United passenger forcibly removed from plane for not giving up seat

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

God, I wish this stupid forum software would allow us to disable inline images.

 

[highland145]

lol

 

[Ns1]

wow, united wont' stop at old asian men, now going after giant fucking rabbits.

 

[John Connor]

 

[Svnla]

This is not looking good for UA - http://www.businessinsider.com/united-more-animal-deaths-than-delta-american-2017-4

 

[highland145]

This is not looking good for UA - http://www.businessinsider.com/united-more-animal-deaths-than-delta-american-2017-4

If they kill a unicorn, they're done.

 

[Darwin333]

What unjust laws are we trying to change by refusing to deplane? What brave stand was the doc making to make the world a better place? Do you want to make it illegal for an airline to ever bump a passenger? Legalize trespassing?

How fucked up are you to compare this to Tank Man and others' brave stand at Tiananmen Square?

Not only did his actions directly lead to the changing of United's policies but other airlines as well...

 

[Svnla]

Another incident but this time, it was Delta - http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ur...-kicked-off-flight/ar-BBApAgp?ocid=spartandhp

 

[DrunkenSano]

US Air Carriers are such shit, it's sad.

 

[JM Aggie08]

I love when something like this happens, tons more issues come out of the woodwork -- for an entire industry, not just the company in question.

It's laughable, really, how quick we latch onto something and beat it to death...and then forget about it months later. Everyone becomes very passionate, formulates strong opinions, jerks off to their own false sense of superiority/enlightenment, and then it all disappears like a fart in the wind.

 

[Svnla]

New policies from UA - (I think it is a positive step forward)

• Limit the use of law-enforcement to safety and security issues. This policy went into effect on April 12.
• Do not force customers seated on the plane to give up their seats involuntarily, unless safety or security is at risk. This policy goes into effect Thursday.
• Increase customer compensation incentives for voluntary denied boarding up to $10,000. Effective Friday.
• Establish a customer solutions team to provide agents with creative solutions such as using nearby airports, other airlines or ground transportation to get customers to their final destination. According to United, this will be a resource employees can call upon for quick problem-solving assistance during high-pressure situations. The team is expected to be operational by June.
• Ensure crews are booked onto a flight at least 60 minutes prior to departure. In situations where no open seats are available, all crew members traveling for work must be booked 60 minutes in advance of departure. This policy went into effect April 14.
• Provide employees with additional annual training. Beginning in August, frontline employees will receive training designed to enhance their ability to handle difficult customer service situations.
• Create an automated system for soliciting volunteers to change travel plans. Expected later this year.
• Reduce the amount of overbooking. This policy is already in effect and will target flights with lower volunteer rates, flights operated using smaller aircraft such as regional jets and the last flight of the day to a particular destination.
• Empower employees to immediately resolve customer-service issues. United will roll out a new app that will allow employees to provide passengers with compensation (financial and otherwise) directly from their company issued iPhones. Flight attendants are expected to have this capability by July while the app will be available to gate agents later in the year.
• Eliminate the red tape on permanently lost bags by adopting a "no questions asked" policy on lost luggage. When a bag is deemed "permanently lost" by the airline, United will pay passengers $1,500 for the bag and its contents without the need to prove its value. Additional documentation will be required for bags valued greater than $1,500. This policy is expected to go into effect in June.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/united-airlines-just-announced-10-051538294.html

 

[Tweak155]

Wow, nice policies actually.

 

[JEDI]

Wow, nice policies actually.

lets see how much this new policy costs United's bottom line.

hm.. is there a way to even measure this vs all the bad PR that's causing the $$$ loss?

 

[ponyo]

New policies are a start. I want it translated into good customer service.

 

[JM Aggie08]

Munoz is good people, especially compared to Smisek (the fucking snake).

My dad worked for Continental for 26 years, and was ultimately absorbed into United during the merger. A large majority of the customer service and operational issues fall solely on heritage United personnel and culture. It's been tough for him, as he has invested so much time in a company that he loved, only to be absorbed by a shady, bottom-line driven company. He's met Munoz personally and feels optimistic for the first time since the merger. I can only hope they come out on top after this huge mess.

 

[Ichinisan]

What unjust laws are we trying to change by refusing to deplane? What brave stand was the doc making to make the world a better place? Do you want to make it illegal for an airline to ever bump a passenger? Legalize trespassing?

Let's say I had done everything in my power to be somewhere at a certain time. United has no idea how important my presence may be. If they had told me of a problem in advance, I would have done whatever was necessary (taking another flight). But it's too late to do anything else. I'm seated. At this point, I have no other option. Our paid agreement is that they will take me to a specific place within a specific time. Then, instead of offering enough money to convince other passengers to leave, they randomly select me and decide I need to get off the plane.

That's bullshit.

 

[DrunkenSano]

New policies are a start. I want it translated into good customer service.

That's one overhau that is definitely needed in the airline industry. The attitude that the stewards and stewardess have. A lot of them are real bitches, who places the ease of their own jobs first over customer care. It's like they don't even want to be there at all and all the customers on the flights are pests they have to deal with.

 

[Svnla]

Read today (Thursday 4/27/17) Wall Street Journal and United has a full page ad. Very much repeat of what I posted earlier about the new rules and changes.

More from the ad (new rules) - https://hub.united.com/united-review-action-report-2380196105.html

 

[sunzt]

Is the David Dao incident a turning point in the US airline industry for customer service? Very quick settlement and positive comments from lawyers about United. Probably gave them everything he wanted and more. Also looks like other airlines are changing policy.

United Airlines reaches settlement with passenger who was dragged off plane
http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/27/news/companies/united-airlines-dao-settlement/index.html?adkey=bn

Several other airlines, including [URL='http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/27/news/companies/southwest-airlines-overbooking/index.html?iid=EL']Southwest

and Delta, have announced policy changes aimed at preventing a similar incident from occurring.

[/URL]

 

[tmc]

wow, that was a fast settlement...

 

[Paladin3]

Let's say I had done everything in my power to be somewhere at a certain time. United has no idea how important my presence may be. If they had told me of a problem in advance, I would have done whatever was necessary (taking another flight). But it's too late to do anything else. I'm seated. At this point, I have no other option. Our paid agreement is that they will take me to a specific place within a specific time. Then, instead of offering enough money to convince other passengers to leave, they randomly select me and decide I need to get off the plane.

That's bullshit.

Agreed, that would be complete bullshit. But it should be punished by never, ever, ever flying United again, or filling a civil suit if you feel they've wronged you sufficiently. If enough folks would vote with their wallets then United either evolves into a carrier with acceptable customer service, or they fail and an airline with good customer service takes their place.

We won't do that because we'd rather save a few bucks and take the lowest fare offered regardless of their customer service. Then we bitch about the very companies we've supported with our business.

Trying to solve this by making it illegal to deplane customers is not the answer. Unless civil rights are being violated, business should be able to refuse service as they see fit. A declined customer refusing to leave is trespassing, and then law enforcement is called and force is used to remove them if they continue to refuse to leave. This is the only point I was trying to make when I joined this discussion. That, and call out the ridiculous idea that forced deplaning = RAPE.

I *do not* support United and what they did. More cash should have been offered to get someone to voluntarily deplane. Their employees should be empowered and trained to deescalate the situation to avoid having to forcibly deplane a passenger. But it's still possible, so long as overselling seats exists and humans make errors, that more passengers will arrive than the flight can accommodate. If that occurs and too few passengers can be enticed to willingly deplane, what should an airline do?

 

[OutHouse]

Read today (Thursday 4/27/17) Wall Street Journal and United has a full page ad. Very much repeat of what I posted earlier about the new rules and changes.

More from the ad (new rules) - https://hub.united.com/united-review-action-report-2380196105.html

Nice...

3. United will increase customer compensation incentives for voluntary denied boarding up to $10,000

 

[Darwin333]

wow, that was a fast settlement...

They want this gone ASAP, they probably took the first offer his lawyer threw at him even though it was way higher than they could have eventually settled for had they drug it out and negotiated. They are hoping that this will be out of the news fairly soon now.

 

[MrSquished]

wow, that was a fast settlement...

Yes I was definitely intrigued by this. Usually they drag these things out in the courts forever. I think this leans towards United paid a really pretty penny.

 

[Darwin333]

I *do not* support United and what they did. More cash should have been offered to get someone to voluntarily deplane. Their employees should be empowered and trained to deescalate the situation to avoid having to forcibly deplane a passenger. But it's still possible, so long as overselling seats exists and humans make errors, that more passengers will arrive than the flight can accommodate. If that occurs and too few passengers can be enticed to willingly deplane, what should an airline do?

Well because of the actions of Doa United, along with other airlines, HAVE introduced policies that do exactly what you say that should have done. United upped its maximum offer from $1,500 to $10,000 which would have absolutely prevented this if it had been in place at the time. They have also implemented other policies that sound really good like having a team of "Customer solution experts" that will try to find bumped passengers alternate forms of travel such as other airlines, airports, car, etc...

Frankly this is a monumental change in policy and it was all brought about because a single man refused to deplane which btw is not in United's Contract of Carriage. If he would have taken this to civil court, as you suggested he do, it would have likely cost him more in legal fees than he would have gotten from damages and no policy change would have happened.