that is bollocks. Never worked or works like that. Passengers get checked onto planes first come first served, overbooked or not. When a plane is overbooked the late comers generally get fuxxed. That is how every normal airline handles that (those that have the guts to overbook to start with).I have never in my entire life witnessed passengers removed from within the airplane because the airline overbooked. Its outright ridiculous to even accept that as the slightest argument in favor of the airline.
My bad. I read in a Chicago Trib piece that a passenger said that a computer selected who to remove, perhaps not randomly.
The reason why is as explained by the former CEO of the bankrupt Continental in that interview with CNBC, UA decides who gets bumped and who doesn't according to how much the customer paid for the seat and the status of the passenger NOT on a first-come-first-serve basis. And it's certainly NOT random. http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/10/unit...rmer-continental-ceo-gordon-bethune-says.html So if you are a first class/business class passenger, then you are never bumped off and then if you are frequent flyer status passenger, then you also get to stay and so on and on working off the status and the cost hierarchy until they are able to determine, in an overbooking situation, the cheapest customers who just flies once in a while and paid for the cheapest ticket or used the frequent miles perhaps to obtain that ticket to be bumped off. Unfortunately with that method, you won't be able to determine who gets bumped off beforehand until everybody who's bought the ticket has checked in as you are not able to know beforehand WHEN the passengers with what status and the cost of their ticket are going to check in. What if a frequent flyer status passenger decided to cancel the ticket at the last minute as they might be allowed to do that without penalty as part of the perks, then if you bumped off a cheap customer in that cheap seat, then you have just lost other a seat revenue and plus having to fork over extra compensation for nothing if after the cancellation there is actual room on the plane. So what they do is let everybody board and then they ask for volunteers and when there is no takers, they go through the passenger list and checks the status and the cost of the ticket that the passenger paid to determine who gets to be bumped off. Well at least with this method we know it's not racially based; it's just that you don't count as a customer to UA; you are just seat.
Sorry I was not addressing you with my bewilderment. Just surprised with that kind of BS American companies get away with. It is ridiculous. If this happened in Hongkong news papers would be full of it and a government investigation launched into the practices of such airlines. Even computers do not choose whom to remove. When a given seat is double booked then the first passenger that arrives gets the seat, the other does not, simple as that. That is how to my knowledge all airlines handle such cases, until now...and yes, some airlines even have the guts to double book a seat that was RESERVED and even PAID FOR by 2 passengers. Unbelievable but true. How regulators do not impose hefty fines on such airline practices is something I do not comprehend. It is like scheduling two cancer patients for surgery at the same identical day and time in the same operating room and cancelling on the second late arrival or worse picking one randomly, lol. What has this world come to?
Never heard of such practice, never seen it, never experienced it, and I fly a lot and have experienced overbooking before. Never once was a passenger already sitting in the plane asked to get up and leave. The guy should sue the airline big time and NOT FUXXING settle like all the other money-whores.
Did you listen to that former CEO of Continental? He just explained why that passenger was selected. I agree he should sue the hell out of United Airlines and he deserves every single penny of actual damage + punitive damage.
A customer purchased a ticket, enter into a contractual agreement, the airline broke the agreement, the problem is that so many Americans settle FOR MONEY instead of sticking to principles. Sue the airlines and take it all the way up without settlement. And people should ring up the regulators, send letters, file complaints. Why is it that all those shitty companies get away with cheap settlements? Are people really THAT POOR to always settle when a buck is lurking behind the corner???
Corporate America running the show. That's why? The government is NOT going to do s*** cuz they all live in the pockets of those corporations. The only recourse for this poor passenger is Erin Brockvich!
I fly quite a bit, too. Mostly international. Can't say I've seen it, but I don't know if I would know what's going on in any event.
I'm guessing that they reserve the right to "bump" passengers, but a paying passenger should also have the right to not be "bumped". Therein lies the problem.