Involuntary Offload
I've often marveled at the stories on FT and from fellow UA seatmates about poor customer service because I've never had much bad luck (or treatment), but yesterday the wonderful ancient/new SHARES involuntarily bumped me from a commuter flight (turboprop) because of weight and balance. Nevermind that I paid literally $800+ for a one-hour flight (OK, maybe I am stupid anyway, but they pretty much have a monopoly on the route) or my 1K status. Apparently when UA decided who to involuntarily offload, my number came up. Five hours later (and another flight where I was given a boarding pass, sat down in my seat and then was told I had to offload because they had miscounted weight and balance on that flight), I finally made a flight. I could have driven faster if they had simply told me there was no seat before they took my $800. They did give me a $400 voucher, though. So I only ended up $400+ lighter in the wallet and without the service they promised.
A FA who saw the second offload commiserated and shared that SHARES has caused such distress that two GAs have had to go to the hospital with nervous breakdowns. Pretty much every flight I have been on since 3/3 (admittedly only about 10) there have been problems. It took 4 GAs yesterday to finally figure out how to get me a seat on the 3rd flight. It's like SHARES is an evil monster guarding the treasure, and GAs have to fight it every time just to pilfer small trinckets for passengers, like seats.
If this is really becoming a daily pattern, I pity us all, pax and GAs alike. Does anyone know the rules for involulntary offloads? Isn't there a priority system based on M+ status or price paid or something?