United passenger forcibly removed from overbooked flight..

[schmalex]

FourWheelDrift said:

"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...

Correct. Here's the full email that was sent to UA Gold and Plat members today

Oscar Munoz said:

Dear Mr. Xxx,

Each flight you take with us represents an important promise we make to you, our customer. It's not simply that we make sure you reach your destination safely and on time, but also that you will be treated with the highest level of service and the deepest sense of dignity and respect.

Earlier this month, we broke that trust when a passenger was forcibly removed from one of our planes. We can never say we are sorry enough for what occurred, but we also know meaningful actions will speak louder than words.

For the past several weeks, we have been urgently working to answer two questions: How did this happen, and how can we do our best to ensure this never happens again?

It happened because our corporate policies were placed ahead of our shared values. Our procedures got in the way of our employees doing what they know is right.

Fixing that problem starts now with changing how we fly, serve and respect our customers. This is a turning point for all of us here at United – and as CEO, it's my responsibility to make sure that we learn from this experience and redouble our efforts to put our customers at the center of everything we do.

That’s why we announced that we will no longer ask law enforcement to remove customers from a flight and customers will not be required to give up their seat once on board – except in matters of safety or security.

We also know that despite our best efforts, when things don’t go the way they should, we need to be there for you to make things right. There are several new ways we’re going to do just that.

We will increase incentives for voluntary rebooking up to $10,000 and will be eliminating the red tape on permanently lost bags with a new "no-questions-asked" $1,500 reimbursement policy. We will also be rolling out a new app for our employees that will enable them to provide on-the-spot goodwill gestures in the form of miles, travel credit and other amenities when your experience with us misses the mark. You can learn more about these commitments and many other changes at hub.united.com.

While these actions are important, I have found myself reflecting more broadly on the role we play and the responsibilities we have to you and the communities we serve.

I believe we must go further in redefining what United's corporate citizenship looks like in our society. You can and ought to expect more from us, and we intend to live up to those higher expectations in the way we embody social responsibility and civic leadership everywhere we operate. I hope you will see that pledge express itself in our actions going forward, of which these initial, though important, changes are merely a first step.

Our goal should be nothing less than to make you truly proud to say, "I fly United."

Ultimately, the measure of our success is your satisfaction and the past several weeks have moved us to go further than ever before in elevating your experience with us. I know our 87,000 employees have taken this message to heart, and they are as energized as ever to fulfill our promise to serve you better with each flight and earn the trust you’ve given us.

We are working harder than ever for the privilege to serve you and I know we will be stronger, better and the customer-focused airline you expect and deserve.

With Great Gratitude,
Oscar Munoz
CEO
United Airlines

[PurpleAki]

Up to $10000? Now this is out there no-ones going to accept less are they!

[FourWheelDrift]

PurpleAki said:

Up to $10000? Now this is out there no-ones going to accept less are they!

I think Delta made the same pledge earlier that United were forced to match.

[R1gtr]

FourWheelDrift said:

PurpleAki said:

Up to $10000? Now this is out there no-ones going to accept less are they!

I think Delta made the same pledge earlier that United were forced to match.

People will be fighting each other to get off the plane, or rocking up at the gate late as possible hoping to be told there seat is gone because of overbooking.

[whoami]

R1gtr said:

FourWheelDrift said:

PurpleAki said:

Up to $10000? Now this is out there no-ones going to accept less are they!

I think Delta made the same pledge earlier that United were forced to match.

People will be fighting each other to get off the plane, or rocking up at the gate late as possible hoping to be told there seat is gone because of overbooking.

Indeed.

A problem entirely of their own making.

[glazbagun]

whoami said:

R1gtr said:

FourWheelDrift said:

PurpleAki said:

Up to $10000? Now this is out there no-ones going to accept less are they!

I think Delta made the same pledge earlier that United were forced to match.

People will be fighting each other to get off the plane, or rocking up at the gate late as possible hoping to be told there seat is gone because of overbooking.

Indeed.

A problem entirely of their own making.

I imagine few will get the full 10K though. It'll be liek one of those shopping channels where they have 50 pieces to sell and the price will keep dropping until they're all gone. You could hold out for ten grand, but you'll only get it if noone else accepts less.

[whoami]

glazbagun said:

whoami said:

R1gtr said:

FourWheelDrift said:

PurpleAki said:

Up to $10000? Now this is out there no-ones going to accept less are they!

I think Delta made the same pledge earlier that United were forced to match.

People will be fighting each other to get off the plane, or rocking up at the gate late as possible hoping to be told there seat is gone because of overbooking.

Indeed.

A problem entirely of their own making.

I imagine few will get the full 10K though. It'll be liek one of those shopping channels where they have 50 pieces to sell and the price will keep dropping until they're all gone. You could hold out for ten grand, but you'll only get it if noone else accepts less.

Absolutely. However, that won't stop each and every one of them demanding top dollar.

[Hoofy]

whoami said:

R1gtr said:

FourWheelDrift said:

PurpleAki said:

Up to $10000? Now this is out there no-ones going to accept less are they!

I think Delta made the same pledge earlier that United were forced to match.

People will be fighting each other to get off the plane, or rocking up at the gate late as possible hoping to be told there seat is gone because of overbooking.

Indeed.

A problem entirely of their own making.

I don't think it's as clear cut as this. Say there are two passengers happy to take the money and only one seat required, it will be almost like a reverse bidding war until one person decides it isn't worth the money whilst the other person will happily miss a flight for $500.

[cb31]

Hoofy said:

I don't think it's as clear cut as this. Say there are two passengers happy to take the money and only one seat required, it will be almost like a reverse bidding war until one person decides it isn't worth the money whilst the other person will happily miss a flight for $500.

Like their existing offer it won't be worth anything like as much in the real world. At first I struggled to believe not one person would leave the flight for $800 or whatever they were offering. After reading more it turned out that it was in $50 vouchers to be used on United flights with a maximum of 1 per flight. So basically $50 off per flight and you probably had to pay full fare to get it rather than through a discounter. No wonder nobody was interested.

[anonymous-user]

so he has been paid off and not allowed to disclose, got to be a at least a few hundred thousand, but I think maybe a million.

[poo at Paul's]

The Spruce goose said:

so he has been paid off and not allowed to disclose, got to be a at least a few hundred thousand, but I think maybe a million.

$30 mil I reckon

[anonymous-user]

cb31 said:

Hoofy said:

I don't think it's as clear cut as this. Say there are two passengers happy to take the money and only one seat required, it will be almost like a reverse bidding war until one person decides it isn't worth the money whilst the other person will happily miss a flight for $500.

Like their existing offer it won't be worth anything like as much in the real world. At first I struggled to believe not one person would leave the flight for $800 or whatever they were offering. After reading more it turned out that it was in $50 vouchers to be used on United flights with a maximum of 1 per flight. So basically $50 off per flight and you probably had to pay full fare to get it rather than through a discounter. No wonder nobody was interested.

Plus the problem for united was that they let everyone board then realised they had this crew they wanted on the flight. Then it's much much harder to remove people.

Now if the flights full, airlines will be more careful about letting people board in the first place, you'll just get refused at the gate and offered the minimum amount, which is what happens normally anyway. Usually with overbookings it's easy to find people who want off or want the cash/voucher offer. The deal should be made at the gate in the terminal though or even at check in, not on the aircraft. It's much easier to stop someone getting on a full aircraft than having to remove them after they are on.

Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 28th April 06:43

[wolfracesonic]

I wonder if UA will get sued by someone because they didn't get thrown off the plane and therefore lost their $10,000?

[Murph7355]

PurpleAki said:

Can't see it being 8 figures. Any 7 figure number is bloody decent days work. I'd take a slap for that.

8 figures would not surprise me.

Munoz was a fool for simply not doing this within days. It was obvious to many of us on here that this would have to happen. His inaction made the problems much worse (lack of genuine apology, the delays giving the media time to spread rubbish etc).

All that's happened is that they've done what was always likely (refunds for other passengers, changes in policy, big pay out for the Dr etc) except the payout will have been bigger.

If his lawyers read UK papers he'll be in line for some more soon too.

I'm surprised Munoz hasn't fired a few people tbh, but then his own ineptitude might make that tricky.

[PurpleAki]

Any word on the actual airport police guys? Still suspended pending an investigation I assume rather than sacked already?

Could the doc sue the airport police?
Could UA sue the airport police?

[98elise]

Hoofy said:

whoami said:

R1gtr said:

FourWheelDrift said:

PurpleAki said:

Up to $10000? Now this is out there no-ones going to accept less are they!

I think Delta made the same pledge earlier that United were forced to match.

People will be fighting each other to get off the plane, or rocking up at the gate late as possible hoping to be told there seat is gone because of overbooking.

Indeed.

A problem entirely of their own making.

I don't think it's as clear cut as this. Say there are two passengers happy to take the money and only one seat required, it will be almost like a reverse bidding war until one person decides it isn't worth the money whilst the other person will happily miss a flight for $500.

It will happen as it does now, they will offer some money and gradually increase it until they get enough volunteers. Its just a matter of how much your fellow passengers will take to get off the plane.I very much doubt they will ever get to 10k. During the same incident passengers were getting off for a few hundred dollars. The whole thing happened because they decided that at $800 in vouchers was their limit before they would resort for force.

I suspect if they had gone over 1k dollars cash then they would have had another volunteer and this all would never have happened.

[Actual]

Is it up to $10K cash or up to $10K vouchers and what are the conditions for using the vouchers?

I still want to know what was exact breakdown of the $800 originally offered.

[surveyor]

Oscar Munez said

"It happened because our corporate policies were placed ahead of our shared values. Our procedures got in the way of our employees doing what they know is right."

Then we get this.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/man-kicked-of...

The background was the chap unexpectedly needed to pee. They were in a 30 minute queue for the runway. He sat down once, then decided he could not wait - and made a dash for the loo. Plane returned to gate to offload....

What we don't know is how long they had been sat on the plane - we sat on one on the ground a couple of days ago for 70 minutes due to ground handling being truly rubbish. Then a 20 minute taxi (AMS).

To my mind, the guy asked - they were not in immediate danger of taking off. A call to the crew - we have a passenger busting for the loo - has he got two mins. Rather than escalate.

Then you have this one.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/26/ba-offl...

Now I don't really see the issue with them kicking off a disruptive passenger. However look at the cost here. After landing at Lajes, due to crew hours the plane had to turn around and return to London. Fair enough BA won that argument, but at the cost of disruption to how many passengers not to mention the financial cost. All because the passenger wanted to sit in a empty seat. Now I agree that they can't just allow this - everyone would do it - but there must have been a different way to play this. Let him have the seat, but not the service. Work out a deal. Get him arrested at the other end - sue him whatever - but drop him off and return to the departure airport? Come on....

It all comes down to Airlines treating people like cattle, and training their staff to never deviate, never use common sense.

[Halb]

poo at Paul's said:

The Spruce goose said:

so he has been paid off and not allowed to disclose, got to be a at least a few hundred thousand, but I think maybe a million.

$30 mil I reckon

2 mill is my guestimate, going off the USA and fairness.

[Halmyre]

I've never been offered an incentive to shift to a later flight but if it ever happens I'll be examining the T&Cs very carefully before accepting. If it's not something that's acceptable to your average London cabbie, then I'm not touching it with a barge pole.