MaryL
Diamond Member
- Banned
- #61
Last time I flew on UA, a red eye express I sat next to a woman with her pet dog the next seat over. Thing was, of all the bloody seats on the plane there was 12 people on the damned plane . This was a 737 JET with a zillion other empty seats. I excused myself and promptly moved to 1st class. Nobody noticed. Next time, I will take the train.With Computers these days, how hard is it to REALLY keep track of the fact that you have 150 seats on an airplane to fill and count down the number remaining as you sell the seats? It's MATH...and computer applications can even do THAT for you there days...
United Airlines, however, over-sold, over-booked their flight. When they figured that out at the gate (because evidently they could not figure out they had done so before that), they offered passengers $400 if they would take the next flight in an attempt to 'un-F*' the situation.
After quite a few people took them up on their offer, United allowed people to board the plane. Once on the plane United discovered there were still 4 passengers too many onboard the plane. At that point United asked 4 people to give up their seats, picking 4 people at random - one of them was 'THIS' guy:
United ASKED a man who had bought a ticket in advance and was told he was on this flight to give up his seat. He said, 'NO'. At that point United offered him $800 to give up his seat. He said, 'No'.
Even though the man told United that he was a doctor and had to be at his destination the next morning, United told the gentleman that he had NO CHOICE but to give up his seat:
"The manager told him that security would be called if he did not leave willingly, Bridges said, and the man said he was calling his lawyer. One security official came and spoke with him, and then another security officer came when he still refused. Then, she said, a third security official came on the plane and threw the passenger against the armrest before dragging him out of the plane."
Because United was too incompetent to count the number of seats on a plane versus how many they sold (or just being greedy and making it a policy to do so to ensure all seats are sold), United Airlines physically dragged a doctor off a plane.
I smell a major lawsuit! GOOD!
I have faced a similar situation with them, was forced to take the next flight....which was in the morning (though I did not make them drag my arse off the plane).
Over-booking is either incompetence or bad policy...or both. Physically dragging someone off the plane is also NOT an option. I don't care if United had to offer someone $2,000 or more before someone finally took their offer and gave up their seat voluntarily - it was their screw up. They should have had to keep raising the amount of the money until someone volunteered.
I have a feeling the doctor's lawyers are going to make United pay way more than $800.
Video: Security drags screaming United Airlines passenger off overbooked flight — literally - Hot Air