What Really Grinds Your Gears?

[Irish Insanity]

No, the reasoning is totally legit. People miss flights all the time. Booking a few extra seats so that the plane is full even if people don't show up is perfectly fine.

Not saying that THIS particular situation was handled properly though. The correct way to do it is to keep upping the incentive for volunteers until someone finally takes it. Delta would routinely overbook connecting flights from Detroit to South Bend during Notre Dame breaks and I flew for free a bunch of times because I'd always volunteer for the bump.

Heard a story of 3 people flying out of New York to Florida recently. They were offered vouchers for the max of $1350 per person to hold till the next flight. They accepted it twice each. The third time they accepted a smaller amount but differed also. They decided not to fly to Florida and skip the vacation at that point. They made $11k for skipping the vacation.

 

[Cackalacky]

overly broad simplification IMO. No show rates vary -- not public info, but 10% seems to be the norm -- and the number of oversold seats have declined quite a bit over the last 15 years with software advancements. Depending on the type of customer who no shows, the company may get only a fraction of the revenue expected for the open seat or maybe nothing at all. In such a price sensitive environment, where many consumers only have loyalty to price, airlines are being incentivized by consumers to do exactly this. Airlines across the world average a 4% profit margin and generally can't afford to have empty seats.

I disagree completely and it is exceptionally simple. Especially when it comes to treating a customer as a person and not a walking bag dollar signs that can be "justifiably" inconvenienced simply becasue there is fine print. Further if they are so concerned about their razor thin margins then they should figure out ways to do boarding more efficiently that doesn't involve having to physically remove passengers.

It is up to the airline to figure out how to maximize its profits by not brutalizing its customers. Much like it is the duty of the police to protect and serve without brutalizing the people they are supposed to protect and serve. They knew enough in advance that the flight was overbooked prior to letting all the people on that flight. Also if they needed seats for their crew to deadleg that should be on the airline to find seats elsewhere for their crew, not kick customers off the plane.

 

[Ndaccountant]

I disagree completely and it is exceptionally simple. Especially when it comes to treating a customer as a person and not a walking bag dollar signs that can be "justifiably" inconvenienced simply becasue there is fine print. Further if they are so concerned about their razor thin margins then they should figure out ways to do boarding more efficiently that doesn't involve having to physically remove passengers.

It is up to the airline to figure out how to maximize its profits by not brutalizing its customers. Much like it is the duty of the police to protect and serve without brutalizing the people they are supposed to protect and serve. They knew enough in advance that the flight was overbooked prior to letting all the people on that flight. Also if they needed seats for their crew to deadleg that should be on the airline to find seats elsewhere for their crew, not kick customers off the plane.

Whoa there big fella...l never said they were justified physically harming that man and your post makes it seem like this happens all the time. It doesn't, it's exceptionally rare. The BBC this morning said it happens less than 0.008% of the time.

I do think they are justified to overbooking. Perhaps they should be more clear about it. Perhaps consumers should actually pay attention to what that haphazardly skip over when hitting agree. I just think saying

people having zero rights relative to a company's business interests

is painting the entire situation too broadly.

 

[RDU Irish]

$1350 max voucher is bull sh!t. Why put any max on it? Let them incentivize however they like to whatever degree they want. What kind of law is that that restricts a consumer like that?

Gee, I wonder who lobbied for THAT one?

 

[Cackalacky]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NewUnitedAirlinesMottos?src=hash">#NewUnitedAirlinesMottos</a> Do you feel lucky? <a href="https://t.co/LLOOy5Wdkk">pic.twitter.com/LLOOy5Wdkk</a></p>— Fred Wimpy (@fredwimpy) <a href="https://twitter.com/fredwimpy/status/851787501303996416">April 11, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[NDdomer2]

Overbooked Flight? How (Not) to Get Bumped | IndependentTraveler.com

good article in relation to over booking and seat bumping. know your rights as a passenger!

 

[Praytorian]

"Coach speak" it's a nice way to say lie.

 

[bert2834]

Maybe airlines should change their pricing.

When I was 23 we flew to Vegas from Dayton, OH with a connecting flight in Cincy.

It was cheaper to take the 2 flights than to just drive to Cincy and get a non stop flight on the same damn plane.

Dumbest thing ever. They charged less for two flights than they did for just one.

 

[no.1IrishFan]

Kidney stones.

 

[Irish#1]

I'm driving on the highway at 70mph in the middle lane. Some dumbshit passes me on the right side, then moves in front of me in the middle lane. Now he decides not to go as fast, so I pass him in the fast lane sill going 70. Next thing, I know, this idiot decides to speed up and starts driving right next to me. Here's where it gets interesting. My wife tells me to speed up and put some distance between us. I reply that I'm aware of where he's at. My wife then says he's probably crazy and might have a gun. I ask her how she came to that conclusion and she states that she saw both the driver and the lady in the passenger seat sticking something in their arms.

 

[NDdomer2]

#1 - the search function on this site. If I search for "grind" this thread doesn't pop up because of "grinds". Last time I checked grind is how you get to grinds.

#2 - TSA. I'm convinced it's part of their training to be bitches and dickwads.

 

[Black Irish]

People who live in densely populated urban areas who can't parallel park.

 

[zelezo vlk]

What the hell is going on in the office? Somebody sends me a 6 PB file (not a typo) and some people are asking for last minute help, because they forgot to get data before walking into a meeting with a client...in 15 minutes

 

[RDU Irish]

People who live in densely populated urban areas.

FIFY

 

[ACamp1900]

People

FIFY

Now it's truly fixed.

 

[connor_in]

#1 - the search function on this site. If I search for "grind" this thread doesn't pop up because of "grinds". Last time I checked grind is how you get to grinds.

Ever since they closed down the Gentlemen's Club that has been an issue...some sort of ghosting grind issue in the matrix

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

What the hell is going on in the office? Somebody sends me a 6 PB file (not a typo) and some people are asking for last minute help, because they forgot to get data before walking into a meeting with a client...in 15 minutes

6 petabyte? WTF? What are you supposed to do with that in 15 minutes (besides compress it)?

 

[NDdomer2]

Ever since they closed down the Gentlemen's Club that has been an issue...some sort of ghosting grind issue in the matrix

 

[zelezo vlk]

6 petabyte? WTF? What are you supposed to do with that in 15 minutes (besides compress it)?

Separate incidents actually.

The sample wasn't able to be prepared before a meeting to bid a client. So I don't know if that cost us a sale or not; they had just completely forgot to ask for the sample to use in their presentation. Oh well.

The 6 PB thing...I still don't know what caused it. It's a friggin' text document that I'm supposed to run through a program to update numbers. The whole thing was off from the beginning, because nobody bothered to tell us about it until after we asked. 6 PB though is insane.

 

[woolybug25]

Ever since they closed down the Gentlemen's Club that has been an issue...some sort of ghosting grind issue in the matrix

 

[ACamp1900]

Coming to work to find a bunch of fresh muffins,..... and none of them are blueberry!!!!!!

 

[wizards8507]

Coming to work to find a bunch of fresh muffins,..... and none of them are blueberry!!!!!!

Wtf? Is there another kind of muffin?

 

[zelezo vlk]

Wtf? Is there another kind of muffin?

I'm partial to lemon poppyseed.

 

[wizards8507]

I'm partial to lemon poppyseed.

 

[IrishLion]

We get "fresh" muffins for building-wide events/meetings from our catering company. "Baked fresh just this morning!"

There's chocolate, poppy-seed (no lemon), bran, and cranberry.

Not a blueberry to be found, ever.

 

[zelezo vlk]

We get "fresh" muffins for building-wide events/meetings from our catering company. "Baked fresh just this morning!"

There's chocolate, poppy-seed (no lemon), bran, and cranberry.

Not a blueberry to be found, ever.

Chocolate I get, and clearly I'm on board for poppyseed, but bran and cranberry over blueberry? Your employer just hates you, that must be it.

 

[IrishLion]

Chocolate I get, and clearly I'm on board for poppyseed, but bran and cranberry over blueberry? Your employer just hates you, that must be it.

At this point I think it's a conspiracy initiated by a group of people that are each 90+ years old.

 

[connor_in]

Coming to work to find a bunch of fresh muffins,..... and none of them are blueberry!!!!!!

Blueberry Muffins ARE FOR WINNERS

 

[ACamp1900]

We get "fresh" muffins for building-wide events/meetings from our catering company. "Baked fresh just this morning!"

There's chocolate, poppy-seed (no lemon), bran, and cranberry.

Not a blueberry to be found, ever.

This is what we had this morning... not even those cinnamon coffee cake ones..... what kind of a soulless heathen would do such a thing???

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Costco's Poppyseed muffins are pretty solid. Not a big fan of fruit in baked goods.