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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

#141

Post by ijafri »

In Pakistan Citizen didn't let a minster on board a flight, after it got delayed due to him. Citizen abused him and he had to leave the plane. I meant United is demonstrating something even worse than would happen in our 3rd world country, and all I get it now, the 1st World only got bit of money and tech and at the end of the day, they are just as big an assholes as we are.

First they beated a customer and now another one was moved to economy in order to make room for a certain high profile.. !!! So you truly see, this is the so-called first world, racism against minorities and immigrants despite 'they' invaded Red Indians land, and now they are demonstrating same 'social class' discrimination, that's common place in the 3rd World, minus the $+Tech, and there you have even worse of the 3rd World.

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

#142

Post by gnode »

yodsanklai wrote: post #121
Klathmon wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally I've noticed that for like 5 years now my friends and family have a pretty severe aversion to flying anywhere for anything. From needing to show up hours before the flight, to the invasive screenings, the insane restrictions on what you can and cannot bring, the sentiment that if you check any baggage it's basically as good as gone, the ever increasing cost, the delays, and even things like the worry abou…

You're painting a darker picture than what it really is :) Most of the time, things go smoothly and flights are very affordable. I find it amazing that as a middle class person I can fly pretty much anywhere in the world. I can live with the inconvenience of being scolded by the TSA and US customs officers. Actually, I wonder how much this will last considering that fossil energy will likely cost more and more and th…

>Actually, I wonder how much this will last considering that fossil energy will likely cost more and more and that more and more people from developing countries start to travel too.

On the other hand, planes may become electric, and the cost of solar power is rapidly falling. If this trend continues, it will likely become cheaper to fly in the future.

Even if planes don't become electric any time soon, other demand for oil may be displaced, lowering its price.

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

#143

Post by briandear »

tyingq wrote: post #92
ptero wrote: post #78

At the moment I wish United gets beaten up well for forced passenger removal earlier this week. However, IMO this article just tries to pile onto the "United stinks" meme and is poorly written (more emotions than facts). Some things missing (for me): 1. When did this happen? The article makes it look like this just happened, but does not mention a date. I suspect the omission is on purpose (if so, boo!; if not, sorry…

The information is missing from the story, but is available on other write ups of the same story. It happened on April 1st. He was offered the difference in price between the first class seat and the economy seat. That seems like poor compensation since this is basically a form of denied boarding, which involves higher compensation. Perhaps technically, since he still had a seat, it's not denied boarding, but it's ce…

Any verification that handcuffs were threatened? A guy saying it's so while also claiming he's considering a lawsuit doesn't lend much credibility -- he has a financial incentive to hyperbolize.

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

#144

Post by coldpie »

stuff4ben wrote: post #130
coldpie wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some TSA clown once told me I had to throw away my water and we just stared at each other for a bit. "My water, seriously?" "Yep, your water." "Water." "Water." Fuck the TSA and fuck the terrified Americans who keep voting to keep them.

Why is that a big deal? You're warned not to bring bottles of liquids before you even get into the TSA line. Sure the TSA is bunch of security theatre in some cases, but if there's a rule there, why do you have to be a prick about it?

Because it's a huge waste of time and resources. No one benefits. There's no reason for these clowns to be wasting my time and making people buy water on the other side of the checkpoint. It's just one huge welfare program for unemployable morons, and I have to waste two hours every time I fly to put up with their dumb horseshit.

I'm gonna throw a brick through your front window. No reason for it, just gonna do it. Hey, a guy's paying me to do it. Why you gotta be so upset about it?

Let me put this in perspective. The Twin Cities gained a new light rail passenger line a couple years ago. The construction cost for this new line came to about $1 billion[1]. I use this line every single day. It takes me to work and to home and out to dinner. I love this rail line. It makes my life better.

The TSA's annual budget is $8 billion[2]. For the cost of running the TSA for one year, eight metro areas could gain a new rail line. Every year! And what does the TSA do in return for this money? Waste my time. Waste your time. Piss me off. Humiliate me with pat-downs. Why the fuck are we paying for these clowns to do this instead of doing something useful with that money? Because of Americans who have never met a person of Muslim faith but are terrified because of the loud angry white man on TV.

Yeah, it's a big deal and I'm fucking pissed. Why aren't you?

[1] http://finance-commerce.com/2015/04/progress-mn-metro-green-...

[2] https://www.rt.com/usa/tsa-useless-airport-security-479/

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

#145

Post by mirimir »

geggam wrote: post #124
mirimir wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Attitude isn't criminal.

Maybe not, but with cops it's stupid. And it can get you dead, if things go very wrong. Extreme politeness is the best course, in my experience.

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

#146

Post by Blahah »

welly wrote: post #115
tici_88 wrote: post #17

Travelling in the US or with US airlines is not looking very good right now. Not just the United incident(s) but also TSA, Trump travel restrictions, flights constantly overbooked, massively late etc. I wonder if it will start impacting traveller and tourism numbers at some point. I think anyone who doesn't really need to be in the US and/or is planning travelling with kids is likely to have some second thoughts at t…

> Travelling in the US or with US airlines is not looking very good right now. As someone not living in the US, travelling to the US is not looking good either. I know of many, many people who have written off visiting the USA for the foreseeable future. I'm one of those and I've spent many years in the US in the past (lived in NE and VA for 5 years in total and visited over 30 states). Sadly, as much as I enjoy visi…

I travel a lot internationally but won't visit the USA - I have no interest in putting myself through that.

By contrast, I've travelled to a lot of countries that the USA considers dangerous or extreme (e.g. Sudan), and have had nothing but pleasant and easy experiences.

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

#147

Post by chimeracoder »

janesvilleseo wrote: post #98
tici_88 wrote: post #17

Travelling in the US or with US airlines is not looking very good right now. Not just the United incident(s) but also TSA, Trump travel restrictions, flights constantly overbooked, massively late etc. I wonder if it will start impacting traveller and tourism numbers at some point. I think anyone who doesn't really need to be in the US and/or is planning travelling with kids is likely to have some second thoughts at t…

My wife and I just got back from a trip to Italy. The flight was full on the way there. We went from Chicago to Rome. However on the way back we flew from Venice with a stop over in Madrid back to Chicago. The plane was only 1/3 full at most. I remember commenting to my wife how empty it was.

> My wife and I just got back from a trip to Italy. The flight was full on the way there. We went from Chicago to Rome. However on the way back we flew from Venice with a stop over in Madrid back to Chicago. The plane was only 1/3 full at most. I remember commenting to my wife how empty it was.

That's most likely just the normal variation in the flight schedules - they can vary dramatically not just by time of year, but also time of day.

For example, I just took a flight from Dubai to NYC (and this was after Trump's Muslim ban came into effect). The flight was packed, with nearly every seat full. Last year, I took the same flight but a few hours later, and it was nearly empty - almost every person in coach had the entire row to themselves (which, for a 15-hour flight, was great!).

Or put another way, if the flight on the way from Chicago to Rome was full and the flight from Madrid to Chicago was not, that doesn't really tell you much about aggregate tourism from other countries to the US, unless you're also making the assumption that there are literally planes full of people emigrating from the US every day.

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

#148

Post by tomp »

dagenleg wrote: post #88
mpweiher wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...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…

The funny thing is, you have voices arguing for segregation from both sides - both the right-wing (white nationalists think blacks are less than human) and the left-wing (SJWs think that blacks deserve segregated spaces to avoid white micro-agressions).

We've literally come full circle.

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

#149

Post by linkmotif »

yodsanklai wrote: post #121
Klathmon wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally I've noticed that for like 5 years now my friends and family have a pretty severe aversion to flying anywhere for anything. From needing to show up hours before the flight, to the invasive screenings, the insane restrictions on what you can and cannot bring, the sentiment that if you check any baggage it's basically as good as gone, the ever increasing cost, the delays, and even things like the worry abou…

You're painting a darker picture than what it really is :) Most of the time, things go smoothly and flights are very affordable. I find it amazing that as a middle class person I can fly pretty much anywhere in the world. I can live with the inconvenience of being scolded by the TSA and US customs officers. Actually, I wonder how much this will last considering that fossil energy will likely cost more and more and th…

Eh I actually have developed this same attitude in the past few years. I'd rather drive NY to St Louis than fly because even though it's much shorter to fly, it's an uncomfortable reminder that the world is taken over by the lowest grade idiots and the highest grade capitalists. Probably nothing new, but somehow it feels different.

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

#150

Post by gkfasdfasdf »

ptero wrote: post #78

At the moment I wish United gets beaten up well for forced passenger removal earlier this week. However, IMO this article just tries to pile onto the "United stinks" meme and is poorly written (more emotions than facts). Some things missing (for me): 1. When did this happen? The article makes it look like this just happened, but does not mention a date. I suspect the omission is on purpose (if so, boo!; if not, sorry…

The timeline is mentioned in the article, in the second paragraph: "He had to fly to Hawaii last week for a business conference."

Your point #2 and #3 are valid.

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