Woman bumped from flight, misses 10K dream cruise (1 Viewer)

[soggymoss]

^ so we get less than we pay for and should be cool with that?

No your getting exactly what you pay for.

In the restaurant industry you are paying for the food, not the reservation.

At the doctor's office you are paying for the service provided, not for them to keep your appointment time.

In the airline you are paying for them to get you from point A to point B, not for them to guarantee you a certain time.

 

[B4YOU]

There is no need for involuntary bumping. The solution: Ask for volunteers using a bid up/bid down process.

1) Announce the maximum possible compensation lets say $800.
2) Start bidding up at $300 in $25 increments and increase until someone raises a hand, let's say $650.
3) If multiple people raise their hand, start the bid down process. Those people leave their hands up and the price goes down from $650 in $25 increments.
4) If all hands go down at the same time at $450, the person who paid the least for their ticket is selected and paid the previous price $475.

The passenger already volunteered for the process and already agreed to the $475 price.

Problem solved.

 

[dtc]

And everything you just listed is supposed to be a GUARANTEE. What are you not getting by the fact that when you purchase a ticket, you are not GUARANTEED to be on that flight. There are zero GUARANTEES in the airline industry. Read the fine print of those "contracts" when you buy a ticket.

I'm not disagreeing that something needs to be done about it. The only thing I see being done about it though is the airlines charging you another $100 to "guarantee" that you will not be bumped off the flight. They cannot stop their business and potentially delay hundreds to thousands of other customers, all because of one customer.

I disagree completely. Fine print should not allow an airline to sell more of anything than they can possibly deliver. The practice needs to be outlawed or at least reformed to where the airlines cannot drag a passenger who has paid for a fare from the plane and leave them on the tarmac because it might inconvenience their profit making.

Fine print is no defense to being a scum bag and bilking your customers

They have set the whole sytem up so they can screw their customers with impunity. It's un-American. It ought to be illegal.

 

[soggymoss]

I disagree completely. Fine print should not allow an airline to sell more of anything than they can possibly deliver. The practice needs to be outlawed or at least reformed to where the airlines cannot drag a passenger who has paid for a fare from the plane and leave them on the tarmac because it might inconvenience their profit making.

Fine print is no defense to being a scum bag and bilking your customers

They have set the whole sytem up so they can screw their customers with impunity. It's un-American. It ought to be illegal.

Then talk to your congressman, because they are the ones that wrote the laws that allow the airlines to do it.

 

[soggymoss]

There is no need for involuntary bumping. The solution: Ask for volunteers using a bid up/bid down process.

1) Announce the maximum possible compensation lets say $800.
2) Start bidding up at $300 in $25 increments and increase until someone raises a hand, let's say $650.
3) If multiple people raise their hand, start the bid down process. Those people leave their hands up and the price goes down from $650 in $25 increments.
4) If all hands go down at the same time at $450, the person who paid the least for their ticket is selected and paid the previous price $475.

The passenger already volunteered for the process and already agreed to the $475 price.

Problem solved.

This happens alot, but when nobody volunteers to give up their seat for the compensation,then they are forced to bump someone.

 

[DaveXA]

I disagree completely. Fine print should not allow an airline to sell more of anything than they can possibly deliver. The practice needs to be outlawed or at least reformed to where the airlines cannot drag a passenger who has paid for a fare from the plane and leave them on the tarmac because it might inconvenience their profit making.

Fine print is no defense to being a scum bag and bilking your customers

They have set the whole sytem up so they can screw their customers with impunity. It's un-American. It ought to be illegal.

Indeed, if the seat is paid for, a person should not lose the seat. Overbooking should be illegal because once all of the seats are sold, it shouldn't matter whether someone shows up or not, the seat is already paid for. Overbooking is purely greed at work. Instead of dealing with overbooking, simply raise the price to make up for the loss of revenue from overbooking, an extra $5-$10 per ticket to not have to worry about overbooking would be worth it to me.

If a particular seat on a particular flight is paid for, the airlines shouldn't be able to force the ticket holder to give up the seat. I expect to receive the service I paid for. The airlines may legally be allowed to overbook, but there's nothing right about doing it.

 

[DaveXA]

Then talk to your congressman, because they are the ones that wrote the laws that allow the airlines to do it.

Too bad those Congressmen are bought and paid for by the airline lobby. Money talks louder than common sense these days.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Then talk to your congressman, because they are the ones that wrote the laws that allow the airlines to do it.

It's not a zero sum game - both can and should be found at fault

 

[saintmdterps]

So what would you do if you owned an airline? Lose millions from holding 4-5 seats on every flight as a contingency in case you have to move a couple workers every now and then?

I would manage my business more efficiently and have a care about both my customers and employees, without whom there is no airline.

 

[B4YOU]

So what would you do if you owned an airline? Lose millions from holding 4-5 seats on every flight as a contingency in case you have to move a couple workers every now and then?

That's not what is happening. Having 200 seats but selling 202 tickets is overbooking. This practice should not be allowed.

Needing to move workers last minute could be mitigated if airlines hired more people and were willing to pony up on-call pay.

People will understand bumping a few passengers so you can fly the next 200. The problem is airlines are purposely not transparent about the process, they don't offer reasonable compensation, and they pick the people who get bumped instead of letting people self select.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I'm a little surprised how many people seem to be putting the blame on the passenger

yes, there have been terrible traffic getting to the airport, there could have been a mechanical problem with the plane, there could have been severe weather, there could have been a bomb scare at the airport

The end result , her missing her cruise, is the same so what difference does it make

To me it's like a person dying because of a heart attack or being shot in the heart in a robbery gone bad

You can say that the person is dead either way, friends and family are devastated either way so what difference does it make?......but you'd be a complete jerk for doing so

I think what Air Canada could have done was gotten on the PA system and said, "Unfortunately, we need to bump a passenger from this flight, we chose a person at random, that person has a cruise leaving later today and we can't get her there in time on a later flight, we are asking for a volunteer to take her place so she can go on her vacation"

I understand that the airline is under no obligation to do that
I understand that if no one would volunteered that the woman is out of luck

But it seems like a better and more humane to handle the situation

 

[B4YOU]

Over booking happens in every industry.

Ever sit in your doctor's office pst your appointment time?

Hotels overbooked! Shocking I know.

Restaurant reservations failed to have you sitting at your table at the correct time?

Appliance repairman over scheduled and did not show up on time?

How about when you can not use your mobile phone during times of high use such as emergencies? Phone company sold more lines than its system was designed.

Ever wondered why you do not always get that 50Mbs your is sold you?


Hell, it is common and expected to wait in a emergency room.

Overbooked. Oversold. Over subscribed.

Doctor's office - you have not paid for the service yet. You don't get turned away if you insist on seeing a doctor, just a delay. Doctor's offices will stay open late even at the cost of paying staff OT to meet your demand.
Hotel - if you pre-pay it's an enforceable contract of service and you can sue. Most places will find you reasonable accommodations.
Restaurant - reservation not a pre-payment. There is often adequate other options. Skipping a meal or eating later probably won't seriously affect most people.
Repairman - again if you pre-pay you can sue for breach of contract. There is always someone else willing to do the job at the time you want for the right price.
Phone service - Emergency/act of god is not comparable.
Internet service - read your contract and sue for breach of contract.
Emergency room - you just showed up and nurses are treating you based on availability and need. You didn't have a reservation or pre pay.

All your comparisons are iffy.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I'm a little surprised how many people seem to be putting the blame on the passenger

TBH, i think it's just 2 people
2 too many, sure, but most seem to see this clearly

 

[dtc]

No your getting exactly what you pay for.

In the restaurant industry you are paying for the food, not the reservation.

At the doctor's office you are paying for the service provided, not for them to keep your appointment time.

In the airline you are paying for them to get you from point A to point B, not for them to guarantee you a certain time.

You're being obtuse.

The airline sells you a ticket with a price and a series of gate numbers, seat assignments, times and dates. You buy the ticket with an expectation that when you have a seat assignment and are boarded onto the plane that you are, in fact, going to your destination.

Everyone except the stupidest among us knows that weather or mechanical issues can wreck a schedule, but those dates, seat assignments, times and other details are very specific.

The airlines know exactly how many seats are on each plane. They have every right to make a profit and run their business, but it's just not reasonable for them to do what they've been doing and it's flat out silly that you would defend them for hitting people with strollers, busting customer's faces and otherwise denying their customers the seats they paid for.

If I have a ticket with my name on it and a seat assignment and they can't fly me to my destination then they need to pay me or someone whatever it takes to make the problem go away.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

She didn't get her checked luggage back until 2 p.m. — too late to book a flight herself on another airline.

I guess this wasn't the airlines fault either. Maybe she should have just went on the cruise with one change of clothes.