“The plane was not oversold per UA’s own definition of that term in its own policies in their contract. There were not more passengers with tickets than seats. The crew members that were displacing the “re-accommodated” passengers were not ticket holders.”
Okay for those of us who never fly the friendly skies, please explain to us in English what that means?
All news reports, and have followed this since the beginning have said the plane was “overbooked”. Why is/was the news saying this?
If you read UA’s contract of carriage “oversold” is defined as when too many tickets are sold. Crew members are not paying ticket holders. The plane had the right number of paying passengers on board the plane. The plane was not overbooked (oversold is the proper term). The press is not exactly known for their enviable research skills these days. So they got it wrong because to them making a passenger give up his seat must mean the plane was overbooked.