Kevin AA

It's not like a store credit, it is literally a store credit. It's not a prize in a raffle drawing (that would be taxable); it's a travel credit they gave you in exchange for the inconvenience of being bumped (possibly real $$cost to yourself as well, if not, well then good for you). While $10k is well over what would be considered reasonable, I really doubt the IRS cares about a one-off situation like this.

jjmoore

I have received $15,000 worth of vouchers over the last 8 or 9 years... never once received a tax burden from them. They are coupons... credits... no true cash value (unlike when a game show contestant wins a car, which does have declared cash value, which can be turned immediately into liquid), and can only be used to purchase tickets on UA metal. Additionally, if you try to turn these into cash by selling them, that will forfeit your right to the voucher as this is against UA's rules.

FlyngSvyr

Wouldn't that be a hoot if this this lady somehow thought she could sell the residual value from her voucher to someone else. I can see it now. 8 months down the road there is another news story with her complaining about her MP account being closed for voucher fraud.

mduell

Doesn't seem "very nice" when they aren't happy about VDB comp for an IDB.

AlreadyThere

I'm sure they did this wrong -- first picking the passenger to deboard and then being forced to compensate her for what she would take quietly. I'm sure if they had come onboard and offered, say, $5,000, or even $2,000, they'd have gotten people sprinting for the door.

Aussienarelle

I would have taken the $2,000. There are enough of us with some flexibility in our schedule who could make that work.

sexykitten7

I don't think UA did it wrong per se. It's a pretty complicated story.

Many here seem to think it's an IDB that turned into a VDB. But I don't think the 10k bribe undos the IDB. You can't unring that bell. I would posit that the moment they pulled her out of line it became an IDB. That was done by the book: 1. Solicit volunteers 2. Pull lowest on totem pole (remember that UA still has never disclosed the exact methodology, even in the CoC or the Dao report) 3. Offer cash (or voucher if UA gets lucky) 4. If pax refuses, they preserve a cause of action for civil damages against the airline.

Since pax refused, UA realized they had a sticky situation on their hands (to say the least, in wake of Doggate and Daogate). Imagine the optics if they had said, get back on board, we're gonna take someone else.

So I think this incident must be reported in the DOT stats as an IDB and that the pax could (in theory) sue UA since they never got cash. However, I don't think a judge would be receptive to her "plight." If UA really cared about their IDB stats, they would have (and should have) gone higher during the initial bidding process.

AlreadyThere

It's not that complicated. They don't have to pull the lowest on the totem pole until they have gone through announced offers of $2k, $3k, etc. which they can do at the gate or even onboard. Then it's a VDB, everyone walks away happy, and they've saved thousands of dollars. (Although I suppose it's not the gate agent's thousands of dollars, so that person probably doesn't care, just wants the problem to go away.)

jjmoore

Once the VDB document is signed, regardless of the circumstances leading up to this outcome, IDB is no longer the case. The pax basically signed a document that states that he/she has voluntarily relinquished the seat in exchange for travel credit. Even if this ended up in court, that document will trump any argument and/or case for monetary compensation. For UA, this prevents an IDB from being reported to DoT and the additional bad PR that comes with that. $10,000 in UA funny munny is a drop in the bucket compared to what a PR nightmare would cost.

jsloan

I'm not sure about this, although UA would certainly attempt to claw back the voucher if they were sued to collect the cash. The passenger will claim the document was signed under duress; if that argument is successful, the document would be invalidated.

Having said that, I agree that this will be treated as a VDB until / unless such an argument is made. You absolutely can 'unring the bell' in this case, because the process of soliciting volunteers isn't over until the IDB is processed. The other gate agent in the story -- the one who authorized the $10K -- made the passenger an offer: accept the IDB comp or sign the VDB form and accept the $10K voucher. Passenger elected the latter.

Scotttyd

although - do you think because of the publicity more people will try to "test the waters" and push for higher compensation in the future? Usually someone will give in and take it once it hits their magic number - but maybe in the future people know they will go that high and be less likely to give in for the typical $400 that I have been offered recently.

chermorg

Is this not enough?

In the Dao Report also:

Their IDB priority is crystal clear in both order and various priorities/exceptions. The only thing not made explicitly clear is the order of fare classes.

jjmoore

In extraordinary situations... maybe so. Otherwise, people will grab an offer that they feel is attractive, which is how it has always worked. I won't hold out for a huge voucher if I feel the compensation is adequate and attractive, especially if I feel others may be interested as well. It's all a game, but I truly don't think that huge payouts will be an increasing trend. The huge voucher issued the other day was an extraordinary situation where some leveraging was possible... and now we see the result. In a typical VDB situation, I doubt I would ever see something like this unless it's holiday season and no flights are available for 48 hours.

sexykitten7

Okay thanks! I posted the Dao Report without reading it! With that being said, the CoC is still as a clear as mud. And the Report cannot be serious! Would they IDB a no-seat GS or an XN GS? I think not. That can't be right either.

If OP had a seat assignment, then we can quite possibly conclude that OP was in fact the cheapest fare on the plane. With that being said, hard to believe there wasn't at least one award seat on that flight (but hey anything's possible)!

My point is I'd like UA to come out and say what they mean etc. but that's never gonna happen.

WineCountryUA

Seems like when UA posts the process, you don't want to believe it.

BTW, you may have missed That seems to squarely address your GS question.

Further BTW, for future reference, all of this is posted Is this IDB? Am I entitled to IDB compensation? [Consolidated] 's wiki.