Here we go again.
A California man was threatened with handcuffs if he failed to relinquish his first class seat on a United flight from Lihue to Los Angeles. The reason? His seat was needed for a “more important” passenger.
Let’s summarize the details:
- Geoff Fearns, 59 year old president of TriPacific Capital Advisors (manages $500,000,000 in public pension funds)
- Buys a ~$1,000 paid one-way first class ticket to Los Angeles (not an upgrade)
- Last-minute equipment downgrade to an aircraft with few first class seats but no announcement made at gate
- Fearns keeps original seat assignment in first class
- Boarded flight, took his seat in first class, enjoyed a glass of orange juice
- United gate agent enters aircraft, tells him he must get off plane because “flight was overfull”
- Fearns “held his ground” and refused to get up
- United agent stated that first class seat was needed for someone “more important who came at the last minute” and he would be “put in cuffs” if necessary
- Fearns re-accomodated in economy class — in a middle seat between a married couple that was in the midst of a heated fight and argued the entire flight
- Back in California, Fearns wrote United requesting a full refund and a request that United make a $25,000 donation to the charity of his choice
- United refused both requests, offering him a refund in the difference between a business and economy fare and a $500 voucher
- Fearns is now considering a lawsuit
This story comes from David Lazarus, a respected reporter for the Los Angeles Times. I have absolutely no reason to question any part of it.
My Thoughts on “Downgradegate”
In many respects, this is even more egregious than the facts surrounding the other story. I don’t mean to compare a first class downgrade to a bloodied passenger forcibly dragged off a flight. Instead, I mean that United has no excuses for this one. No police officers to blame. No United Express staff to blame. No scapegoats.
Although I am speculating, here’s what I think happened. The equipment downgrade meant four less first class seats. Let’s say that a few were still open so the flight was only overbooked by one in the front cabin. Rather than downgrade anyone, United typically figures on no-shows. Full-fare first class passengers are notorious for cancelling at the last minute.
Hoping for the best, passengers were allowed to board and all looked good until the last passenger showed up at the last minute, likely a Global Services or 1K member. Key unknown fact: did he show up after the check-in cutoff or boarding cut off? Now the first class cabin was overbooked by one and someone had to be downgraded.
You’d figure it would be the guy who showed up later and presumably didn’t have a seat assignment. But that’s not how it usually works. United will typically downgrade passengers based upon elite status in the MileagePlus program. It appears that Fearns had no status. Even though he paid for a first class ticket it is usually passengers like him to get the downgrade.
The Handcuffs Threat
Up until now, I am very sympathetic to Fearns, but roll my eyes at his request that United donate $25K to charity due to a downgrade.
But this was about a lot more than a downgrade.
Fearns was threatened with arrest for failing to give up his seat to a “more important” passenger. Can you imagine being told that? Can you imagine paying $1K for a one-way domestic ticket and then a gate agent threatening to put you in handcuffs for not giving up your seat?
If there is one thing that I hope all this horrible publicity will change, it is the police threats. I am so sick of them. I am so sick of the culture of fear that permeates the USA.
Maybe a lawsuit from the deep pockets of a “privileged” traveler may finally lead to airline policy change.
Compensation?
Fearns does not indicate how much his fare difference refund is, but I suspect it was small. A walk-up first class ticket is often less than a full-fare economy class ticket.
I am surprised United did not send him a bill for the difference in fare…
CONCLUSION
In correspondence to Fearns, United wrote “Your business is especially important to us and we’ll do our utmost to make your future contacts with United satisfactory in every respect”.
That’s an insult.
United has a huge customer service problem. I agree with Travis and lay the blame on the Smisek era. It is time that United immediately empowers its agents to start thinking with their heads and hearts, not just their computers. The whole overbooking policy needs to be revisited, even if it normally works out quite well.
I’m sure we’ll hear more about this story today.
I would have thought someone with as much expertise as you, Matthew, would have at least mentioned the phrase ‘Federal Air Marshall’. While obviously not the only thing that could have caused it, I can’t think of anything other than a major SOP violation that would require the FA to ask a specific person and only that person to relinquish their seat, especially when said person is in a paid F ticket from Hawaii (usually chock full of upgraded pax).
While it would likely never be confirmed due to ‘national security’, I would put money on it being an Air Marshall showing up at the last second, putting the agent between a rock and a hard place.
That’s a very interesting thought that never even crossed my mind.
That has happened on flights even without equipment changes–
http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2010/10/19/airlines-want-air-marshals-out-of-first-class/
This too–
http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2015/10/14/this-is-why-the-tsa-federal-air-marshal-service-needs-to-end/
If it was for a FAM the gate agent screwed up in making a scene. Everyone on that plane then would have known there was “something” about whoever took the seat.
That being said, that’s also the reason why I’m not so sure that’d have been the case. FAMs don’t board late. People notice. No-one here but us chickens. Be a tree*
* Offer void where prohibited//you spill sticky soda (or, worse, beer) in their lap//Milwaukee
I can’t speak to this incident re: an air marshal perhaps b/c that’s above my pay grade in the airline world and if that was true – couldn’t the air marshal fly Econ where there are more paxs?
I have to admit that Matt you’re defense of United the past few days was, in my humble opinion, tin headed to the general non aviation traveler.
Posting that the pax (thrown off the other day) has a sordid past was below the belt. It never was about a crazed Vietnamese drug dealing, sex fiend.
It was and is about United and other airlines acting surely and nasty to passengers who fly. It is about threatening and bringing on cops like we are cattle to be arrested. Did you not yourself get that treatment after once taking pics innocently? Wasn’t that FA surly to you? You passed it off as a one off. It’s not a one off.
I’ve taken to flying private as much as I can on WU. I can afford to and I resent paying that price, but I do it b/c I am tired of watching FA’s act like a**holes to the common traveler. I fear being thrown off a plane myself.
Now, not all FA’s are that way. I’ve had more pleasant ones that not on Delta United and AA than I can shake a stick at. In return, I go out of my way to thank them and to talk to them when they are not rushing around. I always make eye contact. I always smile. I always am polite. I know when dealing with customers it can be stressful.
But, despite you saying no and another person saying no – it is true that the customer is always right. Even in this case where one can argue legitimately that the Dr should just have gotten up and left b/c that was the right thing to do in that case, he was right b/c he was the customer. Otherwise, you lose customer support and when you do your brand takes a hit and that hits your bottom line. I cannot tell you how many times my firm has had to deal with unreasonable people who are wrong, but we do it to preserve our name so we stay in business. The customer is always right.
And, this customer is almost becoming the first to say “NO” to the unruly behavior of those in the airline industry who think that an FA means that even if you’re taking a picture for a blog or sitting in first class sipping a glass of orange juice that as an FA you can say “f you” to the paying customer, threaten the police and handcuffs.
That must end and it must end now. That should be reserved for serious threats to the safety of passenger and crew situations.
And, that is the point of what happened. oOthing more. Nothing less.
This passenger seemed like a decent guy. United should’ve donated the $25,000 as a goodwill gesture. That’s pocket change. It’s costing them a lot more in bad PR.
It is so easy to make excuses for United in these situations, but the reality is that, to paraphrase the new Washington Post slogan, bad things easily happen in darkness. The simple fact is that your average airline agent is dealing with one passenger at a time and has a lot of power to mold the situation the way that is best for the airline or the agent at the time. Most of the time the incident never gets blown up to where others know about it, so the agent is in good shape. Agents know this, so they have little hesitation to do whatever makes their job easier at the time–even when it causes a major problem for that lone passenger. I had a personal experience of this sort with United. My paid first class ticket was in jeopardy because my flight into Denver was late and I missed my connection. An agent in the United Club got me another flight, but in coach. When I complained, her explanation was that my paid ticket was not a “real” first class ticket, so I had to travel in coach. I complained to a supervisor who immediately put me in first class and assured me that my first class ticket was real. I believe that what happened was that it was, for some reason, just easier for the agent to punch me into a coach seat, perhaps for a computer reason, so she decided to use her power and push me around a bit; after all, she can usually get away with it. Most passengers don’t complain, and most passengers are just happy to be on their way. For an agent like that it’s a pretty safe bet. Ultimately in situations like this it means that the agent just doesn’t care about the individual passenger who is just one in a continuing army of bodies that have to be processed. At the least it leaves passengers paranoid about what their lack of importance is going to do to them by an agent who doesn’t care about them.
“United has a huge customer service problem. I agree with Travis and lay the blame on the Smisek era. It is time that United immediately empowers its agents to start thinking with their heads and hearts, not just their computers. The whole overbooking policy needs to be revisited, even if it normally works out quite well.”
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Wow thanks for mentioning this – you are one of the few that still gets what the CO merger did to us.
United retiree here.
United (pre-merger) had it’s faults for sure but WE WERE EMPOWERED by United at that time to think out of the box and we had the tools to do it. A tremendous amount of change was due to Continental’s SHARES computer. It was totally inferior to United’s FASTAIR and it started an avalanche of problems that couldn’t be stopped. When the tool you are using is useless and the CO corporate mindset was to just “make do”, the (old) UA ability of being able to help with 1-2 keystrokes versus hours of frustration on a piece of crap became the (forced) “norm”. Ergo, passengers have been feeling the difference for the past five years and will continue to.
UA employees were involuntarily “let off the hook” of helping people and using some concern, compassion, COMMON SENSE because CO just didn’t do business that way – those (and others like me) that decided to resist the Can’tinental thinking were given a hard time– others (the majority) just took up with the lazy “no” mentality and ran/run with it. How easy is that, to just say “NO” all day long (“nothing we can do”). Horrible, horrible handling of things and this is just the tip of the iceberg. I do like Oscar, I think he’s a class act and I hope he can still right this ship but somehow it keeps getting bigger and bigger leaks.
I have flown 3 United segments since the merger and that is 3 too many.
In over 200 segments on Alaska, SW, DL, AA ,BA and even Frontier during that same time period, I have never even seen one mishandled situation by a gate agent or flight crew.
There is something rotten in the State of United. A fish stinks from its Munoz.
Amen, JoEllen! I totally blame SHARES for all of UA’s fiascos. How come very few are coming forward and mentioning/blaming SHARES? I believe that the ORD gate agent stopped at $800 and threw her hands up in the air … rather than trying to fight with SHARES and in getting authorization to go over $800. Agents and employees at UA simply do NOT have the proper tools to provide outstanding customer service.
Replacing SHARES should be one of UA’s priorities right now. Amen.
Thanks. SHARES (or whatever they are using now, which I understand is no improvement – I still talk to friends at United…..) is the crux of this matter – guaranteed. Of course that’s what happened – SHARES is built for an $800 maximum and anything else would have probably taken 55 different long entries and 10 phone calls to get through it. Add on that he or she (GA) was being pressured by the deadheading REPUBLIC crew that their contract has to be honored as (must ride positive space) plus trying to get the flight out on time and, well there you have it !! For those who claim agents need more training – no they don’t — UNITED NEEDS TO BRING BACK FASTAIR……it was actually way, way ahead of it’s time before they were auctioned off on SHARES – Continental cheap dumb-down = NO compassion, NO ability, NO knowledge, NO common sense — NO was and still is the Can’tinental mentality, they just don’t get it. We’ll see now if Oscar can knock any sense into his underlings that have anything and everything to do with corporate policy and procedures.
If you think about it, all these (and similar) situations are triggered by poorly trained personnel with too much power. They believe they are immune from all consequences. All checks and balances have gone by the wayside since 9/11 with the lame excuse of “security.” All these examples have NOTHING to do with safety.
The same situation has happened to me, my husband and dozen more passengers from Newark to Los Angeles on Aug 29th, UA1456.
I have checked in 24 hours prior the departure and left my contact in check in. When I check in on kiosk, my boarding pass showed my seat in business class with my designated seat number, but my husband’s boarding pass showing see agent. We arrived at the the gate, the attendant told us due to the change of aircraft, the business class is full, and we have been downgraded because I used mileage for the tickets and my husband and I using the same account even he didn’t use the mileage, he also got downgraded. After the incident, I thought United will do better than this, but it failed us again. And If it’s really for change of aircraft, the united airline could have called, texted or emailed us for the problem that we could have choices making changes, not wait until we are almost boarding and leave us with limited choices.
I believe I would not take United Airline if I have choice in the further.