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United boots bride & groom traveling to their wedding from half-empty plane
- Thread starter Thebeardofknowledge
- Start date
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ClosingADoor
Member
Yeah, I will defend that. Just because a seat is empty doesn't mean you are entitled to it. If you go with a train, you also can't travel first class when buying a second class ticket just because there are empty seats. This goes for any mode of transportation.
"How come I don't get to ride the fancy Audi when I rented a Kia. You're not using it anyway!"
TheCochese
Banned
Mass_Pincup
Banned
It's weird since I thought it was standard practice.
Air France does this regularly, I even got upgraded to business while having an economy tickets. It's a win win situation. The passenger will be happier and more likely to come back and even pay for the premium ticket and the airline might be getting more money without losing anything in the process. Seems like a no brainer to me.
DudeWithNoName
Member
The OP should be updated with the new information. Like I said, if this proves out that these two are lying, United should sue them and add a lifetime ban.
thelatestmodel
Junior, please.
Or just, you know, ask at the counter or on the plane. I've been upgraded for free a few times just by asking, it can happen.
Earthbound64
Banned
Amber's a guy's name?
(*fiancé = male, fiancée = female)
shanafan
Member
You can upgrade at the gate.
But, you can't decide "Oh look, no one's in first class, I'm going to sit there" once you board AFAIK
That too. But just assuming you can go sit in it cuz it's empty is not cool.
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
This is going to add unnecessary noise to legitimate problems with United.
NOLA_Gaffer
Banned
As fucked up as last week's forced removal story was, United still deserves the "Innocent until proven guilty" treatment because I would imagine there's a ton of customers trying to use the incident as an opportunity to try to fuck over United in one way or another.
Ninja Scooter
Member
There seems to be a part of the story missing where it jumps from "Can we have a free upgrade?" to "Here's the marshall's now get the fuck off our plane!"
I remember one time at some Asian airline I was hitting buttons on their check in thing not understanding what the hell I was doing. When I got in the plane I was in business class while my fiends were in economy, so I kept making fun them calling them plebs and what not, thinking the airline just had a random free upgrade spot. Little did I know, when I got home and saw my bank account I was down $500 dollars and eating top ramen for a month.
Violence Jack
Member
This doesn't sound right. Why not tell the flight attendants "there's some guy sleeping in our seats" or just wake the guy up themselves? That's a hell of a jump from just sitting in upgraded seats to being thrown off the plane. Lots of details missing.
And I'm pretty sure most semi-competent flight attendants wouldn't allow someone to take up an entire row to sleep while people are boarding.
And I'm pretty sure most semi-competent flight attendants wouldn't allow someone to take up an entire row to sleep while people are boarding.
It depends. I've been on a flight were the crew knows it's going to be light (like 25% full) and was told I can move around as I want, but if I was sitting in someones seat and they wanted it to move.
...I'm sure literally everybody on the plane would enjoy a nicer seat. Are you suggesting they fight club for it or something? If nobody paid for it then nobody paid for it.
Regardless, there's a lot about this story that seems pretty suspect. There's clearly a lot more going on here than what's being claimed in this story.
UnemployedVillain
Member
Nah, the other United stories were legit, but these two sound like they were trying to take advantage of United's bad press and sit in seats they clearly hadn't paid for. Not once have I see someone sleeping in my seat and decided to go to the front of the plane and take empty seats there. What kind of nonsense is that?
NoblesseOblige
Banned
I am convinced United is embracing this just to encourage people to fly with them so that they too can have their own kicked off United story.
They're like one of those hot dog stands where you pay to have insults thrown at you.
They're like one of those hot dog stands where you pay to have insults thrown at you.
24hrs no sleep, still drunk and not understanding any of the Japanese on the screen.
John Kowalski
Banned
They have to be trying to do something awful every day
UnemployedVillain
Member
What japanese airline were you flying? I've taken both JAL and ANA and they both have english interfaces
Sounds like his ruse worked.
and those are just the economy seats. imagine the comfort of economy plus!
If you're last to board and the plane isn't full, I would pretty much sit in any available seat (probably wouldn't just give myself an upgrade though like these two).
If I had to guess they were probably a wee bit toasted and decided to give themselves an upgrade. Then started swearing when told to move, something along the lines of what the fuck do you care the plane is empty. Then United says, ok, lets make it even more empty. Even if this is the scenario and I was the flight attendant I'd probably just shrug it off and say alright.
DietRob
i've been begging for over 5 years.
Ah yes, the old no publicity is bad publicity angle. Honestly it's the only way this daily fuckery makes any sense to me also.
Flying Toaster
Member
They should have asked the guy to get up. Wouldn't a person in that situation normally do that first?
Earthbound64
Banned
This.
Wonder if the couple asked the guy to do that so they would have an excuse to move up.
HoodWinked
Member
for some reason when i read this title i pictured a bride in groom in their wedding dress and tux getting on a plane then being kicked off. when of course they were just in common clothes and just looked like any other passengers.
but in the immediate time frame i feel like united is just way too paranoid about more lawsuits that they would follow protocol with even more scrutiny. wonder what the chances are that the couple is seeing an opportunity for their own settlement.
but in the immediate time frame i feel like united is just way too paranoid about more lawsuits that they would follow protocol with even more scrutiny. wonder what the chances are that the couple is seeing an opportunity for their own settlement.
Battlezone
Member
While I believe the passengers were probably unruly once they were asked to move, I'm also inclined to believe they didn't know that they had moved to Economy Plus seats when they moved in the first place. It's not like those seats are labeled, they're just seats with a little extra leg room. It's not like these two tried to jump into first class or something.
Also, United is terrible about this. Last time I flew with them was about seven or eight years ago for work, and back then they were charging for exit row seats. I paid because I wanted the extra legroom, but the seats were mostly empty. When the plane doors closed, people naturally tried to move into those seats. They were rebuffed by the staff, who told them, "you had the opportunity to pay for those seats when you checked in," which, of course, pissed everyone off, because they never actually said during boarding that those upgrades were avaiable. And they let those seats sit empty for the whole flight, which made no sense to me.
Anyway, the whole experience with United was so terrible, that I haven't flown them since. I almost exclusively fly Alaska now.
Also, United is terrible about this. Last time I flew with them was about seven or eight years ago for work, and back then they were charging for exit row seats. I paid because I wanted the extra legroom, but the seats were mostly empty. When the plane doors closed, people naturally tried to move into those seats. They were rebuffed by the staff, who told them, "you had the opportunity to pay for those seats when you checked in," which, of course, pissed everyone off, because they never actually said during boarding that those upgrades were avaiable. And they let those seats sit empty for the whole flight, which made no sense to me.
Anyway, the whole experience with United was so terrible, that I haven't flown them since. I almost exclusively fly Alaska now.
Nope they do not deserve any benefit of innocent until proven guilty. They are guilty until proven innocent. Defending airlines like united really is pretty low.
Until more information comes out, I will believe the couple that got kicked off.
United is raw as fuck here lately. They trying to suicide or?
So did the people offer to pay for those seats? If not, it makes perfect sense why they let them sit empty.
So did the people offer to pay for those seats? If not, it makes perfect sense why they let them sit empty.
This I am sure is somewhere in the middle, clearly as reported it doesn't make any sense. Airlines really need to ease back on all the different classes and costs. Actually what is more accurate is stupid people need to stop paying extra for stupid shit. Some of the so called plus and upgrades are just pointless and throwing money away. If you can afford to throw money away go first class.
The contrasting responses got me good. lol
And yes, it works. That's why I think this couple was pulling the same shit but got less than a tshirt.
ZackieChan
Member
Air Asia's "Hot Seats" (basically the same as premium economy) go empty if no one upgrades to them, and the common folk aren't allowed to sneak over there. My last flight, I paid like $12 extra to have one, and the flight attendants were constantly kicking people out who were sneaking back there to sit in them. Gotta pay to play. I was the only one in those two rows - it was awesome.
Never mind the fact that the guy wouldn't be allowed to be doing that prior to takeoff, as he needs to be seated and belted for takeoff. This story sounds hella fishy.
It's a difference between maybe a couple hundred and a couple thousand - vastly different meanings to "throwing money away."
Airlines make money on this shit. Their margins are thin if they're not full and selling them upgrades.
Never mind the fact that the guy wouldn't be allowed to be doing that prior to takeoff, as he needs to be seated and belted for takeoff. This story sounds hella fishy.
It's a difference between maybe a couple hundred and a couple thousand - vastly different meanings to "throwing money away."
Airlines make money on this shit. Their margins are thin if they're not full and selling them upgrades.
A Link to the Past
Banned
I don't really understand why you're taking an approach that suggests that a company with multiple recent examples of mistreating its customers is the victim in this situation.
Hellwarden
Member
ZackieChan
Member
I also don't understand the approach that they did something wrong when there are huge gaps and inconsistencies in the story
Because United has done things like this multiple times before? and they don't deserve the benefit of the doubt.
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