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freedomdwarf1 -> RE: Grovelling weasel CEO sorry for 'horrific' passenger removal (4/12/2017 4:34:50 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Wayward5oul
quote:
ORIGINAL: bounty44
i didn't see the video everyone seems to be in an uproar about, but I understand this that no one seems to be talking about---he was asked to vacate his seat by the airline and he refused, and then he was asked to vacate his seat by the airport security people, and he refused there as well.
Why should he vacate his seat? He paid for it. He was already boarded.
That can also be said of everyone that was on board the flight.
They all paid and were all on board and seated.
So why should any of them give up their seat??
Apparently, it's all part of the terms and conditions that we all accept when buying a ticket.
Some people seem horrified that the plane was over-booked.
Unfortunately, it is such a common practice that it happens on virtually every flight.
Every airline has the authority to ask (or order) any passenger to leave.
I've been caught in one of these 'over booked' situations and I asked for an explanation.
It's a complicated formula but it goes something like this: almost all of the time, 15-20% of booked passengers arrive too late, cancel at the last moment, or not turn up at all. The system has a built-in over-booking capacity of about 12-15% to accommodate the empty seats.
Generally speaking, the overbooked passengers can normally get on the flight because of those that didn't show and with seats to spare; that's where those last-minute bargain bucket seats come into play.
On those very few times that the over-booked capacity exceeds those that didn't turn up, late passengers are told they cannot board the plane before they even get through the boarding gate.
It seems that this time, UA got it horribly wrong and everyone was seated before they realised they were over full.
To compound the situation into a PR nightmare, they randomly chose a passenger who refused to leave and was forcibly removed.
I think it was the method of removal that has incensed the public; but they are entitled to do that.
UA handled this situation very badly.
To my mind, they should not pick passengers at random and use a LIFO system instead - Last In, First Out.
Secondly, there is a problem with their boarding proceedure; passengers should have been counted as they went through the boarding gate so that over-booked passengers don't get on board in the first place.
Thirdly, if UA knew they had staff members to get to somewhere else, they should have A) pre-allocated those seats, or B) asked those staff members to go on the following flight.
The whole thing is a mess in several areas and UA need to get their act together.
Having said that, other airlines need to learn from what happened here.
If it wasn't for social media going viral, I doubt we would have heard anything of this.
So that begs the question: how often does this actually happen?
Does the over-book formula need to be changed?
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