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aquadoc

Lifer
Feb 15, 2017
2,044
1,522
New Hampshire, USA
Ash, why? I, like you, have taken the money or tickets, whatever... But I do not have a practice with patients and schedules. I am just saying his patients may not be so easily rescheduled. Who knows but he did nothing wrong and was treated like a piece of dirt. You may be correct and the truth may be somewhere in the middle but either way, United handled this like rank amateurs.

 

beefeater33

Lifer
Apr 14, 2014
4,063
6,118
Central Ohio
aqua-

He's a dick because he didn't comply. He is no more important than anyone else on the plane. They needed four seats, they had a lottery draw, four people chosen, 3 left without fanfare, one decides to buck the system, makes a fool of himself, delays everyone else. Claims he's being singled out because of his ethnicity, screams like a little bitch when they remove him, causes all the rest of the paying passengers to be 3 hours late, and probably missed their connecting flights.......... That's being a dick in my book, plain and simple.
A lot of people suddenly become very "important" when they are inconvenienced.... I'm not convinced he was even a doctor.

Who knows but he did nothing wrong
Nothing wrong? Its not HIS plane! When he owns his own airline, he can make his own rules. The rules are there to ensure a quick, uneventful flight for everyone--- this guy F*#@ked it up for everyone else. A good doctor wouldn't behave like that.

 

grouchydog

Can't Leave
Oct 16, 2013
413
1
I don't understand this. The guy paid for a ticket, United assigned him a seat, he took the seat. End of story. I don't care if he was a doctor saving a child or if he was a computer schmoe like me wanting to get home for dinner. He paid for the ticket, payment was accepted. End of freaking story.
And exactly how did law enforcement get involved? Those weren't airline rent-a-cops - they were legit cops employing violence against a citizen - there's either something more to the story or this is straight-up police mistreatment.
Something happened that we don't know about.

 

ashdigger

Lifer
Jul 30, 2016
11,378
70,055
60
Vegas Baby!!!
Pipeman, I'm not defending United. I'm stating the obvious since I've been bumped. Take the money and move on. Also, pipeman, read my earlier comment.

 

grouchydog

Can't Leave
Oct 16, 2013
413
1
Respectfully (I mean that), I don't care about apologies. I care about explanations - did either say what incited this level of violence?

 

beefeater33

Lifer
Apr 14, 2014
4,063
6,118
Central Ohio
Pipeman- I'm not defending anyone. Rules are there for a reason, a plane full of passengers were delayed for three hours because this "doctor" refused to follow the rules thats all............

 

aquadoc

Lifer
Feb 15, 2017
2,044
1,522
New Hampshire, USA
If he was being a dick for the sake of being a dick then I agree. If he truly is a doctor and was concerned about his scheduling and patients, then Uniteds poor planning, management, and policy gets no sympathy. Look, they were overbooked before boarding. They knew that. I was a systems analyst for Delta and my team worked with Worldspan on flight scheduling and booking code back in the day. They knew exactly how many they were overbooked by and the percentages of no shows and the likeihood of X number of empty seats. They never should have boarded the plane before handling this issue. They have a policy for bumping passengers before boarding but it is all ad hoc afterward and they screwed the pooch. What if his wife had just gone into labor? Or his dad had just gone into emergency surgery or whatever? Would they have chosen someone else? They effed up. You are assuming a lot and condemning him without knowing why he felt compelled to get home. Just as I am doing so defending him. Will be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

beefeater33

Lifer
Apr 14, 2014
4,063
6,118
Central Ohio
I'll agree that United shouldn't have overbooked. But that's not my issue here. It happened, now they have to deal with it. By their numbers, they had 86 MILLION passengers in 2016, they forced 3,765 people off, and 62,895 people volunteered to give up their seats...... that's .00077%, and that ain't too shabby in my book.

 

bonanzadriver

Can't Leave
Nov 28, 2016
476
6
The story, as I understand it is that the Airline was trying to make room for 4 UAL crew members who were DeadHeading to Louisville.
Call it over booking, or call it piss poor customer service, regardless, they offered compensation to bump folks, a couple accepted something like $800 or so.
UAL supposedly used some random algorithm to pick folks to be bumped.
The doctor stated that he couldn't miss the flight, that he had patients he had to meet the next day.
The United Airlines flunkie, in their typical arrogant fashion, would have rather won an argument than to win a friend and decided to call the police.
All in all this his a huge Cluster fU*! Once the cops arrived the doctor should have chartered a limo, been on his way and sent the bill to UAL. But, UAL, notorious for their rude employees and terrible customer service, absolutely stepped in it on this one.
As to the comments that the doctor was being a D!ck? No more than the slugs @ UAL for allowing such inept idiots to work there and treat customers that way.
As to the "Rules are there for a reason" argument. Help me understand....
I buy a ticket.

I board the plane.

Airline realizes that it needs to move some of it's employeee, for whatever reason, to destination of flight and decide to bump passengers.

Compensation is offered

Passengers decline

Compensation is increased, a couple of passengers accept

The excuse is given that the subsequent bumped passengers were drawn at random by some computer

Passenger declines

Cops are called in

Passenger forcibly removed
So, with all of that, help me understand what "Rules" were in place that essentially turned UAL's problem of needing to move their employees from point A to point B, What part of those "Rules" constitutes that their screw up is now my problem and it is incumbent upon me to comply with their arbitrary "Rules"???
Sounds a whole lot like the FDA "Deeming" Horse Sh!t to me.
I had enough of their BullSh!t back in 2004. Haven't stepped foot on one of their planes since.

 

pipeman7

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 21, 2017
291
0
Pipeman, I'm not defending United. I'm stating the obvious since I've been bumped. Take the money and move on. Also, pipeman, read my earlier comment.
$800 isn't worth it missing your flight for. This guy bought a ticket on this flight at this time & he's got a schedule like everyone else. Take the $ & move on? Please. Get a grip. If you buy a ticket for a certain flight, it's bullshit for them to kick you off to send their employees.

 

aquadoc

Lifer
Feb 15, 2017
2,044
1,522
New Hampshire, USA
Interesting discussion on Flyer talk that includes those in the business and frequent flyers. Seems the choices are usually not random (they target those that use services to find cheap flights first) and that this was totally botched by United. But every one has an opinion : their policy is interesting reading https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus/1835638-man-pulled-off-overbooked-flight-ua3411-ord-sdf-9-april-2017-a-5.html

 

pipeman7

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 21, 2017
291
0
I'll agree that United shouldn't have overbooked. But that's not my issue here. It happened, now they have to deal with it
Exactly, you finally got it! It's united's problem, not the passenger who already paid and boarded the plane. United gets to deal with it, and transport their employees another way

 

beefeater33

Lifer
Apr 14, 2014
4,063
6,118
Central Ohio
The "rules" are spelled out in the carrier's "Contract of carriage" (the fine print that nobody bothers to read.)

Bottom line though, UNITED owns the aircraft and UNITED can bump ALL THE PASSENGERS off the plane if they need to, as long as they follow the compensation policy. Its THEIR plane, no citizen is 'ENTITLED" to anything...... again, it's spelled out in the "contract's fine print"..... read it!...

 

pipeman7

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 21, 2017
291
0
I see a corporation using the police to enforce it's will when it's not a criminal matter.

 

aquadoc

Lifer
Feb 15, 2017
2,044
1,522
New Hampshire, USA
Beefeater, of course they can. I am sure you will find such legalese language in any fine print. But they will not be in business long if they continue to run their business as such. They are built on customer service. Let them have a few more PR nightmares like this one. Investors business daily sent out an alert regarding United Stock because of the issues of late. And they published a writeup just 9 hours ago about this debacle.

 
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