I hope he sues the ever-loving hell out of United and wins enough to buy his own 737.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2017/04/10/a-man-wouldnt-leave-an-overbooked-united-flight-so-he-was-dragged-off-battered-and-limp/?utm_term=.16d8af3d3e91
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LEGO Americana Roadshow: Building Across America I just checked out this traveling exhibition from LEGO and was quite impressed. The scale ... -
Merry Christmas, everyone!
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When we let politics trump science, people are needlessly put in harm's way. http://arstechnica.com/science/2017/01/self-censoring-fears...
UAL corporate guidelines to resolve overbooking (apparently):
ReplyDelete1. Offer $400.
2. Offer $800.
3. Start dragging random customers from plane, kicking and screaming.
They might want to revisit those guidelines.
A doctor too. The cut his head on the seat. All because they overbooked and had no room for their pilots ( to transport them) wonderful way to treat a paying customer. I would have taken one of those security dudes teeth with me, if they put a hand on me.
ReplyDeleteJohn Bailey There is no tough like internet tough.
ReplyDeleteJohn Bailey Those were actual police officers, not just security dudes. Planes are pretty serious places these days, for no good reason. #buseswithwings
ReplyDeleteOn the news they said they were security. Yes if a cop told me to leave I would. Steve Welsh Internet tough? I've never let any dude put their hands on me. I've got the scars on my face to prove it. I'm a laid back guy. Just don't attempt to put hands on me.
ReplyDeleteJim Douglas just read a great comment elsewhere that mirrors yours. "United said they 'accommodated' the passenger in question. I don't get it. I just can't seem to find a definition of 'accommodate' that includes being beaten bloody and dragged unconscious down a flight of stairs."
ReplyDeleteCraig Froehle flying domestic in the United States these days is a no win. They're engaged in a fast paced race to the bottom. This week it's United beating a passenger unconscious. Last week it was Delta kicking a guy off a flight for speaking Arabic. The week before it was Southwest with a drunken copilot screaming racial abuse at little kids. Jet Blue sending JFK bound passengers' baggage to Afghanistan. It doesn't stop. They all stink and they all think they can get away with it.
ReplyDeleteJoseph Moosman And this shouldn't even be complicated; it should be as simple what The Economist describes here. Switching tactics from bribe to assault when they hit $800 is economically stupid; it ignores the much larger costs that they've incurred today.
ReplyDeleteSo how should an airline do things when it needs to bump a passenger? In such circumstances there should be only one correct course of action: to pay fair compensation to any volunteers willing to rebook onto a later service. And what counts as fair? Let the market decide. If flyers are not tempted by a carrier’s first offer, keep raising it until someone bites. If that price is many times the cost of the original ticket, so be it. (This would have the happy side effect of forcing airlines to price their overbooking policy properly. It might even encourage a few to drop the process completely.)
economist.com - When a ticket is not enough: United Airlines forcibly removes a man from an overbooked flight | The Economist
The airline's rules about overbooking never seem to take into account times such as when overbooking is going to fail, such as bowl games or major holidays: at those times, people are less likely to change bookings before the departure date or be able to be flexible on the spot. Another article suggests that the metric the airlines use for which customers to eject is based on price paid, but most of us have no idea if we got a real bargain or not, since they work hard to hide this information from us.
ReplyDeleteLisa Chabot They do. I teach yield management. It's just a reality that the total cost of an overbooking is balanced against the likelihood that enough people won't show. But realize they're averages only...that one flyer who can't be bought for the standard $800 might break the model this time, but in general, it'll work OK (i.e., it minimizes total costs for the airline).
ReplyDeleteYeah, this is going to be way more expensive than "doing the right thing" would have cost them. And part of the problem is that business travel doesn't want to pay for business class (unless your job is sales, or otherwise is based around travel). It's always "cheapest fare", which makes it a race to the bottom.
ReplyDeleteCraig Froehle There seems to be general abuse of passengers by airlines. As far as the airport police in this situation, they behaved as hired goons more than public servants, " to serve and protect"... Riiiight.
ReplyDeleteAnd from an article I read, the Avion Security officer is in leave. Apparently this isn't their beat, and Chicago Police were en route to defuse the situation.
ReplyDelete