Presuming the overbooking is necessary
You already lost me.
I know that's the airline's rationale, but it really is bullshit. They're literally selling more product than they intend to or are capable of providing. It should be illegal. I'm pretty sure it would be for just about any other business.
and that all airline personnel on board were essential:
Essential and irreplaceable? I have a hard time buying that. If they are, United should build a good bit more redundancy into their staffing. What if one of them was sick? The nation's air travel system would crash?
Do they sit on the tarmac indefinitely, and make everyone who wasn't randomly selected suffer the consequences?
I'd be more willing to engage that question if United had even taken all the options available to resolve the situation- but it didn't, it was only willing to offer about 60% of the money it's allowed to offer to bump a passenger. And if it had gotten to the max (which, again, probably shouldn't be legally limited in the first place), it should have gotten creative with the incentives. Instead, they nickel and dimed the process, and then called in some goons.
It only became an outrage because he squealed and flopped around like a drama queen.
Well, yeah, but I don't particularly care about some doctor who throws a tantrum. I care about how the airlines treat their passengers, because I am a frequent passenger. Doctor acted like a child, but it did expose United's attitude towards its customers.
"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."
You already lost me.
I know that's the airline's rationale, but it really is bullshit. They're literally selling more product than they intend to or are capable of providing. It should be illegal. I'm pretty sure it would be for just about any other business.
and that all airline personnel on board were essential:
Essential and irreplaceable? I have a hard time buying that. If they are, United should build a good bit more redundancy into their staffing. What if one of them was sick? The nation's air travel system would crash?
Do they sit on the tarmac indefinitely, and make everyone who wasn't randomly selected suffer the consequences?
I'd be more willing to engage that question if United had even taken all the options available to resolve the situation- but it didn't, it was only willing to offer about 60% of the money it's allowed to offer to bump a passenger. And if it had gotten to the max (which, again, probably shouldn't be legally limited in the first place), it should have gotten creative with the incentives. Instead, they nickel and dimed the process, and then called in some goons.
It only became an outrage because he squealed and flopped around like a drama queen.
Well, yeah, but I don't particularly care about some doctor who throws a tantrum. I care about how the airlines treat their passengers, because I am a frequent passenger. Doctor acted like a child, but it did expose United's attitude towards its customers.
"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."