Then the article transitioned into the topic on how the treatment of most of us as consumers is "both increasingly disrespectful and reflective of our society's growing income divide". Consumers are not deserving equal treatment unless they pay top money. Unequal treatment between different classes is on "blatant display" when we fly. The airlines keep coming up new ways to please the business travelers and give basic economy travelers only the ability to choose a seat when booking a flight.
The article then proceeded to discuss the same dynamic in politics. Government policy and actions favor corporate interests and the wealthiest Americans. Another example will be when Republicans offered a health insurance reform package which would cover fewer people than the ACA. Later Representative Jason Chaffetz basically told the general public just not be poor, then the health care would work great.
However, this is not the only thing people can learn from this United incident. "Increased militarization of American life" is another takeaway. Authorities have been dealing with common disputes in a more and more aggressive way.
I think it would be very difficult for United to recover since the United Airlines stock had dropped $1.4 billion just a couple days after the passenger-removal controversy. No matter what the justifications of United's violent action are, forcibly removing a rightful passenger is never ever the solution in any situations. One good thing is that after the CEO, Oscar Munoz being criticized for his official statement on Monday, stating that the violent removal was to "re-accommodate" the passenger, he offered a softer apology on Tuesday. He pledged to review the company's policies for handling overbooked flights and for working with airport authorities. And the review is planned to be shared by April 30th.
6 comments:
This incident highlights the airline's incompetency. While I realize that it was the federation aviation officers that dragged the man off that plane, it was the airline's decision to involve them in the first place. It is unfortunate but we live In an age of corporate malfeasance, with no repercussions for their actions, these things are becoming the norm. This incident deprived an American citizen of his dignity. The airline industry has become one in which no one takes responsibility for its indecency towards its customers, all for of profit. If there were actual checks and balances in place, airlines would not be permitted to sell more seats than there are on the plane. If such laws were implemented passengers would be required to pay in full to book a seat on the plane. This would prevent the problem of overbooking and would ensure a guaranteed seat on the plane for each paying passenger.
It seems that airlines overbook these flights in fear of having to fly with empty seats, which equates to a decrease in revenues. The airlines don't know if or when customers will show up, and they don't know when the customer will rebook a missed flight. Accounting for "no-shows" can be rather costly to the airline and these airlines operate like any other firm with the goal of making profits. I do think it is time for airlines to bring more attention to consumer needs as this could potentially bring higher profits and eliminate situations like the one mentioned in the article.
this was interesting article. even thought it hurt the airlines stock but I feel that this is the perfect time to buy there stock because this news coverage is only temporary and once they stop talking about it then people are going to start flying again with them. but I do agree airlines should have a better system where this doesn't have to happen again.
United’s gross misjudgment on this occasion seems to have been the fruit of a bad general policy. As experts have pointed out, other US airlines with higher overbooking rates have fewer “involuntary removals” than United. Why? It seems the answer is that they offer more generous incentives to encourage passengers to volunteer to be bumped. Volunteers receive gift cards rather than travel vouchers with the same airline. They may have the same nominal value but passengers, naturally, prefer the greater choice that comes with gift cards. In some case though I'm not sure a simple gift card will suffice, passengers may demand more compensation for giving up their seats like travel vouchers for example. It'll be interesting to see how United Airlines changes their policy on issues like this.
I agree with the comments above, the way that United airlines handle the situation was not the best. They could have approached the situation differently without anyone getting hurt. The airlines needs to have a Plan B when their flights are over booked. I understand that they sell more tickets than they have seats because there might be people who cancel or miss their flights. However, they need to know what to do in a situation like the one United experience. They were overbooked and they needed some passengers to change their flight.
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