delta airlines : involuntary passenger removal

it SEEMS to be the " in thing " at the moment

another overbooked flight - this time delta airlines is the culprit


obligitory synopsis :

Brian Schear - his wife and 2 children boarded a flight which was then announced to be over booked - and cabin crew attempted to bully mr schear into moving his children to sit on his lap - freeing up a seat - when he refused - citing that he had paid for the seat - and a child saftey device - the incident escalated - and the entire family forced from the aircraft [ 4 " new " passengers took thier seats ]

news rportage via BBC

direct video link :



obligitory opinion:

over booking should be resolved by first arse in the seat " wins " and if they want you off the aircraft - they need to give you enough freebies to make you stand up

a reply to: ignorant_ape

If this was a case of simple overbooking, I agree. First come first serve. Although if they do have naming guidelines and this guy family tried to bypass it, the consideration should be made.

Unless its a safety issue, persons that paid for a seat should not be forced from it.

But why exactly are airlines overbooking?

What's wrong with these airlines?It seems they don't mind if their harassed passengers decide never to fly with them again.Or worse,that they all suck as to customer relations.

originally posted by: Antipathy17
If this was a case of simple overbooking, I agree. First come first serve. Although if they do have naming guidelines and this guy family tried to bypass it, the consideration should be made.

I was just reading about this over Flyertalk. The family followed Delta's suggestions about purchasing an extra seat for children under 2 so they child would not have to sit on one of their laps. They were on the return leg so they had already used the child seat on the outbound without issue.

The FA was telling them the child should instead be on their laps which runs counter to Delta's FAQ so this is a case of either not knowing the polices or ignoring them, either way it is a bit tone deaf considering the current climate for airlines and customer service issues related to overbooking.

first, 4:56 it gets real good

this sucks so bad. this dude was calm and rational and of course he is getting #ed.....
they told him he can sit for 4-5 hours and the plane will not go anywhere....
how are people like this dude with a wife and kids supposed to stay calm and 'obey' the orders given? it would be hard man. i would be livid if my wife and daughter and i were getting booted and had nowhere to stay and no other flights...

just supposed to say yes man and tuck tail and do what youre told i guess.

the inbed vid on the BBC link has some " interesting stats "

in 2015 :

552 000 - [ yup over half a million ] passengers were " bumped off " US demestic flights

the total passengers carried = 600 million [ for context ]

the surprising stat = 46 thousand were involutary removals

it may be a tiny percent of Px carried - but its still a lot of removals - by threat or force

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: ignorant_ape

It's not that straightforward. They bought the seat for his older son, who they then put on a different flight. They were using the seat for their younger child, and the flight attendant told them they couldn't do that, which is SOP. The person the seat was bought for is on the main manifest, until the gate manifest is updated by the boarding passes.

if it was SOP they wouldnt have been able to do it on the previous flight.
dude paid for the seat.
he was calm and rational and he is getting dicked.

If this was the first incident, I might be a little sympathetic to the flight crew for just not understanding the importance of good customer service. But after the latest incidents with United, these folks are so #ing stupid, it's mind boggling. What will the ultimate cost to Delta be after the dust from this settles? My bet is a lot more than that seat was worth.

Even if the customer is an idiot, "The Customer Is Always Right".

Stupid.

a reply to: network dude

Ultimately, the "Policy makers" are the owners of the airlines. They decide what their business laws are and don't care about customers. Even if their is some transgression, even if they are sued, they don't care about that either. They control the police and the courts, having armies of both cops and lawyers to throw at you, the outraged consumer.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Whose name was the ticket under? The parents? If so, the outrage should be very real.

originally posted by: Antipathy17
Whose name was the ticket under? The parents? If so, the outrage should be very real.

It appeared to be under one of their children but on the return leg it seems the child in question was not on the flight and they were using the seat for the younger child.

To me it's another way for airlines to make more money off the public, sell them a ticket and refuse to let them fly..

Isn't it standard that the name on the ticket must match the name of the person in the seat?

This was terribly handled though, the security/staff should have helped the family change the name on the ticket or should have just ignored them as soon as they saw what the situation was.

originally posted by: wheresthebody

Isn't it standard that the name on the ticket must match the name of the person in the seat?

That is correct.

a reply to: ignorant_ape

"You will be in jail and your children in foster care".

Just_like_that.

Not for any criminal offense, either. What amazes me is nobody comes to their rescue. They whole plane load of passengers just sat there (not happening to me), when they should all get up and file out in protest, wait in the lobby in a pseudo strike against unfair practices.

Hit them where they hurt, in the money pouch.

"We'll reboard as soon as you back off and let this family stay."

Never happening again. We have been reduced to servile minions of the state, yes even you out there in keyboard land.

a reply to: wheresthebody
My thing is why not just say, here is my child, this is his name. How could they prove otherwise?? A 2 year old toddler does not carry ID to match.

If I buy every seat on a flight, because I want to fly alone.... they can put other people in those seats and accept payment from them also?

That is a screwed up way to do things.

Anyway, the flight attendant lied to the family, telling them that they could not have the baby in a car seat.

The FAA recommends that infants are placed in a car seat in an aircraft.