Passengers chosen to leave since noone on flight volunteered

I got a weird call from United offering me some kind of free flight.

They must be really desperate to improve their image if they're doing that.

Yeah, but will they bump a paying passenger to accommodate you?

Well that depends upon your point of view.

In the vast majority of these instances, passengers volunteer to take another flight for some sort of compensation. Even when passengers are selected to lose their seat the kicking off has been entirely figurative. This was an extremely rare aberration. Shocking in it's violence, but by no means the normal process.

Congress could foolishly step in and put a complete end to overbooking. People with your point of view might fight this to be appropriate, but ticket prices would immediately increase. Do you think everyone would welcome that just as long as a one in a million incident that has almost a zero chance of being repeated can't happen again?

No airline, including United, wants to be the one who drags off the next beaten passenger just because they overbooked. If they didn't have policy and procedures in place to prevent such an outrageous act, they do now.

What should happen is the industry should voluntarily follow Delta's lead and increase the amounts they are willing to offer volunteers. Some passengers might try and take advantage of this, but their number is too small to be of concern. We buy airline tickets because we want or need to get somewhere. No one is going to get rich looking for overbooked flights, and the airlines are not going to, nor do they need to, make the rewards unlimited.

I'm pretty sure that United was within it's legal rights to refuse a paying customer a seat on that flight and that somewhere on the ticket it says so. Most of the flying public have experienced situations where flights were overbooked and it all worked out fine because there were passengers with flexible plans who were content with the compensation offered, and if not, they broke the bad news to the bumped passenger without breaking his or her face. If the doctor in this case had been treated a whole lot less aggressively, there would be no story to discuss.

Everything that could go wrong here did go wrong and United will pay a price, but unless the entire overbooking scheme is a total scam that doesn't actually help keep prices down, outlawing it would be very shortsighted.

My point of view is that no passenger should be dragged off a plane once they are seated.
I have probably flown more than most people, having visited over 80 countries. I have never seen any passenger dragged off of a plane.
I have probably visited more countries than most pilots.

It is a little odd that the entire focus seems to be on United. Once they sent in the cops, did they tell them "And we would appreciate it if you beat the crap out of him to set an example to others?"

And if you were unfortunate enough to be a passenger bumped from a flight you paid for, would you require the airline to summon the police, and if so, then force them to remove you bodily? Seems to have been a ridiculously obstinate reaction.

I've no idea how he suffered the injury to his face and whether or not he resisted police, but it's never a good idea to refuse to follow the instructions of police, and especially so when they have the law on their side. He was at the very least refusing to follow the instructions of police.

I can happily say without any diminished sense of manhood or principle, that if I had been in his seat, once cops came aboard and told me I had to get off, I would have done so. I may have grumbled and cursed United all the way down the aisle, but I would never have contributed to creating a situation where I was injured and found myself being dragged down the aisle. There may come a time when I find myself forced to vigorously (or in this case extremely passively) stand up to The Man, but it won't be over an overbooked flight. Without consideration for his past or present activities outside of a plane, the doctor certainly looks to be a victim, but he surely was no hero.

My question related to the news that the ever vigilant mock congresswoman from DC called for a congressional investigation. Seems to me it would be a colossal waste of taxpayer dollars, but a great way to get Ms Norton Holmes some cheap publicity.

I don't know, not being there.
The process of his capture from the plane is still horrific.
I don't know what I would do, being a sort of disabled oldish female, but it's possible I might fight. You know how pissy I can be. I can be loud and use big words.

I don't know, not being there.
The process of his capture from the plane is still horrific.
I don't know what I would do, being a sort of disabled oldish female, but it's possible I might fight if I had a serious destination, say a major family funeral. You know how pissy I can be. I can also use big words and be loud.

If they had a sort of auction set up to see who would accept the least compensation, that wouldn't happen, because if I tried to take $2000 from Delta, another passenger could underbid me and volunteer to stay behind for $1000. The only thing that could go wrong for the airline would be if all the passengers got smart and colluded, holding fast (as a "team") while the offered compensation soared into the hundreds of thousands per volunteer. Then they could exchange phone numbers and split the colossal sum that Delta paid to the ones who actually got off the airplane.

As you have constantly called it to our attention, I am sure every regular member here is well aware of the extent of your travel. As it very likely is far more than most of us it is instructive that you personally have never seen a passenger dragged off a plane. Since by your prodigious standards it is extremely rare, it doesn't seem like it has proven the necessity to do away with overbooking.

Not being able to get the flight you want isn't always a bad thing.

I remember back when I was a teenager, my dad was really frustrated because he was not able to get an earlier flight to go on a business trip, and so had to take the business trip a few days later and be on the other side of the country on his birthday.

When he flew out of Detroit on his birthday, he was able to look out the window and see the blackened scar where the earlier flight had smashed into the ground at 200 miles per hour.

Since there are some successful airlines that already have no overbooking policies, it seems like United could be safe giving it a try.

Careful what you suggest, they might send someone to your house to drag you out into the street and beat you.

Fat chance, her presence and wit will carry on.

Umm, I too can get tired of CI being repetitive. On the other hand, I'm relaxed for some of his still smart takes. I still listen to Tak.

http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/58eebe7177bb70b90c8b771a-480/united-airlines-man-dragged-off-plane.png
http://media-ncd.cmgdigital.com/photo/2017/04/11/VIDEO__Passenger_Removed_From_United_Air_0_7750298_ver1.0_640_360.jpg

Affirmative Blacktion in action