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04-10-2017, 03:12 PM | |
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The Friendly Skies...
Just kicked some poor guys ass for refusing to give up his seat!
You never see this on the United Airlines commercials.... http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...ompting-outcry |
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04-10-2017, 08:53 PM | #151 | |
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After Frontier Airlines was purchased by scum, I unwittingly bought a ticket since it used to be owned by non-scum and had been my preferred airline. I was then told at the check-in counter that I would not be allowed to board back with the ticket that I had paid for, unless I paid an additional $100 for my carry on. At that moment I began my boycott, and over the past three years, that policy has cost Frontier Airlines probably $10,000 of my business. I wasn't dragged bloody from a plane, but I was extorted out of money at the check-in counter that was not a part of my ticket price. Airlines need to be forced to honor their business contracts, and that's not happening. This is why I take the train whenever I can. Trains are cool. Airlines are not. (Possible exception: Southwest.)
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04-10-2017, 08:54 PM | #152 | |
Would an idiot do that?
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04-10-2017, 08:54 PM | #153 |
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It should be noted that the airlines were taking it in the ass a few years ago back when fuel prices were sky high. Not the case now - they're just making money hand over fist. Not only is this overbooking bullshit horrible, but it's unjustified. And frankly it's ridiculous that they can shit all over paying customers like this as a matter of course.
Was this some kind of emergency? I'm sure that would have been reported had that been the case. I'd love to know the exact circumstances, and why it was so important to get these four assholes on the flight, paying customers be damned. That's the bottom line. He paid his money, he boarded the flight, he sat in the seat he had paid for. Doesn't matter if he's a doctor, or a lawyer, or a bricklayer. |
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04-10-2017, 08:57 PM | #154 | |
Would an idiot do that?
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04-10-2017, 08:59 PM | #155 |
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The only reason I can see why United had to have the seats is that the employees were pilots that would have exceeded their duty time if they drove.
It was still a colossal mistake. |
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04-10-2017, 08:59 PM | #156 |
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04-10-2017, 09:03 PM | #157 | |
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Imagine if this guy had once in a lifetime super bowl tickets. Or had a make-it break-it meeting to close a multi-million dollar deal. That a customer would have zero choice but to leave a flight he didn't volunteer to leave suggests that they've dicked customers out of millions upon millions of dollars unapologetically over the years. It's sad this guy had to be a martyr. But thankfully he exposed this kind of BS. Sadly, an incident like this is probably the only way any of us would have had awareness of just how bad this practice is. |
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04-10-2017, 09:04 PM | #158 |
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The United Airlines CEO is apparently trying to become the most reviled man in America. After the "re-accommodation" statement that is going to go down in public relations history as the worst crisis communications ever, he's actually making it worse. Apparently he sent a communication to employees that says:
http://www.latimes.com/business/hilt...410-story.html According to CNBC, Munoz followed up Monday evening with a letter to employees defending the airline’s ground staff and describing the still-unidentified passenger as “disruptive and belligerent.” He said the airline agents “were left with no choice but to call Chicago Aviation Security Officers to assist in removing the customer from the flight.” [But Munoz, whose version of the episode appears to come from the playbook of how to dig oneself into an ever deeper hole, also undermined the argument that the flight was overbooked. He related that “after the flight was fully boarded,” gate agents “were approached by crewmembers that were told they needed to board the flight.” The implication is that the crewmembers heading to Louisville were late in arriving, that every passenger held a paid ticket and had been properly boarded, and only that only belatedly did United decide to pull passengers off the plane to make room. I must admit, as a market research person this is very exciting to me. You very seldom get to see a company do exactly everything in the worst possible manner. It's really helpful in setting an entirely new baseline against which to measure ineptness in communications.
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04-10-2017, 09:04 PM | #159 | |
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04-10-2017, 09:10 PM | #160 | |
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I hope this controversy doesn't go away, but sadly it probably will. I just saw a story claiming that 40,000 people a year are bumped off flights like this, and that number doesn't count the ones who voluntarily take vouchers. That is unacceptable. If this hadn't happened three days after I booked a flight to Atlanta (on an airline other than United, thank God), I would seriously reconsider flying and just make the 10 hour drive instead. |
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04-10-2017, 09:14 PM | #161 | |
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I'm not even outraged by the forceful removal as much as I am the audacity to completely upend a paying customer just to save a few hundred bucks. |
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04-10-2017, 09:16 PM | #162 | |
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I actually have nothing against the business model itself. The problem is that they don't clearly communicate their fees and indeed try to cover them up. Frontier still markets through third-party places like Orbitz with the full knowledge that they're actively misleading customers. In contrast, Southwest Airlines doesn't use the third parties. With Southwest, you know exactly what you're getting, so I'm a loyal Southwest flier now. I kind of wish I could pay a little extra for more legroom or an aisle seat, but hey, it's Southwest's business model so I'll work with them on it. When I think about flying, there are three things I want: 1. I want a lack of surprises, because surprises in travel are always negative. 2. I want a trip where I feel safe. 3. I'd like comfort. Companies like Frontier and Spirit provide none of the three. They make their money by springing surprises on customers. The constant nickel-and-diming gives me the impression that they're squeezing every penny, which makes me wonder about maintenance, training, and safety. And they're even worse than other airlines about comfort. So...zero for three. Southwest gives me two out of three. No airline will give you comfort any more, so I'll settle for two out of three.
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04-10-2017, 09:18 PM | #163 |
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law suit!
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04-10-2017, 09:19 PM | #164 | |
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This will seriously be discussed in public relations courses for the next fifty years. The event itself, and then the United Airlines response that is being botched on a cosmic scale.
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04-10-2017, 09:20 PM | #165 | |
Would an idiot do that?
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And maybe that guy has no upper limit, but someone on that plane did. And if not, there were other options for getting your people to a city 300 miles away within ~10-12 hours. I once flew from LA to KC the day of game 7 of the World Series (the flights to/from LA had been booked a month prior for work) and bought tickets to the game while sitting in LAX (much less being a doctor and actually doing something important)... not sure what my limit would be in that case, but I'm sure no airline would meet it. But, keep raising that limit by a hundred or two, and someone will give up their seat.
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