Posted on 04/12/2017 8:51:15 AM PDT by Presbyterian Reporter
Especially since upon reading those accounts much of FR instantly believed the doctor was a "gay troublemaker" and those nice men in suits at United couldn't possibly have done anything wrong.
UAL is going to pay big time for this CF.
The Media's Credo...."Ready. Fire. Aim."
Exactly. If you look at the fine print in United's "terms of carriage" the process for dealing with overbooking BEFORE BOARDING is fully covered, as are the terms for denying carriage AFTER boarding... which do NOT include overbooking as a valid reason.
By the time boarding began, United should have already known how many crew would joining the flight and should have dealt with an overbooking situation BEFORE the boarding.
This was a screw-up by United in that their procedures for employees needing to deadhead somewhere should have to arrange their trip with their employer in a timely manner... before scheduled boarding time. If an employee shows up at the gate after the plane has pulled back and is waiting to take off should they bring the plane back, kick someone off and delay the flight for hours to accommodate the employee who for whatever reason didn't schedule their intent with the airline in advance?
There needs to be balance between the needs of the airline and its employees and the customers... I think United crossed that line this time.
It started with deregulation.
When flying was expensive and protected by the government, they could offer all sorts of perks because you were drastically overpaying for what you were getting.
Now it is a normal competitive business. They care no more or less for their customers than any other business, all things being equal.
The good news is that pretty much everyone can afford to fly now. The bad news is that the experience is more like riding a bus. If you miss the old days, feel free to cough up a lot more Benjamin for first class.
A lot of this discussion, to me, is like a guy buying a Toyota and complaining that it’s not a Bently. If you want a bently, there are dealerships in most major cities.
I think the problem is not what the airline did, but how they did it. It should be BEFORE the plane boards.
It’s all about managing expectations.
There was a problem in one airport where people were complaining that they had to wait WAY too long at baggage claim for their luggage. The final solution that actually WORKED: They rerouted the passengers so it took them longer to get to baggage claim. By the time they got there after their cross country walk, the luggage was either waiting or shortly showed up. The complaints went away. I kid you not.
Southwest Airlines: “We beat the competition, not the passengers!”
Per Twitter today:
Media found the criminal records of one David Anh Duy Dao. The doctor on the plane was David Thanh Duc Dao.
It could not get any worse if this is true.
Day-o, day-ay-ay-o
Daylight come and he wan’ go home
The guy was an entitled jerk with a whole lot of character flaws and almost solely responsible for this incident. Bad optics from a few seconds of video don’t change the facts but a whole of morons in the world float purely on a sea of emotion rather than logic.
I, for one, think that overbooking is bullsh*t and should be illegal.
If an employee shows up at the gate after the plane has pulled back and is waiting to take off should they bring the plane back, kick someone off and delay the flight for hours to accommodate the employee who for whatever reason didn’t schedule their intent with the airline in advance?
They deliberately and intentionally lied. This was not an overbook situation.
“disruptive and belligerent” = if you don’t bend over and bare your a$$ and act like a compliant sheep, you’re disruptive and belligerent.
F*ck them.
The Chicago police needs to fire the ones who beat this man. Then they need to put some money aside for the lawsuits.
Not to worry, Delta will figure this out.
They will charge each ticket purchaser an additional $100 “fee” that will buy them seat insurance for the seat they purchased.
Calling the cops to beat a customer into submission is almost never a good business policy.
They are only losing the "extra" money.
Alaska Airlines also has great customer service. It's the only airline I fly on as they have the best route structure in Alaska and on the west coast.
So the media lied. I hope this guy sues the media too, in a separate suit from the one against the airline + Chicago PD.
VDB (voluntarily denied boarding) is generally a win-win-win. The airline seats a higher paying or priority passenger, someone is happy to get vouchers, and someone is happy to get on the plane. I absolutely LOVE VDB, and will volunteer on full flights even before the announcement. For example, a few years back we got bumped twice on the way to Hawaii, gave up 2 days in paradise, but got $2,600 in vouchers and went again for free the next year.
IDB is a quite different case which is usually a win-lose-mixed deal. It's expensive for the airlines, bad fio one customer, but good for another.
Airlines are a very difficult business. They often lose billions. Scheduling planes, gates, food, fuel, flight staff, ground staff, seats, and more requires powerful computers and algorithms. The difficulty is compounded by weather, mechanical issues, staff sickness. Ticket prices are ridiculously cheap. I don't know if it's true, but I read overbooking has saved $100 billion over 30 years. Some of that has become profit, but surely most of it has resulted in lower ticket prices.
It's also worth noting that some of the problem may be over-regulation. Apparently airlines are constrained in the most compensation they can offer bumped passengers. This regulation should be eliminated. This would turn IVB into a win-win-mixed, where both passengers would be pleased, but the airline would have happier customers but lose more money.
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