So it is accepted practice by all airlines to overbook. Sometimes someone unfortunately has to take a different flight option. This man was clearly uncooperative, possibly belligerent.
I don’t see why people so reflexively blame United. This guy clearly is no saint.
Maybe not, but they still sold him a ticket and put him in a seat.
“So it is accepted practice by all airlines to overbook.”
I find overbooking, unacceptable.
We blame United, because it was their fault. We have all been abused/treated poorly by airlines, especially after 9/11.
No, he’s no saint, and that’s irrelevant. It’s like randomly picking 1 of 10 people to be shot.
Once again, the airlines ignore the old maxim of business, “the customer is always right.” To the airlines, the customer is never right. One of the flight crew should have been taken off, driven, or flown by charter/private plane.
There is no need to overbook. You’ve already PAID for the ticket. If you don’t show up, airline still makes money.
“So it is accepted practice by all airlines to overbook”
Accepted by who? Imagine any other industry (besides car rental which is just as bad) doing this...it wouldn’t be ‘accepted’.
And the airline really screwed up by boarding the plane first, and then having to drag this guy off. They should have offered cash and vouchers at the gate, and gone high enough to get a ‘taker’. But dragging the guy down the aisle is just stupid.
Are you saying he deserved to have his face bloodied and be dragged off the plane?
It was not an overbook. Overbooks are when there are too many paying passengers. He was allowed to board the plane and THEN they decided to remove 4 pax so employees could fly to their next assignment. If this was an issue they should not have boarded the aircraft until the issue was resolved, then boarded.
He was clearly uncooperative, but thus far there is no proof of him being belligerent.
Because people are sick of being treated like cattle at best and criminals at worst for stepping foot in an airport. No other industry can treat a paying customer like this and get away with it.
I can absolutely understand being upset, I can understand throwing a fit, but stand up, retrieve your carry on, deboard the plane and do so at the ground crew and let the other hundred people get to work and get home. Because no one on that plane will do anything to help your situation, it's the people in the terminal who get to clean up the mess.
Considering the passenger's record, however, if I ran an airline, I'd be quietly inserting this guy's name into the banned passenger list. Think of the fit he could throw if he got stuck on the runway for 3 hours waiting to take off and they returned to the gate...
“I don’t see why people so reflexively blame United. This guy clearly is no saint.”
Agree.
Somehow, the airlines get a pass for what would land them in orange if they sold cars or driveway sealer.
They will advertise a $270 flight to NYC but only have three tickets at that price. the other 5000 people who book that month end up paying between $350 and $800. If you tried that on a car lot, the AG would close you up faster than the jaws on a chicken.
And, if a concert venue sold too many tickets and refused entrance offering a refund that would be the end of them
But, somehow, the airlines have found the little wormhole to get them a marketing plan no one else would be allowed to have.
That is why we hate them. They cheat us and get away with it.
The more relevant question would be, is it accepted by the people who patronize their airline? And to choose who gets the boot by random drawing?
“I’m sorry, sir. You will have to leave the plane now”
“WHAT!!?? But my fiance and I are going to Hawaii to get married!!”
“Sorry. I’m sure she’ll find someone nicer than you when she gets there. Officers, toss this bum!”