Originally Posted by
leungy18
Well, while airlines do take advantage of federal law -- UA is rightfully getting skewered for not doing more than the bare minimum that it was required to in order to defuse the situation.
Of course they're rightfully getting skewered for it, they deserve every ounce of it too. Realistically though, doing the bare minimum is how US airlines operate so is anyone really shocked? These airlines won't ever change, and won't ever have a reason to change, until either the federal government changes the laws or people vote with their wallets.
As big a game as boycott United people are talking, I just can't imagine anything will change. If United is even $15 less on a route than their competition, most people will jump at it. Perhaps that is the cynic in me, but I just don't see any change happening.
Originally Posted by
wolf72
I do not agree with this statement.
Just because the laws side with the airline, does not mean common sense and sensible decision making goes out the window and mistreating passengers like sub-human's is acceptable.
The problem lies with the attitude of the ground staff and the management who not only hire people with this mentality and idea that the customer is not always right and the airline is never wrong and they can do as they please.
Whoever decided to offload the passengers has gotten away scott free. His or her name has not been mentioned but that individual who was bloodied and bruised is all over the news and social media.
I would very much like to know the rational of bumping 4 passengers off a flight that was ready to depart instead of sending the 4 crew members an hour later on a rival airliner that was going to the very same destination.
And who in flight operations decided to do this and for what reason.
I wish UA would stop hiding and covering up their mistakes and pretending this will all go away tommorrow.
The bolded statements are where I think we differ. You're making the assumption that the gate agent was an incompetent fool incapable of using rational thought or common sense. I believe the gate agent was acting exactly like he/she was told to act.
This incident, and United's statements after the fact, make it abundantly clear to me that they have very strict policies in place and do not give their employees leeway to improvise with the company's money.
This is a philosophy problem with United, from the top down, not a problem with a rogue GA having a bad day and looking to screw people. If I had to guess, this is what happened:
- GA was told just after boarding to make room for four crew members
- GA asked for volunteers as usual, going up to a VDB voucher amount that the computer told her was the max for this flight
- When no volunteers stepped forward, GA moved on with the IDB process as trained to do
- Computer spit out the 4 lowest fares to be IDBed, likely to receive the same $800 if not less
- When a passenger didn't comply, GA had him removed exactly as trained to do
Again, perhaps that is me being cynical about UA as a company, but I don't believe for a second this GA just went rogue. She did what she was told, which is why Munoz went through so much effort to have his/her back.