Originally Posted by mizanne

At minimum UA will have to make amends to this passenger (and possibly his legal team). And of course the rest of the traumatized passengers on board. Other than that it will blow over pretty quickly. The bar on customer service is so low these days, I don't think anyone is surprised.
But what was the UA gate crew thinking? I've been on overbooked flights with UA, and it was always handled at the gate, and with little drama.
Why didn't they offer the full $1350 to get volunteers for a later flight? I've heard that they offered $800 or $1000. Once you are in your seat, you don't want to give it up, it's going to cost more.
And where did this crew that caused the overbooking come from? Didn't they know about them before the plane boarded? I guess it could have been an exigent situation.
But in that case, they need to offer the max to get 4 people out of their seats.

Legislatively, I think it's time to up the $1350 involuntary bumped max. There are so few empty seats these days that overnight delays are pretty common. Actually, why is there any max at all, other than to give the airlines cover? Everybody's got a number, right?