News:

Welcome to our site!

Main Menu

Plane Travel Just Got Shittier

Started by SGOS, April 11, 2017, 10:12:27 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Mermaid

I am on overbooked flights all the time. Never have I had them seek volunteers after the plane was boarded though.
A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticise work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities â€" all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness. -TR

SGOS

Quote from: Mermaid on April 11, 2017, 06:03:31 PM
I am on overbooked flights all the time. Never have I had them seek volunteers after the plane was boarded though.
When my ex used to fly across the country to visit her family, she always told me she would try to get bumped, and she would call right away to tell me not to go to the airport to pick her up.  That was 30 years ago and she would get her next trip free.  I don't know if the reward is still that good, but it seemed like a good deal back then. 

Mermaid

Quote from: SGOS on April 11, 2017, 06:40:54 PM
When my ex used to fly across the country to visit her family, she always told me she would try to get bumped, and she would call right away to tell me not to go to the airport to pick her up.  That was 30 years ago and she would get her next trip free.  I don't know if the reward is still that good, but it seemed like a good deal back then. 
It's not. They usually start out with an offer for a $200 travel voucher and go up from there until someone volunteers. I have not heard them get above $1000. I was on a flight recently where there were no volunteers, but they worked that out and didn't have to bump anyone.
A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticise work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities â€" all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness. -TR

Hydra009

Quote from: Mermaid on April 11, 2017, 07:57:47 PMI was on a flight recently where there were no volunteers, but they worked that out and didn't have to bump anyone.
What airline?  (I'm going to take a guess that it wasn't United Airlines)

Cavebear

When you are on the plane with a paid ticket, they shouldn't be able to remove you from the plane unless you are acting crazy.  That person wasn't. before they assaulted him.  I hope he gets $10 million in recompense. 
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Johan

Quote from: PopeyesPappy on April 11, 2017, 12:05:32 PM
Over booking flights ought to be illegal, but it isn't.
I completely disagree. We get the airlines that we the public are willing to put up with that's exactly how it should be.

Its not that over booking flights should be illegal. Is that over booking flights should be impossible or at least a very very poor idea because the consumers will boycott you if you do it. But that's not the case. Hire a lawn guy and pay him and then have him decide mid-summer that he doesn't want to have you as a customer anymore, no problem. He gives you your money back, you NEVER use him again. Then he either learns not to do that or he goes out of business. No law required.

But for some reason, we the public just can't wrap our heads around not flying certain airlines. Oh their ticket to Omaha is $0.12 cheaper? Book it. There is a dirt simple way to stop airlines from over booking. But the public seems to be too fucking stupid to pull it off. So what you're really saying is we need a law because we're too fucking stupid to fix the problem ourselves. 
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false and by the rulers as useful

SGOS

Quote from: Johan on April 12, 2017, 07:15:28 AM
I completely disagree. We get the airlines that we the public are willing to put up with that's exactly how it should be.

Its not that over booking flights should be illegal. Is that over booking flights should be impossible or at least a very very poor idea because the consumers will boycott you if you do it. But that's not the case. Hire a lawn guy and pay him and then have him decide mid-summer that he doesn't want to have you as a customer anymore, no problem. He gives you your money back, you NEVER use him again. Then he either learns not to do that or he goes out of business. No law required.

But for some reason, we the public just can't wrap our heads around not flying certain airlines. Oh their ticket to Omaha is $0.12 cheaper? Book it. There is a dirt simple way to stop airlines from over booking. But the public seems to be too fucking stupid to pull it off. So what you're really saying is we need a law because we're too fucking stupid to fix the problem ourselves. 
And we could do it.  We've got the sheep instincts to do it.  We just need an alpha sheep and then it's off to storm Corporate HQ with torches and farm implements.  But every time we get an alpha sheep to tell us what we should do, they kill him off, or sully his name, or most likely just pay him to go away.  Then they send in their own shepherd of complacency, and we all calm down again.

Hydra009

Quote from: Johan on April 12, 2017, 07:15:28 AM
I completely disagree. We get the airlines that we the public are willing to put up with that's exactly how it should be.

Its not that over booking flights should be illegal. Is that over booking flights should be impossible or at least a very very poor idea because the consumers will boycott you if you do it. But that's not the case. Hire a lawn guy and pay him and then have him decide mid-summer that he doesn't want to have you as a customer anymore, no problem. He gives you your money back, you NEVER use him again. Then he either learns not to do that or he goes out of business. No law required.
To be fair, there are already lot of laws on the books that legislate common sense.  Don't talk on a cellphone while driving.  Don't pass a schoolbus while it's unloading kids.  Don't litter.  Don't dump raw sewage into the river.  Don't overbook flights and then kick people off the plane (and rough them up in the process) wouldn't really stand out.

QuoteBut for some reason, we the public just can't wrap our heads around not flying certain airlines. Oh their ticket to Omaha is $0.12 cheaper? Book it. There is a dirt simple way to stop airlines from over booking. But the public seems to be too fucking stupid to pull it off. So what you're really saying is we need a law because we're too fucking stupid to fix the problem ourselves.
Yeah, the low fares have it, no matter what else.  An airline could have customers run the gauntlet before boarding, but if its fares were $20 cheaper than its competitors, I'm fairly certain they'd have willing customers.

People are willing to patronize sweatshops.  Doing business with an abusive airline seems rather tame in comparison.

Mermaid

Quote from: Hydra009 on April 11, 2017, 08:49:24 PM
What airline?  (I'm going to take a guess that it wasn't United Airlines)
Delta.
A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticise work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities â€" all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness. -TR

Johan

#24
Quote from: Hydra009 on April 12, 2017, 11:42:03 AM
To be fair, there are already lot of laws on the books that legislate common sense.  Don't talk on a cellphone while driving.  Don't pass a schoolbus while it's unloading kids.  Don't litter.  Don't dump raw sewage into the river.  Don't overbook flights and then kick people off the plane (and rough them up in the process) wouldn't really stand out.
True. But none of those laws have anything to do with regulating independent businesses in terms of choosing to refuse service to customers or overselling their product. I'm just not a fan of making laws for things which should be left to the free market to sort out.

QuoteYeah, the low fares have it, no matter what else.  An airline could have customers run the gauntlet before boarding, but if its fares were $20 cheaper than its competitors, I'm fairly certain they'd have willing customers.

And those customers had better learn to keep their fucking yaps shut when that airline decides to treat them like crap instead of trying to make poor treatment illegal.

Make an appointment at a dentist then go there and find out they don't have time to fit you in and they have to reschedule. If the dentist does that too often, that dentist will soon find lots of room in the schedule as patients decide they won't put up with it and find other solutions. So do we need a law that prevents dentists from overbooking their schedule? Nope the market takes care of that on its own.

Take your car in for a scheduled service appointment only to be turned away because they won't have time that day and they'll have to reschedule. If your service shop does that to you more than once, you'll be looking for a new service shop. Why should the airlines be any different? United is perfectly within their rights to do what they did. And you are perfectly within your rights to never patronize them because of it. No laws required.

There are other airlines. There are other modes of transportation. There are other things you can with your free time besides travelling. Yep, some of us have to travel for business. But the airline industry would wither and die quickly if their only passengers were traveling on business. The market has the power to fix this problem. If they choose not to that's fine. But if they choose not to, then they need to pull up their big girl panties and quit bitchin' about it.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false and by the rulers as useful

Baruch

Quote from: Mermaid on April 12, 2017, 12:17:09 PM
Delta.

That is who I few with in 1979 ... but they weren't so nice more recently.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Baruch

Quote from: Johan on April 12, 2017, 07:15:28 AM
I completely disagree. We get the airlines that we the public are willing to put up with that's exactly how it should be.

Its not that over booking flights should be illegal. Is that over booking flights should be impossible or at least a very very poor idea because the consumers will boycott you if you do it. But that's not the case. Hire a lawn guy and pay him and then have him decide mid-summer that he doesn't want to have you as a customer anymore, no problem. He gives you your money back, you NEVER use him again. Then he either learns not to do that or he goes out of business. No law required.

But for some reason, we the public just can't wrap our heads around not flying certain airlines. Oh their ticket to Omaha is $0.12 cheaper? Book it. There is a dirt simple way to stop airlines from over booking. But the public seems to be too fucking stupid to pull it off. So what you're really saying is we need a law because we're too fucking stupid to fix the problem ourselves.

But every business is part of the MIC, a national security asset.  So boycotting a business is treason ;-)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Johan

Also this event clearly illustrates a common fact that so many businesses and organizations seem to be completely oblivious to these days. That fact being that this device:



Is a video camera and EVERYONE has one in their pocket. It seems positively baffling how many people, businesses and organizations don't seem to understand this simple fact. Honestly, if I were United, I'd make sure that somewhere in every United facility, there was a giant poster with a picture of a cellphone on it and caption that said 'THIS IS A VIDEO CAMERA AND EVERYONE HAS ONE'
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false and by the rulers as useful

Baruch

Be sure and take lots of sexy selfies ... the CIA guys love to upload them and laugh.  Where I work I keep mine in my pocket (just a flip phone, but it has a camera) ... and am careful ever taking it out ... it would be a violation of security in a government facility.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Gawdzilla Sama

Topol is singing. ♫If I were a rich man...♫
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers