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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

#401

Post by davidf18 »

InitialLastName wrote: post #387
davidf18 wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do they call it now? Fake news? But here is a real story. I'm American and "member of the tribe" who has been to Israel many times as shown by the passport stamps, speaks Hebrew and I didn't arrive at Ben-Gurion airport in Tel Aviv to a Turkish Air flight to Istanbul 3 hours in advance of the flight. My take-on was packed away and I was strip searched down to my underwear. I was amused and happy for the security…

Amused and happy seems like a misnomer when applied to overwhelmingly invasive, unnecessary procedures. Have they actually convinced you that this is improving security?

Well, I don't believe the procedures to be unnecessary. Also, I am not a citizen of Israel but rather a guest, so anything to protect the citizens and other guests from terrorism.

In my opinion, if US airport security was run according to Israeli standards, 9/11 would have been less likely.

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

#402

Post by S4M »

davidf18 wrote: post #394
S4M wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We don't do BrExit here forcing (legal) residents out. How about the Muslims?

Please cite a reference where Muslims who are living in the US legally were forced out of the country.

Well, not forced out of the country, but Muslims visa holders were denied entry in the US on their way back from holidays:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trum...

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/bring-niki-mossafe...

And HN discussion of the previous link:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13509509

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

#403

Post by Markoff »

11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #167

Been flying for 25 years, 1.5 million miles total, most of that on United. US airlines have been through hell over the last 16 years. Bankruptcies, union battles, fierce competition, and not to mention, the real threat that someone could blow up or intentionally crash the plane they're flying, all contributed to a mentality that the employees have to stick together to survive. The end result is that US airline employ…

> US airlines have been through hell over the last 16 years. Bankruptcies, union battles, fierce competition, and not to mention, the real threat that someone could blow up or intentionally crash the plane they're flying, all contributed to a mentality that the employees have to stick together to survive.

So you say US market is more competitive than European and have more strikes than European airlines and less risk? I call that very poor excuse compared to European airlines, which work under harsher conditions than American, but still keep level of service higher than American airlines (of course both are inferior to Asian carriers).

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

#405

Post by nxtrafalgar »

mkl wrote: post #217
hackermailman wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NZ and Australia have open skies agreements though, the airlines actually have to compete with each other instead of being granted monopolies.

Technically, yes, but there's very little actual competition on many routes. Domestically in NZ between the main centres there's Air New Zealand and Jetstar. I doubt I'll ever fly Jetstar as I know too many people who've had Jetstar flights cancelled on them at the last minute. Ten years or so ago it was a different story, with more airlines competing.

On minor routes Jetstar is bad, but I flew domestically with them half a dozen times last year.

The worst problem I experienced was a 30-delay one time.

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

#406

Post by yeukhon »

daemin wrote: post #369
yeukhon wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I am aware they take my money. But my point is to add cancellation fee to cover up the losses after making overbooking illegal. Profit will go down, but they avoid delays and other unnecessary disputes/situations.

How can they charge you that fee? All it would mean is that you won't board the plane and instead take another flight. I have done this before because buying a new ticket cost me less than moving the existing ticket. So I just didn't check in, and didn't turn up for the flight.

The incentive for a refund.

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

#407

Post by indemnity »

davidf18 wrote: post #358
irrational wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has to be a joke. You can't seriously be toting the availability of a 24/365 store (even an Apple store!) as some sort of benefit.

A 24/365 Apple Store is a signal about how cool and new technologically vibrant NYC is ...we need it and use it 24/365. Repairs as well as purchases 24/365. Number of Apple Stores in Manhattan = 7 (incl. one 24/365) Number of Apple Stores in NYC 5 Boroughs = 10 Number of stores Paris (incl. La Defense) = 4 Number of stores London = 5 Number of stores Berlin = 1 Jazz/Blues/all kinds of music, a city open 24/7 full of…

Have you been to any Asian cities in the last two decades? NYC has its perks, but the subway systems of Tokyo, Shanghai, and Seoul make the MTA look pretty shabby.

These cities are also 24/7, to a greater extent than any Western city, I would argue.

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

#408

Post by wolfd »

Freak_NL wrote: post #134
tyfon wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The company I work at (in Norway) had planed to take all 70 employees to NYC this summer to celebrate a milestone reached. We just moved the whole thing to Paris instead as we had issues with all of the above, including employees that have visited "dangerous" countries. The thing that pushed everyone over was when our former prime minster was harassed[1] at the border for having been to a meeting in Iran. It says in…

It seems that the rules have become a lot stricter recently, and it looks like American citizens might end up feeling the consequences as well. This week a Dutch journalist wrote about being rejected by the ESTA visa waiver application because of a previous visit to Iraq as a journalist. So to travel to the US he gets to pay almost $200 and formally apply for a visa — for accredited journalists this is unheard of. Si…

It's not nearly as bad as that, but when I traveled to Canada recently, and was crossing the border back into the US (as a lifetime citizen), I was asked about why I traveled to Turkey and the U.A.E. in the past two years. It was a bit weird, but I guess I'm not sure how routine it was.

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

#409

Post by InitialLastName »

davidf18 wrote: post #401
InitialLastName wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amused and happy seems like a misnomer when applied to overwhelmingly invasive, unnecessary procedures. Have they actually convinced you that this is improving security?

Well, I don't believe the procedures to be unnecessary. Also, I am not a citizen of Israel but rather a guest, so anything to protect the citizens and other guests from terrorism. In my opinion, if US airport security was run according to Israeli standards, 9/11 would have been less likely.

If they had locked and reinforced the cockpit doors, 9/11 wouldn't have happened.

That's all it takes.

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

#410

Post by indemnity »

foepys wrote: post #259
manyxcxi wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, I'm not sure if your home airport is not very good, you don't travel that often, or if you just have a higher base level of anxiety or what- but any drive over 4 hours and I'm on the lookout to see if I can fly there. I frequently go from Portland to San Jose and back in the same day- I get meetings done and am home in time to put my kids to bed. I also just generally fly pretty frequently. I've got an Arab name…

Maybe they are just not white and have to endure a lot of "random" searches every flight.

Pretty sure this is it. I hail from a third world country, but I have never faced any issues since I'm European, and have since "whitewashed" my passport into a Five Eyes one.

Have even cracked a joke or two with TSA agents & gotten a "Welcome to America, enjoy your holiday" at LAX.

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