Man forcibly removed from overbooked United Airlines flight

[BradM]

Have none of you been in a position to remove someone from your workplace/business that refused to leave? You either drag them out yourself or call the cops to do your dirty work. The pussification of America is right before us.

[mustang1200]

My only issue is that United is taking all of the heat for the ass-beating that that the airport PD (read: NOT UNITED EMPLOYEES) gave out. If there's an unruly passenger, they have to request airport PD assistance. United is going to get fucked because of that officer's actions.

The shitty part is that, if that motherfucker would have just gotten off instead of throwing an absolute shit fit, the airport PD wouldn't have drug his ass off the plane.

No. I'm not. An airline reserves the right to take seats for crew, if need be. They had 4 crew members that needed to get to a connecting flight for work. United had used a random seat number generator to choose him. The guy threw a huge fit and refused to get off the plane. United asked airport PD for assistance and Airport PD roughed him up. Everything we see on the news about it is about how United beat this innocent Chijapthaivietnamese baby-saving doctors ass for no reason.

This is how I feel.

United will take the heat because of airport PD. The CEO keeps saying we will fix it, but there is nothing to fix. They have fine print that dictates they can ask you to leave the plane for any reason.

United choose to inconvenience 4 passengers to NOT inconvenience whatever plane full of passengers this crew was headed to.

[davbrucas]

I say fuck United for how they dealt with the situation. I wouldn't have left the plane on my own either. They fucked up by overbooking and not leaving room for the employees that needed a lift. They should have either gotten the employees another way to their destination or offered more money until someone volunteered. I've seen Delta offer $2k and a hotel room for volunteers.
United allowed everyone to board and then realized they needed some seats. They fucked up. They should have gotten the crew another flight to their destination.


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[Chili]

I say fuck United for how they dealt with the situation. I wouldn't have left the plane on my own either. They fucked up by overbooking and not leaving room for the employees that needed a lift. They should have either gotten the employees another way to their destination or offered more money until someone volunteered. I've seen Delta offer $2k and a hotel room for volunteers.
United allowed everyone to board and then realized they needed some seats. They fucked up. They should have gotten the crew another flight to their destination.


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Even worse than that, from what I have read they knew before boarding passengers that they needed the space and had already tried to get volunteers. Yet they still let everyone board knowing they intended to pull people back off.

[Big Dad]

Pay peanuts, get monkeys

[SS Junk]

I thought airlines were supposed to take care of overbooking issues before anyone boarded? That's at least been the case whenever I've flown.

The pussification of America is right before us.

raspect ma authoritaaaa!

Pussification would be to bend over backwards to convenience a service, which you paid for, that would rather dump the problem on the customer than to work it out with the other options available. Hopefully this sends a message to have a better workaround than this bullshit.

[CWO]

I say fuck United for how they dealt with the situation. I wouldn't have left the plane on my own either. They fucked up by overbooking and not leaving room for the employees that needed a lift. They should have either gotten the employees another way to their destination or offered more money until someone volunteered. I've seen Delta offer $2k and a hotel room for volunteers.
United allowed everyone to board and then realized they needed some seats. They fucked up. They should have gotten the crew another flight to their destination.


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Yup.

[GeorgeG.]

I haven't read all 6 pages but am I the only one that thinks he should have gotten his ass up and left on his own two feet? Instead, he threw a fucking tantrum like a 3 year old and got dragged off.

If no one is going to volunteer, then someone was going to get off that plane one way or another. When that unlucky recipient gets chosen, they should suck it up and get off so everyone else can go about their merry way. Does it suck? Absolutely! Would I have volunteered? Hell no. But shit happens and when it does, it needs to be corrected. If it were me, I would've gave a bunch of dirty "fuck you" looks, probably cussed a few people out along the way but no way in hell would I throw a fucking temper tantrum and act like a damn child. I would've walked my ass off that plane with some fucking dignity. But not this fool. He should've received a bigger ass whooping for holding up the entire plane.

[helosailor]

[95DRGT]

United is our preferred Airline for corporate travel. Memo came out today saying to not select United flights at this time for travel and their contract with us is 'under review'.

[8mpg]

I haven't read all 6 pages but am I the only one that thinks he should have gotten his ass up and left on his own two feet? Instead, he threw a fucking tantrum like a 3 year old and got dragged off.

If no one is going to volunteer, then someone was going to get off that plane one way or another. When that unlucky recipient gets chosen, they should suck it up and get off so everyone else can go about their merry way. Does it suck? Absolutely! Would I have volunteered? Hell no. But shit happens and when it does, it needs to be corrected. If it were me, I would've gave a bunch of dirty "fuck you" looks, probably cussed a few people out along the way but no way in hell would I throw a fucking temper tantrum and act like a damn child. I would've walked my ass off that plane with some fucking dignity. But not this fool. He should've received a bigger ass whooping for holding up the entire plane.

well, acting like a child will net this guy a shit ton of money.

[SS Junk]

[cyclonescott]

I haven't read all 6 pages but am I the only one that thinks he should have gotten his ass up and left on his own two feet? Instead, he threw a fucking tantrum like a 3 year old and got dragged off.

If no one is going to volunteer, then someone was going to get off that plane one way or another. When that unlucky recipient gets chosen, they should suck it up and get off so everyone else can go about their merry way. Does it suck? Absolutely! Would I have volunteered? Hell no. But shit happens and when it does, it needs to be corrected. If it were me, I would've gave a bunch of dirty "fuck you" looks, probably cussed a few people out along the way but no way in hell would I throw a fucking temper tantrum and act like a damn child. I would've walked my ass off that plane with some fucking dignity. But not this fool. He should've received a bigger ass whooping for holding up the entire plane.

Maybe it should have been the United employees, who weren't needed until the next day, who should have taken another flight.

[likeitfast55]

I say fuck United for how they dealt with the situation. I wouldn't have left the plane on my own either. They fucked up by overbooking and not leaving room for the employees that needed a lift. They should have either gotten the employees another way to their destination or offered more money until someone volunteered. I've seen Delta offer $2k and a hotel room for volunteers.
United allowed everyone to board and then realized they needed some seats. They fucked up. They should have gotten the crew another flight to their destination.


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This was not United, it was a subcontractor -- "Republic Airlines". They are one of 7 feeders contracted by United to provide feed at their hubs. Not United pilots, not United ground crews, not United gate agents. I find it unfortunate that United bears the brunt of this because their name is all over the brand Republic. Some of the other airline peeps can chime in on the overall substandard quality of Republic Airlines.

The crew they were putting on was for a Delta Express flight. Not allowed at all if true. Republic flies for both.

The sad truth is that the airline is a business that sells a commodity with a short life, namely that seat on that airplane at that time. As a business with share holders, they are modeled on making a profit as opposed to a 501 etc. Delays, mis-connects, and even no-shows are a fact of life. If the airline did not overbook, the ticket prices would have to go up to cover that difference in revenue from unoccupied seats to insure the profitability of that flight. Then, I'm sure, folks would be screaming at the top of their lungs about the higher costs of travel. It's not an easy fix. Walking is cheaper.

[cyclonescott]

More Tom-fuckery from United.

United passenger threatened with handcuffs to make room for 'higher-priority' traveler
It’s hard to find examples of worse decision-making and customer treatment than United Airlines having a passenger dragged from an overbooked plane. But United’s shabby treatment of Geoff Fearns, including a threat to place him in handcuffs, comes close.

Fearns, 59, is president of TriPacific Capital Advisors, an Irvine investment firm that handles more than half a billion dollars in real estate holdings on behalf of public pension funds. He had to fly to Hawaii last week for a business conference.

Fearns needed to return early so he paid about $1,000 for a full-fare, first-class ticket to Los Angeles. He boarded the aircraft at Lihue Airport on the island of Kauai, took his seat and enjoyed a complimentary glass of orange juice while awaiting takeoff.

Then, as Fearns tells it, a United employee rushed onto the aircraft and informed him that he had to get off the plane.

“I asked why,” he told me. “They said the flight was overfull.”

Fearns, like the doctor at the center of that viral video from Sunday night, held his ground. He was already on the plane, already seated. He shouldn’t have to disembark.

“That’s when they told me they needed the seat for somebody more important who came at the last minute,” Fearns said. “They said they have a priority list and this other person was higher on the list than me.”

Apparently United had some mechanical troubles with the aircraft scheduled to make the flight. So the carrier swapped out that plane with a slightly smaller one with fewer first-class seats.

Suddenly it had more first-class passengers than it knew what to do with. So it turned to its “How to Screw Over Customers” handbook and determined that the one in higher standing — more miles flown, presumably — gets the seat and the other first-class passenger, even though he’s also a member of the frequent-flier program, gets the boot.

“I understand you might bump people because a flight is full,” Fearns said. “But they didn’t say anything at the gate. I was already in the seat. And now they were telling me I had no choice. They said they’d put me in cuffs if they had to.”

You couldn’t make this up if you tried.

It shouldn’t make any difference where a passenger is seated or how much he or she paid for their ticket. But you have to admire the sheer chutzpah of United putting the arm on a full-fare, first-class traveler. If there’s anybody whose business you want to safeguard and cultivate, it’s that person.

So how could United possibly make things worse? Not to worry. This is the airline that knows how to add insult to injury.

A United employee, responding to Fearns’ complaint that he shouldn’t have to miss the flight, compromised by downgrading him to economy class and placing him in the middle seat between a married couple who were in the midst of a nasty fight and refused to be seated next to each other.

“They argued the whole way back,” Fearns recalled. “Nearly six hours. It was a lot of fun.”



Fearns requested a full refund for his flight from Kauai and asked for United to make a $25,000 donation to the charity of his choice. This is how rich guys do it.

He received an email back from a United “corporate customer care specialist” apologizing that Fearns apparently had an unpleasant experience. But, no, forget about a refund.

As for that charitable donation, what are you kidding? A hard no on that.

Instead, the service rep offered to refund Fearns the difference between his first-class ticket and an economy ticket — about a week later, as if that wasn’t the first thing they should do in a situation like this — and to give him a $500 credit for a future trip on the airline.

“Despite the negative experience, we hope to have your continued support,” the rep concluded. “Your business is especially important to us and we'll do our utmost to make your future contacts with United satisfactory in every respect.”

I reached out to United and asked if anyone cared to comment on Fearns’ adventure in corporate catastrophe. No one got back to me.

Julia Underwood, a business professor at Azusa Pacific University, said United’s actions in both the dragged-off-the-plane episode and with Fearns reflect a coldhearted mindset utterly devoid of compassion for customers.

“They’re so locked into their policies, there’s no room for empathy,” she said.

As a result, Underwood said, situations that should be manageable spiral out of control and result in unnecessarily messy PR disasters.

“What United and all companies need to do is to train and empower workers to deal with specific issues as they arise,” she said. “Don’t just follow whatever is written in your policies.”

I couldn’t agree more. United is neck-deep in trouble this week because its workers are clearly out of their depth in handling out-of-the-ordinary events. You have to think someone on the flight crew would have been able to step up, if given the trust and authority to do so by the carrier.

Fearns said three different members of the crew on his middle-seat, economy-class return to L.A. apologized for how he was treated in Hawaii. But they said they were unable to do anything.

He’s now considering a lawsuit against United — and he certainly has the resources to press his case.

I asked if he’ll ever fly United again.

Fearns could only laugh. “Are you kidding?”

http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-united-low-priority-passenger-20170412-story.html

The problem is that the airlines have the ability to have you forcibly removed from the plain and arrested with no questions asked. I agree when you have an unruly passenger like the Hilary supporter a few months ago who was being aggressive towards a Trump supporter they should be removed but to kick someone off the plain because of something the airline could have handled better is messed up.