$7000 oversold offer on UA 310, Mar 23
Mar 23, 2019, 10:16 am
#1
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$7000 oversold offer on UA 310, Mar 23
I’m on UA 310 from ORD-LAX, about to take off. After everyone was boarded, they announced they needed 1 volunteer to take a flight tomorrow, and they were offering $5000 + hotel. After that got no takers, they upped it to $7000. At that point one of other passengers in first class took it, leaving his wife and their lap child on the plane. As the wife said after he left, they can stand to be apart for a night in order to get their Christmas vacation paid for!
But seriously - has anyone ever heard of such a generous offer in an oversold situation? And what would motivate United to offer that?!?
But seriously - has anyone ever heard of such a generous offer in an oversold situation? And what would motivate United to offer that?!?
Mar 23, 2019, 10:20 am
#2
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I’m on UA 310 from ORD-LAX, about to take off. After everyone was boarded, they announced they needed 1 volunteer to take a flight tomorrow, and they were offering $5000 + hotel. After that got no takers, they upped it to $7000. At that point one of other passengers in first class took it, leaving his wife and their lap child on the plane. As the wife said after he left, they can stand to be apart for a night in order to get their Christmas vacation paid for!
But seriously - has anyone ever heard of such a generous offer in an oversold situation? And what would motivate United to offer that?!?
But seriously - has anyone ever heard of such a generous offer in an oversold situation? And what would motivate United to offer that?!?
Mar 23, 2019, 10:23 am
#3
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Mar 23, 2019, 11:26 am
#7
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And you get a different experience on UAX. They ask for volunteers without stating a number and without stating that they have a hotel for you. Then when they have no volunteers they start screaming that the flight will be cancelled.
Mar 23, 2019, 11:29 am
#8
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Mar 23, 2019, 11:37 am
#9
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Remember that it would have been a $5000/$7000 UA voucher, presumably expiring in a year, not actual money.
Is there some relevant basketball playoff game for the flight that would cause people to need to fly from ORD to LAX today?
Is there some relevant basketball playoff game for the flight that would cause people to need to fly from ORD to LAX today?
Mar 23, 2019, 11:54 am
#10
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Not long after the Dao incident I saw them do that at $700-800 a seat to get a dozen seats because of a downgauge. It was ORD-DTW - I would have considered it if I hadn't been up all night already. It was at the holidays and it might have been a while for an empty seat to show up, but it's not a long drive and a one-way rental car wouldn't have been too expensive.
Mar 23, 2019, 12:06 pm
#12
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Even so, $5K-$7K can get you anywhere between 1 to 3 (or more) roundtrip long-haul P fares.
Mar 23, 2019, 12:09 pm
#14
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They did not on our flight from ORD. It was not oversold. It was a problem that they had put too much fuel and needed passengers out of the plane. As I said, no amount and no hotel and it was 10:00 PM. They would have said $800 and a hotel, my wife and I would have taken it. We were returning from HKG and were tired so did not feel like volunteering if everything was not spelled out. The threats of the flight cancelling started before they thought of stating an amount which was in the $300 range. It took them 20 more minutes before they mentioned a hotel was provided but not which hotel and how close. And it was many months after Oscar had said that passengers would be treated nicely under those circumstances.
Mar 23, 2019, 12:10 pm
#15
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hub with connections to beach destinations. IAH would likely be even worse as it has access to all the beach destination this side of 1/2 way across the Pacific