Apparently they offered $400 to everyone, and then $800 but still no one wanted to get the later flight so instead they used a computer to randomly pick people to throw off.
They could have probably offered $20,000 considering how badly this will cost them. Shocking.
Wasn't that for free flights though? Where they effectively got them because they were related to an employee or something along those lines, and therefore had to have a certain dress code. Pay for your own ticket and wear what you want. Wouldn't have been a media issue if it had been a man in tracksuit trousers...
Wasn't that for free flights though? Where they effectively got them because they were related to an employee or something along those lines, and therefore had to have a certain dress code. Pay for your own ticket and wear what you want. Wouldn't have been a media issue if it had been a man in tracksuit trousers...
I got into this on social media with a couple people and was told that the friends and family pass apparently requires people to wear khakis or like that level of dressiness. I couldn't find an employee handbook, but if true that would indicate that this is one of the few dress codes that isn't specifically sexist
You have to wonder how none of the people in uniform stopped to think "Hang on, this is insane. And wrong." I just can't fathom their mentality.
Or at least, in the age of the internet, no one said "you know what? I bet this is going to end up on Twitter in the next ten minutes and this...might not make us look so good."
I'm pretty sure I commented on airlines overbooking flights on purpose about a year ago, when my family & I were bumped off a return flight. I think the majority that commented were ok with overbooking, because it keeps the prices down.
Personally, I think it's a disgrace, as I said at the time. If you turned up at a sporting, musical or whatever event or you was going by train to Coventry this weekend and was turned away because they sold the seat twice on purpose, to me there's little consequential difference.
I understand why overbooking happens and why it keeps prices down. Not that it's right but airlines are on a race to the bottom. Even BA is not immune as service quality has plummetted in order to avoid price rises.
The approach needs to be more measured though. The rules ought to be changed so that people are incentivised to volunteer to be bumped to a later flight, such as vouchers for future flights, and vouchers for free food, drink and if necessary hotels at the airport.
I understand why overbooking happens and why it keeps prices down. Not that it's right but airlines are on a race to the bottom. Even BA is not immune as service quality has plummetted in order to avoid price rises.
The approach needs to be more measured though. The rules ought to be changed so that people are incentivised to volunteer to be bumped to a later flight, such as vouchers for future flights, and vouchers for free food, drink and if necessary hotels at the airport.
They are already required to offer food and accommodation by law I think. They simply shouldn't be allowed to drag someone off. If they're overbooked then it's hard luck on the ones left behind, how could someone still in the terminal have more right to the seat than someone already on the plan?
I understand why overbooking happens and why it keeps prices down. Not that it's right but airlines are on a race to the bottom. Even BA is not immune as service quality has plummetted in order to avoid price rises.
The approach needs to be more measured though. The rules ought to be changed so that people are incentivised to volunteer to be bumped to a later flight, such as vouchers for future flights, and vouchers for free food, drink and if necessary hotels at the airport.
They are already required to offer food and accommodation by law I think. They simply shouldn't be allowed to drag someone off. If they're overbooked then it's hard luck on the ones left behind, how could someone still in the terminal have more right to the seat than someone already on the plan?
The news story said they need to free up some seats for the flight crew, but I thought they already had their own seats?
I understand why overbooking happens and why it keeps prices down. Not that it's right but airlines are on a race to the bottom. Even BA is not immune as service quality has plummetted in order to avoid price rises.
The approach needs to be more measured though. The rules ought to be changed so that people are incentivised to volunteer to be bumped to a later flight, such as vouchers for future flights, and vouchers for free food, drink and if necessary hotels at the airport.
I'm with Covered End, overbooking shouldn't be allowed anyway and the prices should be kept down by the airlines being able to enforces penalties on no show passengers. Would help, though, if the airline got their act together and realised they had too many people to put on the plane, before they put people on the plane - much easier to be forced to deny people entry to the plane than to force them back off again when they are already in their seats.
I understand why overbooking happens and why it keeps prices down. Not that it's right but airlines are on a race to the bottom. Even BA is not immune as service quality has plummetted in order to avoid price rises.
The approach needs to be more measured though. The rules ought to be changed so that people are incentivised to volunteer to be bumped to a later flight, such as vouchers for future flights, and vouchers for free food, drink and if necessary hotels at the airport.
That already happens/is meant to happy, but when we were bumped off, we heard no announcements and were refused boarding & waited 5 hours for another flight.
We should have got the £200 pp compensation as it was an EU flight, but Thomas Cook refused to give the reason as to why the plane was switched to a smaller one, causing the over capacity.
We weren't offered food vouchers (were promised didn't get).
I claimed when we got home & was in dispute for about 9 months, but they wore me down & we accepted flight vouchers with them, so booked flight to Barcelona.
I would have sued them through a NWNF solicitor, but I'd already successfully sued them 10 years previously and couldn't be arsed again.
If a flight is overbooked it should be first booked gets priority. I always book my flights months in advance so if someone books the same flight at the last minute surely I should have preference. Having said that anyone who is overbooked for no fault of his (or her) fault of their own they deserve massive compensation from the airline concerned
United tried to bump me and my wife as we flew on our honeymoon. Even when we explained we had tickets for a show that night and would miss it they were still trying to convince us to take $200 each. It's a disgusting way for the airline to behave
If a flight is overbooked it should be first booked gets priority. I always book my flights months in advance so if someone books the same flight at the last minute surely I should have preference. Having said that anyone who is overbooked for no fault of his (or her) fault of their own they deserve massive compensation from the airline concerned
I agree. But that's not the way the airlines see it. If a frequent flyer or an important corporate client wants your seat and are paying a full whack fare they are going to get your seat.
I'm convinced that's why you can't pre-book your seat on BA (and others) now until a day before the flight (unless you pay extra). This even applies to their so-called Club World seats. BA service generally has gone so far down the tubes it's right in the sewer IMO. But it's probably still better than the yank airlines.
Edited to add: I guess United are going to have to change that "fly the friendly skies" slogan now.
I understand why overbooking happens and why it keeps prices down. Not that it's right but airlines are on a race to the bottom. Even BA is not immune as service quality has plummetted in order to avoid price rises.
The approach needs to be more measured though. The rules ought to be changed so that people are incentivised to volunteer to be bumped to a later flight, such as vouchers for future flights, and vouchers for free food, drink and if necessary hotels at the airport.
That already happens/is meant to happy, but when we were bumped off, we heard no announcements and were refused boarding & waited 5 hours for another flight.
We should have got the £200 pp compensation as it was an EU flight, but Thomas Cook refused to give the reason as to why the plane was switched to a smaller one, causing the over capacity.
We weren't offered food vouchers (were promised didn't get).
I claimed when we got home & was in dispute for about 9 months, but they wore me down & we accepted flight vouchers with them, so booked flight to Barcelona.
I would have sued them through a NWNF solicitor, but I'd already successfully sued them 10 years previously and couldn't be arsed again.
Airlines shouldn't be allowed to obfuscate when they're dicking people about. If anything, the burden ought to be on them to prove that they did everything they could to compensate you for the inconvenience. At the very least they ought to get your signature on a dated document confirming you have been satisfied by the compensation, if not then you ought to be able to claim not only any money lost due to inconvenience but tens of thousands of pounds. If overbooking is going to be allowed to happen then airlines ought to be held fully accountable.
If a flight is overbooked it should be first booked gets priority. I always book my flights months in advance so if someone books the same flight at the last minute surely I should have preference. Having said that anyone who is overbooked for no fault of his (or her) fault of their own they deserve massive compensation from the airline concerned
I agree. But that's not the way the airlines see it. If a frequent flyer or an important corporate client wants your seat and are paying a full whack fare they are going to get your seat.
I'm convinced that's why you can't pre-book your seat on BA (and others) now until a day before the flight (unless you pay extra). This even applies to their so-called Club World seats. BA service generally has gone so far down the tubes it's right in the sewer IMO. But it's probably still better than the yank airlines.
Edited to add: I guess United are going to have to change that "fly the friendly skies" slogan now.
I'm fairly sure easyJet let you check-in 30 days in advance, and as soon as you have a seat allocated to you, it is yours and it cannot be taken away.
I was helping an elderly relative check into a Ryanair flight last week and the experience has put me off the airline in the future. These airlines usually demand you bring a printed boarding pass (or a smartphone app equivalent) or else they threaten to charge you an admin fee if you approach the airline's check-in desk without your boarding pass ready. You are also compelled to check-in days in advance to ensure you are not bumped. My relative is going on a week long trip but you can only check in for each flight four days in advance for free, or else pay a surcharge per flight for the privilege of 'early check-in'. This means that my relative was forced to pay the fee for at least the return flight because there is no way they were going to have access to a printer wherever they were going. It's an absolute travesty to treat people this way.
Flying is already a stressful enough experience given how jittery the security situation is and that airports are crawling with armed personnel and heavies ready to intercept anyone who kicks off. Airlines exploit an already confusing and ever-changing environment by charging people for peace of mind. They are basically vampires.
Aside from the airline, I am waiting for the security personnel to be named and shamed.... Won't take long for somebody to recognise them from the videos going round.
They and their families lives will be utterly ruined by this if there is any justice. And I won't have any sympathy for them.
Comments
They could have probably offered $20,000 considering how badly this will cost them. Shocking.
United Airlines released a statement that has come from the Roland Duchatelet School of PR Statements:
But uh, yeah, pour one out for the PR team.
Or at least, in the age of the internet, no one said "you know what? I bet this is going to end up on Twitter in the next ten minutes and this...might not make us look so good."
Personally, I think it's a disgrace, as I said at the time. If you turned up at a sporting, musical or whatever event or you was going by train to Coventry this weekend and was turned away because they sold the seat twice on purpose, to me there's little consequential difference.
The approach needs to be more measured though. The rules ought to be changed so that people are incentivised to volunteer to be bumped to a later flight, such as vouchers for future flights, and vouchers for free food, drink and if necessary hotels at the airport.
We should have got the £200 pp compensation as it was an EU flight, but Thomas Cook refused to give the reason as to why the plane was switched to a smaller one, causing the over capacity.
We weren't offered food vouchers (were promised didn't get).
I claimed when we got home & was in dispute for about 9 months, but they wore me down & we accepted flight vouchers with them, so booked flight to Barcelona.
I would have sued them through a NWNF solicitor, but I'd already successfully sued them 10 years previously and couldn't be arsed again.
I always book my flights months in advance so if someone books the same flight at the last minute surely I should have preference.
Having said that anyone who is overbooked for no fault of his (or her) fault of their own they deserve massive compensation from the airline concerned
It's a disgusting way for the airline to behave
I'm convinced that's why you can't pre-book your seat on BA (and others) now until a day before the flight (unless you pay extra). This even applies to their so-called Club World seats. BA service generally has gone so far down the tubes it's right in the sewer IMO. But it's probably still better than the yank airlines.
Edited to add: I guess United are going to have to change that "fly the friendly skies" slogan now.
I was helping an elderly relative check into a Ryanair flight last week and the experience has put me off the airline in the future. These airlines usually demand you bring a printed boarding pass (or a smartphone app equivalent) or else they threaten to charge you an admin fee if you approach the airline's check-in desk without your boarding pass ready. You are also compelled to check-in days in advance to ensure you are not bumped. My relative is going on a week long trip but you can only check in for each flight four days in advance for free, or else pay a surcharge per flight for the privilege of 'early check-in'. This means that my relative was forced to pay the fee for at least the return flight because there is no way they were going to have access to a printer wherever they were going. It's an absolute travesty to treat people this way.
Flying is already a stressful enough experience given how jittery the security situation is and that airports are crawling with armed personnel and heavies ready to intercept anyone who kicks off. Airlines exploit an already confusing and ever-changing environment by charging people for peace of mind. They are basically vampires.
I'll get United to email her an application form.
They and their families lives will be utterly ruined by this if there is any justice. And I won't have any sympathy for them.