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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

#171

Post by talmand »

rangibaby wrote: post #87
Klathmon wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 inte…

Asia hasn't discovered, or have the need for, the security theater jobs program.

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

#172

Post by wazoox »

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…

Contrast that to my flight to Edinburgh on Air France last year; we arrived slightly late and were directed to the wrong line, getting us to miss the plane, arguably partly because we were late, and partly because the wrong instructions. We were offered access to the lounge for the many hours wainting for the next flight, without paying anything for food, drinks and internet, while having only paid for economy class.

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

#173

Post by Retric »

ricw wrote: post #140
yodsanklai wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Given that we have likely hit peak demand for fossil fuel (the theory being that the demand for fossil fuel has peaked before we have reached peak supply), this is unlikely. Oil prices are unlikely to ever reach the highs of $100+ ever again. Or so goes the theory.. In short, flight prices are unlikely to be severely effected by oil prices again.

$100 per barrel is still cheap. It had minimal impact on usage, and with most of the world trying to ramp up to a western lifestyle demand is unlikely to drop in the next 20 years.

PS: Oil is 53$ per barrel right now, 2x price spikes in commodity prices are fairly common historically.

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

#174

Post by ryan606 »

United CEO Oscar Munoz was formerly a top executive at railroad CSX. It is any wonder that he treats his passengers as FREIGHT, not as PEOPLE?

My wife and I try to fly Southwest whenever possible. They are the only airline (perhaps the only transportation organization) whose employees actually care about their customers' travel experiences.

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

#175

Post by briandear »

gambiting wrote: post #106
URSpider94 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

on United -- it was almost certainly a Global Services passenger. Those folks get whatever they want.

What's a Global Services passenger?

Basically someone that spends $50k+ per year on flights. Basically a status for a passenger that could fly private if they wanted.

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

#176

Post by tlrobinson »

michaelt wrote: post #43
mirimir wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's not legal. Edit: See lawyer quote from tiatia.

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…

Overboooking probably accounts for most of these incidents, but in this particular case they had to switch to a slightly smaller plane due to mechanical issues. So eliminating overbooking won't fix this problem completely.

However, having a policy of not forcing passengers to relinquish seats they've already sat down in would...

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

#177

Post by gergles »

gambiting wrote: post #106
URSpider94 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

on United -- it was almost certainly a Global Services passenger. Those folks get whatever they want.

What's a Global Services passenger?

It's United's secret top tier frequent flyer program. They get their ass kissed for literally everything, even above full-fare revenue passengers. There's no published requirements for it or information about it - here's the closest thing: https://thepointsguy.com/2016/04/top-perks-united-global-ser...

Fun anecdote: a few months ago I booked a Star Alliance ticket and had a United segment ORD-EWR. I was the only (!) non-upgraded revenue first class passenger on the flight according to the gate agent, but boarded the plane 33rd, thanks to "Global Services" passengers (including the ones in coach) getting to board before me. They also got to order food first, so I was left with the leftover food item, and also got their drink orders and other attention lavished on them first, despite the fact that all the other Global Services passengers in F were flying on free upgrades to F instead of paying for it.

Note that "they got to order first" meant that they literally just skipped over me when taking food/drink orders and when I asked what they were doing the FA brusquely said "We'll get to you in a moment SIR!"

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

#178

Post by supercoder »

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…

Right, you can't use the lounge just because your flight was cancelled.

Sorry, but you're the one with the out of line thinking here.

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

#179

Post by Cthulhu_ »

mirimir wrote: post #59
shimon_e wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not true. Airlines can remove a passengers for safety reasons whenever they need to.

OK, also for safety reasons. "We have a VIP who needs your seat." is not a safety reason.

What if the VIP is a big fellow that threatened to start strangling people if he didn't get a seat?

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

#180

Post by coldpie »

talmand wrote: post #168
coldpie wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. H…

Well, if you knew the rule before going in, then from my perspective you were the one wasting everybody's time. Sure, you can view it as a stupid rule but being stupid is not the way to combat a stupid rule. As for TSA security theater and it's bloated budget, right on.

I had some crazy notion that maybe the guy would use his gray matter and realize that water is not very dangerous and would maybe let me sneak through with some water because water is not very dangerous. Live and learn, I guess.
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