Originally Posted by
pinniped
But the penalties for IDB (payments to passengers) should be stiff. High minimums are more important than an uncapped maximum. $1000 for a short-delay minimum and $3000/day for overnight delays should be both a reasonable offset for (most) passengers as well as a deterrent against egregious misbehavior on the part of GAs such as what we saw the other night.
VDB should be uncapped. High IDB minimums will function as a natural cap...people will realize that short-delay VDB offers aren't going above $1000 cash or, say, $2000 in funny money. (Using my example minimums above.) A planeload of pax colluding together to ask for a million dollars each could not happen.
I agree completely. The other change I'd make is the one Delta is making: empowering gate agents and their immediate supervisors to make much higher VDB compensation without having to involve someone much higher in the chain of authority. If that United gate agent had had the authority to cut a $1600 voucher right on the spot, this whole mess may never have occured (since there apparently was a passenger who was willing to offload in place of Dr. Dao for that level of compensation).
Gate agents and ticket agents are NOT "low level personnel." They are the public face of any airline. Get good, competent, trustworthy people into those positions, and then give them the tools and the authority they need to actually do their jobs properly, and watch these problems go away.
The only regulation I'd impose on VDB is that if an airline offers vouchers/gift cards, they truly spend like regular flight credit on the airline. The restrictions/trickery on airline vouchers has gotten out of hand, and this is NEVER explained by a GA during the VDB solicitation process. GA's always make the vouchers sound like unrestricted credit towards future flights.
Absolutely. People who might otherwise be tempted by a voucher offer are rightfully wary of settling for "funny money" because (for very good reasons) they don't trust that they will actually be able to use it. And that's entirely an airline-created problem.