By now some of you may have heard what happened just the other day on a United Airlines flight, if not let me catch you up… There was a flight where United Airlines needed to get a few of there workers to a destination. They had filled the booking for that flight and had asked if the “customers” would voluntarily give up their seats for reimbursement. There were no takers. The reality of it is this… It is United Airlines problem, not the paying customers who may have booked months in advance! What the hell good is a reservation if you can be kicked off? Especially for reasons, that you would think a multi-million dollar company SHOULD be able to handle! I am pretty sure that unless you buy some high-priced flight insurance, WE the CUSTOMERS cannot just say minutes before the flight; “Nah, I think I changed my mind.” Regardless of how the company spin it; the ends do not justify the means! Especially in this instance!
Getting back to the incident… When no “paying customer” took up United on their offer, they randomly selected a few people. One gentleman who was selected did not want to leave. Why should he have to? This man was a doctor, who had patients waiting for him back at home. Does United plan on reimbursing him for the cost of the patients he would not get to see? Or how about the patients themselves, why should they have to be inconvenienced due to a simple overbooking mistake made by a multi-million dollar company? Obviously it is because United simply is too big to care about “the customer,” remember them? We are only the ones who make their existence possible…
What happens next when the DOCTOR refuses to leave is a pathetic display and a GROSS abuse of assault on a man, who PAID for the right to fly to his next destination. I have posted a link that includes the story and video of what happened. Not only did this “customer” face physical abuse but how about his dignity? Maybe United should have just made other arrangements on whatever end they were short. Or maybe this novel idea; inconvenience the people who actually WORK for you instead of the CUSTOMERS who keep you in business!
But you see, that is not how big business treats people. This goes deeper than an OBVIOUSLY mismanaged multi-million dollar airline. One that cannot figure out it’s own personnel issues without disrupting the ONE group of people who PAY to be on that specific flight for specific reasons! Imagine if you were a person going to meet their children, or worse yet a dying relative? Then you had to be forcibly removed because an airline CANNOT manage their own booking numbers! Are you or are you NOT a F-N multi-million dollar airline?
This is an unfortunate lesson that some of us have learned in the past and may in the future… Big business cares about one thing, and it is not the customer! When we chose to support companies, maybe we should look a little deeper before deciding to support them. Not always are we given the choice or who we consume from. But when it comes to instances like this, maybe we should? If nothing else, just to REMIND these “too big to fail” businesses that WE the CUSTOMERS can dictate where our money goes! REMIND them that WE the CUSTOMERS will NOT tolerate being treated as badly or worse than how they treat our luggage!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/united-airlines-flight-overbooked-1.4063632
*Note* I have just seen reports of news agencies bringing up the past crimes of the man removed from the United Airlines flight. The point of my article is focused on how the situation was handled. This could have been ANY one of us! The past crimes of the man are not relevant to THIS incident. Additionally, the CEO is now saying the man was belligerent. The video says otherwise!
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Wanna Read My Mind 
This was really heartbreaking to read! Did they not offer any sort of compensation for the inconvenience?
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Airlines do offer compensation in the form of vouchers and other types. My issue is that United overbooked their OWN flight. Then ultimately having this 69 year old assaulted by security.
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Oh I’ve heard of that before. Well, what could we ever have expected, right? To them people are like rats. A big company like that doesn’t even have to consider giving a damn about individual people – you said ‘we only make their existence possible’ but I’m sure you know very well that, when a company’s size passes a certain point they can shit on their customers heads and they’ll continue to make profit. If they decide to shut down they’ll just start another one, they probably have successful back-up companies run under other names. Money hardly is a problem for them compared to individuals like their customers. Anything is solvable if you have the money – which they do, so they are a 100% sure they can do whatever they please and the little ‘rats’ can run around crying. Welcome to the real world! Still unacceptable but who’s at fault that things have come this far?
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I find that unity is one of the biggest factors that keep people from achieving so many things. I know it sounds simple but I would like to think that at some point, not sure when… That people can come together to stand up and make a difference. Maybe not in my lifetime, but at some point… :<
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Yeah…people keep saying ‘one’ doesn’t make a difference but they don’t do anything together either – it’s almost as if the majority likes to be mistreated.
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