Posted on 05/05/2017 12:31:35 AM PDT by Morgana
FULL TITLE: Delta staff 'tell California couple they could be jailed and lose their children if their son, two, doesn't give up his seat' as they are ejected from flight in row over overbooking
A California couple were told they'd be sent to jail if they did not give up their two-year-old son's seat on a Delta flight, they have claimed.
Brian and Brittany Schear allege they were also told their children would be taken from them, and have now demanded an apology.
It is the latest controversy around overbooked flights in the US.
Mr Schear claims a member of airline staff told him: 'You have to give up the seat or you're going to jail, your wife is going to jail and they'll take your kids from you.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I agree - it may have been a scam attempt by the family. That’s what happens when you you make heroes out of nutcases like that felon-doctor. Either we let the airlines run their businesses as they see fit, or we can expect to fly on flights that are never more than 70% full, and pay double on our tickets for doing just that.
a scam are you kookoo?
He paid for the seat. This is f8cked up.
Thread from yesterday with 198 comments
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3550069/posts
SoCal family thrown off overbooked Delta flight over child’s seating
Listening to the entire video, here’s the story:
The couple have three children (a teenager, a 1 year old, and a two year old,) and they purchased four tickets. The one year old was supposed to be a ‘lap child’ that would share a seat with an adult.
Apparently the one year old was a problem sitting on a lap for six hours, so they wanted another seat to put him in a car seat.
The couple decided to purchase another ticket on an earlier flight for their oldest to fly separately, and use the empty seat for their 1 year old.
But since the older child “Mason” did not check in, Delta sold the seat to another passenger, and demanded that the infant, who was checked in as a lap child, move to a parent’s lap so the standby passenger could be accommodated.
Delta was technically in the right, because since 9/11 you cannot just arbitrarily transfer a ticket to someone else without doing so through the airline.
I suspect that changing the name on the ticket would have involved a rebooking fee and probably have to pay the difference between the original booking and a last minute purchase. (Which is also probably why Delta wanted to sell the seat to the standby passenger. Mo money.)
You guys will win out on this, just hope you have the deep pockets to enjoy your ‘victory’.
And the father says (and of course the airline apologist bootlickers immediately dismiss him as a liar), he'd gotten permission from the airline agent at the gate for the switch *before* boarding. Apparently the gate agent failed to communicate this to the onboard staff, who went into Nazi stormtrooper mode as soon as the father dared to challenge their authority.
I think the Delta staff erred in many ways.
I am wondering though what the gate staff would have done if the parents, before boarding, told Delta their ticketed oldest son would not be boarding, due to other plans, and what they - the parents, expected to do with his reserved seat.
Would they insist, due to regulations or their rules, that no matter that THEY had paid for the seat, it had to be occupied by the passenger named on the ticket? Would they said that and let them know before boarding they’d have to stick to their original plan of seating the younger children in their laps, as they expected to do originally? And then would the whole mess have been avoided? Maybe.
Regardless, the behavior of the Delta staff, threatening jail and parental loss of the children was atrocious.
“they know about it before boarding starts and should start offering compensation well before this takes place.”
Figured they did. Figured they were just treating people like sh!t because they could. Now it’s making major news and they are becoming the butt of jokes by foreign airlines.
“It sounds more like a question of whether or not a this family can switch user of the seat or not. They bought tickets for the mom, dad, and a teenage son. They had planned for the two toddlers to sit in the parents laps. The teenage son decides to fly on a different flight. We are not told whether or not he trades in his original ticket for the ticket on the new flight or if a whole new ticket was purchased, so we do not know if the parents still actually have a ticket for a third seat on their flight. And even if the teenager did buy a whole new ticket, it now becomes the question of can a different passenger (his baby brother) use the abandoned ticket? I seem to remember that there is a hard rule that ONLY the person named on the ticket at purchase may use that ticket.”
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Where do you read about a teenage son in this story? I only read about them and two small children. From what I read they bought all parties involved a ticket but once again like United it was over book so the children were told to get off. They were not given a refund for their tickets and had to stay at their location until another flight was available.
meant to say “Stuck”
United did about the same thing to me. My 10 year old son was not allowed on a plane. And I was. And the flight took off with his seat empty. Airline workers suck. They get harried, and then start hiding behind stupid rules that are applied poorly. If the workers can’t handle the stress of the job, they should find another job.
The kid who had the seat flew home the day before. Did he use his paid for ticket on this flight to switch planes, or did he pay for a new full price, last minute ticket? Did the family use the ticket to get a boarding pass for the toddler, or did they just assume the seat will be empty? How was the airline supposed to know the seat would be used?
If I can’t get there by Amtrak I’M NOT GOING! For real. I hate flying that much. Thought you would figure that out.
So true. Cue up the statists.
That bridge between Honolulu and Los Angeles is a b!tch.
Like I said if I can’t get there by Amtrack I’M NOT GOING! It’s just not worth it. Hawaii is a nice island but nope don’t care for the airlines and how they treat you like SH!T!
It was bad before 911 now it’s just intolerable. If it means I don’t get to that destination then Hawaii or other points on the map will do with out my business and they may blame the dirty rotten imbeciles on the airlines.
“It should certainly be easier and less unpleasant, and less likely to draw expensive lawsuits if people are prevented from boarding the flight in the first place “
Right. From the reports I heard, the passengers got approval from the Gate Agent to have the youngster take the seat that was in his older brother’s name — bought and paid for. The Gate Agent said, “Yes”. The PTB said, “We can sell this seat twice and make a little more money!”
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