bocastephen

Surely, this is satire, right?

WineCountryUA

Thread Maintenance

Discussions are overlapping in many threads, as this is a downgrade thread, the IDB policy discussion have been moved to http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...il-2017-a.html

and the IDB comparisons with other carries have been moved to http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-carriers.html

Let stay focused on the downgrade incident in this thread.

WineCountryUA
UA coModerator

mre5765

Agreed. I didn't suggest the FA identify the FAM.

You will accomplish a non-violent way to get the pax whose seat the FAM wants, off the plane.


If their is a pax sitting in the seat the FAM wants, the airline employee is under no obligation to forcibly move that pax. The employee's CEO has said, on national TV, that the employee never has to do that again.

So again: cancel the flight, which might impact the FAM's schedule. Or the FAM or his colleagues go to the pax to evict him.

If I am an employee given the choice between exposing my airline to a lawsuit or disobeying a FAM in the capacity as an airline employee then indeed, I will volunteer to make the flight I am working my last flight and resign.

LarryJ

Aren't many boarding passes printed at home the day before the flight?

AllanJ

Paid first class is inherently a bad buy for the reasons stated in this thread.
In general I would consider a reasonable resolution of a downgrade to be a cash rebate to the passenger greater than the difference between the fare paid and the lowest fare (e.g. United L class) for the actual assigned seat. Plus the passenger still receives other amenities such as earlier boarding or bonus miles.

I would expect to seek assistance starting with going to a superior (the captain in the case of an airplane) in the event of difficulty. That person would also be responsible for obtaining any needed cash or other resources that are agreed upon as being necessary or desirable towards achieving the desired results. That person in turn could appeal to someone yet higher up for further assistance. The more resources are left to the discretion of the rank and file employees to utilize, the fewer the number of instances that superiors are summoned for assistance.

Lani1

Looking forward to all the bad PR for an airline that deserves it
Can't wait for the lax sit and wait for a gate craziness to start getting coverage
And yes I am a 17 + year 1k and GS

james dean

it's gotta be hell for GA now showing up for work, with everybody and their dog having a cell phone ready willing and able to record any anomaly, GA's are thinking I wonder if today is my day I make the national news....

stillontheroad

(The bolding and underline is mine) That is the big difference to me. You stated that it was explained calmly, well before boarding. Think if it happened after you boarded and no one had talked to you about it. Yes equipment changes do happen, it is a fact of travel, but once you are boarded, seated and have been served they com on board and tell you you have to move/get off. NOT ask but tell you you have no option. JUST COMPLY or the airport goons will drag you off.

Makes for a whole different situation

Annerk

Bottom line, money talks, and it's a lot cheaper to up the ante and get volunteers than it is to cancel and re-accommodate an entire flight. That's a third grade math word problem that UA failed, and really the bottom line in this entire scenario.

spin88

There were a lot of posts about how Ua gave out compensation for everything, and that was going to end. United would be 'run like a business'. That has worked out great. ��
Well before co look over the ga would say 'we have an equipment swap, and need to move 4 people', anyone in f willing to take a downgrade for x compensation'. They would keep going until they got the seats. I gave up a sfo-den flight for $600 as I recall.

People who take things are thieves, what happened to the guy in the story was theft.

+1000

halls120

The ghost of Smisek is still alive and well at UA, unfortunately.

Summa Cum Laude Touro Law Center

That's fine, but it's my understanding that, as it currently stands, the applicable regulations are limited to the airline's relationship to the FAM, and United's CoC does not mention anything about the request of a FAM being a basis to remove a ticket holding passenger from a flight (EDIT: on second thought, this technically may not be correct).

Ideally, the the government would implement a regulation allowing the government to "claim" a ticketholding passenger's seat who has already boarded the plane. In the absence of such a regulation, the airline could amend its CoC to permit the airline to remove a passenger from a flight when necessary to satisfy the request of a FAM. However, without such a regulation or provision in the CoC, the formal legal term to describe United's position is "between a rock and hard place."

JBord

Well, even as a legacy UA customer, I thought they gave out compensation for every little thing, which I didn't mind . The problem is they've gone too far. Now it seems they can cause a huge inconvenience for a passenger and often do nothing to compensate him. Not necessarily in this case, but just overall. It's one of the factors that contributes to all this bad press.

kop84

It's not the fact that they have to IDB/Downgrade people that's the issue. Its when and how they do it. A company that continually threatens to use law enforcement to handle customer service issues that they created is going to be in big trouble.

If you have to do this kind of thing, you're going to need to blow people out of the water with compensation, not demand compliance.

One the plus side, I just found UA's new director of customer service

GottaGoFlying

Exactly. The United Board of Directors and senior executives have ingrained a culture of greed and disrespect for passengers and employees. The entire BoD is responsible and should all be fired.