Greetings,

Our flight from DTW-LHR was great, but the second leg of the return UA flight
(7/5/09) IAD-DTW was oversold and they called our name first (me and my
kid; I am a revenue ticket and my kid is a free ticket) to let us know
that will be denied boarding - INvoluntarily - without FIRST asking for
volunteers! Booked us on a flight that is to arrive 4+ hours later than
the original one. He said the only compensation that was permitted was ONE
of: (a) free round trip ticket, (b) voucher for (double) the one-way fare
(IAD-DTW), (c) $200 voucher - for each of my kid and me. I complained
about the process for choosing us and asked for other compensation -
cash/refund - options. He and his manager said no other options!

I sent an email to UA customer service and they said, "Department of
Transportation regulation does not require us to offer denied boarding
compensation when a customer is denied boarding due to safety-related
weight/balance restrictions that limit payload on aircrafts with 60 or
fewer seats," but proposed a revised option (b) above - cash payment of
$76.01.

I reviewed the DOT PART 250 OVERSALES. Then, sent a second email to UA
that they can't be selective in enforcing DOT rules. The rules state that
i) volunteers be asked first, yet they did not; ii) cash compensation be
offered as an option yet they initially did not. Finally, I do not believe
the DOT '60 or fewer seat rule' gives them blanket rights to reject denied
boarding compensation if the weight/balance restriction was reached w/o
following due processes - such as seeking volunteers etc. (I suggested a bit more generous with the compensation and offered couple of
specific ideas such as $400 voucher/person or free ticket voucher for
continental/Canada!)


Do I have any options or they are correct on some technicality of the '60 or fewer seat rule' despite not following some of the processes noted in previous para?