kettle1

Unreal. UA really needs to retrain these employees. It is not that a screw-up happened, it is how they handle these multiple mess-up events. This is unreal for a company with 90,000+ employees. Training! This is not a one off event. This has been happening time and time again for the past several months. The media is picking up each story.

Again, train your employees and give them direction and to "think". Give front line employees some power to make thing right. If not, start getting rid of some of the managers and senior staff. UA has a huge PR problem on their hands and it keeps getting worse. UA is a Billion+ dollar company running it like a 3rd World airline. Even Frank Lorenzo would not have allowed it to get this bad. Perhaps Deep Dish Pizza served in Y will make up for these mess-ups.
Perhaps not.

ecofreak

this is clearly an issue beyond poor CS.

jphripjah

I'm guessing that she was sitting next to the center and holding the child in her lap. Or she moved the child from the center to her lap when the standby passenger and flight attendant showed up.

Or he sat on her kid.

NH_Clark

Thank the unions. They keep these select few bad apples in place.

FlyngSvyr

It seems to me this was a system failure on behalf of UA and an unfortunate miscommunication between the FA & the mother. I can't imagine there is ANY circumstance where the GA & FA would have allowed the standby passenger to remain in the seat if they understood the situation completely. My guess is that the FA thought the child was a lap child and did not realize that the mother had paid for the extra seat. That is why she said it was a full flight, not realizing that the "open" seat next to the mother was actually rightfully purchased for the child.

I am by no means "victim blaming", but it sounds like this mother was not willing to speak up for herself and let the FA/GA know the full extent of what was going on. Sure, UA screwed up in the first place by not scanning the boarding pass of the child correctly. BUT doesn't she have the responsibility to let them know a mistake is happening and have it rectified when it can be fixed. Sitting silent, or not pursuing it with the FA because you are "scared" sounds a little melodramatic to me...

ucfjoe

So if my wife was flying without me or someone else she would have done the same thing. Kept quiet. Given past events there is a real chance she could piss off the GA and be removed from the flight. Then she's stuck in an airport where driving isn't an option with a kid. The keep your mouth or risk being arrested or banned is real.

I hope United is fined or they pay out like two free F tickets anywhere they fly or something seems completely fair. Not millions but something that has a little bit of carrot to not repeat these things.

My 28 month old would much prefer to be a lap child and if I had the choice for short legs I'd save the money and keep him as a lap child but that violates FAA and airline rules of wanting more revenue. On the other hand my other kid that's 3 doesn't like being a lap child and it would be hell on earth if he had to go as a lap child for anything more than 5 minutes.

RooseveltL

This sounds like gate agent error while in a rush and didn't wish to correct the problem vs. delaying a flight. I think procedures to quickly rush turn-around of a plane or understaffed is more of a problem vs. targeting Asians.

FlyngSvyr

My wife is of asian descent & rarely fly's, so she does not know the system like most FTrs.

I asked her what she would do. The exact opposite. She would have firmly & respectfully brought the situation up the chain of command until it was understood & addressed properly. If UA somehow "wronged" her after that, well we would deal with it then in the appropriate venue. She is not afraid of anyone/anything and knows how to handle herself.

The fear of mother and child being clubbed like baby seals is media driven hype

ucfjoe

I never said she was scared of being clubbed. The more likely thing is she gets removed from the flight and has to sit around the airport for god knows how long before the next flight with kids in tow. Working up the chain of command could take hours or days. The general commercial aviation mentality is do whatever FA's and GA's say or else get kicked off a plane. Fine, I can accept that, but when an airline is wrong it's not fair for them to just say oops and no penalty out of pocket or else they have no reason to fix things.

ScousePete

She didn't sit silent.

FlyingNone

United did screw up here and frankly I'm surprise there is no mention of them being heavily fined. Truly a safety issue on board if there was an emergency (turbulence, oxygen masks, etc.).
But seriously, {the} crazy idea that Asians will be targeted and hauled off every flight if they speak up instead of being obedient little robots is ridiculous. The woman was being too passive and the flight attendant was a ditz to not see the danger and just shrug and walk away. The screams for "retraining" is also ridiculous. No amount of classroom refreshment can pound an ounce of common sense or empathy into people - that's pretty much learned from childhood on up, you know, like from your family, parents, grandparents, etc. Some third party employer of people well into their 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's or older having to do this is not going to happen, United or any other company.

blueman2

Now being picked up by NBC News.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...flight-n779731

NBC contacted the passenger and got an additional quote:
Again, how could United be so tone deaf as to think just refunding the child's ticket, for a seat he was kicked out of, was enough? Along with some token voucher that the mother will never use because she will probably not fly United again in the near term. Is there anyone who works at United who has any concept of public relations or common sense?

Ber2dca

I am skeptical in terms of what actually transpired on board the plane. Playing the race card and calling back on the Dao incident sounds like coached behavior i.e. they're out for money.

Baze

There are so many different Asian cultures and customs that your statement really has no bearing. One culture is very forward and demanding while another is demure and not willing to get into conflict and the rest are the full gamut in between.

greg99

Sorry, but that's precisely "victim blaming" - UA screwed up, she flagged it for the FA, and despite being aware of the problem, UA did nothing to remedy it. It was 100% UA's fault.

So, she asked for it?

Could she have made a scene, sure - I would have - but she's a teacher traveling with a 28 month old. She just wanted to get where she was going, and she did what reasonably should have been sufficient to prevent her kid's seat from being taken away from her.

{E}ven UA's not trying to defend itself here. It was a customer service disaster, a PR disaster and a violation of its own and FAA regulations, so could have been a safety disaster.