United Airlines, I hate you deeply.

[Swirls]

Or just keep offering a bit more money to those you're asking to give up a seat. Avoid the police, bad PR, and lawsuit.

I'm kind of surprised more people didn't bite at the $800 offer. I'd have taken that.

There are always extenuating circumstances though.

It sounds like the airlines announced prior to boarding that they were overbooked and needed 1 passenger to give up their seat, and they offered $400. Nobody bit. Then they subsequently bumped the offer to an $800 voucher and said they needed 4 seats for UA employees needed for a flight out of Louisville the following morning. Still nobody bit. This is where it gets confusing, because I've seen various reports that say the $800 situation occurred at the gate before overall boarding as well as reports that say it didn't occur until AFTER general boarding had commenced. If it's indeed the latter, I would be blaming United all day long. If the flight was overbooked, they should never allow general boarding to occur until after it is resolved. Their boarding policy even says this.

Apparently an airline official got on the plane and informed everyone that because nobody had volunteered their seats, a computer was going to randomly pick four passengers to be bumped. In this case, the stories I've read said that the bumped passenger claimed to be a doctor that was supposed to be seeing patients the following morning in Louisville, and therefore wasn't willing to give up his seat. I normally take the voucher if a flight is overbooked unless I just absolutely can't wait an extra day to get to my destination due to work or something.

Here is United's policy regarding "denied boarding compensation." It actually isn't that long of a read, but here's a snippet: https://www.united.com/web/en-US/conten ... aspx#sec25

25.A.2: Boarding Priorities - If a flight is Oversold, no one may be denied boarding against his/her will until UA or other carrier personnel first ask for volunteers who will give up their reservations willingly in exchange for compensation as determined by UA. If there are not enough volunteers, other Passengers may be denied boarding involuntarily in accordance with UA’s boarding priority ...

So they never should have been allowed to board in the first place. If anything, passengers from the lowest boarding priority/zone (aka the Basic Economy fares) should have been booted, not passengers randomly selected from a computer.

Also, another thing to note is that this wasn't an actual UA flight. It was a Codeshare from UA's regional affiliate Republic Airlines. So operating on behalf of UA, but using their own pilots/flight attendants/gate agents. As such, they may not be trained on all of the specifics regarding UA policies.

[Michael]

Yeah, it's weird to me they were allow to board in the first place.

I'll also add the 800 limit is lame. They should offer more money if no one is willing to give up their seat.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Can anyone explain why someone with a ticket to a seat has to leave if the flight is overbooked? Don't they have a right to that seat?

Right - how the hell can that be considered 'trespassing'?

[tlombard]

I'm sure the terms and conditions that we never read, yet agree to every time because we have to in order to actually do anything with a company, give them the right to decide they can demand you leave the plane at any point at which point you are trespassing if you don't leave. I don't agree with it but I bet legally they are on solid ground right there.

[Swirls]

Yeah, it's weird to me they were allow to board in the first place.

I'll also add the 800 limit is lame. They should offer more money if no one is willing to give up their seat.

United's policy I linked to above specifies they are able to go up to 400% of the fare if required, not to exceed $1350/voucher. But even that number is kind of in flux depending on the number of stopovers, total travel time, and whether or not it is an international flight.

If the flight originates overseas (which this one clearly does not), then the policy says the entire terms are null and void and that everything is based on the overbooking policy of the foreign country from which the travel originates. Which is kind of interesting.

[ghostrunner]

After seeing video of the man after he comes back on to the plane, I'm wondering if he's not disabled or mentally ill. Granted he was just knocked around and dragged off a plane. But that's a great argument for not selecting passengers at random.

Also - if its employees that are needing to fly, is that overbooking?

[Swirls]

After seeing video of the man after he comes back on to the plane, I'm wondering if he's not disabled or mentally ill. Granted he was just knocked around and dragged off a plane. But that's a great argument for not selecting passengers at random.

Also - if its employees that are needing to fly, is that overbooking?

It would still be considered overbooking, yes, unless the UA employees were previously booked on the flight in advance. If their tickets were booked a couple weeks prior, then they would have already cleared as regular passengers.

The fact that they were UA employees is irrelevant. They should have been treated as any other passenger at that point.

[TimeForGuinness]

I'm sure the terms and conditions that we never read, yet agree to every time because we have to in order to actually do anything with a company, give them the right to decide they can demand you leave the plane at any point at which point you are trespassing if you don't leave. I don't agree with it but I bet legally they are on solid ground right there.

They may think they are on solid legal ground, but what jury is going to side with United after seeing that video? How much is it going to cost them to settle? Legal fees? Bad press?

Should have just upped the money and called it a day.

[TimeForGuinness]

After seeing video of the man after he comes back on to the plane, I'm wondering if he's not disabled or mentally ill. Granted he was just knocked around and dragged off a plane. But that's a great argument for not selecting passengers at random.

From what I've read, he's a doctor trying to get home because he had patients to see the next day.

[MrCrowesGarden]

After seeing video of the man after he comes back on to the plane, I'm wondering if he's not disabled or mentally ill. Granted he was just knocked around and dragged off a plane. But that's a great argument for not selecting passengers at random.

Also - if its employees that are needing to fly, is that overbooking?

I think it was more than just knocked around, I believe the hit off the armrest actually knocked him out. Also, I'm wondering if there was a language barrier.