As hard as it is to imagine a trip that was finalized afterreviewing cheap traveloptions, such as cheapairplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, discounttravel deals, and cheap vacation packages, onlyto later being forcibly removed from an assigned airplane seat, that is justwhat happened in April to a United Airlines passenger.
United has announced a series of changes it is making toprevent a repeat of what happened to Dr. David Dao when he was dragged from aUnited flight because the airline needed extra seats for commuting crewmembers. The April 9th fiascoquickly went viral. Dr. Dao suffered aconcussion and lost two teeth.
United has reviewed what happened aboard flight 3411 and ismaking changes to reduce involuntary denial of boarding or bumping to as closeto zero as possible.
While United admits that many things went wrong that day,our policies got in the way of our values and procedures interfered in doingwhats right, according to Uniteds CEO.
United has identified four failures that day:
First,it should not have called law enforcement when a security or safety issue wasnot present.
Second,it failed when rebooking crew on an already packed and boarded flight.
Third,it failed to incentivize passengers voluntarily with adequatecompensations. Its employees did nothave the authority to offer more or find other ways to get passengers to theirdestination.
Fourth,United did not train its employees for situations like the one with Dr. Dao.
United has made 10 policy changes and initiatives todecrease bumping and improve customer service, some of which have already beenimplemented while others will be rolled out shortly:
Unitedwill not use law enforcement unless there is a safety or security issue. Police will not be used to enforce Unitedpolicies.
Boardedpassengers will not have to give up their seats involuntarily unless there is asafety or security issue.
Unitedhas increased compensation up to $10,000 to passengers who voluntarily give uptheir seats.
Acustomer solutions team is being created to assist gate agents to help fliersarrive at their destinations. This teamwill also help crews find alternatives to displacing passengers.
Travelingcrew members must be booked at least 60 minutes prior to departure.
Unitedis adding new annual training in August to its employees that will equip themto handle the most difficult of situations.
Unitedwill ask passengers during automated check-in and on its app if they areinterested in giving up their seats in exchange for compensation.
Unitedis reducing overbooking for last of day flights, such as flight 3411, orflights that historically have few passengers voluntarily giving up seats.
Usinga new app, flight attendants and gate agents can proactively give out miles orother compensation when a disservice occurs.
Unitedis reducing the red tape for lost bags. If a bag goes permanently missing the airline is adopting a noquestions asked policy and will pay $1,500 for the bag and its contents.
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