Remove United from your flight results • Hacker News Board

Re: Remove United from your flight results

#111

Post by psyc » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 3:00 AM UTC

Mithaldu wrote: post #27

sitepodmatt wrote: post #10

United screwed up by not having a decent incentive system in place to avoid deplaning people. People have presented many options, including taking a ballpark figure on checkin, or whilst on the airplance a speaker announcement anyone to travel later for $800, wait a minute, $1000, $1200, okay great thanks folks.. That was extremely badly handled and shocking that no process was in place for this - as last minute crew…

United acted illegally from the very get-go. Via https://np.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/64m8lg/why_is_... and more: > Lawyer here. This myth that passengers don't have rights needs to go away, ASAP. You are dead wrong when saying that United legally kicked him off the plane. > 1. First of all, it's airline spin to call this an overbooking. The statutory provision granting them the ability to deny boarding is a…

I'm glad to see this. The meme about private property rights giving owners the absolute right to kick anybody out of anywhere for any reason gets repeated 1000 times a day on internet forums, as if it's a profound insight into both law and the philosophy of rights.

Re: Remove United from your flight results

#112

Post by ams6110 » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 3:00 AM UTC

chrismcb wrote: post #51

sitepodmatt wrote: post #10

United screwed up by not having a decent incentive system in place to avoid deplaning people. People have presented many options, including taking a ballpark figure on checkin, or whilst on the airplance a speaker announcement anyone to travel later for $800, wait a minute, $1000, $1200, okay great thanks folks.. That was extremely badly handled and shocking that no process was in place for this - as last minute crew…

I don't know what algorithm they used to select him. But united does have a procedure based on ticket class, time of check-in and other parameters.

The algorithm probably tries to select a passenger who is unlikely to be flying again soon, to minimize future lost business. Might be someone who flies rarely, or has never flown that route before, etc.

Re: Remove United from your flight results

#113

Post by wehere1 » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 3:00 AM UTC

johnfn wrote: post #103

rm999 wrote: post #69

The comments in here are oddly fatalist about the whole thing. We put a lot of trust in airlines; and not just in safety or to get us somewhere, but we also give them an unusual number of legal protections once we're in their care. When the drama first started I kind of wrote it off: "this must have been a misunderstanding compounded by a single employee's stupidity". But when I found that it was not only condoned, b…

> Then, the inevitable outrage led to past stories resurfacing, with a pattern of absurd insensitivity (abused dogs, broken guitars, sexist clothing policies, etc). You don't think you'd be able to dredge up similarly bad stories for any other airline? Look, what United did on that flight was pretty awful. But the rest of this to me smacks of the typical rumor mill that spins up when a company has bad PR, which surfa…

huh? of course not all employees of the company will think alike. but when an employee does something fucked up like they did in this case, a reasonable company should condemn it and support the affected customer

Re: Remove United from your flight results

#114

Post by sokoloff » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 3:01 AM UTC

evilDagmar wrote: post #58

chrismcb wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what algorithm they used to select him. But united does have a procedure based on ticket class, time of check-in and other parameters.

That policy only applies before the passengers have boarded the plane.

I could read the boarding as defined by "completed when crossing the door from the terminal into the jetway or aircraft", but I could also define as "the entire process of loading the aircraft, the completion of which is marked by the pilot accepting the manifest and flight and the boarding door being closed".

If you define it the second way, the doctor hadn't completed boarding. (And I don't think it's a totally ridiculous torturing of the words to read it that way.)

Re: Remove United from your flight results

#115

Post by alphonsegaston » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 3:02 AM UTC

sfilargi wrote: post #3

I understand the sentiment, but if I would stop using every corp that fucked somebody up, I would probably have to move somewhere where there is no civilization.

We can draw the line at having the cops beat people to cover up for their screw-ups though, right? This isn't questionable stock trades, it smashing an old man in the face because you're shitty at your job.

Re: Remove United from your flight results

#116

Post by IAmGraydon » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 3:02 AM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #68

greenhatman wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He got assaulted. That is a case for severe damages, usually.

Sure. Photographers get assaulted too. They don't get huge payouts --you go file charges and the judge issues a sentence, some damages. Usually not a jackpot.

Photographers? What are you even talking about?

Re: Remove United from your flight results

#117

Post by perseusprime11 » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 3:07 AM UTC

rm999 wrote: post #69

The comments in here are oddly fatalist about the whole thing. We put a lot of trust in airlines; and not just in safety or to get us somewhere, but we also give them an unusual number of legal protections once we're in their care. When the drama first started I kind of wrote it off: "this must have been a misunderstanding compounded by a single employee's stupidity". But when I found that it was not only condoned, b…

In terms of culture, United needs to learn from Southwest. Southwest has great culture internally as well as externally. United has bunch of slogans as culture. Their CEO has no clue about creating a culture that delights customers. He blamed the customer in the letter and then blamed it on system failure but never on him. He failed to create a customer centric culture and instead fostered a culture that perceives customers as a threat or idiots for flying their airline.

Re: Remove United from your flight results

#118

Post by partiallypro » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 3:07 AM UTC

This will have almost no effect, travel sites like Kayak, etc list United, and guess what? United is often one of the cheapest options, so it gets the sale. Nice concept, but it won't have an effect. What -might- have an effect on United is that the man just so happened to be Chinese and they want to expand into China. Otherwise, as heartless as it is to say, if United is $100 cheaper, I'm going to buy a ticket from United instead of Delta, SouthWest, etc; as will thousands upon thousands of other people.

Re: Remove United from your flight results

#119

Post by pdxandi » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 3:09 AM UTC

I just booked my next work trip and even though United is the primary airline, I went out of my way to fly on a different airline. I've personally had really bad experiences with their flight staff and gate agents and this last weekend made me feel it's worth rewarding airlines like JetBlue with my business.

Re: Remove United from your flight results

#120

Post by pyre » Thu, Apr 13, 2017, 3:10 AM UTC

rpmcmurphy wrote: post #75

I hate to be the one to point this out, but this is a case where people vote with their wallets for the absolute cheapest product, and then are angry to get what they paid for. They buy discounted non-refundable inflexible strings-attached fares, and then are shocked to discover than when push comes to shove, strings are attached (such as lowest priority on rebooking). If you absolutely need to get there on time, or…

> then are shocked to discover than when push comes to shove, strings are attached (such as lowest priority on rebooking).

...except in this case, United was in the wrong and hoping that no one would notice. There were no "strings" attached, though they want you to believe that there were.

I mean we're talking about United bumping paying customers who are already boarded and sitting in their seats from a non-overbooked flight to make room for employees from another airline.