Not sure what overbooking policy has to do with anything I said? All I said has to do with setting aside four seats as not bookable. It doesn't preventing them from overbooking on the other 96 or so seats.Kath wrote: Having a pilot in the family for the last 30 years has given me some perspective on this. Americans want their air travel to be comfortable, fast and cheap. These goals are incompatible with each other.
An airline sending a half empty plane is losing money on that flight. Overbooking is never going to stop because the reality is that if they didn't overbook flights, most of them would fly with empty seats. It's silly to model that way. Hotels don't do it, busy restaurants don't do it - most industries who take reservations only books 1:1, simply because human nature doesn't change. (I don't believe this is true for sporting events, concerts, etc., though.)
Maybe that is my whole point, the policy, and the law, should change. I see no valid reason why they should be allowed to kick someone off a plane after they have boarded as long as they are not being disruptive. Saying, "No, I won't give up my seat for your employee, because I have somewhere I need to be." Is not being disruptive. If it is that important to have the seat they need to keep offering more and more money until someone steps up, and accepts.It is entirely possible that the airline already scoped out another flight, but if this flight was the earliest, they were required by law to get them on the earliest possible flight, which was likely the flight that was just leaving. I don't know all the circumstances, but it's entirely possible that this crew was needed at the last minute, due to another crew already in KY not being able to fly. (Perhaps the pilot on the original crew got sick.) These things happen. I don't have special insight, I don't believe all the little details were disclosed.
So, that said, yes, it was a brutal removal, but (and this is the biggie,) passengers do not have any right to stay on the plane no matter what. If you force their hand, they aren't going to say, "Oh, okay, you really mean it. We'll let you stay." If they do that one time, now it's policy and anyone could get away with it. That gives all passengers the ability to completely fuck up air travel for thousands of people. That's the alternative, so they had to show force.
That isn't all there is to it. Having a legal obligation does not mean it is right to force someone off the plane, and it doesn't mean they don't deserve every bit of the bad PR they are currently receiving. If what I am saying is not possible under their current business model, maybe they need to change their business model, or go out of business. Claiming, "but the government says I have to" is not a valid reason to mistreat your customers.United had a legal duty to not delay their flight out of KY, so they had to get their crew there. That's all there is to it.
