Back in the day, I thought a $600 for a bump was a job well done. But how about $10,000?!
The Northeast storm earlier this week led to thousands of flights cancellations, including most United flight in/out of New York and Washington, DC on Wednesday. Allison Preiss was booked on an oversold United flight from Washington Dulles to Austin in a cheap fare class. She had no seat assignment and one of the seats on her flight was broken.
Volunteers were solicited, with an offer of $1,000 to take a later flight. There were no takers and Preise was forced off. United tired to make her sign a statement saying she had “volunteered” to give up her seat, but she refused. She knew to ask for cash.
Only United didn’t want to give her any cash.
She was due some cash (as much as $1350 but likely closer to $650 due to her cheap fare class) but United offered her a $10,000 travel credit instead..and a $10 meal voucher.
She had to work here way up to it, though. First United offered her $2,000. She hesitated. Then $3,000. She hesitated. Then $4,000. She hesitated (but likely would have taken it, she told the TPG). But while she was thinking, the agent said he was authorized to offer her up to $10,000.
She took it.
I would have too…
This is how badly United didn’t want to give me cash: pic.twitter.com/sI7vmbeB2Q
— Allison Preiss (@allisonmpreiss) March 22, 2018
Preiss can thank Dr. David Dao for her lavish voucher. It makes me pine for my law school years, when I commuted between Philadelphia and Los Angeles each weekend and encountered many bumps.
She pressed her luck by asking for lounge access as well. United said no way.
With a bachelorette party to get to, she ultimately flew Frontier nonstop to Austin.
CONCLUSION
While not amazed, I am amused that United would prefer to give away $10,000 in flight credit than likely less than $1,000 in cash. Even with expiration dates and other resections, I have to imagine that Preiss will put this travel credit to very good use.
(H/T View from the Wing / image courtesy of Allison Preiss)
It seems the seat malfunction made the airline liable for more compensation than just an overbooked flight would normally fetch.
United has to report statistics regarding Involuntary vs Voluntary Denied Boarding. They would much rather report a VDB than an IDB. This seems excessive though!
So why didn’t United offer other passengers $3,000 or $4,000 on the flight first? There’s inconsistent reporting of events between the “lottery winner’s” Tweets and the TPG story.
If you read the TPG article and look at her tweets, it seems like we’re not getting the entire story here. Why do I say this? On Twitter, she complains that they “really don’t want to give me cash” and that’s why she got the $10,000 voucher, but then she reports to TPG — in their story (https://thepointsguy.com/2018/03/united-10000-voucher-bump/) — that she was offered cash, but then was also offered additional voucher money as an alternative (i.e. “We can give you this cash, but you know we could also offer you a larger voucher.”) So, did United fight her request for cash or did they not? Why would United work their way up to an insane $10,000 voucher for a $165 (basic?) economy fare if Allison had already argued with them about cash and they had already acquiesced and agreed to pay her cash (per the order of events reported in TPG)? When you look at her tweets and also the TPG reporting, there’s inconsistencies galore.
This was totally unreasonable compensation and I wonder why United didn’t first try to get a “volunteer” with $3,000 or $4,000 on the flight.
It seems one of three things *may* have happened here:
1.) The system broke down and United failed to offer a large enough of a voucher to secure a volunteer before Allison was involuntarily removed.
2.) The system broke down and United — perhaps a gate agent without much love for United — offered Allison $10,000 when they really should have said: “Choose $652 cash or a $2,000 voucher.”
3.) Allison was a jerk to the gate agents — and, of course, nobody would admit they were a jerk to customer service agents — and they just wanted to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.
So, why does this matter? Well, while I’m sure Allison is delighted to have $10,000 to travel (I would, too!), even on an airline as awful as United, this kind of “pay-out” for a minor problem is going to lead to other travelers being absolutely enraged if they don’t receive a similar pay-out. I feel bad for the United gate agents and flight attendants who will now have to deal with “I read you gave this woman $10,000 and now I won’t stop yelling until you give me $10,ooo, too!” Presumably, some gate agents at Dulles are now receiving some serious “coaching.”
Thanks for referring me to the TPG article. It does seem there was more to the story. I’ll update this story to reflect that.
@Matthew
No problem. I enjoy your blog!