What happened on United flight 3411 seemed so harsh and wrong. We have all seen the viral video on Facebook more than once. And on the news. A doctor being drug off the plane. HOW can this happen? WHY did it happen? Let’s look at the facts and your rights as an airline passenger.
The first thing that happened is that United Airlines overbooked their flight. All the airlines do this so they don’t fly with empty seats. It is not illegal, according to the Department of Transportation. Having been a Travel Advisor in the travel industry for over 20 years, I have known this has always been the airline’s practice. Back in the day, there were a lot more flights operated by the airlines and you could find empty seats. I actually flew to London on a flight where the entire back half of the economy cabin was empty and we layed across the seats and slept all the way. But in today’s world, there are not that many flights operating and if you have an empty seat next to you ~ well you’re darn lucky!
I have never EVER agreed with the right of the airlines to over book their flights. (For the record, I feel the same way about doctors double booking patients.) My opinion is and ALWAYS will be, if you have 250 seats, you sell 250 tickets. Period. If people no show the flights, the airlines still have the money. On the other hand, if they over sell by 10 seats and everyone shows up, NOW they have to ask for volunteers to be bumped ~ and the airlines pay the bumped passenger money to do this! HOW does this make sense? Seems to me like they would maybe break even with over selling and then paying out, but they have made angry customers. ??????
In the days of paper tickets (yeah – remember those?) we had to staple the ‘Airline Passengers Bill of Rights’ to each ticket we packaged. It had all the information that explained what the airlines are and are not responsible for. I attached hundreds of them over the years. I never read the whole thing – who did? IF you did, it might have made you a little upset, because in truth we as airline passengers don’t have many rights. And we pay the airlines good money to have no rights.
I am attaching a link to the Fly Rights from the U.S. Department of Transportation that explains what you are and are not entitled to. It is really eye opening to read and you will see that in the case of United flight 3411, it was within their rights to remove that passenger. Here is the first paragraph pertaining to overbooking of flights:
“Overbooking is not illegal, and most airlines overbook their scheduled flights to a certain extent in order to compensate for “no-shows.” Passengers are sometimes left behind or “bumped” as a result. When an oversale occurs, the Department of Transportation (DOT) requires airlines to ask people who aren’t in a hurry to give up their seats voluntarily, in exchange for compensation. Those passengers bumped against their will are, with a few exceptions, entitled to compensation.”
I will let you click the link and read all the details of your rights when you have time. The bad part of this is that Airport Security forcefully removed the doctor from the flight and now it is plastered all over Social Media and the News Media. People are viewing it from 2 schools of thought. 1 ~ The Security agents were way out of line. 2 ~ The doctor should have left the flight. I am going to weigh in on each point.
1 ~ I have been on flights when passengers have refused to give up their seat or change seats. Regardless of the reason, they weren’t budging. I know from my own point of view, I paid for the flight because I have somewhere I need to be. I chose my seat because that is where I want to sit. I totally get this! For Airport Security to drag this guy out of the plane was crazy! According to that paragraph I put above “When an oversale occurs, the Department of Transportation (DOT) requires airlines to ask people who aren’t in a hurry to give up their seats voluntarily, in exchange for compensation.” The doctor stated quite clearly he needed to return home to see his patients the next day. WHY did the airline not go to the next passenger ‘on their list of possible bumping prospects’ and move on?
2 ~ The bad part of the doctor being drug out of that plane was it made him look like an uncooperative passenger. Much like a spoiled child not getting their way. Honestly at the point that Airport Security started dragging him out of his seat, he probably should have stood up and walked out of the plane. That was a bit mellow dramatic of him, if you ask me.
My point to even writing this all is this: I feel it is wrong that the airlines have so much power over their passengers in this manner. We all pay our money to get from point A to point B. We are not wrong to expect we WILL get from point A to point B. I think in today’s world of so little flight choices and packed airplanes, it is wrong of the airlines to continue the practice of over booking their flights.
However, there are people out there that apparently have nothing better to do but book flights, go to the airport, hope their airline asks for volunteers to get bumped off the flight and benefits with an airline voucher and maybe some cash. I am serious, read this article about someone getting $11,000 from Delta Airlines. Yep- 11K, that is not a misprint! That is craziness!
To quote the late Paul Harvey – “And now you know the rest of the story.” We live in a crazy world and I can honestly say, “I hope this never happens to me!” I don’t want to get bumped off my flight. I don’t care about getting an airline voucher. And now I pray I haven’t created bad air travel karma for myself.