It was a pretty shocking incident. I have no idea how United Airlines will recover from the coverage of the incident.

Fly the friendly skies !!! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4a7joWuCgpo They've just released their new advert

Are we using bumped in the literal or metaphorical sense here?

Horrendous, that poor man looks like he's suffering from concussion in another video, where he got back on the plane and he's leaning up against a pole, saying " I want to go home".
They keep saying that the flight was overbooked, no it wasn't, it was fully booked, everybody had a ticket and a seat, and they wanted to bump 4 passengers off to make way for their (extra) employees.

The early statement that UA put out was an absolute PR disaster, then their shares dropped and the CEO has put a more sympathetic one out.
https://hub.united.com/united-express-3411-statement-oscar-munoz-2355968629.html

Some lawyer is going to sue the pants off them. Good!

Sanji x

He was actually in his seat as well which I find odd, surely all this should have been sorted in departures? Normally they go along the check in queue first asking for volunteers & offering a cash insensitive. I'm not sure if they even did this, maybe the staff issue was last minute & they've picked 4 passengers who were travelling on their own without hold luggage. Even so, they should have sorted this before boarding!

I can understand his reluctance to give up his seat once his bum was parked on it!

Sanji, the lawyers will be queing up around the corner 😉 $$$$$$$$

Yeah there CEO soon back tracked - absolute disgrace, I hope he is forced to resign..

Personally, I think it's ridiculous, why are airplanes allowed to overbook? if you go to the stadium to watch a game, such behavior will be unacceptable. Same goes if you catching a bus. Why does Aviation get a pass for over booking???

Even if they can justice overbooking, how do they justify how they handled the situation? When is such behavior allowed? The man was Doctor, who has people relying on him. Then they physically remove him like thugs in a club. Hope they get Sued! Will teach them that their customers are more than just numbers, but people.

But on a lighter note, have a look at this Parody Video for United Airlines .
An almost accurate depicting of what happened.

Personally, I think it's ridiculous, why are airplanes allowed to overbook? if you go to the stadium to watch a game, such behavior will be unacceptable. Same goes if you catching a bus. Why does Aviation get a pass for over booking??? Some games I've been to watch , I wish someone had " bumped me " for x4 the face value of the ticket , and I don't even support Arsenal !! Lol . Thousands of people are bumped everyday by airlines , but it's done in a civilised way unlike this flight . The link in post 1 explains why airlines overbook , and the "sweet point " of filling planes , maximising sales and minimising compensation payments is improving with the vast data airlines have , which in turn keeps ticket prices low , otherwise they would have to factor in to the price unsold seats . The situation should never have been allowed to get to this stage , nowadays it's not so much the cost in compensating a customer or putting things right it's the damage done by it being all over social media . The CEO has tried to defend the situation but really should have taken the damage limitation mode , as he will eventually be the fall guy , perhaps he will end up doing after dinner speeches for 5k a pop like a certain Mr Ratner who managed to devalue his company spectacularly

Glynis asks if anyone has ever been asked to volunteer to change their flight

A few years ago I was asked if I would change my flight due to overbooking when checking in on an American Airlines flight from El Paso to Dallas, I was offered cash, a meal voucher and a later flight. I initially said I would but when I was told that I wouldn't get cash but a voucher to pay for another AA flight at a future date I refused, they then said they would give me a dollar cheque, again I said no as I would have had a few problems cashing it. While I was waiting for them to make their minds up, someone who had a business class seat decided they weren't going to fly so I ended up in Business.

Some while ago when I had frequent flyer status with Lufthansa the airline wrote to me asking me if I would go on a list of passengers who would be willing to give up their seat in cases of overbooking. I can't remember how much they were offering me at the time , but it was cash, meal voucher, hotel if required and of course a later flight . I agreed as at the time I was flying to the UK every few weeks, usually caught a mid day flight and knew there were at least four more flights to London in the afternoon or evening so any one of them wouldn't have upset my plans. Unfortunately I wasn't ever asked to change my flight.

Incidentally I think that UA's treatment of the passenger who was manhandled off the plane is shameful.

Thanks Judith. My only experience of anyone being asked to give up their seat was on Home Alone where the mam offered the older couple her watch, $$$$$, & earrings 😂

I've only once been "bumped" off a flight - was due to fly Belfast City -Cardiff with BA but they were short for some unknown reason (lots of squaddies making regular flights to and fro in those days).
They flew me to Manchester the same afternoon ,offered me a hotel but I was keen to get home, so they hired a taxi to drive me back to Cardiff ! Since my Company were booking the flights I didn't get any monetary compo. but I seem to remember a credit of a chunk of points to my Airmiles card!

Good grief, he suffered a concussion, a broken nose and damaged sinuses and lost two front teeth....no doubt requiring cosmetic surgery.

Those injuries just tell you how much force was used by the goons in uniform to propelled him into the metal armrest on the otherside of the aisle . There's no wonder he was screaming when he was being yanked out of his window seat and over the other armrests in the row.

I noticed that the vile rag, the Daily Fail, did a character assassination article on the Doctor bringing up his shady past....as if that was relevant in any shape or form to what happened to him.

I wonder how many airlines and passengers have been grateful that they've had a doctor on-board when unforeseen events take place in the skies.?

Apparently not UA....stupid or what?
Sanji x

Maybe I'm having a senior moment, but I don't 'get' why there is the need to overbook, apart from greed.

If I book a flight to Spain returning a week later, but decide to stay longer and will book another flight home at a later date, what difference does it make if my seat is empty on the original return date, when the airline has been paid up front for both journeys.?

Do they have a different booking system in the USA?
Sanji x

If you have a fully flexible ticket on scheduled airlines you can switch or cancel your flights without having to pay fees, often at a very late date. Airlines receive 60% of their revenue from business travellers and they are the passengers who often cancel at the last moment ( meetings running late or venues changed at last minute etc.) so the airlines will then have empty seats that haven't been paid for. Hence the overbooking to avoid this situation.

Thanks for the explanation Judith, am I right by assuming that a flexible ticket costs a lot more then.?

Sanji x

Yes Sanji, when we flew to South Africa for my 70th Birthday celebrations the difference between a basic and a flex fare was over 1000pounds each. Needless to say we didn't pay for the flex fare.

That's the sort of price difference I would expect on my flights to Cuba as well, Judith, but thankfully at the moment Thomas Cook still make a limited number of seats available for flight only passengers on their Manchester/Holguin flights that's my preferred choice anyway for the moment. Not much point in paying the extra for a fully flexible scheduled flight if it is still going to be followed by the overnight bus to Santiago :-) And there is the bonus of there being much less chance of being bumped because not only do they not lose money if you don't turn up but as the next TC flight would be 7 days later it would cost them a fortune to offload a passenger at the last minute!