Right, I meant the other standard corporate apology where they obfuscate, promise change and pass the buck. Blaming the victim isn’t going to fly when said victim is armed with old age and a pitiable cry.
I think everyone here is cognizant of the thin margins that airlines operate on. The clear solution is better incentives for volunteers.
Does it included sauteed Republicans?
Delta has a good system when you check into to an overbooked flight they ask you to input what is the minimum amount you’d accept to be bumped. United was stupid because they only offered $800 in airline vouchers. The marginal cost for United to offer voucher is pretty low.
The time we got bumped we were already on the plane. It was American. They were trying to help out two other passengers who were desperate to get to their destination, so they didn’t demand anyone leave, but they sweetened the deal so we took it. We each got a $750 voucher.
It was well worth it. I got home three hours later than scheduled and my girlfriend got a different flight and spent the night in Dallas, on American’s dime, and got home the next day. (She’s worked over 20 years at her company so she gets 33 vacation days a year. It’s no big deal for her to use one in return for a $750 voucher.)
Guess I haven’t flown Delta in a long time. Great idea though and hopefully will be picked up the other airlines after this mess.
Not at all. Many people avoid Ryanair and its clones even when they are the cheapest option. Others will choose the airline they have miles on, even if it costs a little more. Business travelers who will be reimbursed later might have very little incentive to save a few bucks.
You didn’t get bumped, you voluntarily bumped yourself. You volunteered for two other passengers, accepted their offer. I never claimed it’s 100%, but if they are going to force someone to another flight, it’s usually at the gate.
I’d like to point out that the flight was not overbooked. They did not have more paying customers than seats, which is why all of the passengers were allowed to board. After boarding, United decided that they needed four seats for their own, not paying, employees, who did not have tickets for a seat on that plane. The flight was not overbooked. United demanded that paying customers leave a not overbooked plane so that their employees could take their seats. It falls under a different set of guidelines than overbooking, and is much more strict, even by United’s bylaws.
This sounds cool, but I don’t think it’s universal for Delta, or if it is, it’s real new. I have flown delta in the past few months, multiple times, and every one was oversold, and none of them did this.
But I agree it’s a good idea.
I’ve personally never seen it myself either.
This is generally boiled down into “fare class”, which is on your ticket. Most airlines have plenty of these; united has something around 30 (United Fare Class Chart). Fare classes are used when deciding who to award upgrades to (e.g., a low-status customer on a “Y” full-fare economy ticket is going to be given a first class upgade before a 1K customer on a “T” deep-discount coach ticket), and also who to bump from flights when there are no volunteers.
Interesting. Well assuming this crew followed their procedures and bumped accordingly, they should be able to withstand that claim in court at least. I hear his lawyer is very good and familiar with the industry.
United made their first offer before anyone boarded. No one accepted the $400 offer. Then, they boarded the flight. United made their $800 offer after everyone was seated. No one took that either. That’s when the lottery picks started.
Agreed. Still, it wasn’t overbooked. United was trying to open seats for their employees who did not have tickets, which is different from being overbooked.
Interesting blog post from a pilots wife.
This one fact does answer several of the other comments, I’ve seen “why not get an uber for the crew”.
3: “So what’s this ‘must ride’ nonsense anyway? They shouldn’t bump a paying customer for a free employee ride!” I’m afraid you’re going to have to take this up with the federal government, not United. And it’s actually pretty important to you as an airline traveler anyway. They were not ‘freeloading home’. That’s called non-rev and they have to wait in line behind your checkbook and often don’t make it home to their families if flights are booked (believe me, I know). No, this was a must fly, a positive space situation. In layman terms, it means that a crew must be flown to an airport to man a flight in order to avoid cancellation of said flight due to crew unavailability. This is a federal DOT regulation, not an airline one. The airlines are required to do so to avoid disruption of air traffic. In other words, if there are no willing volunteers and they need seats to get a crew somewhere to avoid disruption of aviation flow, they can, will, must by federal regulation bump people for the better good of the 1000’s. Why? Because one cancelled flight has a serious domino affect in the delicate, complicated world of connections and aviation law.
Mark brings up a good point which I think is getting overlooked in the discussion… a lot of travelers really like having that opportunity to volunteer to get bumped and get paid to do so, even if it’s just airline credit. The overbooking system is kind of awesome on those rare occasions when you’re flexible enough (which usually means young enough) to take advantage of those opportunities. It’s taking a lot of heat after this clustercuss but it’s usually a pretty sweet win/win arrangement. (And, yes, I understand the distinction between volunteering and forced bumpage.)
Why couldn’t they pony up more? That’s the BS part. Instead of calling in the thugs just offer 1,600 or more. Eventually someone will bite. Each flight is a million + earner. Suck up a couple thousand more if necessary.
I don’t see anything in that post that says they couldn’t have uber’ed them. I fully get you can’t hose another flight (causing a domino effect), but I don’t see anything in that post that says you have to get them there by plane. Now, that may well be the case, but it isn’t evident from what’s in that post.
Now, if it truly was a “we must do this”, the big management screw-up was the choice to start boarding before sorting it out. Probably happened due to fear of a delayed flight, but in retrospect, obviously a bad, bad decision.