United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why
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@kt_ said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
It's nice to take pride in one's work.
It's unusual for a moderator.
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@kt_ said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
Ryanair
FASCINATING AIDA - Cheap Flights – 06:13
— Ben Scriven
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@loopback0 said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
@kt_ said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
It's nice to take pride in one's work.
It's unusual for a moderator.
It's only unusual if I consider ry work.
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@abarker said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
@loopback0 said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
@kt_ said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
It's nice to take pride in one's work.
It's unusual for a moderator.
It's only unusual if I consider ry work.
Touché
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Air fares are higher per seat mile in America than in Europe. When costs fall, consumers in America fail to enjoy the benefits. The global price of jet fuel—one of the biggest costs for airlines—has fallen by half since 2014. That triggered a fare war between European carriers, but in America ticket prices have hardly budged. Airlines in North America posted a profit of $22.40 per passenger last year; in Europe the figure was $7.84.
Standards of service are also worse. Only one operator based in America can be found in the world’s 30 best carriers, as rated by Skytrax, an aviation website, compared with nine from Europe. When Ryanair, currently Europe’s largest and cheapest airline, cut service to the bone, it began to lose customers and money. That prompted it to perform a U-turn and be “nicer” to customers, in order to protect its market share from rivals like easyJet, Wizz Air and Norwegian.
This happy combination of low fares and reasonable service has a simple explanation: competition. American policymakers have presided over a wave of mergers in the past few years. The biggest four carriers in America between them now control 80% of the market, compared with just 48% a decade ago. Warren Buffett, a man who knows an oligopoly when he sees one, bought nearly $10bn-worth of airline stock in 2016. In Europe, where the top four carriers have around 45% of the market, policymakers have got three things right.
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Congratulations on your knowledge of the calendar, Economist onebox!
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@dkf said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
Congratulations on your knowledge of the calendar, Economist onebox!
You gotta admit, they need to be awesome if they predicted in 1970 that a guy will be thrown out of an aeroplane almost half a century later!
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@kt_ said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
You gotta admit, they need to be awesome if they predicted in 1970 that a guy will be thrown out of an aeroplane almost half a century later!
I predict 50 years from now they'll throw someone when the plane is in flight
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@wharrgarbl said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
I predict 50 years from now they'll throw someone when the plane is in flight
Bloody skydivers, they had it coming!
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@Scarlet_Manuka said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
Bloody skydivers
only when the parachute fails
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@Luhmann said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
@Scarlet_Manuka said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
Bloody skydivers
only when the parachute fails
Or when they bash your face against a seat before they throw you off.
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@Vault_Dweller Doe! That'll cost them a big buck.
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@Boner Oh deer. They really did fawn over that rabbit, didn't they.
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@lolwhat said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
Oh deer.
No, a rabbit.
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@coldandtired You'd think with a £10k spend she'd at least be able to get the fringe on the right side
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@coldandtired What are you saying? That the bar is set a bit high for the record of "world's biggest rabbit"?
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@Jaloopa said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
to get the fringe on the right side
you mean now it's a distress signal?
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Limit use of law-enforcement to safety and security issues only.
The fact they had to make this a new policy speaks volumes.
Do not force customers seated on the plane to give up their seat involuntarily, unless safety or security is at risk.
Same.
Increase customer compensation incentives for voluntary denied boarding up to $10,000.
Meaningless unless the amounts offered actually go up that high. I'm willing to bet they won't.
Establish a customer solutions team to provide agents with creative solutions such as using nearby airports, other airlines or ground transportation to get customers to their final destination.
Is it just me, or does this sound like marketing speak?
Ensure crews are booked onto a flight at least 60 minutes prior to departure.
Again, why is this a new policy? This should have been there from the start.
Provide employees with additional annual training.
OK.
Create an automated system for soliciting volunteers to change travel plans.
Just so long as it's fair and transparent.
Reduce the amount of overbooking.
Or eliminate it entirely, you greedy fux.
Empower employees to immediately resolve customer-service issues.
Not sure this'll improve anything.
Eliminate the red tape on permanently lost bags by adopting a "no questions asked" policy on lost luggage.
I can see this being exploited.
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@RaceProUK said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
The fact they had to make this a new policy speaks volumes.
Uh...what? I mean, aside from the obvious.
@RaceProUK said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
"Ensure crews are booked onto a flight at least 60 minutes prior to departure."
Again, why is this a new policy? This should have been there from the start.
Shit happens. No one plans for every contingency ever. Then you make new rules as you find that you need them. The amount of Monday morning quarterbacking this sort of stuff is amazingly stupid.
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@boomzilla said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
Then you make new rules as you find that you need them.
But it's surprising when you find that you have to add “don't beat up paying customers” to the rule book. ;)
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@dkf said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
@boomzilla said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
Then you make new rules as you find that you need them.
But it's surprising when you find that you have to add “don't beat up paying customers” to the rule book. ;)
Yeah, but you have to do that to satisfy the low information people out there who don't understand that they never did that in the first place. No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
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@boomzilla said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
That's because it's impossible to estimate below zero
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@RaceProUK Yuo haven't tried to estimate my bank balance then
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@RaceProUK said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
@boomzilla said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
That's because it's impossible to estimate below zero
Careful, you guys can't even figure out the correct side of the road to drive on.
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NOWHERE in that article did they point out the humor involved in the fact that the rabbit was being sent to O'Hare.
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Hamilton said he was feeling the micro-aggression he sometimes experiences as a 6-foot-3 black man with dreadlocks.
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@coldandtired I'm 50/50 on this one. On one hand, the airline shouldn't have removed him from the plane. On the other, he would have had plenty of time to take a piss before boarding. Also, he could have not claimed he was being micro-aggressed, because he wasn't.
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@RaceProUK said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
he could have not claimed he was being micro-aggressed, because he wasn't
would like to have a word with you...
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@RaceProUK said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
Establish a customer solutions team to provide agents with creative solutions such as using nearby airports, other airlines or ground transportation to get customers to their final destination.
Is it just me, or does this sound like marketing speak?
It's actually pretty standard. A while back I ended up on an overbooked flight. I wasn't in any big hurry this time, and they offered to drive me over to a nearby airport (about 30 miles away) to catch an equivalent plane, but then they backed out of it when they actually looked at the schedules and realized I'd probably end up missing the flight if they did that.
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@masonwheeler That's… actually pretty good customer service. Are you sure it was an airline?
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@RaceProUK Either Delta or Alaska. Can't remember which.
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@RaceProUK said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
@coldandtired I'm 50/50 on this one. On one hand, the airline shouldn't have removed him from the plane. On the other, he would have had plenty of time to take a piss before boarding. Also, he could have not claimed he was being micro-aggressed, because he wasn't.
I'm 100% with the guy. If you gotta go, you gotta go.
A flight attendant there said if he used the restroom they would lose their place in line.
How does that work? I understand if they were about to take off, but if they're still a bunch of planes behind, WTF. How would anyone outside the plane know the bathroom was used.
A passenger from a different Delta flight told Krista Rosolino that two passengers needed to use the restroom while the plane prepared to taxi, and in that case the flight attendant simply told the pilots to wait until those passengers were done.
So yea, either the crew on that plane were being assholes, or racist assholes.
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@dangeRuss said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
A flight attendant there said if he used the restroom they would lose their place in line.
How does that work? I understand if they were about to take off, but if they're still a bunch of planes behind, WTF. How would anyone outside the plane know the bathroom was used.
I would presume because the plane CAN'T MOVE FORWARD if passengers are still up and about. How would you like the potential backsplash from that, to name the least of the issues? :P
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@heterodox said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
@dangeRuss said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
A flight attendant there said if he used the restroom they would lose their place in line.
How does that work? I understand if they were about to take off, but if they're still a bunch of planes behind, WTF. How would anyone outside the plane know the bathroom was used.
I would presume because the plane CAN'T MOVE FORWARD if passengers are still up and about. How would you like the potential backsplash from that, to name the least of the issues? :P
I don't see a reason that a plane can't continue taxiing. If you're lets say 15th in line, there's plenty of time for a passenger to go to the restroom while you slowly taxi on the tarmac.
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@dangeRuss said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
I don't see a reason that a plane can't continue taxiing. If you're lets say 15th in line, there's plenty of time for a passenger to go to the restroom while you slowly taxi on the tarmac.
Safety protocols are usually deliberately excessive. But unless it's a global protocol (probably not), we can only take the flight attendant's word for it. Just giving an example of how that could be the case. It's a question of who do you believe more, the crew or the passenger, and in this particular case I personally believe the crew more; the passenger's attitude rubs me the wrong way ().
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@dangeRuss said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
@heterodox said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
@dangeRuss said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
A flight attendant there said if he used the restroom they would lose their place in line.
How does that work? I understand if they were about to take off, but if they're still a bunch of planes behind, WTF. How would anyone outside the plane know the bathroom was used.
I would presume because the plane CAN'T MOVE FORWARD if passengers are still up and about. How would you like the potential backsplash from that, to name the least of the issues? :P
I don't see a reason that a plane can't continue taxiing. If you're lets say 15th in line, there's plenty of time for a passenger to go to the restroom while you slowly taxi on the tarmac.
Who knows how long he'd take in the bathroom? They can't take off unless he's safely in his seat. They're not putting a hard schedule on their takeoff and then running the risk that he's still in there.
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@dangeRuss said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
I don't see a reason that a plane can't continue taxiing. If you're lets say 15th in line, there's plenty of time for a passenger to go to the restroom while you slowly taxi on the tarmac.
I'm guessing that the safety protocols dictate that the plane can't move at all (on the ground) if a passenger is standing, so the stewards would have had to notify the pilot, who would have had to stop the plane for an undefined amount of time, which would probably have required him to notify control and thus loosing his slot in the queue.
The other case mentioned about passengers allowed to use the restroom says "while the plane prepared to taxi", so at that point the plane was probably not yet in the queue, which meant the pilot could probably stay stationary for as long as needed without having to notify control.
I mean, that's all guesswork, but I think it does make sense, and while I sympathize with the poor guy trying to hold it, he seems to me to be the one to blame here.
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@heterodox said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
@dangeRuss said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
A flight attendant there said if he used the restroom they would lose their place in line.
How does that work? I understand if they were about to take off, but if they're still a bunch of planes behind, WTF. How would anyone outside the plane know the bathroom was used.
I would presume because the plane CAN'T MOVE FORWARD if passengers are still up and about. How would you like the potential backsplash from that, to name the least of the issues? :P
I've been in the plane bathroom when a plane took off. I felt really shitty about it.
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I've almost been kicked off a flight because my toddler did not want to not be on my lap and was almost impossible to buckle in her seat.
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@remi said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
I'm guessing that the safety protocols dictate that the plane can't move at all (on the ground) if a passenger is standing,
Which is really pretty silly. Does a taxiing plane have more acceleration than a train? And you can take a leak on the train whenever you like, unless it's one of those old ones with just a hole in the floor serving as a waste disposal system, in which case it's probably not the smartest idea to poop in the middle of Berlin Hauptbahnhof.
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One of the linked articles:
Quote of note:
NBC News reported that James Long, the officer who dragged Dao out of his seat on April 9, had been suspended for five just two weeks earlier for an incident of insubordination.
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@Maciejasjmj said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
@remi said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
I'm guessing that the safety protocols dictate that the plane can't move at all (on the ground) if a passenger is standing,
Which is really pretty silly. Does a taxiing plane have more acceleration than a train? And you can take a leak on the train whenever you like, unless it's one of those old ones with just a hole in the floor serving as a waste disposal system, in which case it's probably not the smartest idea to poop in the middle of Berlin Hauptbahnhof.
It's not that the plane can't move on the ground with people standing. It's that it can't take off with people standing, and once it's moving it's part of a very tightly orchestrated schedule to take off. They can't have passengers up and around while taxiing because, unlike the plane's flight crew, the passengers couldn't reliably be expected to take their seats and buckle up immediately prior to takeoff.
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@coldandtired said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
Wow. She wanted the body in order to do a post-mortem, because the rabbit was healthy before she left and she wanted to determine how it died. So United went and destroyed the evidence.
Anyone still going to play the apologist for these guys?
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@RaceProUK said in United Airlines: the airline we love to hate, but we can't agree on why:
One of the linked articles:
Quote of note:
NBC News reported that James Long, the officer who dragged Dao out of his seat on April 9, had been suspended for five just two weeks earlier for an incident of insubordination.
The most telling part is the last line:
The lawyer said Dao, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, is still recovering from physical and emotional injuries, and hasn't been able to return to work.
He must not have needed to see his patients very urgently after all.