United Proactively Asks for Volunteers Before Flight
Joe Cortez April 21, 2017
Frankfurt, Germany - July 17, 2014: United Airlines aircraft logo at an aircraft in Frankfurt. United Airlines is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Flyer reports an offer of $200 if they can be bumped prior to departure.
After promises that United Airlines’ customer experience would improve after the United Flight 3411 incident, evidence of that transformation may possibly be found during the check-in process. People Magazine reports that passengers flying with the Chicago-based carrier are now being asked if they are willing to be bumped from flights in the case of overbooking.
One United passenger told the magazine that during their check-in process, they were greeted with a screen inquiring if they would be willing to give up their seat in the event of an overbooked flight. If they said yes, the passenger would be pre-identified to gate agents as willing to give up their seat in exchange for a $200 voucher. The passenger further said that they did not get the message on the outbound portion of their itinerary, but only received it on their return.
Although the screen may be new for some flyers, United says that this has been standard practice for years. A spokesperson for the airline clarified that requesting volunteers before the flight allows for smoother operations if a passenger must be removed due to overbooking. Additionally, voucher amounts may change based on multiple factors. The spokesperson promised that more customer service improvements will be coming after an internal audit.
“At the same time, we are conducting a comprehensive review of our broader customer experience,” the spokesperson told People in a statement. “And look forward to communicating the results of that review and the customer-focused actions we will take by April 30.”
The combined actions come in a wake of bad publicity, after a passenger was forcefully dragged off UA3411 as depicted in a viral video. Immediately afterward, the airline issued mixed messages about the situation, before promising a full review and issuing refunds to everyone aboard the flight.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
They've always done this, why is it treated as if it's new?
say if i'm flying rt and amd delayed > 2 or 3 hrs or delayed by a half day, I am reimbursed at a minimum, 50% of what I paid for the ticket!
This really is nothing new at all. That screen has been part of the checkin process, all the way back to the Continental days if I recall correctly. Nothing to see here.
This is old news, United had offered this to me many times in the past two years, and most people decline $200 of flight credit when they have no idea what the other options are. It would be much better if they could auto adjust based on the expected delay. so 200 for an 2 hour delay but 1500 for 24h ...
United has always done this...I guess you don't fly them much? Even back in my college days, when I actually worked as a Gate Agent with United at SFO...we ALWAYS asked for volunteers BEFORE boarding a flight. The UA3411 was on an EXPRESS carrier and wasn't even an oversell situation...it was just very POORLY handled.