United Airlines has updated its policy to no longer allow crew members to displace passengers who are already seated on a plane.
Under the new policy, which is meant to avoid future public relations fiascos like the one the world witnessed earlier this week, airline crews are required to check in at least an hour before a flight leaves. The purpose is to avoid having to find a seat for a crew member after all passengers have already boarded.
I'm still fucking dumbfounded that policy wasn't already in place or defaulted to simply by common sense. And the fact that it's kind of illegal otherwise.
By the way...
Videos taken by other passengers show a now-suspended security officer with the Chicago Department of Aviation leaning over to grab Dao and pulling him up.
... if the dudes in the Department of Aviation aren't required to be familiar with laws and rules regarding air travel, then they shouldn't fucking be working there. If you arrest, restrain, remove, or otherwise eject someone, you should probably be sure why you're doing it instead of blindly taking orders from glorified restaurants servers who happen to be airborne when they bring you the microwaved rubber they refer to as "food."
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
At this point you have to believe United's PR firm is hoping for more scorpion stories.
I'm more dubious on this story. Be interesting to see an un-biased witness account of what happened.
But I do think the stance by United's CEO early on in the last scandal emboldened their employees to continue to act like assholes. Whatever PR firm he hired to help with his 180 degree flip on the "doctor deplaning" scandal hasn't gotten to the rank-and-file yet.
United 1st qtr earnings matched expectations, I guess we won't see if the people are truly "punishing" them until the 2nd qtr.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
Spirit apparently gives away a free flight every flight to someone sitting in a middle seat.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
Leisher wrote: Spirit apparently gives away a free flight every flight to someone sitting in a middle seat.
A free flight on Spirit isn't enough to make me sit in one of those. Goddamn near any other airline, maybe.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
I flew Spirit back and forth within the last year. Brand new planes. The seats had head rests.
Doing the same for Vegas here soon.
Personally, I prefer AA, but my wife is cheap and thinks Spirit saves her a buck.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
“This is a turning point for all of us at United and it signals a culture shift toward becoming a better, more customer-focused airline,” chief executive Oscar Munoz said in a statement that accompanied the release of the report on the April 9 incident at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
They literally had to be caught on camera beating the fuck out of a 70 year old before they realized they'd gotten away from being "customer-focused."
Sigh.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Oh shit, I realized I never explained why I fly for travel in this thread. I meant to.
I'm a consultant, I make my company money by billing my services by the hour. At my level, most client contracts state that I can't bill time that I travel - unless I'm actually working while doing so. Generally, shorter time spent traveling = more revenue on the engagement. It also means that for flights over 5 hours, my company will actually upgrade me(and not pass the cost to the end client) so I have more room to get work done.
Let's ignore that in the last 30 days I've traveled to two jobs sites and done SF-PHL-SF-NO and that if I used a car I'd still be driving, probably.
Time spent driving for me is time when I could be billing a client by the hour and working on something.
I've driven to a client site in another city a grand total of one time my entire 7 years at this firm. Atlanta to Columbia, SC. 4 hour drive - it was fine. But those opportunities don't present themselves often.
I think I just got heat stroke going for a jog so I hope this is coherent and I'll edit out the confusing stuff later.
I fly for travel cuz driving sucks. For consulting work, I bill 50% of my rate while traveling, regardless of what I'm doing, once I leave my house and until I get to the hotel/office. For normal work, I'm required to fly because people abused the driving policy.
Rewarded for choosing United on way back home with shit wifi, no hot food on 5 hour flight, and general crapiness. Tradeoffs, man. Hating I couldn't find another direct flight.
Main reason I did this was that on the flight here, the second leg got delayed 2 fucking hours in LAX. More stops = more chances of getting your shit fucked up.
This may suck, but it will be over soon.
e: and as my wife pointed out, I'm complaining about wifi on an airplane, so there's that. The food thing is bizarre though. I just want a damn sandwich - and willing to overpay for it. That's just mismanagement.
Last edited by Troy on Mon May 01, 2017 10:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
GORDON wrote:I used to hit subway in the terminal and take that on the plane... INFINITELY better than airplane food.
Good call, and really wish I had done that.
A couple sitting next to me at the airport bar got a bunch of good food to go. And then sat in first class, where they get whatever United passes for fancy food. I think they made a good decision.
I just had drinks, so after my long run this morning i'm getting huuuungry.
Troy wrote: I'm complaining about wifi on an airplane
I hate the WiFi on the planes. If I wanted speeds that slow I'd invent a time machine and go back to the 90s.
GORDON wrote: I used to hit subway in the terminal and take that on the plane... INFINITELY better than airplane food.
And considering their food is mostly wood fiber and tofu, that's really saying something.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”