Vangrovsky

I've been speaking with my young nephew this morning. He's a young 20-year-old kid on his very first TPAC flight. It also happens to be his very first United flight. Although he is a seasoned flyer on Delta and American on TATL flights since he was 15.(flying TATL 3 times a year since his parents got divorced)

UA bumped him off because of overbooking. He even has the agent saying so on video. He checked in on-time. (again, the video shows that the agent confirming that he was one of the first few people to check-in for that TPAC flight) He checked in online the night before.(at T-23) He went up to the counter to check his luggage almost 4 hours before the flight time. That's when the agent informed him that the flight was overbooked.

I get the feeling that the two UA agents were trying to cheat him out of what he deserved for being bumped off the flight involuntarily. One of the kept saying "we're doing this just for you because we don't usually rebook people here and we just make them call reservation for rebooking" and also "no need to thank us, but we got you your preferred window seat for the same flight tomorrow." Here's the icing on the cake the more senior agent said "we can get you a discount voucher if you need a hotel room for tonight" (he didn't because he ended up staying with his friend who lived just 20 minutes from the airport)

I asked him to forward me his travel details, including the e-ticket email. The reservation was booked on United.com. It shows confirmed seats in economy class with K fare.

He's a young, dumb(sorry, true) and non-confrontational college kid. He basically just accepted what the two UA agents said and left the airport.

When he told me everything and showed me the me videos, my blood started boiling.... Or am I wrong? I assume it's not okay to post the four videos of his counter with the UA agents? (since all videos clearly showed their faces and one showed their employee ID card)

Miles Ahead

What flight?

WineCountryUA

Need more detials
-- Country of orginating flight -- rules for bumps are based on country of flight departure
-- Flight number
-- Was the type of aircrat changed? or was there a weight issue?
-- At what time was the individual notified and where?

Rule 25 Denied Boarding Compensation

cfischer

Compensation for bumping will depend on the flight. What is clearly not o.k. is the lack of paid hotel, meal vouchers etc. So no matter what happened here in detail, this is not o.k. I would write to UA and demand compensation, if it was a flight where US DOT rules apply feel free to send in a complaint with your video evidence.

Aussienarelle

I would contact UA with the details and ask them why there was no compensation offered. If that had been my young nephew I would have been very annoyed especially as your nephew did all the right things. Checked in 23 hours before the flight, arrived 4 hours before the flight with the luggage.

The other thing I would look at is the STBY list for the flight to see if anyone was put on the flight who was on the STBY list.

I personally would be unlikely to go the DOT route but that us me.

P.S. United is really not liking your family after your exit row debacle.

runner450

WineCountryUA

DOT rules do not apply for " Flights Departing a Foreign Location " (and that is my assumption in this case based on the airport agents response -- we need the country of departure to better help the OP's nephew)

Part 250.2 DOT jurisdiction for OVERSALES is "(1) interstate air transportation or (2) foreign air transportation with respect to nonstop flight segments originating at a point within the United States."

What is applicable here is the country of departures rules? But without that information, it is hard to provide further advice.

MSPeconomist

garykung

He might be dumb in your standard. But this time he was very smart.

1. He was able to get UA GA to confirm the IDB in a video, which is highly unlikely to happen. It is basically a guarantee for compensation. Regardless of routing, if this video lands on Oscar's desk, my bet is he will get the DOT maximum plus more.

2. Being confrontational is always a no-no, as this gives excuses for overpowered personnel to offload a pax legally.

cfischer

I am sure if someone flies e.g. SFO-NRT and UA bumps without asking for volunteers, without compensation, hotel, meals ... the US DOT would like to hear it.

WineCountryUA

which they do not. (if departing from an non-USA location)

DOT rules do not apply here -- not saying UA could have not done more voluntarily on its own or based on country of departure rules, but the DOT rules explicitly exclude this situation. As does UA CoC.

One can always write into the DOT but the DOT rules do not apply.

MSPeconomist

cfischer

International Transportation

Passengers traveling from the United States to a foreign point who are denied boarding involuntarily from an oversold flight originating at a U.S. airport are entitled to: (1) No compensation if the carrier offers alternate transportation that is planned to arrive at the passenger's destination or first stopover not later than one hour after the planned arrival time of the passenger's original flight; (2) 200% of the fare to the passenger's destination or first stopover, with a maximum of $675, if the carrier offers alternate transportation that is planned to arrive at the passenger's destination or first stopover more than one hour but less than four hours after the planned arrival time of the passenger's original flight; and (3) 400% of the fare to the passenger's destination or first stopover, with a maximum of $1,350, if the carrier does not offer alternate transportation that is planned to arrive at the airport of the passenger's destination or first stopover less than four hours after the planned arrival time of the passenger's original flight.0 to 1 hour arrival delayNo compensation.1 to 4 hour arrival delay200% of one-way fare (but no more than $675).Over 4 hours arrival delay400% of one-way fare (but no more than $1,350).

WineCountryUA

As the OP did not push back on the initial response about non-USA location, I have been assuming this is departing from a location outside the USA. Rereading the OP, that is not clear -- so until we hear from OP, we do not know. But the airport agents response fits the non-USA departure.

If it was departing from the USA than the DOT do clearly apply. Will adjust my earlier response to make my assumption clear.

fumje

OP hasn't been seen on FT since the first post. Something in the initial post made me think it was SFO, but indeed that isn't clear. Perhaps we can wait a bit for a reply before concluding anything, except that it seems UA should have at least offered a hotel if there was no misunderstanding about being bumped.