Posted on 04/12/2017 8:51:15 AM PDT by Presbyterian Reporter
The adage about a picture being worth a thousand words never seemed as true as it did Monday when a video clip shot around the Internet showing a passenger being violently removed from a United Airlines plane in Chicago for refusing to be “voluntarily” bumped from the flight.
United no doubt will expend thousands of words explaining or apologizing for this incident in the coming days and weeks. It won’t help. The video is just too raw.
Indeed, the airline’s initial response to the publicity has left it covered in shame.
United’s PR department first issued a statement explaining blandly that the Chicago-to-Louisville flight late Sunday was overbooked, and that “after our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate. We apologize for the overbook situation. Further details on the removed customer should be directed to authorities.”
United CEO Oscar Munoz then made things worse with a statement of Orwellian doublespeak. “This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United,” he said. “I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers,” whatever that means.
According to CNBC, Munoz followed up Monday evening with a letter to employees defending the airline’s ground staff and describing the passenger as “disruptive and belligerent.” He said the airline agents “were left with no choice but to call Chicago Aviation Security Officers to assist in removing the customer from the flight.”
But Munoz, whose version of the episode appears to come from the playbook of how to dig oneself into an ever deeper hole, also undermined the argument that the flight was overbooked. He related that “after the flight was fully boarded,” gate agents “were approached by crewmembers that were told they needed to board the flight.” The implication is that the crew members heading to Louisville were late in arriving, that every passenger held a paid ticket and had been properly boarded, and that only belatedly did United decide to pull passengers off the plane to make room for the crew.
It’s unclear from United’s contract of carriage how either its rule regarding “refusal of transport” (Rule 21) or “denied boarding compensation” (Rule 25) applies to a passenger already seated and instructed to deplane to make room for a company employee rather than another paying passenger.
Whether United had “no choice” but to forcibly eject the passenger also is questionable, as presumably the airline could have transported its crew members to Louisville either by road (a five-hour drive) or by chartering another aircraft. In any event, Munoz in his letter asserts that “treating our customers and each other with respect and dignity is at the core of who we are.”
Plainly this was a botched job in countless ways and at multiple levels. Reports indicate the flight was the last one to Louisville on Sunday, and that United offered passengers an $800 voucher plus overnight accommodations and an alternative flight leaving Monday afternoon in order to free up four seats for a flight crew needing to reach Louisville.
When the voluntary offer failed, four passengers evidently were chosen at random to be involuntarily bumped. This happened after the plane had been loaded, which is certainly an unusual wrinkle in the annals of passenger treatment. One couple went quietly, but another passenger objected. Before being dragged off the plane, he reportedly identified himself as a doctor with patients to see Monday. When he refused to go, the ground staff summoned airport police, who physically manhandled him out of his seat and dragged him, bloodied, down the aisle as several other passengers documented the event on their smartphones.
What sort of training United offers its personnel to manage such episodes isn’t known, but plainly it stinks.
What’s even more important is what this episode says about the terms and conditions of air travel in the United States.
To begin with, the law allows air carriers to overbook flights — that is, sell more tickets than they have seats for. That’s plainly a situation that benefits the airlines almost exclusively, because it tends to ensure that every seat will be filled even at the cost of leaving some passengers behind. How many businesses do you know of that can sell you a good or service, accept payment and then withdraw that good or service unilaterally for their own purposes — much less by force?
Passengers bumped involuntarily have rights to compensation, but the airlines have great latitude to set their own priority rules for bumping travelers. Typically it’s those paying the lowest fares, lacking membership in a frequent-flyer program, or checking in late who are most at risk. Bumpees who are going to be more than two hours late to a domestic destination are entitled to compensation of 400 percent of their one-way fare, up to $1,350, plus the value of their ticket.
These rules, obviously, are in dire need of upgrading to suit modern conditions. The Department of Transportation acknowledges in its outline of passenger rights that some passengers may be more amenable to voluntary bumping than others, or more flexible in their travel plans: “Almost any planeload of airline passengers includes some people with urgent travel needs and others who may be more concerned about the cost of their tickets than about getting to their destination on time.” The agency encourages airlines to “negotiate with their passengers for mutually acceptable compensation” in order to secure needed seats.
As Daniel Gross observed at Slate.com, airlines have squeezed their overbooking privilege until it screams for mercy, even as they’re consistently flying fuller planes. In the most recent boom-and-bust airline cycle, the industry “load factor” — the percentage of seats filled — bottomed out at 72.21 percent in February 2009, in the teeth of a crushing recession, but more recently has run in the mid-80s. That appears to be as high as it’s been in this century and may be an absolute limit, because some routes will never run at 100 percent.
Tighter passenger loads have coincided with an economic recovery that makes flyers more resistant to giving up hours, even days, of inconvenience, even for a few hundred bucks. As Gross pointed out, a two-hour delay in a flight could translate to a missed family event or a lost business contract.
The solution to the conflict between an airline’s desire to fill every seat and passengers’ need to get where they’re going on time is blindingly obvious: Let the market work. The Louisville doctor’s need to get home was clearly worth more to him than $800. But so was United’s need to get a crew from Chicago to Louisville. The airline decided to cheap out by not offering passengers payment that would be enough to free up more seats. Instead of paying the true value of moving its crew, it decided to impose that cost on one unfortunate passenger.
Then, as though to prove beyond doubt that it considered its passengers the expendable players in this drama, it summoned the police to do its dirty work. Something’s wrong with the intellects running United Airlines, and if there’s any justice in the world, now they’ll really pay.
“What surprised me is that the ticket one purchases is not a contract”.
And another commenter says this:
“It’s unclear from United’s contract of carriage how either its rule regarding “refusal of transport” (Rule 21) or “denied boarding compensation” (Rule 25) applies to a passenger already seated and instructed to deplane to make room for a company employee rather than another paying passenger.”
If it is true that United’s contract of carriage is unclear, possibly meaning that they can remove a passenger any time they want after they are seated, because they want the seat for a different passenger- then we are crazy to EVER FLY ON UNITED!
Airline passenger associations need to go after United for this and go to Congress and demand that any airline fix this or they should be made to post this warning in large letters everywhere and in large letters at the gate! Everyone needs to quit acting like an airline can do whatever they want because it is THEIR airline- there are regulations and laws in place to protect passengers.
Apparently if you’re under two hours late they have to put you on the next available flight. If more than two hours, good luck.
I also like Southwest. I was on one where the stewardess went thru the safety procedure talk they do and had me rolling in the aisle. She did a satire of it that was great.
____________________________________
It wasn’t the attendant who also said....
“Eenie Meanie Minie Mo.
Pick a Seat, cause we gotta go”
... was it?
Cause I heard she got fired for making that “racist” joke.
(rolls eyes)
I flew Delta yesterday, and again him flying Delta tonight after speaking at a conference. I fly almost every week. I have never liked United airlines in this episode confirms that. What occurred here is so incredibly out rages that I hope not only the CEO was out of a job shortly, that the airline pays dearly For their abuse. I also like to see Congress or tromp review the regulations that limit airline payouts. There should be no cap, let the market set the rate. Further, a bit off topic, folks need to revisit seating size, restroom size, and other matters that affect the safety and comfort of passengers. I am a small person, 200 pounds at 5’ 8”, and have difficulty fitting into some seats, and the restrooms. When I get bumped to first class, I have an enjoyable flight. Otherwise, it is miserable. I can only imagine what it is like for someone who is at 250 or 300 pounds and cannot fit into a seat or, very likely, cannot even begin to fit into the miniature restrooms in most of the airplanes.
LOL!
It's a system that's been common for a long time and makes perfect sense as a way to deal with no-shows. BUT... the line used to be drawn at the time of boarding, not afterward... this situation is pushing the envelope in favor of the airline's needs over the passengers' needs.
If an airline employee can't arrange to get himself added onto the flight's deadhead list by boarding time, they should have to get themselves on a different flight... not delay the whole flight by hours in order to eject an already boarded passenger.
It is a contract, but like Vegas, the odds are in favor of the house. Read the fine print.
I don't understand that. For free?? Why would the airlines owe anything to someone who is late for the flight?
I think there are two issues here. First, is the written language of the contract which nobody reads. Second, is the common or excepted contract that we have with the airline we pay and expect to see it. That one, as in this case, will run to due course of the court of public opinion. You nine it has already lost that one, now it is a matter of what they lose in the courtroom as well. That carriage contract does not give them the right to assault and drag unconscious out of an airplane, a passenger.
One of the docs is supposedly from New Orleans-the other from Kentucky.
No other information yet other than some in the Vietnamese community saying “media” got the wrong doctor.
Except airlines have a need to move people around from hub to hub. It’s not clear to me whether this was an emergency that these employees had been stranded by mechanical failure or weather and they had to get to Louisville for their first flight the next day, or if it was employees f’ing around and taking up paying seats. I really thought deadheading employees were the lowest priority to be seated. I’d be surprised, but not shocked, to find out I was wrong.
Let’s come back down to reality.
It isn’t that “they don’t like to fly with empty seats.”
Those empty seats can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars on a long flight.
The policy doesn’t result from some mere whim.
But they need to offer adequate compensation when this sort of thing arises, and push comes to shove it should be their employees taking a later flight with this sort of incident.
This was incompetent on every level.
The “doc” is a pervert criminal and immature third-world scum.
An adult would have departed the jet and then followed up with legal action. An adult would not kick and scream and throw a temper tantrum worthy of a 2-yr old spoiled brat.
After watching this immature entitled third-world scum act like that, I am amazed that anyone would support having that guy on the flight—no telling what would set him off and at 30,000 feet.
Would you want that guy sitting next to you or on your flight-—not me.
And would you want that guy to be your doctor? No way.
Handled better? Probably. But he brought it all on himself for behaving like an entitled third-world scum brat. I’ve been around these types of docs and they all feel they are better than everyone else.
Most no-shows are caused by flight delays in an earlier leg, which are also ultimately the fault of the carrier, or just uncontrollable circumstances, like weather.
In most cases, the carrier will put you on another flight without your forfeiting all or most of your original ticket.
There may be some charges applied, but certainly not full fare.
But I get why they overbook. To a point. Most probably over-overbook, and United is bad about that.
Who’d take a lame $800 offer to skip Sunday’s flight — if it means missing work Monday and possibly get FIRED & jeopardizing thousands in your income?
Airlines act like we’re all Jury duty participants - and for 25 bucks a day are eager to ‘show up.’ INSANE.
An article I read stated that it was a flight crew for an affiliated, or partner, airline.
Fly Business or First Class. No hassles on the jet.
That’s an awesome post!
So many are arguing that the airline had the right to kick him off; it wasn’t illegal, yada, yada, yada, but that’s just hair-splitting legalese.
It’s the optics. It makes them look like morons. And immoral to most fair-minded people. However, we’ve had some lawyers argue otherwise. Still, some lawyers have no ethics beyond the letter of the law.
United has been very coy in their description of what type of employee kicked the guy out of his seat.
When the jury trial is held, then we will find ‘or if it was employees f’ing around and taking up paying seats’
I read up on the recent history of United.
Wow.
The employees used to be the majority shareholders, but then the airline went bankrupt. That had to make the employees happy.
They gave the pilots a 48% pay increase over four years to keep them from striking. That couldn’t be good for the bottom line.
Munoz had a heart attack and heart transplant and was out for quite some time. That makes everyone nervous.
To me, this looks like a company with a real grudge match between the employees and management.
I think Munoz has been trying to get the employees on his side and that explains his poor first statement.
It will take a miracle worker to fix United. They have tremendous competition. Their employees are angry. Some customers want Rolls Royce service at Yugo prices. The government has fingers in everything.
Americans are fed up with just about everything.
Like I wrote.....miracle worker.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.