United passenger forcibly removed from overbooked flight..
Discussion
Stigproducts said:
DocJock said:
Because they have worked out that if only 290 turn up out of 300 then they can sell 310 tickets and normally get away with trousering the extra 10 ticket prices.
And if they get it wrong and more than 300 people turn up for the flight OR they decide after you were sitting on the plane they want one of their mates to go instead of you, they (and by "they" I mean a glorified waitress) reserve the right to have the local police give you a good shoeing for not doing exactly as they say. "It's federal law" ;-)Now a lot more people know their rights if they get bumped off due to over booking and will hold out for more money , in cash. I bet all the other airlines hate United for this!
wsurfa said:
No idea about the background, and I doubt it is as presented, but it seems United Airlines keep getting excellent PR for their onboard customer service
American Airlines flight attendant 'hits mum with her baby buggy as she holds her twins' then challenges passenger to a fight
Go on the other passenger for sticking up for the mother. American Airlines flight attendant 'hits mum with her baby buggy as she holds her twins' then challenges passenger to a fight
wsurfa said:
No idea about the background, and I doubt it is as presented, but it seems United Airlines keep getting excellent PR for their onboard customer service
American Airlines flight attendant 'hits mum with her baby buggy as she holds her twins' then challenges passenger to a fight
American Airlines flight attendant 'hits mum with her baby buggy as she holds her twins' then challenges passenger to a fight
at the ridiculous, bald goblin starting a fight with someone twice his size.(Reposted comment minus what is apparently a homophobic word these days so sorry about that! My gay mates use it to describe a particular type of person rather than in a homophobic sense so apologies if that's not allowed)
BIANCO said:
You cant really tell though what started it all, for all we know this woman could have been an emotionally unstable hormonal nutcase of a woman.
As a customer service rep you still can't hit her with a buggy even if something else has occurred (or she's a "nutcase" as you put it) nor can you ask another customer if they want a fight.Sadly it another example of the extremely poor attitude people generally have in a "Customer Relations" role now a days and more example are being captured on Mobiles so its more obvious now.
Edited by IanH755 on Saturday 22 April 16:41
Disastrous said:
wsurfa said:
No idea about the background, and I doubt it is as presented, but it seems United Airlines keep getting excellent PR for their onboard customer service
American Airlines flight attendant 'hits mum with her baby buggy as she holds her twins' then challenges passenger to a fight
American Airlines flight attendant 'hits mum with her baby buggy as she holds her twins' then challenges passenger to a fight
at the ridiculous, bald goblin starting a fight with someone twice his size.(Reposted comment minus what is apparently a homophobic word these days so sorry about that! My gay mates use it to describe a particular type of person rather than in a homophobic sense so apologies if that's not allowed)
Video emerges. Within a couple of hours AA has issued an announcement saying:
- "What we see on this video does not reflect our values or how we care for our customers. We are deeply sorry for the pain we have caused this passenger and her family and to any other customers affected by this incident", "The actions of our team member captured here do not appear to reflect patience or empathy" and "we are disappointed by these actions"
- The employee in question has been suspended
- The passenger was upgraded to First class on the next flight
Also interesting to note that the United incident has had real consequences for their CEO:
- Stripped of his previously planned appointment as chairman of the board
- Change to bonus structure to link to customer satisfaction - which (at least in early years will probably mean a cut, given their current reputation)
IanH755 said:
BIANCO said:
You cant really tell though what started it all, for all we know this woman could have been an emotionally unstable hormonal nutcase of a woman.
As a customer service rep you still can't hit her with a buggy even if something else has occurred (or she's a "nutcase" as you put it) nor can you ask another customer if they want a fight.Sadly it another example of the extremely poor attitude people generally have in a "Customer Relations" role now a days and more example are being captured on Mobiles so its more obvious now.
Edited by IanH755 on Saturday 22 April 16:41
Henners said:
IanH755 said:
BIANCO said:
You cant really tell though what started it all, for all we know this woman could have been an emotionally unstable hormonal nutcase of a woman.
As a customer service rep you still can't hit her with a buggy even if something else has occurred (or she's a "nutcase" as you put it) nor can you ask another customer if they want a fight.Sadly it another example of the extremely poor attitude people generally have in a "Customer Relations" role now a days and more example are being captured on Mobiles so its more obvious now.
Edited by IanH755 on Saturday 22 April 16:41
surveyor said:
wsurfa said:
No idea about the background, and I doubt it is as presented, but it seems United Airlines keep getting excellent PR for their onboard customer service
American Airlines flight attendant 'hits mum with her baby buggy as she holds her twins' then challenges passenger to a fight
That's American Airlines...American Airlines flight attendant 'hits mum with her baby buggy as she holds her twins' then challenges passenger to a fight
El stovey said:
ZX10R NIN said:
It may have been explained in the previous pages but why do the airlines over book the flights anyway if you have sold 300 seats & then only 290 turn up what difference does it make because the 10 seats are now empty?
Some airlines often get businesses travelers and people on flexible tickets that change them at the last minute leaving seats the airline can't sell so they overbook to cover any potential loss. Same thing happens in some hotels. What they are doing is maximising their profits, which is completely different. Which is exactly the same as hotels; you pay a premium to get a refund if you cancel at short notice. Or you don't get a refund. Either way the hotel haven't "lost" anything.
TEKNOPUG said:
El stovey said:
ZX10R NIN said:
It may have been explained in the previous pages but why do the airlines over book the flights anyway if you have sold 300 seats & then only 290 turn up what difference does it make because the 10 seats are now empty?
Some airlines often get businesses travelers and people on flexible tickets that change them at the last minute leaving seats the airline can't sell so they overbook to cover any potential loss. Same thing happens in some hotels. What they are doing is maximising their profits, which is completely different. Which is exactly the same as hotels; you pay a premium to get a refund if you cancel at short notice. Or you don't get a refund. Either way the hotel haven't "lost" anything.
so Is there a potential loss or not?Of course there is a potential loss.
The flexible fare/room rate isn't double the normal one. If the customer cancels or changes date, the airline/hotel often won't be able to resell the room/seat at a rate that will cover their loss.
Overselling a service is very common, there are many things you pay for that would be unavailable if everyone that paid for it tried to use it,
TEKNOPUG said:
There is no potential loss. That's been factored in to the price of the flexible/business ticket. If there was any loss, they shouldn't sell tickets which allow you to change flights or they should charge more for them.
What they are doing is maximising their profits, which is completely different. Which is exactly the same as hotels; you pay a premium to get a refund if you cancel at short notice. Or you don't get a refund. Either way the hotel haven't "lost" anything.
Maximising profits = minimising losses. They oversell because they need to maximise the revenue per seat.What they are doing is maximising their profits, which is completely different. Which is exactly the same as hotels; you pay a premium to get a refund if you cancel at short notice. Or you don't get a refund. Either way the hotel haven't "lost" anything.
Another option for them would be to say to passengers "if you miss your flight you have to buy a completely new ticket" which would be a bit of a kicker for some people. The airlines, in their wisdom, obviously feel that it's better to overbook than to make people lost £00s when they miss their flight.
kapiteinlangzaam said:
Cold said:
The attorney representing Dr Dao has announced that they have reached a settlement with United of an undisclosed amount.
Nice pay day for the doc!7 figures, perhaps?
Keeping it out of the courts saves a lot of shareholder value.
They've changed a fair few of their policies as a result of this. However, despite being a UA Gold member, I am now actively avoiding flying with them and am happy to let my SA Gold lapse, as I find their customer service attitude to be quite abhorrent.
So what, you might say. However, last year my SA flight bill amounted to over $53k spent, mainly, in J or F. I'm now looking to spend this with OneWorld carriers for my flights West and South whilst I remain with EK for my travel East.
So, not only do UA lose out on profitable ticket sales, but as a result I'm swinging my spend away from their SA partners as well in order to capitalise on OW.
So what, you might say. However, last year my SA flight bill amounted to over $53k spent, mainly, in J or F. I'm now looking to spend this with OneWorld carriers for my flights West and South whilst I remain with EK for my travel East.
So, not only do UA lose out on profitable ticket sales, but as a result I'm swinging my spend away from their SA partners as well in order to capitalise on OW.
Edited by schmalex on Thursday 27th April 21:23
"United will now offer up to $10,000 for passengers who give up their seat on an overbooked flight"
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/27/united-will-now-off...
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/27/united-will-now-off...
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