If you dont pay extra at booking for a seat assignment you may not get a seat.

mrken30

They already do this. The cheap tickets get bumped first, if you don't want to get bumped, buy a full price ticket.

Pulaski

I know, but that hasn't stopped airlines adding additional fees for things that were previously included. .... Such as booking a specific seat.

markonline1

Or don't be one of the last to check in!
The majority of airlines oversell. That wasn't a big deal to me. What was a big deal is they boarded the flight knowing they were oversold which created this situation. You don't board passengers until you have your required people to bump!

lansbury

Very difficult situation what do you do if, as in this case, a passenger refuses to comply with polite requests.

1) Let them stay in which case everyone else will do the same.

2) Remove them by force. The fault lies with how that force was applied. As I know you can get people off of an aircraft with dragging like that. Just needs the appropriate force applied in the right way.

petitefrancaise

Just seen this on reddit!
probably a fake but gave me a laugh

Oakvillian

Or,
3) put your employees in a taxi for the 300 mile trip (that they were presumably either too arrogant or too bone-idle to turn up for before everybody else had boarded the plane), and soak up the cost of that rather than show off to the entire world how little respect you have for your paying passengers.

mrken30

United has some blame, they should have never let everyone board. They should have known they had to move their staff prior to everyone boarding.

Do US Police get taught how to restrain people by using techniques like a gooseneck ?

Luton now charges £3 just to drop people off now. I think at most US airports it's still free to drop off passengers. I agree that they seem to charge for almost everything these days.

Ebonhawke

Apparently in this case, it wasn't a result of an overbooked flight. It was a result of having to put four United employees on the flight to Louisville, presumably so that they could crew a flight originating from Louisville.

In this case, it wasn't a case of a bad policy (overbooking) creating the PR nightmare because not enough people didn't show up for the flight - rather it appears that it was a case of poor planning to ensure that there were sufficient seats for transporting crew (which likely wasn't a 'one-off' occurrence), or lack of specified alternatives in the instance where passengers didn't accept the initial voucher offers.

United's share value has lost just under $1B in trading so far this morning.

DaveLovesDee

It's bad enough when one passenger gets bumped for another, but for the employees of a partner airline?

United Airlines video: Man dragged off flight so staff could take his seat, leaked email reveals

scrubbedexpat091

It wasnt a United operated flight but a flight operated by a regional airline and the staff in question worked for the airline operating the flight.

I believe Republic Airlines was the operating airline for the flight and that is what was meant by partner airline employees.

The fiasco was largely caused by the security which works for the city owned airport the airline wasnt the one who used force which was apparently against dept policy and the officers were suspended for it.

DaveLovesDee

If it's operated on behalf of, and ticketed as a United flight, it's a United flight.

lansbury

Really you want your flight crew to have driven 300 miles and then get in and fly your plane. Remind me to never go near an airline you run.