FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Man pulled off of overbooked flight UA3411 (ORD-SDF) 9 Apr 2017 {Settlement reached}
Old Apr 17, 2017, 7:54 am
  #6075  
MSPeconomist
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Originally Posted by simpleflyer
Asking for the relevance of specific comments is fair. However, rather than leap to the idea that people maket them because they are trying to institute or back an oppressive totalitarian regime, perhaps we should apply Occam's Razor and come up with a less oppressive opinion of one's fellow posters.

The reason people discuss it is because it has to be considered, even if ultimately rejected, in any specific case.

There are examples of greater good that are, in fact, good - not saying they apply in this case, but the point is, they do exist.

- The medical system of triage in the event of limited resources. The idea is to apportion the available resources first to those who both need it urgently, and who will be most likely to benefit from it (i.e they don't have a risk of dying no matter what.)

- The greater good for overbooking was deemed to be higher revenue obtained without raising ticket prices. Ticket prices have not kept pace with inflation. Yes, this is a topic worthy of discussion, but do not assume that people necessarily want a return to higher fares.

- Business class flyers are rarely bumped out of the plane entirely but merely downgraded into a lower class.
This would greatly depend on government regulations. It could be cheaper to do an IDB of a business class passenger than a downgrade, especially if the downgrade requires doing an IDB to a coach passenger.
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