Not to mention - what if they pass over a white guy but remove a Hispanic guy, or pass over a man but remove a woman - or remove a Muslim, or gay/lesbian passenger, or…
You know some people *will *see it that way.
Maybe you should ask his boss that question. In his reality, the officer who used excessive force wasn’t using standard procedures and has been suspended.
Once it becomes known that there is no upper limit, why would they? “Hey-I heard about this guy that got $10,000 once. Why should I fold at $2000?” Every push will be the new norm.
There is a point many may be missing. The mountain of fine print, which you never even see, describes the contract between you and the airline as an absolutely unilateral non-negotiated agreement that you give the airline the money, shut up, and they can do whatever they want.
Case in point. My sissier and I were in the departure lounge at JFK waiting for a flight to Milwaukee. The airline announced that the flight had been cancelled, and all passengers have been rescheduled for the next flight, two hours later. Apparently, only half a plane-load on each flight, so they just doubled up.
Now, if I had gone a minute earlier to the airline desk and asked to be switched to the later flight, they would have charged me a $200 rebooking fee. The airline can do whatever they want, but the passenger, for doing exactly the same thing, can be charged an exorbitant fine according to an unregulated fee schedule. It’s in the “contract”. And they have armed thugs standing by to enforce their “rights”.
On an airplane? :dubious: :rolleyes:
Because the passengers will be competing, in a sense, with each other, to get that money. It’s an auction – some passenger may think he’ll wait for $10K and get a nice payout, but then the guy next to him thinks “I’ll say yes at $9K to undercut that guy”, and so on – a perfect market solution to a problem. It will probably be a lot lower than $2K, most of the time, and it will never require violence.
The airlines set their policies knowing they can rely on law enforcement to backstop their business inefficiencies. If law enforcement can always use physical force to solve these problems, airlines have less incentive to be efficient and have good practices for booking – and they have less incentive to offer reasonable compensation to passengers who are bumped. Take away the law enforcement backstop, and suddenly the airlines actually might have to be better at booking, and offer better customer service.
This problem was the airline’s making – they overbooked, and then boarded the plane. Very, very dumb business practices. They shouldn’t be able to rely on law enforcement violence, IMO, to save them money.
I don’t know that there has been an experiment to prove that a plane full of strangers would collude so as to allow a couple of them to reap outlandish rewards. I’m confident that at some point, someone will bite.
Let’s not ignore the airlines’ relationships and bargaining position in travel/hospitality. I presume they have deals with hotel chains to house their staff. They could offer all kinds of deals, for which their outlay would be minimal. “Want to extend your stay in Chicago and no need to rush back home? How about a 2 night stay in a downtown suite, with complimentary theater tickets and dining room vouchers!”
Moreover, read in today’s paper that the employees needed to be in KY FOR THE NEXT DAY! Making that rental limo alternative look better and better.
Also, the paper says, “This is the second incident in recent weeks since leggings-gate.” Whatever any individual feels about any aspect of this incident, next time, the news will be able to trumpet, “This is the THIRD…”
Has any explanation been given as to why United NEEDED to get four employees on an overbooked flight? It seems that they might have logistic problems if they need to ferry their staff around on busy routes.
I haven’t heard an explanation for this particular situation, but sometimes shit happens. There could have been four crew members in Louisville who had timed out due to delays (meaning they’d flown too many hours that day).
(And it would be Republic that needed them there, not United. This wasn’t technically a United flight. Which will be interesting when people start boycotting United flights, all to get on other airlines whose flights might very well be provided by…Republic.)
If Dinsdale’s paper is correct, then the employees didn’t even need to be in KY until the next day, thus underscoring the incredible stupidity (and very, very bad business practices) of the airline. They could have put them on a bus, rented a van… so many options they failed to utilize.
Generally, people who talk about the magic of the free market only want that magic to work for rich people, business owners, and large corporations. If the magic of the free market helps raise worker wages or results in money for a private individual, then they’re bitterly opposed to it and want the full force of the government brought to bear to avoid having to face the reality of the market.
I’m not totally sure here, but I believe employees in such a situation typically have a contractual right to travel by air.
as I pointed out before, they could have chartered a light plane to fly four employees to Louisville, and gotten them there even before the scheduled flight, a lot cheaper than paying passengers to be bumped.
Because it costs the airline too much. Your happiness as a customer has a value to them, but it’s a limited value. The airline, just like any other publicly traded business, has a legal obligation to maximize profit for its shareholders; customer satisfaction is, at best, a second priority.
Call or write your elected representatives - and for the privilege of never being involuntarily bumped, be prepared to pay more for standard airfare in the future.
Are you under the impression that nobody saw the first nine times you wrote this?
News accounts say the doc told the airline people that he had to see patients who were in the hospital, which is a bit more pressing than a check-up in the office.
On the one hand, it seems likely he could have arranged coverage in his absence (many hospitals have in-house docs (hospitalists) whose job it is to tend to inpatients). On the other hand the excuse he gave for why he should be exempted from bumping sounds reasonable.
Very sorry if I hurt your feelings or otherwise offended you. Certainly not my intention.
I was talking about the passengers, not the employees.
Indeed: Was that doctor dragged off the United Airlines flight because he was Asian? Many in China think so. (Washington Post)
In the end, perceptions will conclusively beat contracts, protocols, and ticket fine-print. Industry changes will happen, and the man who was dragged off the flight will be well compensated for this incident.
See also: The alligator attack at Disney that killed a child last year. Posted signage, verbal warnings, etc. aren’t sufficient cover when public opinion gets to skewering a company.
Probably doesn’t mean anything long-term, but for those that watch stocks:
United Airlines Tumbles After Social-Media Storm Goes Global (Bloomberg)