What's new
By:

Get off our plane! Now!

I dunno, maybe you guys are all well off. But I've been a poor student struggling to survive and put myself through school/uni before so I know what it feels like to work nights, far away from home.


Imagine a similar student, saving his hard earned cash to fly home for Christmas. He has to buy the ticket 5-6 months in advance to get the best price (say $100), and he really looked forward to flying back home to see his family.


But then come Christmas Eve, the flight is overbooked - and well according to United's 'rules' it's people like him who stands the highest chance of getting kicked off the plane first because he bought the cheapest tickets. The next flight isn't for anotther 2 days so he'll surely miss his Christmas with his family. But the well-off businessman who bought the ticket half an hour before the plane leaves for $500 (because he can afford it) will get to go, but the student may not.


No, I don't think a system set up this way is fair.
 
ONE LOVE said:
I dunno, maybe you guys are all well off. But I've been a poor student struggling to survive and put myself through school/uni before so I know what it feels like to work nights, far away from home.


Imagine a similar student, saving his hard earned cash to fly home for Christmas. He has to buy the ticket 5-6 months in advance to get the best price (say $100), and he really looked forward to flying back home to see his family.


But then come Christmas Eve, the flight is overbooked - and well according to United's 'rules' it's people like him who stands the highest chance of getting kicked off the plane first because he bought the cheapest tickets. The next flight isn't for anotther 2 days so he'll surely miss his Christmas with his family. But the well-off businessman who bought the ticket half an hour before the plane leaves for $500 (because he can afford it) will get to go, but the student may not.


No, I don't think a system set up this way is fair.
Click to expand...

Did you even read the posts about how most airlines make this choice?


Most airlines use many different criteria to determine the bump order. When they say "of most value" they definitely do NOT mean "who paid the most for any single ticket on THIS flight". You run family business, right? Who is your most valuable customer, the guy that comes in and buys $500 worth of product and you never see him again, or the guy who buys $50 every couple of weeks and you have seen him for years? Who are you more willing to alienate if you had to make a choice of denying service?

It is very similar for the airlines.

They consider special needs (disability, or "differently abled" or whatever ******** is required to call it now), military service, frequent flier status, unaccompanied minors, family of crew (who usually are right at the TOP of the list to get bumped FIRST), friend using the airline employee free tickets (also the first to get bumped usually), etc. They do NOT just walk on there and go "ok which of you douches make less than $100k per year? Ok get off our ****ing plane losers!"
 
LogGrad98 said:
Did you even read the posts about how most airlines make this choice?


Most airlines use many different criteria to determine the bump order. When they say "of most value" they definitely do NOT mean "who paid the most for any single ticket on THIS flight". You run family business, right? Who is your most valuable customer, the guy that comes in and buys $500 worth of product and you never see him again, or the guy who buys $50 every couple of weeks and you have seen him for years? Who are you more willing to alienate if you had to make a choice of denying service?

It is very similar for the airlines.

They consider special needs (disability, or "differently abled" or whatever ******** is required to call it now), military service, frequent flier status, unaccompanied minors, family of crew (who usually are right at the TOP of the list to get bumped FIRST), friend using the airline employee free tickets (also the first to get bumped usually), etc. They do NOT just walk on there and go "ok which of you douches make less than $100k per year? Ok get off our ****ing plane losers!"
Click to expand...

So in my example, the student who barely makes enough to get by and buys 1 ticket a year to go back home for Christmas - where does this guy stand?
 
ONE LOVE said:
So in my example, the student who barely makes enough to get by and buys 1 ticket a year to go back home for Christmas - where does this guy stand?
Click to expand...

He gets another ticket and enough money to buy a couple more so he can go home for(insert favorite obnoxious holiday).
 
ONE LOVE said:
So in my example, the student who barely makes enough to get by and buys 1 ticket a year to go back home for Christmas - where does this guy stand?
Click to expand...

♪alt13 said:
He gets another ticket and enough money to buy a couple more so he can go home for(insert favorite obnoxious holiday).
Click to expand...

Pretty much this. He gets home a day later than planned with a free hotel stay and a voucher for a free flight home another time. Horrible deal I'm sure. I'm sure every college kid would rather get home exactly on the planned day than get free stuff.
 
Well if noone's gonna give me a straight answer then there's no point asking them.


To say that a college kid getting home a day or two late means less than others, therefore he should be closer to the top of the 'bump list' is not the answer.
 
ONE LOVE said:
To me the fairest way would be to do a reverse auction, keep increasing the offers until enough people takes it up.
Click to expand...

United made a number of mistakes

1 They put up with his bs too long. They should have called the authorities in immediately.

2. They appologized. They should not encourage this bs. This will be forgotten very soon so long as some other jackass doesn't "make a stand".

3 They should have publicly called for charges to be pressed against this dude. You can't pull that **** on an airplane. It is a federal crime.

Do I feel bad when a poor student gets a later flight and a fistful of cash?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
 
♪alt13 said:
United made a number of mistakes

1 They put up with his bs too long. They should have called the authorities in immediately.

2. They appologized. They should not encourage this bs. This will be forgotten very soon so long as some other jackass doesn't "make a stand".

3 They should have publicly called for charges to be pressed against this dude. You can't pull that **** on an airplane. It is a federal crime.

Do I feel bad when a poor student gets a later flight and a fistful of cash?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Click to expand...

The student was just an example I brought up. It could be someone going to a wedding, or a daughter going to see a sick parent. The computer program doesn't take into account any of that. How can it?


Instead of using the stupid program, just let the people decide. You raise the offer enough people will start to take it up. A tourist wanting to stay an extra night/day with extra spending money is going to take up the offer. It is the most effective/efficient way of allocating resources to those who need it most. Basic supply/demand.


Also from the perspective of the airline, they only needed to vacate 4 seats, it's not gonna cost them all that much.
 
You are literally the dumbest person on earth. But also the greatest troll.

I'm still trying to figure out how both of those work together, but I know they do.
 
Also, if I'm poor and struggling (which indicates I do need money and it is somewhere important) and somebody offers to quadruple my initial input of money, and all I need to do is be a day late, well I'm gonna take that deal. Maximize profits bitches.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page
Back
Top