I wonder if the executives would be okay with a lottery for their bonuses?
According to Wikipedia, United Airlines has around 88,000 employees. Even if only 10% of those employees were both eligible for and met the requirements to earn that $300ish bonus each quarter, that means United was paying out over $2.5 million in bonus money per quarter.
A Powerpoint presentation that shows the company can spend $500K per quarter on a $100K cash prize, an $85K Mercedes (that they probably scored way cheaper through some sort of cross-advertising arrangement) and 200 or so other smaller prizes (again through partnerships with other companies to make them cheaper) and come out $8 million ahead for the fiscal year would go over like a Super Bowl win in every boardroom in the company. They could hire a whole extra C-level exec with the savings!
Oh to be a fly in that room when they came up with this idiotic approach.
You’re missing the brilliant stage 2 of their plan. Once the employees got used to the idea of the bonuses, perhaps even seeing a demo of the highly produced, black tie celebrity-laden lottery drawing event (peons not invited), then they were most likely planning on selling additional chances for the cash, car, etc, for just $100 each. Extra revenue!
Another idea, they get more entries if they sell magazine subscriptions to passengers.
It also encouraged employees to work sick. Yeah, smart move with pilots and flight attendants.
What you don’t like add germs in a glorified can with wings. I don’t know about you, but I always look forward to might flight attendant coughing all over everyone and their stuff, and since the pilots nap anyway, they might as well chug NyQuil while they’re at it.
-xtien
“Really. They want me in a submerged pressurized metal container? Oh no…this is much worse.”
I still love that movie. :o)
Not to take sides here but what in the world is a dog doing in the cabin? Is that allowed?
Yes it is. The articles about this story mention it even. The dog was in a TSA approved carrier. I’ve flown on planes where someone else had a pet, many times. Flight attendants just have too much power.
Interesting. Where is the carrier normally placed? Do we buy a seat space? I assume that it has to be secured.
Airlines are essentially fascist terrorist organizations these days. They have unlimited power due to security theater, they are staffed by people who in general seem harassed, underpaid, and over-powered in terms of petty authority, and they have captive audiences who cannot, on pain of prison or worse, do a damn thing about it. If I could avoid flying I would, but to get to conferences and not miss two weeks of classes I don’t have much choice.
Seriously, airlines are about as evil as drug dealer, child porn mavens, or HR departments.
Under the seat. If the animals is large enough,they could potentially buy a seat but that usually means the carrier is too big. They might be able to ride in their lap too, like small kids.+
In-cabin pets
Advance reservations for in-cabin pet travel are required.
Request an in-cabin booking for your pet through united.com or by calling the United Customer Contact Center at 1-800-UNITED-1 (1-800-864-8331).United allows domesticated cats, dogs, rabbits and household birds (excluding cockatoos) to travel accompanied in the aircraft cabin on most flights within the U.S. An in-cabin pet may be carried in addition to a carry-on bag and is subject to a $125 service charge each way. There is an additional $125 service charge for each stopover of more than four hours within the U.S. or more than 24 hours outside of the U.S.
In-cabin pet kennels
A pet traveling in cabin must be carried in an approved hard-sided or soft-sided kennel. The kennel must fit completely under the seat in front of the customer and remain there at all times. The maximum dimensions for hard-sided kennels are 17.5 inches long x 12 inches wide x 7.5 inches high (44 cm x 30 cm x 19 cm). The recommended maximum dimensions for soft-sided kennels are 18 inches long x 11 inches wide x 11 inches high (46 cm x 28 cm x 28 cm). Soft-sided pet carriers may exceed these dimensions slightly, as they are collapsible and able to conform to under-seat space without blocking the aisle. With the exception of birds, there may only be one pet per kennel, and the animal must be able to stand up and turn around comfortably. Two birds may travel in the same kennel.Service animals
Trained service animals are allowed in-cabin to accompany qualified customers with disabilities. Service animal procedures differ from standard in-cabin pet procedures. Visit the Service Animals section for more information.
https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/animals/in_cabin.aspx
Ah. I looked at Singapore Airlines guide just now. They require a checked luggage or travel cia Cargo and requires a much larger carrier for the animals. (stand, lie or turn around)
I was not aware that cabin travel was allowed. Interesting.
I think in the USA most the major airlines have similar guidelines. I am not sure about the bargain/discount airlines.
The problem here though isn’t their policy, it’s the fact they give their employees absolute power with the plan to deal with problems later… and later the animal is dead. Hindsight is easy, but I’d get off the plane before I let them cram my pet in that overhead bin, you know, the bin that says things might have shifted, is closed so there is basically little to no air in there… but I could buy another ticket if United got testy. A lot of people fear losing their seat and not being able to afford to fly later or even get a flight.
it’s a 100% avoidable tragedy, or like @TheWombat suggested… the petty authority this person used clearly outweigh any brain capacity to think about how an animal would do in that bin.
It’s especially true if the carrier has softsides and collapsible as stated in the guidelines shown.
Edit: Looks to me that the guidelines are accomodative but they cannot deliver in it’s implementation.
When we moved from Boston to Seattle, I had three parrots. We left the birds with my parents on the east coast while we settled everything on the west coast, then I went back to get them. My husband had already started his new job, so I was flying alone. Flying Alaska Airlines (which flies direct from Boston to Seattle), the rule was “one pet in the cabin per passenger”, along with the other rules noted above (the carrier had to be approved, and had to fit under the seat, etc). I picked my elderly lovebird to come into the cabin with me, and the other two went into the special climate controlled “pet hold”.
Everything went fine, and I was impressed with how well it was all handled. After boarding, but before takeoff, the flight attendant came to find me in the cabin to confirm that my birds were safely in the hold. I had been so stressed out over the whole experience though (it was so hard to leave them in the airport), but I think the birds handled it better than I did. As an aside, we recently moved back to the east coast, and while I’m down to one parrot (the other two passed away from old age) he still had to go into the pet hold, because he’s too large to go under the seat. But I again flew Alaska Air, and again had a great experience with them.
All that said, if some flight attendant had tried to tell me to put Rufus (my lovebird) into the overhead bin, there would have been a scene. I probably would have been ejected from the plane, because there’s no way that I would ever put my pet into that compartment.
How is it that people are still flying United? I don’t think I would buy a ticket from them at this point even if they tried to sell me a coast to coast ticket for $10.