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United removes first-class passenger to make room for 'higher-priority' traveler

latimes.com

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Re: United removes first-class passenger to make room for 'higher-priority' traveler

#81

Post by dsacco »

wonder_er wrote: post #22
jsemrau wrote: post #7

Time for regulating the oligopoly of the airline industry. Obviously the safety of passengers can not be ensured anymore. https://medium.com/@thisTenqyuLife/united-airlines-should-go...

er, they're getting skewered in the media. United is paying the price for their mistake. If they're regulated, next time they drag someone off a plane, they'll say "We were just following the handbook and were in accordance with federal regulations. Take it up with the FAA" So no, no need to regulate the industry. Also, the body you want to regulate them (the government) routinely does much, much worse to people.[0]…

http://m.imgur.com/L1GyFnt

There's more volatility in the stock to be sure, but I wouldn't call this "paying the price for this mistake" according to public perception just yet. I don't know airlines well enough, but if I were going to take a position, it'd be long. The initial dip in the stock price tapered off, and the current price in pre-market trading has reached parity with 4/7 despite the relative increase in volatility.

Aside from market perception, I don't think UAL is going to lose much in sales (I'd love to be proven wrong though!). Airlines do not seem to really need to compete or differentiate themselves in customer service to be profitable.

These controversies have an impact on the stock price that is like the "villain of the week" impact on a show's overall plot - it's entertaining this week, but next week no one is going to care.

Re: United removes first-class passenger to make room for 'higher-priority' traveler

#82

Post by bedhead »

Jeff Bezos' annual letter, released yesterday, had a good line (one of many) that immediately made me think of this United situations and broadly the crazy rules we've created for air travel and the culture that surrounds it all:

"It’s always worth asking, do we own the process or does the process own us? In a Day 2 company, you might find it’s the second."

Re: United removes first-class passenger to make room for 'higher-priority' traveler

#83

Post by seanmcdirmid »

shimon_e wrote: post #53
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to see you try?

I have multiple times deboarded a plane before take off. Due to change in business plans, flight delays, etc. In one case a passenger was sick on board and I asked to deboard as I didn't want to risk getting their cold. This was all on Asian airlines. My few experiences on United have been terrible. So in this case I'd say the regulations guiding airlines is fair. United's execution of these regulations is the proble…

Ya, I've seen people deboard if there wasn't enough overhead space...in America...it is completely in their right if they bought s full fare ticket.

Re: United removes first-class passenger to make room for 'higher-priority' traveler

#84

Post by mirimir »

Gracana wrote: post #45
koolba wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure they could create a Soviet style no win situation if they want to. " Sir please deplane we need your seat " " No- I haven't done anything illegal and am in my seat already " " Looks like he's not following crew instructions! Get em' boys! "

Like being arrested for resisting arrest.

Well, it is possible to get there with a sufficiently bad attitude.

Re: United removes first-class passenger to make room for 'higher-priority' traveler

#85

Post by mistermann »

linker3000 wrote: post #66
Belphemur wrote: post #6

What a lack of professionalism. The customer even paid premium price to be in first class and instead of being notified at the gate, like any respectable airline would do, he's asked to give his seat to somebody "more important" than him when already seated. It doesn't make any sense, if that "more important person" came later, he should be the one getting compensated by the airline especially when the problem occurr…

I asked United whether I could use their lounge at SFO as they cancelled my flight to Heathrow and I was going to be waiting the best part of a day for a flight to Dulles to take an alternative that would get me home 1.5 days late. By the look on the faces of the two lounge receptionists, you'd think I'd asked if I could take a dump on their desk. "Other people have paid membership to use this lounge" I was told in a…

From the article:

“Despite the negative experience, we hope to have your continued support,” the rep concluded. “Your business is especially important to us and we'll do our utmost to make your future contacts with United satisfactory in every respect.”

Seems like they prefer a certain skill level of employee: low.

Re: United removes first-class passenger to make room for 'higher-priority' traveler

#86

Post by rayiner »

marcosscriven wrote: post #76

The crux of the article, for me, is this: "What United and all companies need to do is to train and empower workers to deal with specific issues as they arise,” she said. “Don’t just follow whatever is written in your policies." Unfortunately that's so often the case - one may as well be conversing with a robot in many customer service situations. I can only imagine it's just as frustrating for the disempowered servi…

Empowering local service reps often leads to worse things. The cases where a Muslim passenger or whatever was forced to leave because another passenger complained wasn't written into any policy, it was the result of local crew exercising their discretion.

Re: United removes first-class passenger to make room for 'higher-priority' traveler

#87

Post by rangibaby »

Klathmon wrote: post #75
douche wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your door-to-door time with those two trips is probably not that far apart, when you factor in time getting to and from the airport, waiting for security, waiting for luggage, and delays. Plus driving is cheaper and less stressful...

But am I wrong in thinking it shouldn't be that way? Why is the "really fast bus in the sky" so much worse in just about every way? Is it like this in other countries?

As a western person, the lack of invasive checks and procedures etc in Asia (live Japan, have travelled PRC HK Indonesia and Malaysia) was an eye opener for me.

In every case the security involved an X-ray for luggage and walking thru a metal detector. That was it.

Australia in 2014 otoh was nuts. I was taken aside and magic wanded at one airport, subject to a personal body scan (???) and patdown at another, and interrogated on my way out (apparently "company employee" was not an adequate description of my occupation).

Combined with other security theater like police leading dogs around at the gate, it made me not want to visit there again. It was scary!

Re: United removes first-class passenger to make room for 'higher-priority' traveler

#88

Post by dagenleg »

mpweiher wrote: post #29
paulgb wrote: post #9

He and the doctor may have a solid legal case: http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/united-cites-wrong-rule-for-... I hope for United's sake these are anomalies and not a pattern of behavior.

> ...not a pattern of behavior. It's actually far worse than just a "pattern of behavior", it is how United and other airlines (mostly US, but rest of the world is catching on) have deliberately structured their enterprise and the entire customer experience. Everything revolves around "privilege". Even 20 years ago, this used to be bad. On most European airlines' flights, you just waited at the gate until your flight…

Interesting how the western world is facing the reversal of the trend of egalitarianism that rose up in the 20th century. It seems like just a century ago we had movements all over the world that strived for equality and now the tide has turned.

The US that used to be on the forefront of defence of personal liberty is now largely lagging behind Europe and I would say even moving in the other direction. Even from the progressive movements of feminism and racial equality we can now at times hear voices arguing FOR segregation. Pretty depressive, eh?

Re: United removes first-class passenger to make room for 'higher-priority' traveler

#89

Post by yardie »

Klathmon wrote: post #75
douche wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your door-to-door time with those two trips is probably not that far apart, when you factor in time getting to and from the airport, waiting for security, waiting for luggage, and delays. Plus driving is cheaper and less stressful...

But am I wrong in thinking it shouldn't be that way? Why is the "really fast bus in the sky" so much worse in just about every way? Is it like this in other countries?

The U.K. London Heathrow takes a close second. No, other countries do not put on a security theater show where you are the spectacle.

Re: United removes first-class passenger to make room for 'higher-priority' traveler

#90

Post by nkkollaw »

linker3000 wrote: post #66
Belphemur wrote: post #6

What a lack of professionalism. The customer even paid premium price to be in first class and instead of being notified at the gate, like any respectable airline would do, he's asked to give his seat to somebody "more important" than him when already seated. It doesn't make any sense, if that "more important person" came later, he should be the one getting compensated by the airline especially when the problem occurr…

I asked United whether I could use their lounge at SFO as they cancelled my flight to Heathrow and I was going to be waiting the best part of a day for a flight to Dulles to take an alternative that would get me home 1.5 days late. By the look on the faces of the two lounge receptionists, you'd think I'd asked if I could take a dump on their desk. "Other people have paid membership to use this lounge" I was told in a…

Well...

How many people were on that flight with you? If you have the right to go in the lounge then everyone else does, and obviously that's not going to work. In addition, the lounge is for those who pay for it, not for those whose flight gets cancelled. If I paid for it and all of a sudden the lounge is full of people because a flight got cancelled I wouldn't be happy.

It's your right to never fly United again, but I don't think the staff was unreasonable.

Also, there is no way to know if they were actually rude, or if you were rude first because they cancelled your flight and you asked in the wrong way.

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