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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

#151

Post by piva00 »

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?

At least here in Europe when I fly inside Schengen it's not like that at all.

My experience going through security has always been much smoother than when I traveled to the US. Lines are smaller, security is more relaxed (never had to take my shoes off for example) and the security staff for the most part are much kinder.

When I flew through the US (arrived at DFW to connect to SFO, drove to LA and went from LAX to JFK) I think the only airport that everything was smooth was SFO. DFW was meh-ok but I had to go through immigration so don't want to consider it. But oh my fucking god, I pray to never have to go through LAX again, never expected to be treated like cattle with rude agents everywhere. JFK was a little bit better but not by much.

So yes, comparing my experience between LAX, SFO, JFK and DFW against ARN, MUN, TXL, SXF, BCN, FRA, CDG, AMS, ZUR and DUB... There's really no comparison, never felt mistreated or had any kind of problem with security staff or time in the queues in any of the European airports.

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

#152

Post by linkmotif »

Klathmon wrote: post #71
jghn wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was me for a long time, but then I got precheck. It is such a night and day difference that I'm back to flying

Even with precheck (which i got as well), it didn't really change anything. I still need to show up just as early (as my local airport often has a longer line for precheck!), i still can't pack more than some stupid amount of liquid, or have my shit thrown out because I used a X-oz plastic bag which is too big!!! I still can't check bags as they just won't ever show up, or will show up damaged, have items stolen, or…

Yeah exactly they can just arbitrarily throw all your shit out, harass you, etc. Yeah it's rare for these things to happen, but my family immigrated to the US for freedom and civil rights and lol it's more Soviet here every day.

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

#153

Post by briandear »

gm-conspiracy wrote: post #120
michaelt wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a way, there are two questions at work here. The first question is whether you can have rent-a-cops throw a passenger off a plane after they have taken their seat. As I understand it, that is not legal. The second question is about over-booking more broadly. After all, though there's a legal distinction between a passenger a second before boarding and a second after, from a customer service standpoint they're stil…

Is it right that an airline can sell 310 tickets on a 300 seat plane, deliberately entering into 10 contracts it knows it cannot honour? As I understand it, that is legal. But should it be? I assume there are weasel words in the contract(airline ToS) to allow this.

In that case, a missed flight should result in the passenger having to buy a brand new ticket. That doesn't happen: a missed flight is generally put on the next flight free or at a very nominal fee.

Imagine the outrage if someone missed their flight by 10 minutes and they had to buy an entirely new ticket. If airlines did that, they wouldn't need to overbook though. Alternatively, instead of overbooking, the airline just doubles ticket prices.

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

#154

Post by pcmonk »

nxtrafalgar wrote: post #105
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…

I am constantly surprised when reading about the US. You would think that there would be more similarities with New Zealand, my home country. Anecdotally; I flew to Australia a few months ago on an economy-class ticket purchased at very short notice. My trip through both Auckland and Melbourne airports was very pleasant, and I had no need to even interact with any of the personnel the whole way through. The flight wa…

If it helps, I've flown many dozens of times in past few years, mostly in the US, but also on at least a couple of dozen international flights across four continents. I've never lost my checked baggage (I often check one or two bags), and I've never missed a flight, or even gotten particularly close to it (I do show up 2 hours early to avoid that), and I've never been bumped off a flight for any reason.

In the USA, you do have to accept that they're a lot more picky about liquids, and they do make you take off your shoes, but seriously, just read the signs and you won't be surprised.

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

#155

Post by hilbert42 »

If that happened to me, I'd be incandescent with rage—and I'd sue at the first opportunity. I can only hope Fearns makes the airline pay many, many times over.

It seems the only thing these carpetbaggers understand are lawsuits where they lose.

Its CEO deserves the boot—it happened on his watch!

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

#156

Post by unixhero »

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…

I never transit through the States any more. I prefer Canada or Mexico City.

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

#157

Post by vldx »

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…

Some middle eastern airliners have whole terminals for privilege members, which besides the separate security check - includes spa and so on. This segregation and the experience overall borders w/ uncomfortable - at lest for me.

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

#158

Post by colmvp »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #95
linker3000 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The receptionists were likely not United employees, they were contractors with some Sodexo-type rent-a-body company. Overworked, underpaid, why would they care about someone else's first-world problems?

Calling it a first-world problem is being a little dismissive about the situation. He/she was going to arrive 1.5 days later to his destination because of a flight cancelation. Politely asking to use the lounge as minor compensation is not an unreasonable ask. If it can't be done, it can't be done. I'm sure the OP would've been disappointed but reasonable with a different response. Something like, "I'm sorry your flight was delayed and that it's caused so much disruption to your schedule but unfortunately the company has set very strict rules on who can use the lounge."

Furthermore, if we're going to compare 'worlds,' those people working behind the counter aren't the only overworked and underpaid workers. A lot of people in the world are working in far worse conditions than behind a counter at an airport... and for less pay. Even in other low-paying jobs, I don't expect every employee to be so visually and verbally disdainful to a customer for asking a question.

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

#159

Post by hilbert42 »

If that happened to me, I'd be incandescent with rage—and I'd sue at the first opportunity. I can only hope Fearns makes the airline pay many, many times over.

It seems the only things these carpetbaggers understand are lawsuits where they lose.

The CEO deserves the boot—as it happened on his watch!

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

#160

Post by briandear »

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…

Lufthansa has separate boarding lines as well as separate screening lines for biz-first-gold passengers -- so does nearly every other airline.
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