How to Avoid Getting Yanked Off an Airplane… and Risk Becoming a YouTube Sensation
The flight is overbooked. That much is obvious. What’s not so clear is how United Airlines will handle the situation. They’re trying to convince four people to give up their seats in exchange for a nice chunk of change. But it isn’t working.
So, United selects four passengers at random who won’t be allowed to fly to Louisville on Flight 3411 out of Chicago. One of them refuses to get off the plane and before long, he’s a YouTube sensation. With a bloodied head, he’s dragged off the plane by security personnel. Suddenly United has a PR nightmare on its wings, and the skies aren’t looking so friendly.
Now, you may be one of those people who was outraged at the actions United took recently to forcibly remove Dr. David Dao from their jet. Many people were. Or you may be one of those who believe he had it coming to him after refusing the airline’s orders to leave the plane peacefully and take his $800 compensation check.
There are certain to be arguments about this situation for… well, for at least as long as it takes for the next YouTube controversy to take its place.
Learn Your Rights Before You Fly
In the meantime, the best thing you can do is learn what your personal rights are when you fly. That way you’ll know what the airlines are legally allowed to do and what they are legally obligated to do.
You’ll also learn how to increase the chances that they won’t try to toss you off an overbooked flight.
A little background is in order here.
Airlines overbook flights to make airplanes are as full as possible. They do this to maximize their profits. They assume a percentage of travelers will cancel their reservations and hope that it all evens out. As annoying as this can sometimes be for fliers, it’s perfectly legal.
Sometimes more passengers show up with reservations than the plane has seats. The airline is legally required to ask for volunteers to give up their seats – usually for some kind of compensation – before they actually tell anyone they have to leave the plane.
According to the Department of Transportation (DOT), more people volunteer to give up their seats (about 8x more) than people who are told they can’t take a flight.
No Two Airlines Are Alike
Each airline has its own policy for who gets bumped first. People who are least likely to lose their seat on a United flight, for example, are minors and those with disabilities.
Some airlines, such as Delta and United, look at how much passengers paid for their tickets, whether they are frequent fliers, whether they have connecting flights, etc. With Southwest, the last person to board the plane is probably the first to leave if there are not enough seats.
So, what if you’re told to get off an overbooked flight? What are your rights and what should you do?
Actually, if you’re not in a hurry, the compensation can be pretty good. The DOT says that if the airline can get you to your destination on another flight one to two hours after your original flight was scheduled to arrive, they’ll give you 200 percent of the cost of your ticket, up to $675. If they can’t get you there until more than two hours late, you receive 400 percent of your ticket cost, up to $1,350.
How you handle your departure from the plane is up to you. You can go kicking and screaming and become an Internet sensation – and risk the media digging up dirt on you and letting the world know about it, as they did with Dr. Dao – or you can walk off calmly and pocket your check.
Don’t Be One of the Chosen
But if you are in a hurry whenever you fly, the key is to avoid being randomly selected for an early departure from the plane. A couple of ways to enhance your chances of staying in your seat are:
- Try to fly the same airline as often as possible. If you’re a frequent flier with that airline, the odds are lower that you will be chosen.
- Get to the airport and get checked in as early as possible. Some airlines decide who gets kicked off overbooked flights based on when they checked in or how soon they boarded the plane.
There’s a good chance your next flight will be overbooked. Hopefully you’ll be able to stay seated when they start thinning the herd.
Since my wife works for an airline, we’re what they call “standbys” when we fly. Been flying for 20 some odd years now, so we’ve learned how to always take flights that are way earlier than the times that’s needed to be anywhere. Due to the fact that we may or may not make the flight depending on whether there are any seats left. Sure it means hanging around the airport a little extra at times, but we just find ways to take up that time.
One thing about doing it that way, we generally make it before or on time to where we’re going. So there’s no worrying, frustrations or encounters with the flight. Personally I believe society has become way too impatient, doesn’t want to slow down a bit & “smell the roses” as they say. Kinda opening the doors to these so called unwanted & unwarranted situations.
I have miles accumulated with United, but as far as any future flights on United, those miles will go unused. To hell with any business, especially an air line, that treats their CUSTOMERS the way United did needs to be AVOIDED in the future.
I was a small business owner for the majority of my adult working life. If I had run my small businesses like many of the giant Wall Street corporations run theirs I would have gone broke faster than I could have said: “The business is always right.” And that is the problem. These giant corporations have developed an anti-customer attitude that gives the pungent odors wafting from outhouses a good name. The bottom line here is that United could have easily transported its employees on another flight or airline. No, the corporate culture of arrogance prevailed and the passengers were ordered, with the best of military flair, to bend over, grab their ankles and take a paddling from Corporate America like good little errant customers. Time for accountability. This incident clearly illustrates that our police forces are no longer interested in protecting and serving the average American – only the big profit making corporations that donate to the various constabularies cause du jour. So what was formerly a public service oriented government entity is now the Pinkerton Police enforcing corporate rules and whims. Long live small businesses! Down with glorified bus companies!
The bidding of refunds didnt get up to the $1350; maybe that would have resolved the issue. The doctor sounds like a real jerk. He might have been able to talk them out of it if he had been respectfully solicitous instead of anal. On the other hand he will probably come out of this with millions. Tough for the airlines? No, tough for you and me every time we have to buy a ticket.
I think you’re right, Jack. At the end of the day, customers will end up paying for any losses the airlines might suffer through an incident such as this.
I was told I had to get off my flight at 10:00 at night in Denver. My adult daughter volunteered to get off instead of me, and was refused this option, I was not given any compensation and was taxied across town to a seedy motel until the next morning. Yes, this was United.
Personally, I will never fly United airlines. It was inhumane how they treated that man. I wish there was more train travel or other modes of safe travel. Love the trains!
I’m flying out of Baltimore, Maryland on the 29th of September. I’m not frequent flier on United. I’m The first one that would probably get chosen to get off the plane. I’ve decided that rather than wait to get randomly chosen, I will volunteer to leave the plane.
They need to stop overbooking or let the people in the seats stay in their seats which they contracted for and paid for and were seated in, and the latecomers take later flights, regardless of whether they are employees, celebrities or US Congressmen. This is not Soviet Russia where some privileged class get to push the rest of us out of what they want. Or maybe it is and we should start pushing back.
As a retired airline pilot, I have witnessed people being asked to get of the airplane for a variety of reasons. Although the man in question should not have been forcibly removed from that flight, I commend you for stating that you would be the first to offer up your seat for compensation. If you noticed, there were several people videoing the incident and several more saying “Oh My God”, “look what they are doing!” But, no one said, “I’ll offer my seat, let him stay on the plane. Also, when Law Enforcement got involved, he did not comply with a lawful order from them. I am not condoning how they handled the situation but, I am saying if that happened when I was on the plane, I would offer my seat immediately and avert a crisis like this.
Overbooking, while sometimes a negative factor for the traveling public can also work in your favor if you know how to work the system. When I was a regional Director of sales for a large corporation, I was on the road two weeks out of every month. I would schedule my return home flights for 5 – 6 PM on Friday afternoon. This was the busiest time of day and most likely to be overbooked. I would check in as early as possible so that I could sit near the check-in desk. When it was apparent that there were more passengers than seats I would be ready to pounce when they would request volunteers to give up their seats. I was then able to take my family on quite a few free trips with the bonus vouchers. In one case, a seat became available at the last minute and after my voucher had been given to me. As the plane was ready for departure, they did not want to bother canceling the voucher. Using this method I was rarely more than an hour late getting home.
Fly JetBlue. Once last seat is sold no more are booked
There have been two factually incorrect statements about the United Airlines incident. First, Dr Dao had voluntarily gotten off of the plane to be compensated, then changed his mind and bolted back onto the plane. At that point he became a TSA flight risk and it was TSA personell and the Chicago P.D. who removed him from the airplane. It was not United security goons as was widely reported in the mainstream press. This information was shared to me by friends in law enforcement so I’m pretty sure of it’s accuracy but feel free to check it out on your own. Thanks
I believe this was a case of needing the seats to get a flight crew to their destination so as not to have to cancel other flights causing hundreds of others to miss their flights. Nobody is telling the whole story because it’s not as sensational. Apparently when you purchase a ticket, the small print informs you of the chance of losing your seat if such a need arises. Haven’t checked that out yet. Maybe someone else can.
I’ve agreed to give up my seat once, because a family was trying to get to a funeral in southern CA. My sister was willing to pick me up in Los Angeles (LAX) rather than SNA, and the airline delivered my already onboard suitcase to her house. I had to run to another gate to get a same-time flight, but that crew was asked to hold the plane for me. Fortunately, they didn’t need to, I got there in time. This was a connection in Texas on a Baltimore – Orange County CA trip. I also got a free flight, but it felt right to help another family. Not sure I would have wanted to switch for a flight crew transfer….
They said on the news the flight was overbooked and wanted four passengers to give up their sear. The news also said the airline wanted to put four of their own personnel in those seats. That is not right.