Man Dragged off United Airlines/Flight Overbooked, April 2017

[Pamela_Brewer]

Fight breaks out on Southwest flight:

https://www.aol.com/article/news/20...ight-breaks-out-on-southwest-flight/22079657/

Perhaps the TSA should stop encouraging passengers to "chug" their beer before going through security. 3 of them chanted "chug, chug, chug!
One of TSA employees took this photo. This is my neighbors grandson!

MOO

 

[KaaBoom]

It's JetBlue this time.

[video=youtube;fbbh82mrhgM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbbh82mrhgM"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbbh82mrhgM[/video]

 

[FelicityLemon]

Passenger Says Crew Left Her No Choice But to Pee in a Cup
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/usn Pe...ww.kshb.com/news/local-news/...-united-flight May 9 &1
"Nicole Harper tried to use the restroom on United flight 6056 on April 10th. A flight attendant ordered her back to her seat. The seatbelt sign was still illuminated.
"I said 'I'm going to need to use the restroom or I'm going to need a cup.' They handed me the cup which was about this big and I was like 'I'm going to need a second cup.'" said Harper."

:thinking: I wonder if she meant it to show how desperate and urgent her situation was and not as a literal alternative. Women generally don't like to pee in a cup (I can't imagine having to do this wherever on the plane she had to use - presumably her seat), but we will if we have to because the alternative is embarrassing, humiliating and depressing. Unless someone has experienced this, they can't possibly understand how URGENT it is - there really is no controlling it, you can easily wet yourself with a split second warning. FWIW: "split second warning" = no warning. Oops! There it is! Sorry for the graphic explanation, but it's real life and I feel very strongly about medical conditions not being considered embarrassing because people won't get help or even know there's help available for their issue.

Speaking as a woman who suddenly found herself with the condition (many years ago at age 43 peri-menopause thank you), I am delighted to see the commercials addressing the condition because it gets the message out to people who would never dared ask their doctor about their problem. Even doctors, because they're human, sometimes don't understand or believe you. Grrr.

Obviously, I'm not shy about it here, but neither am I shy about it in real life because it's MY life and MY bladder and if I need a restroom NOW, I need it NOW. I feeeeeeel for that poor woman on the plane.

Frankly, I can't imagine it being less dangerous for all around her having to maneuver herself within her seat to pull that off, much better to be in the toilet where only one person could possibly get hurt.

Everyone at some point in their lives, has experienced the urgency to wee; OB is on a completely different order of magnitude in intensity and it is lightening fast.

The End.

*steps off Public Service Announcement soapbox*

 

[HMSHood]

United Airlines gives 2-year-old's seat away to standby passenger
http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2017/...year-olds-seat-away-to-standby-passenger.html

United Airlines requires children over the age of 2 to have their own tickets and occupy their own seats, but that didn’t stop the airline from allowing a 27-month-old child from sitting in his mother’s lap after they accidentally oversold his spot.

Shirley Yamauchi says she and her son Taizo had boarded their flight from Houston to Boston on June 29 — the final leg of an 18-hour flight from Hawaii — when a standy passenger approached and claimed Taizo was in his seat.

"I told him that I bought both of these tickets and he tells me that he got the ticket on standby. Then he proceeds to sit in the center,” Yamauchi told Hawaii News Now.

This one is pretty serious. You would think United Airlines learned from their problems. I guess not.

No surprise United right ranks up there with Wells Fargo and Takata as most hated companies.

You Just Voted This the Worst Airline In the United States
https://www.thestreet.com/story/141...es-but-you-definitely-hate-spirit-survey.html

 

[gitana1]

United Airlines gives 2-year-old's seat away to standby passenger
http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2017/...year-olds-seat-away-to-standby-passenger.html

United Airlines requires children over the age of 2 to have their own tickets and occupy their own seats, but that didn’t stop the airline from allowing a 27-month-old child from sitting in his mother’s lap after they accidentally oversold his spot.

Shirley Yamauchi says she and her son Taizo had boarded their flight from Houston to Boston on June 29 — the final leg of an 18-hour flight from Hawaii — when a standy passenger approached and claimed Taizo was in his seat.

"I told him that I bought both of these tickets and he tells me that he got the ticket on standby. Then he proceeds to sit in the center,” Yamauchi told Hawaii News Now.

This one is pretty serious. You would think United Airlines learned from their problems. I guess not.

No surprise United right ranks up there with Wells Fargo and Takata as most hated companies.

You Just Voted This the Worst Airline In the United States
https://www.thestreet.com/story/141...es-but-you-definitely-hate-spirit-survey.html

So they got double pay for one seat? Wow.

 

[La Louve]

So they got double pay for one seat? Wow.

Adding insult to injury, the man who took her son's seat, paid just $75 while she paid $969.

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2017/...year-olds-seat-away-to-standby-passenger.html

 

[JanetElaine]

Shaking my head. We used to fly United a lot, but have been purposely avoiding them since this incident. And they are still not learning a darned thing. We actually just picked my DD up from the airport this morning. She's been on six international and six domestic flights in the past three months. These could have been with United, but we chose differently. I'm curious if more people are, and if United notices it... from their continued bad behavior, I'm thinking they don't. (Which is fine, we're not trying to make a statement per se, we just don't need their nonsense, lol).

 

[Betty P]

United Airlines gives 2-year-old's seat away to standby passenger
http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2017/...year-olds-seat-away-to-standby-passenger.html

United Airlines requires children over the age of 2 to have their own tickets and occupy their own seats, but that didn’t stop the airline from allowing a 27-month-old child from sitting in his mother’s lap after they accidentally oversold his spot.

Shirley Yamauchi says she and her son Taizo had boarded their flight from Houston to Boston on June 29 — the final leg of an 18-hour flight from Hawaii — when a standy passenger approached and claimed Taizo was in his seat.

"I told him that I bought both of these tickets and he tells me that he got the ticket on standby. Then he proceeds to sit in the center,” Yamauchi told Hawaii News Now.

This one is pretty serious. You would think United Airlines learned from their problems. I guess not.

No surprise United right ranks up there with Wells Fargo and Takata as most hated companies.

You Just Voted This the Worst Airline In the United States
https://www.thestreet.com/story/141...es-but-you-definitely-hate-spirit-survey.html

This is also a violation of FAA safety regulations. I recall when they put those regulations into place - children have to travel in a separate seat, usually with a booster seat. In fact, parents are required to file for a specific exemption if they're traveling without having a child in a safety restraint device.

https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FAA-2007-0001-0001

The commercial airline industry saw it as a business boon, requiring parents to purchase an extra seat for infants and children. It's not a hard and fast regulation, per se, but the airline companies treat it as such. Unless, they can resell your child's seat.

https://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/

Yeah, this is a blatant violation, they're going too far here. United should be fined. Safety regulations exist for a reason. That the passenger feared for their safety if they complained in order to protect their child is beyond the pale. Totally unacceptable that passengers are put in this situation.

As consumers, we all have rights. Call your senators and congresspersons.

 

[PrairieWind]

What a mess. I feel sorry for this woman and her child. First of all, this should never happen. Second, United's lame response to it is so irritating. I'm a little suspicious of the claim that the ticket for the boy didn't scan. They are usually pretty attentive to that at the gate. I'd like a little more detailed explanation of that. But also, there is always another gate agent or flight attendant that is right there with a hand counter, clicking off for every person that goes down the ramp. Its sort of important to know how many people are on the plane. So either that person wasn't doing their job either, or when the count came up different from the scanned count, instead of sending someone on the plane to count heads, they just were lazy and assumed the scan was right, and let another passenger on. Then when the woman complained about her son's seat being taken away, they just blew her off. I know United has some institutional problems, but this incident to me sounds like gate and flight crew just being lazy and not doing their jobs. And apparently United flight crews didn't even think twice about violating FAA regulations about the boy needing his own seat. That's concerning!

Some people are blaming the woman for not speaking up more, but I don't blame her really. She raised the issue with one flight attendant and was told there was nothing that could be done. If she had continued to complain, she runs the risk of being labeled "disruptive" and removed from the plane.

I'm glad she got one ticket refunded, but those vouchers they gave her, I think we all know that they are virtually useless. They are only good for a discount on another ticket ON UNITED and they generally expire in 6 months.

 

[policyoftruth501]

I traveled for work constantly for over 10 years and the worst airline by far was always United. United has been a horrible airline to fly for at least 15 years. Their horrendous customer service (what an ironic name) is just now becoming headline news.


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[Jax49]

CNN commentator* suggested United should be fined a million dollars, for endangering the child.

*I believe it was Mary Schiavo, former Inspector General of the DOT.

 

[PrairieWind]

I traveled for work constantly for over 10 years and the worst airline by far was always United. United has been a horrible airline to fly for at least 15 years. Their horrendous customer service (what an ironic name) is just now becoming headline news.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I generally hate to generalize about companies, etc. But I will say this: I have had to travel a LOT this last 2 years, both domestically and internationally. And I will say that United is certainly near the bottom when it comes to quality. It just seems that their flight crews and gate people hate their jobs. I know those jobs are very stressful, but a smile and good demeanor can certainly help to defuse situations and put passengers at ease.

 

[PrairieWind]

Jax49, I am really stunned about how the flight crew just made the boy sit in the mother's lap. That is clearly against regulations. I certainly hope there is some penalty for that.

I would sort of like to know at what point the decision was made to allow the stand by passenger to board. Was everyone else seated already? If, as United said, scanning problems sometimes occur, wouldn't you think they would actually verify an open seat before boarding another passenger? Especially since the "beating"incident United has new rules about how to deal with passengers once they have boarded. From some reports this guy was sort of a jerk. So maybe the gate personnel were tired of him and just wanted him out of their faces. Regardless, the United gate and flight crew lost track of how many people were actually on the plane.

 

[policyoftruth501]

I generally hate to generalize about companies, etc. But I will say this: I have had to travel a LOT this last 2 years, both domestically and internationally. And I will say that United is certainly near the bottom when it comes to quality. It just seems that their flight crews and gate people hate their jobs. I know those jobs are very stressful, but a smile and good demeanor can certainly help to defuse situations and put passengers at ease.

I agree completely. There is an obvious difference between the general attitudes of the United flight staff as compared to other airlines. I've never flown United a single time where anyone on the flight crew behaved as if they wanted to be there. When I was traveling for work it got to where I hated to see United on my travel itinerary. Not only did the flight crew behave as if they wanted to be anywhere else but working for United, but even the interior of airplanes was horrible - I'm sure mostly from a general lack of basic cleaning.

In one incident with United we circled the Charlotte airport for over 30 minutes because of a storm, which isn't United's fault. However, we were told by the pilot that connecting flights would not be held for anyone on our flight. We had to run the full length of two concourses to try to make our connecting flight. United didn't offer any help at all by delaying connecting flights or arranging for shuttle service to get us from one gate to the other. But when we got to our connecting flight, after running at a full out sprint, the pilot on the connecting flight told us we were going to sit and wait 20 minutes for passengers who were delayed by the storms. It certainly isn't the worst thing United has ever done, but if the little things can't even be handled properly and with some small amount of effort for coordination and organization then how in the heck can they be expected to handle more complex problems.


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[HMSHood]

This is also a violation of FAA safety regulations. I recall when they put those regulations into place - children have to travel in a separate seat, usually with a booster seat. In fact, parents are required to file for a specific exemption if they're traveling without having a child in a safety restraint device.

https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FAA-2007-0001-0001

The commercial airline industry saw it as a business boon, requiring parents to purchase an extra seat for infants and children. It's not a hard and fast regulation, per se, but the airline companies treat it as such. Unless, they can resell your child's seat.

https://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/

Yeah, this is a blatant violation, they're going too far here. United should be fined. Safety regulations exist for a reason. That the passenger feared for their safety if they complained in order to protect their child is beyond the pale. Totally unacceptable that passengers are put in this situation.

As consumers, we all have rights. Call your senators and congresspersons.

Exactly. United Airlines is a dysfunctional company. It is worse than Comcast, which is known to be worst in customer service.

 

[JanetElaine]

I traveled for work constantly for over 10 years and the worst airline by far was always United. United has been a horrible airline to fly for at least 15 years. Their horrendous customer service (what an ironic name) is just now becoming headline news.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I generally hate to generalize about companies, etc. But I will say this: I have had to travel a LOT this last 2 years, both domestically and internationally. And I will say that United is certainly near the bottom when it comes to quality. It just seems that their flight crews and gate people hate their jobs. I know those jobs are very stressful, but a smile and good demeanor can certainly help to defuse situations and put passengers at ease.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. We have flown with United plenty of times, always sucking up irritations about staff and crew behavior, and sometimes even having to 'fight' with them to make sure they didn't place us in dangerous situations (like telling my 16 year old travelling alone to sleep in the airport when they canceled her flight. I had to argue with the gate agent on the phone from Europe before they even told her about the Minor's Room). We're just done. No more United for us.

 

[Tawny]

This is exactly what I'm talking about. We have flown with United plenty of times, always sucking up irritations about staff and crew behavior, and sometimes even having to 'fight' with them to make sure they didn't place us in dangerous situations (like telling my 16 year old travelling alone to sleep in the airport when they canceled her flight. I had to argue with the gate agent on the phone from Europe before they even told her about the Minor's Room). We're just done. No more United for us.

I used to LOVE United. They were top knotch and my #1 go-to airline. They slowly decline and now all these incidents? Nah brah.

I randomly flew American Airlines a few months ago and HOLY MOLY the difference was incredible. Comfortable seats and actual in-flight entertainment that you didn't have to be nickle and dimed for.

Also, Frontier sucks.

/end rant

 

[PrairieWind]

I have flown airlines from other countries, both in Europe and East Asia. The customer service of the flight crews is sooooooo much different.

 

[policyoftruth501]

I haven't flown United in at least 10 years and the customer service was horrible back then. I find it hard to believe and highly unlikely that they weren't regularly receiving complaints and couldn't have avoided the more serious problems from occurring if they had taken action to make improvements. Honestly, these more serious incidents have probably been going on all along, but public policing with cell phones has outed United's severe problems and now every little incident will be another black mark on their name. But if United doesn't fix what they know is wrong they will only get back what they have put out there and what they deserve.

Of course, I don't know if this is part of the problem, but if the company treats their employees poorly the employees won't care about the quality of their work. I worked for a major, nationwide department store chain that is absolutely horrible to their employees and it definitely affected how the employees performed their duties.


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[gitana1]

This is exactly what I'm talking about. We have flown with United plenty of times, always sucking up irritations about staff and crew behavior, and sometimes even having to 'fight' with them to make sure they didn't place us in dangerous situations (like telling my 16 year old travelling alone to sleep in the airport when they canceled her flight. I had to argue with the gate agent on the phone from Europe before they even told her about the Minor's Room). We're just done. No more United for us.

We get to choose the world we live in. If we want to put up with this kind of behavior, airlines will continue to behave this way. If we don;t, we won't patronize such businesses, regardless of their prices. The fact is, there is no way United should have been overbooked on that flight. Given how crummy they've been, the flights should be half-empty at this point, But they're not. So clearly, we have chosen.

I guess integrity just isn't as important to most of us as money.