Bear96

Pretty much the whole story sounds exaggerated and like it is missing some info. I have flown a lot (both as a passenger and a crewmember) and it doesn't seem realistic that a F/A would tell someone that sitting in the exit row because of a simple bruise is against the rules.

It is also way overblown on FT what airline employees will do to get a nonrev into a better seat. 99.99% of airline employees know they could get fired for manipulating the boarding / seat selection process in this way and wouldn't take the risk. I am not denying the existence of that 0.001% who are stupid enough to do it, but they are often caught and fired, especially if it was something as brazen as described in the OP, IME.

The whole scenario as described seems excessively far-fetched.

MrWilliamston

This is what the bruise looks like on my arm.(it's where the sleeve ends if I'm wearing a short sleeve shirt)

During a regular check-up today, I showed it to my PCP doctor and she said "what are you, 10 years old? that's nothing!"

zombietooth

Well, in my long flying career, I have seen many instances of crew capriciousness.
I chalked most of them up to wounded egos, resulting in lashing-out by the FAs, but a fair number seem to have been motivated by something more sinister e.g. taking care of their comrades.

Here's an odd one that I witnessed:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28040354-post68.html

MrWilliamston

That reminded me of something I heard many years ago...

Back when the BA Concorde was still flying IAD-LHR, I remember a flight attendant on my AA flight. He looked out the window and saw the BA Concorde parked at the midfield terminal. He said to my seatmate "oh, that's the concorde.. it's twice as fast as us... we can to Mach 1 and they can do Mach 2, not a real big difference if you ask me...." When I politely protested that it was impossible for the AA DC-10 to do Mach 1, which was the speed of sound, he looked at me and said "I'm a professional and I know what I'm talking about!" Well, I remember feeling so glad that he was just the flight attendant... because if he was the pilot, I would have begged to get off the DC-10 doing Mach 1. I suppose it was possible, but the DC-10 would have to be in a free fall, like that 747SP that actually went supersonic over the Pacific many years ago.

LordHamster

You should have asked for you and your emotional support animal to board early with a bruise like that.

notquiteaff

Well, if you think it didn't happen as described, then United should have no problems determining this when / if they get the complaint.

I have never in person seen a lot of the problems described here, but generally have no reason to believe that they happened. You know, plane crashes, drunk pilots, passengers getting dragged of the plane with a bloody face, ... rare things, fortunately, but true stories nonetheless. The OP does not come across as unbelievable.

hoopics

like "Doctor losing his teeth during an IDB" far fetched, or just "non-Rev teenager being shamed off the jet" far fetched?

Sorry, but this story is completely credible. Rare -- maybe even black swan rare -- but totally in character for the bottom 1% of the may thousands of otherwise excellent UA cabin staff.

eng3

Well, I believe there are 24000 FAs, so 0.01% is still 240 of them. Also, know you can get fired doesn't mean you don't do it. What percentage of these types of incidents go unreported. I bet the average passenger will just believe whatever a FA says. They may be unhappy, maybe they'll never fly UA again. I bet an even smaller percentage can determine who a non-rev is and who is not. Many of us on FT can't even tell the difference.

EpsilonZer0

In my experience FAs don't know if you paid for a seat or not. They are not going to dig through the manifest to see if you actually paid for economy plus or just got it for being UA*G.
When someone asks you if you paid for your seat, you answer YES.

JBord

Again, I understand your outrage over the incident. But, in my experience, the employees usually back each other up with customers. And we've read many accounts here from people who've observed someone being removed from a plane with the captain staying in the cabin -- the FA just calls the cockpit and gives whatever he thinks the story is.

You may be right in this case, but my word of advice to someone reading this thread who needs to be somewhere is to ask themselves if being right is more important than getting where you need to go, because it could happen...sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.

UA doesn't guarantee seats. The FA could have made up a dozen reasons, but chose an outlandish one. Ultimately, they could just say we need this seat and here's your new one, without giving a reason.

Wooglin

Either you paid $XX for the E+, or you paid in loyalty (and $6,000+ PQD) for UA*G...

Etiher way- yes, you paid for that seat.

Proudelitist

I have seen it dozens of times, reported it several times, and notably, most of them were on United. Part of the [moderator edit] culture there.

I would estimate the number of crew who have camaraderie and cliquishness to be VERY high and the pressure they feel from their friends is probably rather high. It's better when they don't really know each other..they tend to stick to the rules then..but when you see hugs in the gate area as if they were old friends, you know the crew is going to find someone they see as a kettle who doesn't know enough to realized they have been bamboozled by rule breaking crew.

Sometimes, it's not even done stealthily. I had an incident last year where the FA played ignorant as a badge-wearing off duty FA tried to kick me from my premium economy seat so her NRSA boyfriend flying on her pass could sit next to her. The working FA just stood there looking sheepish and sweating.

Years before that I got into it with an FA who tried to boot me from F to Y so she could seat her off duty friend in my seat. I took that one to the flight crew and GA by walking off the aircraft and being asked what I was doing..she ended up getting yelled at and I stayed in my seat.

99% behave? Hardly. I would estimate the FA's put in that situation would cave into colleague peer pressure at a much much higher rate. I would estimate that maybe 20% would follow the rules in the face of friends asking for seating favors on non-rev tickets.

mike.macrone

This is outright an abuse of power and ridiculous. I am not surprised though, and like someone mentioned I would put a Tweet out so you really get their attention. Followed by a formal complaint to HQ.

The real question is, why is anyone still flying UA? I mean after everything that has happened - everyone needs to switch!

notquiteaff

Because it is a rare thing to happen. And I have no doubt that any airline has some bad apples. Let's say, for argument sake, that United has twice as many bad apples as Delta. In my million-ish miles on United I have not been dragged off a plane or booted out of my reserved seat by an FA. I have run into "less than enthusiastic about their job" FAs on occasions (not just on UA, though). How much better would I have done on Delta? And how much of a downside to me would have been a less convenient route network based on my travel needs?

Note: I am not defending the behavior of the FA in question; see my earlier posts.

wetrat0

Agreed. I have seen very bad non-rev related behavior on United (that was disruptive to paying passengers). When I reported it I got one of those canned "we're sorry if you were disappointed" response. Now when I see it, I don't even bother reporting it because it's a waste of my time. Until they start taking these complaints seriously, this type of behavior will continue. Do most crew engage in this behavior on most flights? No. But many crew do engage in this kind of behavior at least sometimes, and if you fly enough you will encounter it. It's not unique to United-- Delta, AA, etc. also have this problem, but United crews tend to have a level of audacity that is unsurpassed. They know they can get away with it.

By the way, there is one airline where I have never seen any shenanigans-- Southwest. Perhaps I have missed it but their culture seems different (I don't love everything about flying Southwest but I've never met a "disgruntled" Southwest employee).