Shouldn't amaze you that much after watching the video. Hundreds of people are bumped every single day, it sucks and pisses a ton of people off, yet you almost never hear news about it (and no way this was the first time someone has thrown a tantrum over it). But UA and the officers could not have handled this situation any worse IMO. Like you said, this is usually handled prior to boarding or with them sweetening the offer for someone to bite. From all accounts, UA did neither of these.
While it was reported in the press he was a doctor, and that he mentioned he had patients we was scheduled to see the next day... I really don't care whether he was a doctor or not. he shouldn't have been manhandled and dragged from the plane regardless of his profession. The airline and apparently the CDA were in the wrong here. And the airline has made it worse by its response. That would be true if he was a surgeon, or if he was unemployed.
I really don't understand why, when no passengers wanted to leave their seats, United didn't just rent a car for their staff at that point. The negative PR from this is astounding. Once you've put someone on a plane, that's it. Maybe you screwed up, but unless they are wanted for a crime, or unless they really didn't have a ticket for that flight, you can't force them off.
Exactly. If the CEO and airline handled this differently we would be talking about the next news cycle. The airlines should have apologized, to the public and directly/personally to the passenger, compensated the passenger, and communicated about changes it would make to prevent it happening in the future. Making excuses, pointing elsewhere, and further victimizing the passenger is 180 degrees away from the correct response.
United is now saying the flight was not overbooked. They sold 70 tickets and had 70 passengers. They continue to say that the 4 crew people were "must-ride" passengers.
Some places they are reported as police officers some are saying security officers. They appear to be an in-between compromise that saves money by not using CPD and increasing professionalism by having better training and pay. These jokers have apparently been asking to carry guns.
Hence why I'm becoming more convinced that they violated FAA rules. Also, why UA won't admit fault. Admitting fault means admitting that they broke both FAA rules and their own contract of carriage.
The thing is they can. From a pure policy standpoint (for which you agree with when you purchase your ticket), they reserve that right. But it is almost always handled in a much better way.
United Airlines now says flight that sparked uproar was not overbooked http://www.wfaa.com/news/nation/uni...t-sparked-uproar-was-not-overbooked/430456020
They probably couldn't because of FAA crew rest rules. Crew need 10 hours off and that car ride probably wouldn't count towards the 10 hours. So if they had an early morning flight then its possible that the crew doesn't have the hours required for their flight.
United CEO says "Its never too late to do the right thing." While true in most cases, if they had done this immediately after it happened we wouldn't be discussing it today. And United stock value wouldn't have dropped millions...
This is the same person who a few hours ago praised the employees in this incident. http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2017/...ideo-as-lawmakers-call-for-investigation.html
So you only require someone to be slightly in the wrong to be justified to get murdered. Okay, I think I got it now. We should just execute everyone who is rude to authoritative figures.
This should have been the immediate response. Since it only comes after immense backlash, it rings hollow.
