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United boots bride & groom traveling to their wedding from half-empty plane

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T

Thebeardofknowledge

Banned
Michael Hohl, the groom, said he and his fiancé, Amber Maxwell, were the last to board United Airlines Flight 1737 which was headed from Houston to Liberia, Costa Rica. According to Hohl, they noticed a man was spread across their row napping when they approached their seats, so they decided to move three rows up to row 21.
Click to expand...

In a Boeing 737-800 like the one the couple was on, United considers Row 21 "economy plus," which is an upgrade.
After sitting, Hohl said a flight attendant approached and asked if they were in their ticketed seats. The couple explained they weren't and asked if they could get an upgrade, but instead they were told they needed to return to their assigned seats.
Hohl said after complying with the flight attendant's demand, a U.S. Marshall came onto the plane and asked them to get off.
Click to expand...

More at the link
https://www.usatoday.com/story/trav...-and-groom-traveling-wedding-plane/100556780/
 
S

Squalor

Junior Member
Hahahahahahaha.

United is tripling down.

Oh my god. This is amazing.

I'm sure there's more to the story than this, but the fact that it involves United is too amazing.
 
ebullientprism

ebullientprism

Member
After sitting, Hohl said a flight attendant approached and asked if they were in their ticketed seats. The couple explained they weren't and asked if they could get an upgrade, but instead they were told they needed to return to their assigned seats.
Hohl said after complying with the flight attendant's demand, a U.S. Marshall came onto the plane and asked them to get off.
Click to expand...

I bet you money these guys thought they could make use of the recent bad publicity to get themselves a free upgrade.

And I genuinely wonder how "compliant" they where when they were told to return.
 
S

Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew

Banned
KuecSGx.jpg
 
B

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
Squalor said:
Hahahahahahaha.

United is tripling down.

Oh my god. This is amazing.

I'm sure there's more to the story than this, but the fact that it involves United is too amazing.
Click to expand...

We already had the triple down, this is the fourth time.
 
M

Maxim726X

Member
Hmm.

This story is hard to believe... But I always underrate how tone-deaf this large corporations can be.

Will wait to read more.
 
D

DudeWithNoName

Member
ebullientprism said:
I bet you money these guys thought they could make use of the recent bad publicity to get themselves a free upgrade.

And I genuinely wonder how "compliant" they where when they were told to return.
Click to expand...
Yep, that's my guess. Honestly, if this story is untrue, and United can prove it, I hope they sue these fuckers.
 
Z

Zabka

Member
Story sounds kinda bullshitty. If you get on a plane and someone's laying across your seats you don't just sit wherever you feel like.
 
N

norm9

Member
According to Hohl, they noticed a man was spread across their row napping when they approached their seats, so they decided to move three rows up to row 21.
Click to expand...

The good ol' i'm asleep so they can't make me move trick. That's when you tell them to get get up.
 
V

vacantseas

Member
Yeah there's got to be more to this story. I get that it's another gaffe for United in the news, but whether the flight was half empty or not, who the hell goes to their seat to find someone laying across all three of them, fast asleep and NOT say something.

Wake the dude up and tell him you're in the seat. Or if you go up a couple rows and the flight attendant tells you to get out, explain the situation, and have the flight attendant wake the person up.
 
M

Mushroomer25

Member
2Smashed4U said:
All these stories popping up, has this been *after* the doctor incident? Have they seriously learned nothing?
Click to expand...
To be fair, media awareness is playing a huge part in this. Everyone is looking at United, so all of these smaller dick moves are going to become stories.

This is not uncommon behavior for the airline industry. We just only pay attention to it once in awhile.
 
C

capitalCORN

Member
I think people are underestimating how endemic these scenarios are. Scum corp acting like a scum corp? It's not their first time at the rodeo.
 
L

LostMyNarbles

Member
I know there's a lot of bad publicity stories with United recently, but it feels like we don't have all the details here. The Airline is saying they repeatedly tried to get into better seats and refused to listen to the attendant and the couple is saying they moved when asked to. I won't take either side here, but who just walks up to seats they weren't assigned in for no reason? I mean, they must have been pretty aggressive about it if an Air Marshal was called to escort them off the plane and not simply a staff member?
 
M

Mass_Pincup

Banned
Yeah I'm sure they randomly picked up those "economy plus" seats and nothing else was available.

Booting them out was excessive though, United should've complied since they wouldn't lose anything out of it. Add in the controversy and it was a no brainer.
 
A

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
Why wouldn't the airline staff just wake up the dude napping across the seats?

Napping across seats on a plane is a dick move, btw. Don't fucking do it.
 
shanafan

shanafan

Member
I bet there's more to this story. I heard this on the radio this morning, and apparently the couple may have been pretty verbally loud with the flight attendant.
 
F

FyreWulff

Member
that does seem weird. I recently flew Alaska Airlines and got asked if i wanted to move up to an empty row by the attendant, which i did, but she mentioned at the same time "you have to do it before the door closes or you're stuck where you're at"
 
C

ClosingADoor

Member
If someone is in your seat, you tell them to move. You don't go fishing for an upgrade. Can you even upgrade when already seated? How am I paying for the upgrade while on the plane already?
 
Captain Zyrain

Captain Zyrain

Member
The couple cooperated and got off the plane without incident, but they still don't understand why.

"They said that we were being disorderly and a hazard to the rest of the flight, to the safety of the other customers," said Hohl.

United Airlines said in a statement that the couple tried to sit in an upgraded seat "repeatedly" and they "wouldn't follow crew instructions."

"We’re disappointed anytime a customer has an experience that doesn’t measure up to their expectations, the airline said in a statement. "These passengers repeatedly attempted to sit in upgraded seating which they did not purchase and they would not follow crew instructions to return to their assigned seats. We’ve been in touch with them and have rebooked them on flights tomorrow."

The bride and groom were rebooked for another flight the next morning, but Hohl said they won't be flying United again and described the whole situation as "quite strange."

“I think customer service and the airlines has gone real downhill,” said Hohl. "The way United Airlines handled this was really absurd.”

Despite their flight delay, their wedding is still planned for Thursday.
Click to expand...

I wonder if they were arguing for the upgraded seats instead of asking for them? Seems like an extreme measure to remove them from the flight (but.. United
lol
)
 
E

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
An honest hustle going by their account. They tried to go for the better seats were asked to move to the seats they paid for and they complied. Should have been end of story. I don't see any reason to have an Air Marshall come on and remove them from the flight.

Only explanation is if they were getting aggressive and loud with the Attendant and even that's a stretch unless they were seriously unruly.
 
D

dluu13

Member
NealMcCauley said:
...Why didn't they just wake the guy up and say "Hey, you're in our seats?"
Click to expand...

If I were on a half-empty flight, I'd just let the dude sleep and move up somewhere too. I've even moved up into those exit row seats on the 777's where there's no wall or seat in front and haven't had any issues from flight attendants.
 
M

MJPIA

Member
I'm gonna say there's more to the story here.
http://www.businessinsider.com/unit...s-kicked-off-flight-houston-costa-rica-2017-4
But the airline says the seats the couple moved to were pricier premium-economy seats, and it said the couple "would not follow crew member instructions to return to their assigned seats."

United described the couple as essentially trying to obtain an upgrade without paying the fare difference needed to officially upgrade their tickets.

A United representative also told Business Insider that no air marshals or law enforcement was involved in the incident. This was confirmed by a Transportation Security Administration official on Monday.

Business Insider has not been able to corroborate the couple's claim that a passenger was sleeping in their seat during boarding.
Click to expand...
I'm gonna need more details but I feel this couple was trying to take advantage and use the recent United backlash to twist this in their favor.
 
N

NoRéN

Member
ebullientprism said:
I bet you money these guys thought they could make use of the recent bad publicity to get themselves a free upgrade.

And I genuinely wonder how "compliant" they where when they were told to return.
Click to expand...
They probably tried to throw in the "we're getting married" to try and get some free stuff.
 
M

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
GulAtiCa said:
Yeah, I found this bit odd... Why wouldn't they just wake up the guy. Hell, alert a Flight Attendant to do so..
Click to expand...
Probably because there were tons more empty seats so they figured, no biggie, let the dude sleep we'll just sit elsewhere.

That said, it is indeed strange that after the attendants told them to go back to their seat, they didn't bring up the sleeping dude? And the testimonies are contradictory, they claim they complied and then got booted off, United claims they were being disorderly and refused to comply with the attendants' instructions.

They said, they said situation, but United credibility is in the gutter these days, so who the hell knows haha.

Edit:
MJPIA said:
I'm gonna need more details but I feel this couple was trying to take advantage and use the recent United backlash to twist this in their favor.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's definitely another possibility.
 
T

Thebeardofknowledge

Banned
vacantseas said:
Yeah there's got to be more to this story. I get that it's another gaffe for United in the news, but whether the flight was half empty or not, who the hell goes to their seat to find someone laying across all three of them, fast asleep and NOT say something.

Wake the dude up and tell him you're in the seat. Or if you go up a couple rows and the flight attendant tells you to get out, explain the situation, and have the flight attendant wake the person up.
Click to expand...

You really underestimate how passive aggressive or Non-confrontational 90% of the US is.
 
A

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
The Broken Ska Record said:
I do it if I'm in the air and I know for sure there isn't anyone in the seats I'm taking up.
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Joni said:
Why? I did this when coming back from the US. It was an overnight flight that was largely empty so I did this once we were in the air.
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If the space is clearly empty, then it's fine.

There was one time this dickhead asked my wife to move to a different row so that he could lie across the seats to sleep. He kept making annoying noises until she moved.

Fuck that guy.
 
ElRenoRaven

ElRenoRaven

Member
Yea. United is shit but there is no doubt more to this story. They wouldn't have a marshal come in unless the couple was refusing to leave or something.
 
ebullientprism

ebullientprism

Member
"We’re disappointed anytime a customer has an experience that doesn’t measure up to their expectations, the airline said in a statement. "These passengers repeatedly attempted to sit in upgraded seating which they did not purchase and they would not follow crew instructions to return to their assigned seats. We’ve been in touch with them and have rebooked them on flights tomorrow."
Click to expand...

Thought so.

“I think customer service and the airlines has gone real downhill,” said Hohl. "The way United Airlines handled this was really absurd.”
Click to expand...

LOL you tried to get something for free and it didnt work out. Dont blame customer service.
 
G

Ganhyun

Member
Morrigan Stark said:
Probably because there were tons more empty seats so they figured, no biggie, let the dude sleep we'll just sit elsewhere.

That said, it is indeed strange that after the attendants told them to go back to their seat, they didn't bring up the sleeping dude? And the testimonies are contradictory, they claim they complied and then got booted off, United claims they were being disorderly and refused to comply with the attendants' instructions.

They said, they said situation, but United credibility is in the gutter these days, so who the hell knows haha.

Edit:

Yeah, that's definitely another possibility.
Click to expand...


Based on the story posted a couple of posts above yours it seems a marshal wasnt involved at all?

edit:

As I posted you saw the post and commented on it too, lol.
 
S

SlipperyFishes

Banned
Easyjet are also pulling dick moves today: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39620088

Two Easyjet passengers were removed from an overbooked flight and not offered compensation a day after a United Airlines passenger was dragged off a plane in the US.
The British couple were due to fly from Luton Airport to Catania in Sicily on Monday last week.
After boarding the aircraft they were asked to leave by staff because the plane had been overbooked.
Easyjet has apologised and blamed human error for the situation.
The two passengers, who had booked non-refundable accommodation in Italy, were told that the next available Easyjet flight was four days later.
The airline failed to tell them they were entitled to a flight the same day with another airline, or to compensation as stipulated under EU rules
Click to expand...
 
R

RMI

Banned
Guevara said:
Trying to live that Economy Plus life when you're just Economy.
Click to expand...

someone will defend this. IMO It's pretty shameful how airlines will let upgrade seats sit empty when there are people on-board who would enjoy the nicer seat.
 
A

Arkeband

Banned
NoRéN;234101223 said:
They probably tried to throw in the "we're getting married" to try and get some free stuff.
Click to expand...

My wife let Southwest know that we were getting married and they sent us free t-shirts.

#swag
 
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