Today’s outrage: a solider back from a 21-month tour of duty in Afghanistan was forced to pay $200 to transport his kevlar armor on a 2hr United Airlines domestic flight.
United was right to charge him $200 for exceeding his weight limit.
United Airlines, like other U.S. airlines, has a generous checked baggage policy for members of the military. Present your military ID and even if you’re on a family vacation you get three free checked bags of up to 70lbs each. If you’re traveling on orders, as 1st Lt John Rader was, you are allowed up to five complimentary checked bags at 70lbs each. That is a whopping 350lbs!
The only catch is you can only put 70lbs in each bag. This is because people have to lift the bags! From personal experience I can tell you that lifting a 70lb onto and off of a conveyor belt is no easy feat even if you’re healthy and strong.
Laziness is Not United Airlines’ Concern
But here’s what happened: Rader wanted to fit everything into one bag. His bag ended up weighing somewhere between 71 and 100lbs, which incurs a $200 fee. When an agent refused to waive it, he paid but took to social media to protest.
I was told point blank that I’d have to pay $200 for the overage or find another bag to siphon stuff off with. Well, I didn’t have another bag so I was caught in a bind, do I go home without my stuff?
That’s right, if you don’t want to pay. In the military, I learned “a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” I’m sure the young officer has also heard this before.
What’s galling to me is that he expected an exception to be made, signaling he KNEW his bag was too heavy and not according to policy.
In the past airlines have been very flexible to soldiers whether its upgrading us in our seating arrangements helping us with numerous bags we travel with often. This is the first time and an isolated case in my history where it’s actually occurred. It became upsetting when all you want to do is get home and you have a $200 charge thrown on top.
In the military, we also learn about following rules.
Empathy ≠ Exception
He added–
There was no empathy to the situation. I’m not looking for sympathy, but some form of empathy in the situation. There was none of that. It was just cold. I had to either pay or leave the bag.
United has already refunded him the money, but it should not have. It again encourages people to take protest to social media and minimizes when real damage occurs, like the Dao incident.
At least United was careful not to apologize:
We are disappointed anytime a customer has an experience that doesn’t meet their expectations, and our customer care team is reaching out to this customer to issue a refund for his oversized bag as a gesture of goodwill.
Yes, it is a goodwill gesture and nothing else. If I were the United agent and the bag were a couple pounds over, I would have an exception. But something 10-20lbs overweight because you are too lazy to bring a second bag? Sorry, I’m not sympathetic.
CONCLUSION
There are two parts to this story I do not understand: if Rader was traveling on official orders home from Afghanistan, why was he originating in El Paso, TX (and flying to Austin via Houston)? Was this a stopover on the way home? Second, the U.S. government pays for baggage. Was he also too lazy just to submit a receipt for reimbursement?
Maybe it is because I am coming down with a horrible cold, but I find myself remarkably unsympathetic to Rader this afternoon.
(H/T View from the Wing)
Great to hear a response to this story from someone who has actual military experience.
Thank you.
I don’t get it either if he was on orders. Well, he’s a 1Lt – they’re only marginally more functionally intelligent than a 2Lt.
While United is correct and Rader is being overly dramatic, I think this is a good opportunity for airlines to review their policies. On nearly ALL my deployments, we were routinely told to pack no more than a sea bag (what Marines and sailors call a “duffel”) and a patrol pack – a small backpack – as space was limited on the non-commercial planes we’d be on. SAPI plates and other PPE weigh a lot before you factor in cammies and boots and whatnot. My sea bags often weighed upwards of 80-100 pounds because they needed to be packed so densely.
While Rader is absolutely not in the right and United went out of their way to accommodate, I think the airlines need to review what is reality versus what they’re “willing” to accept. There are also OSHA concerns, I know, but offering free checked baggage at a weight that is below what is generally accepted as being the norm is essentially a hollow offer that’s only superficially gracious.
I speak from experience as both a member of the military and as someone who was stuck with a US$450 bill by EK after returning from a deployment. My command reimbursed me but I still had to pony-up the money at the desk up front.
Interesting point about “I think the airlines need to review what is reality versus what they’re “willing” to accept. There are also OSHA concerns, I know, but offering free checked baggage at a weight that is below what is generally accepted as being the norm is essentially a hollow offer…”
Several European airlines and airports won’t accept anything over 70lbs for health and safety reasons, even for a fee. Would make sense for US airlines to adopt this too and draw the line there.
Why didn’t you just put the $450 on your GTC?
That’s poorly worded, I guess. I *did* use by GTCC, but this was back when GTCCs were just plain ol’ credit cards that were paid *by* the servicemember, affected the servicemember’s credit score, and were due in full on a monthly cycle. All the military did was have the ability to set spending limits and track spend. So I ended up having to pay the fee (via the GTCC) out of my pocket then file a travel claim for reimbursement by my command at the end of the trip. And it spanned more than one billing cycle. The whole GTCC system is still pretty fucked up, but this was whole other levels of messy. I’m talking several thousands of dollars of TDY travel accrued but all of it due at once each billing cycle but travel claims only filed at the end of the TDY.
Why is he transporting kevlar and flak jacket on a commercial flight? That stuff is controlled and NOT authorized to fly out of a combat zone. It is left there for a reason, so it doesnt fall into the wrong hands. That said, the story is suspect and one would wonder if he’s even supposed to be in wrongful possession of this gear. My 3 tours in the AOR I left my gear there, and its also not authorized to be ‘mailed’ home.
@Steve:
Understand your concern. More than likely, the trooper did not fly commercially on an international itinerary back (i.e. from Afghan)..but on a military flight back to El Paso and probably had to do outprocessing there before going back to his unit.
But without hearing the other side of the story from the LT..than we do not know.
You were correct, it was orders for outprocessing. He did not have any say in the flight itinerary etc. They are not allowed to ship those items in the bag home to themselves like other gear can be, in accordance with military specifications. I wish people would do more research. Not everything is an attack, according to reporters he did not request a pay back from United. He also was not the one to first report what happened, he does not use social media since being deployed.
Its funny to read someone claims to understand workers regulation regarding baggage weight at the same time expect an exception to be made for “heroes overseas”, not mentioning subtle complaint for regulation of gulf carrier. Lol
The reason why United return the charges is more than just goodwill. They need to show “they care” for the “heroes” inline with their campaign against gulf carrier. Make sense.
I agree with Adam, anyone who has ever been deployed and apparently Matthew never has, knows that you don’t just have an extra bag lying around. My duffel easily weighed over 70lbs with my IBA and SAPI plates. There is also many reasons why he ended up in El, Paso. He could be attached to an armored unit at Fort Bliss and thus had to demobilize there before returning home or heaven forbid get any kind of treatment at WBAMC. I’m very disappointed to see Matthew write this article without reaching out to the soldier first. According to your biography you served in the Air Force and you shouldn’t rush to judgment and call the soldier “lazy” without knowing all the facts regarding his deployment.
James:
Totally agree. Not only that more than likely..he probably went through Ft. Bliss as the Army sends individual deployers over there now and those that might need some extra training (reserves/NG units).
Granted, don’t know the full situation, but I’m thinking could be an individual deployee (one not with the unit)
yes! Glad some people know how this works!
Kevlar not withstanding, he was probably a REMF. You could look it up. That’s just from me though, a disabled ex-Army Infantry branch captain. As I recall a sergeant once saying to a basic trainee “You looking for sympathy? It’s in the dictionary between s..t and syphilis.”
He shouldn’t have expected special treatment for a ridiculously heavy bag, especially if he could have easily remedied the situation by using a second bag.
United shouldn’t be charging $200 for an overweight bag. $50, fine. $200? That’s ridiculous.
@AdamR – Perhaps the military needs to review the contracts and agreements that it has with the airlines, and, if your situation and that of Rader is commonplace (being charged for bags that exceed the airlines’ extra allowance given to military personnel), then perhaps the military needs to provide a cash advance rather than requiring its soldiers to pay for the charges upfront.
The airlines are private corporations. We as a society pay for our military, rightfully so, through our taxes. We don’t ask other companies (and most military men and women don’t expect other companies) to provide freebies and exceptions. Just because the airlines expect the military, and many of us do as well, to pay for the services they provide does not mean that we don’t appreciate the work they do to defend our nation.
I think we’re both right. Without knowing the facts of the agreement between the USG and the airlines, it’s VERY possible 70lbs was a much more commonplace, or even highly generous, weight at the time the agreements were made. With the advancements in munitions and bombs, and the subsequent advancement in armor, there’s likely been an overall increase in the weight of the equipment required to provide adequate protection. I don’t think it’d be out of line to recommend that both sides say, “Hey, this is what we’re willing to compensate for and/or accept for no fee. How does that align with what you were thinking?”
@Jon, I can’t speak to the good 1st Lewy and his case specifically, but the vast majority of USG travelers, including military personnel, are required to use their government travel card while traveling on orders. Very little call for cash advances anymore, you charge to the travel card, file your claim, and get the travel card paid directly by the USG, all before the bill comes due. I hate the card, but the system works pretty well for most people, most of the time.
This is refreshing.
Personally, someone who has served our country in Afghanistan for 18 months deserves a little discretion. I get the reasoning for a weight limit: keep from having employees having to lug heavy bags on and off the conveyor belt makes sense for general public. I mean, it would be problematic if everyone did so. BUT, paying the $200 does not solve that problem. He had to pay and someone STILL had to lug that heavy bag on and off the conveyor belt. The poor guy just spent 1.5 years in a place where his life was on the line every minute of every day. Personally, after the sacrifice he made, I would have gladly carried his bag for him and I’m 58 years old. United has shown once again the inability to train employees to use common sense and make good decisions especially when not doing so could ring as more negative publicity.
This article is a crock of steaming horse poo. He was in el Paso for post deployment evaluations. Who is to say he had an extra bag just laying around? I highly doubt he wanted to drag a bunch of bags across a hot tarmac in Kuwait or BFE! United’s customer service is well known. Let’s not put this LT on trail. The problem is our domestic airlines and their lack of sense.
Totally disagree. This guy wanted to make himself some sort of martyr. United wasn’t charging him anything. They were charging the USG $200. Put it on your travel claim and get over yourself.
It’s funny how other airlines allow up to 100 lbs, why are United workers so much weaker?