hooterbif

I went with my three daughters to check in to a flight this morning. It turns out that one daughter was under her own record, and the other three of us were on another. I knew this beforehand, so I asked a phone agent to join the records. I was assured that they were joined. When I went to the kiosk to check in at the airport, I was able to get boarding passes for the three of us, but not the daughter on her own record. The kiosk blinked red because it needed a ticket agent to come by and scan an employee badge to verify that an adult was flying with the child.

Now, here is where it gets crazy. There was only one ticket agent, and she was screaming, swearing at customers, saying she wasn't going to put up with "this ...." in front of children. She was screaming that she didn't need this job. I waited 45 minutes by the kiosk as she stomped back and forth, checking in passengers randomly (there was no longer a line, everybody was bunched up against the kiosks). There was a helper who told her many times that he tried to check in my daughter but needed "the code" to use his badge on the scanner. She said "no."

I sent my two older daughters to the gate to tell them what was happening. The gate agent said that he could not do anything about it. The plane left. 45 minutes LATER, another agent showed up for work. She rebooked me. I said that I was there on time, I had a reservation, I arrived at the ticket counter on time, and the airline could not get me to the destination within one hour of the original arrival time; therefore, I was involuntarily denied boarding. Ultimately, they booked me for TWO DAYS later for a 7 day beach vacation on my kids' President's week break. Afterward, I was able to change this to moving me to Delta. The ticket agent said that I was not denied boarding because denied boarding only counts when the airline overbooks. Also, she said that I was not denied boarding at all because they never checked in my youngest daughter because their employees showed up late to work this morning and could not check in all the passengers; in other words, if United refuses to check in a passenger, then it cannot be denied boarding because denied boarding is only for checked in passengers. In all, over a dozen passengers missed my flight. I told her that this was not DOT rules, and she said she would not compensate me. No food. No hotel (new flights required an overnight in another city).

I tweeted what was happening and United social media chimed in saying how sorry they were and how I should ask for a hotel when I get to the layover city. I did so, but the United people at the layover city said that they would never give hotel/meal vouchers because the originating station had to do so.

So, am I crazy in thinking that this was IDB?

Steve M

This wasn't done because there is no such thing. They can put notes in each record to tell other agents about the other record, but these are just something that's manually typed in and is human-readable, not machine-readable. There may be a way to link records to achieve some things, such as making automation aware that the travelers are together such that any rebooking automation takes this into account (I'm not sure if United does this or not). But there's definitely not a way to combine passengers that are ticketed on separate records into a single record, whether they originally were on a single record or not.

The agent is correct. IDB, as defined by the DOT and the associated mandatory compensation rules, apply only in an overbooking situation. In the US, all other situations of not being able to get on a ticketed flight come down to a customer service issue between you and the airline, unless the situation is covered by something specific in the Contract of Carriage.

You're not crazy to think so, but IDB does have a specific meaning that your situation doesn't fall under. What you describe sounds like a horrible situation caused by a bad agent, but it's not IDB as per the mandatory compensation rules.

hooterbif

While I do think that the ticket agent either needs training or to be put in a non-customer service role, I actually think that the problem also had to do with the fact that other ticket agents didn't show up for work this morning.

In regards to DOT rules, I see the following (here: https://www.transportation.gov/indiv...ng-oversales):

Situations when bumped passengers ARE eligible for compensation:

• If you are not bumped from a flight for one of the reasons above, you qualify for involuntary denied boarding compensation if an airline requires you to give up your seat on an oversold flight and:
  • You have a confirmed reservation,
  • You checked-in to your flight on time,
  • You arrived at the departure gate on time, and
  • The airline cannot get you to your destination within one hour of your flight’s original arrival time.

So, it appears that overbooking is not strictly required, but it does appear that you have to get to the gate. If United does not check you in, then you cannot get to the gate, and therefore cannot be denied boarding. I guess that it could be possible to get to the gate and United deny you boarding without being oversold, although I can't imagine why they would do that. If they did, it would be IDB.

MSPeconomist

Yellowjj

Okay I'm curious, why was your underage daughter on a separate reservation?

Steve M already explained why you aren't owed IDB, but I hope you recorded the agent's behavior? I mean if she really was ranting and raging as you described.

hooterbif

Sorry for not giving more detail. The routing was ROC-EWR-AUA (never made it out of ROC on UA). We got rebooked ROC-ATL-AUA on Delta.

By the way, the ticket agent wasn't just swearing. She was jumping up and down and on top of the baggage weight scales and yelling at people. I think that many people were genuinely in fear of their physical safety because nobody complained. Everybody just stood there missing their flights one by one. I was afraid to even say anything to her because of her behavior in front of my children. The other helper (not really a ticket agent but one of the guys who puts the bags on the conveyor) was very clearly afraid of her, saying that she was his boss and he could not do anything about what was happening - he apologized under his breath many times.

As far as her losing her job, she said many times that this job means nothing to her and that she doesn't need this aggravation.

I considered recording the agents behavior. The agent was borderline physically threatening. Can you imagine what would happen if I was recording her behavior? What do you think she would have done? In front of my daughter who was already petrified? Is it worth it for me?

Why was she on a separate locator? I had been scoping out these tickets for a long time. They finally went "on sale" for points. So, I was able to get three tickets with the amount of points I had immediately. I did so!

Meanwhile, I then tried to find more points. I realized that I could transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards. I did so and finally got the fourth ticket (separately). I had to phone in because she "appeared" to be an unaccompanied minor. Of course, the phone agent waived the phone fee because you just can't do that type of award online.

LAXlocal

And in this world of cell phone videos , no one recorded this ?
did you get her name to report her ?

But sorry to hear the kids get 2 days less vacation..
..,

MSPeconomist

notquiteaff

Send a complaint to UA, explaining the situation with as few sentences and emotion as possible. Leave out irrelevant details such as that you sent your kids to the gate. Don't use the term IDB. Explain that the behavior of the UA gate agent caused you to miss your flight and caused you additional expenses and ask for reimbursement. Briefly describe the unacceptable behavior of the agent and the fact that many other travelers were also affected. If you don't get a satisfying resolution from UA, file a complaint with the DOT (again, don't ask for IDB compensation... it wasn't an oversold plane).

hooterbif

Every now and then, somebody said something, like "My flight is taking off in 20 minutes...." and she would start screaming and yelling. Other people then started whispering things like, "She's not going to go any faster if you keep talking to her...." After some of those outbursts, people just stopped saying anything. I think people were afraid and also worried that saying anything or recording would just result in even less chance of making their flights. She threatened several times that she was just going to walk off her job and nobody would fly.

Well, one less day because we got on Delta. After initially being a bit bummed, we all got jazzed up about using the pool in the ATL airport Rennaisance (got upgraded to two massive suites - I just hope that United is going to pay for them - $160 each).

Thank you for your advice. I did start a complaint and got a KMM number from the United web site. I have filed a complaint a few times in the past and United has always reacted in a way that I thought was very fair and accommodating.

We are missing out on the 2-bedroom $600/night timeshare that I rented in Aruba tonight. Should I ask United to reimburse me for that? After all, they can't be expected to reimburse me for the two Renaissance rooms that I am using while also reimbursing for the 2-bedroom timeshare that I am NOT using on the same night!?

zrs70

hooterbif

It was painful to watch a human self-disintegrate in front of 50 people.

_fx

hooterbif

I have one video. It is 17 seconds. I took it way after peak insanity (during which I was horrified and in shock). In my silly 17-second video, you see the floor for 16 seconds and then the ticket agent for 1 second because I didn't want her to see (and jeopardize the last shred of hope that she might stop ignoring me and my daughter). All of us were afraid to say anything because she was randomly choosing who to serve next (there was no line anymore). It's like the Soup Nazi episode on Seinfeld.

prometa

If you--or anyone else reading--find yourself in a similar situation again, find the nearest law enforcement officer and report it. What you describe is a scenario that could have easily devolved into violence, and that women needed to be removed from the counter, and possibly detailed, until she had control of herself and her emotions again. If a passenger acted that way, the ticket agent wouldn't hesitate to call law enforcement.