Is it fair to be ripped off an airplane after it was overbooked?
If you haven't been following lately, that question seems to be trending across most local news stations last night and this morning.
What happened to spark the debate?
There was an incident on Sunday evening where United Airlines overbooked one of it's flights.
United asked if there would be any volunteers that would be willing to give up their seat to accommodate for the overbooked situation. For the inconvenience United was willing to offer them $400 as compensation as well as getting them on another flight as soon as possible.
After that there were still 4 passengers too many for the flight.
United then bumped the incentive to $800 for anyone willing to give up their seat. No one budged. They then offered $1000 in compensation for anyone willing to give up their seat.
Still 4 passengers too many remained.
What happened next?
United then went on to do a randomized drawing where 4 passengers were selected completely at random (according to United).
Of the 4 passengers that were selected, 3 of them cooperated with the request when told they had been selected for removal.
1 man did not.
He was a Chinese doctor, claiming that he would not get off the plane because...
"he was a doctor and had to see patients in the morning."
The man was asked several more times if he would exit the plane so that it could take off but the man still refused, even turning down the $1000 incentive the airline was offering.
Finally, the police had to be called in and forcibly remove the man. It did not go well as the man resisted the entire time and eventually had to be dragged out. Footage of the event can be seen here:
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As you can see the man was very forcibly removed which included him getting a bloody mouth/lip.
It got worse...
What makes things worse is the man seems to be claiming that he was selected because he was Chinese, bringing a race element into the mix.
It was also reported that once the man was dragged off the plane, he somehow made his way back on the plane, running towards the back of the plane screaming that he needed to be on that flight.
Police again came on and dragged him off the plane.
Also making things worse is the fact that it is now being reported that the reason for the 4 passengers needing to be removed was so that 4 employees of United could make it to their destination on time.
The entire event has become a spectacle with United Airlines polices and procedures squarely in the cross-hairs.
United claims that it handled the overbooking by strictly following procedures.
The police are investigating as to whether excessive force was used by the officers that took the man off the plane. The police officer involved was placed on leave pending the investigation.
Is United to blame for overbooking?
Apparently overbooking of airlines is something that is done quite often. However, involuntarily removing passengers is quite rare:
According to the Transportation Department, in 2016 United involuntarily denied boarding to 3,765 of it's more than 86 million passengers due to overbooked flights. An additional 62,895 passengers voluntarily gave up their seats due to overbooking.
What do you guys think, who was in the wrong in this situation? The man, the airline, or the police? Or some combination of all 3.
Is the practice of overbooking something that has to change or do our expectations need to change when it comes to flying?
If we buy a ticket, there is no guarantee that we will get on THAT flight. We are guaranteed a flight by the airline, but not necessarily THAT flight.
Is that how things should be, what say you?
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/business/united-flight-passenger-dragged.html
Video Source:
Follow me: @jrcornel
There's so much wrong with this, and glad it is in the spotlight for many reasons from a social justice problem, from a globalist and geo political perspective and from a simple consumer standpoint.
Also summed up here in this legendary Seinfeld bit from the simple customer perspective
Upvoted for the Seinfeld reference. My favorite show of all time :)
But yes, there were many things wrong here... I just really feel bad for the guy. He was not treated properly no matter how you slice it.
I could go on for hours, I have been an activist in the public eye for years until my accident so this kind of stuff hits home for me.
Overbooking is a simple case of the free market. Back in the 50s, 60s airlines prided themselves on offering premium services, and the businesses paid for it. Then came low-cost airlines and the consumers spoke overwhelmingly, there was only one thing they were looking for - cheap prices. Airlines had to scramble to cut costs drastically, and overbooking was a clear low hanging fruit. Their algorithms have gotten pretty good at it too - I believe United denies boarding to less than 20 out of 10,000 passengers. Of course, it is in their terms of service, and the consumers have spoken loudly about choosing low prices overall given the low risk of being denied boarding.
This is why government owned/subsidized airlines like Emirates or Singapore Airlines offer a far superior service to any US airline which receives far fewer subsidies - they can afford to stay away from the rat race and focus on quality of service. That said, certain airlines do it better than others - I think JetBlue has a far lower rate of denying boarding than other US airlines. Yet, consumers will continue to opt for saving pennies, and overbooking will continue.
This wasn't overbooking though. All passengers were boarded and seated. This was a logistical failure on United's part. They had staff that needed to be somewhere else. United expected loyal customers to pay for their mistake. One customer objected.
I understand overbooking. I don't understand United expecting customers to pay for United's poor planning and logistical failures.
You are right. United just clarified today:
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.usatoday.com/story/100331782/
Good points! I think many people want the low rates but not the consequences that come with them... If it were laid out to people like this as to why they are getting those low rates they might be more understanding when things like this happen...
United is already paying for it, before even having to settle the pending lawsuit.
They've lost $600 million dollars in market value today.. as of this posting.
Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uniteds-stock-is-set-to-fall-5-and-wipe-1-billion-off-the-airlines-market-cap-2017-04-11
There you go! It brings to light the entire industry and their overbooking practices. We may see some changes to this going forward... we shall see.
Is this a case of overbooking? Everything that I've read says that United removed 4 seated passengers to make room for staff. That's not overbooking, that's a mistake made by United. On any normal night, loyal customers would pay for United's mistake by being hugely inconvenienced, missing weddings or funerals, and being stuck in a random city for an extra night. It didn't work out this time.
I don't think we should be calling it overbooking, despite what United claims. All reports indicate that EVERY passenger was boarded and seated. United decided to fuck over 4 people because of their logistical mistake (staff not being where they're needed).
Overbooking is sort of understandable. This is United fucking up and forcing customers to pay for that fuck up, as usual.
Good catch! Looks like United just clarified that today:
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.usatoday.com/story/100331782/
Now they're victim-blaming by digging into the doctor's past and finding he supposedly traded drugs for sex. However bad that sounds, the security that physically injured the man by removing him from the plane didn't know about his past. They would've done that to anyone. To go back and point at the man's sordid past does nothing but give the message, "Well he was a bad guy anyway, so he deserved it."
http://nypost.com/2017/04/11/doctor-dragged-off-flight-convicted-of-trading-drugs-for-sex/
Exactly. That doesn't change anything. They messed up how they got him off the plane... they need to accept that. I am sure more money would have gotten him off... or at least someone else overhearing thousands of dollars being offered to catch the next flight. I know I would have :)
But as we know the airline companies are not in the business of giving away money...
I hadn't seen this yet but I kinda figured this would be the direction they would go... I figured they would try to figure out who his patients were and why it was so important that he not miss that flight...
Airline...I would've sued them!
That may be coming... we shall see! I honestly feel that the police were the ones that used the excessive force and were the most to blame. I mean all airlines overbook every flight they can. They even offered the guy $1k to take the next flight...
He paid just like the others. So screw them. I would definitely have made a worse scene than he did...they would pay me to fly with them...lol
I wonder if he would have asked for more money what they would have done... "you know... $1k is not enough for the trouble this will put me through, for $5k I will gladly give up my seat for you guys. Up to you."
Just keep us updated on how this plays out. Would love to see the outcome!
Sure thing!
Hi @jcornel, I just stopped back to let you know your post was one of my favourite reads and I included it in my Steemit Ramble. You can read what I wrote about your post here.
Thank you @shadowspub! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
This is fake news.
No need to be a Dandy....
It wasn't overbooked.
Resteem.!!
@jrcornel
Thank you!
Welcome 👍