Man Dragged off United Flight

@Nick

I, too, have had something similar. I waited until the plane took off before I called scheduling to tell them I wasn't on the DH.

Granted, they failed to change me from an A3 to and A1 whilst they remembered to change the CA and FA to an A1. Nevertheless, I got on the first flight to my home state after that and went home. There were A LOT of other factors involved. Last day, not within footprint, "legal to start, legal to finish (pre- FAR 117)," didn't want to change proposed departure times to keep us legal, when anyone that could use SABRE could tell that we would be excruciatingly late, etc.
 
Nick said:
Story time.

I actually had a scenario a few years ago that I will never ever forget. The inbound jet to pick our crew up in OMA and DH us to DTW was late and one of the F/As and I wanted to enjoy the nice free breakfast buffet, they had a pancake machine, fresh berries, etc., so I coordinated with the company to move the van time back. They approved.

Well the inbound DH jet made up an incredible amount of time en route. When we left the hotel, they were already pulling into the gate to do a 50-seater quick turn. No matter; five minutes to the airport and I told the F/O and FAs to head on up to the gate and I'll stop by the ticket counter and tell them to radio up to the gate that we'll be up in a minute. No problemo.

We got there and boarding was complete. But it had been oversold and one passenger was getting a check for $1200 (not a voucher, a check) for denied boarding. The agent saw us four show up and said I can't get you on. I said, sorry we're late to show up but we checked in online last night and either way we have to get on, we're operating three flights out of DTW when we get there, and there is no one else to do them out there. She said too bad, and went down to close up.

The jet slowwwwly departed the gate, come to find out later that the captain was getting OE from the check airman in the right seat and they also had a fed on the jumpseat for the line check. So things were understandably slow and deliberate.

I sat down and got on the phone with my company (who I must give credit for, never once in seven years had a hold que to talk to anyone). They somehow ran this situation up the chain of command through mainline and back down to the DH company real fast, because the CRJ pulled into the runup pad at OMA's 32L and then I wondered...no way...it can't be what I think it is.

Yes, way. A few minutes later they gate returned to toss four passengers off and get us on.

Problem was, during that transaction, DTW went into a groundstop that never lifted the rest of the afternoon...crazy thunderstorms en route. So whereas they would have gotten off the ground before the groundstop went into effect, they deplaned all 50 people and the flight was canceled a few hours later. Their two additional flights were also canceled.

My crew's three flights were also canceled.

And a deadheading crew that was already on board also had two legs out of DTW canceled.

Seven canceled flights because the agent didn't believe me when I said we were positive-space-must-rides.

Ah, outsourcing.
Click to expand...

I once observed a hilarious impasse between a regional scheduler and a mainline gate agent.

The setup: Holiday trip, we doing a double DH from base through the hub down to MIA, layover and pick up a series flights back to the hub via a couple of stops. Kind of a neat trip since it wasn't the normal out-and-back hub shuffle.

Anyway, we get to Hubsburg with plenty of time, and wander down to the gate to check in. No seats, oversold, and "EXPRESS DOESN'T HAVE POSITIVE SPACE ON MAINLINE", or so the agent told us numerous times, with ever increasing volume.

Observing the CA's fruitless arguing with the agent getting nowhere, I dialed up Crew Scheduling from a pay phone (ahhh, those pre cellular days) and laid it out for them. She asked what gate I was at, and said "O, RLY?", and she'd handle it.

My "GAF" switch, at that point, snapped to the detent, so I sat down to watch the fun. The phone rang at the gate, and an increasingly animated conversation ensued and concluded with the agent slamming the phone down.

Departure time. Plane loaded, and towards the end, it appeared we were going nowhere. Door closed! Cool. Long layover in Hubsburg!

Gate phone rings. Agent turns about 8 shades of purple. Opens door, removes to pax, and calls us up to give us our seats.
 
pullup said:
In United's eyes it was necessary. Could #11 be it too? Was this an instruction from the crew?


Sent from your moms phone
Click to expand...

An idea on the jacked up thought process.... After 20 hours of travel from Colorado to Tokyo the flight to Manila was cancelled.... Rather than just pay for a hotel room while we waited for the next flight (14 hours later) they put our guy on a flight to Guam, so he could go there and then catch a flight to Manila that arrived almost the same time as the one leaving Tokyo 14 hours later.....

All that to avoid paying for a hotel room and a Taxi.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
B767 said:
My kids often wonder why their friends homes have much larger bars of soap, big bottles of shampoo, soft toilet paper, and larger, fluffy, towels.

I tell them "because their parents buy that stuff. We get ours for free."
Click to expand...

You steal hotel towels?
 
Lawman said:
An idea on the jacked up thought process.... After 20 hours of travel from Colorado to Tokyo the flight to Manila was cancelled.... Rather than just pay for a hotel room while we waited for the next flight (14 hours later) they put our guy on a flight to Guam, so he could go there and then catch a flight to Manila that arrived almost the same time as the one leaving Tokyo 14 hours later.....

All that to avoid paying for a hotel room and a Taxi.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


I'm not sober, translate please.


Sent from your moms phone
 
B767 said:
As a regional CA, and I would've said and done (yes I did it once) as an FO, "don't ask for volunteers. If there's no seats, there's no seats. That's not our problem to solve. We'll get there when we get there, or they'll figure something else out."
Click to expand...

It does not always work this way. Once when I was a GA, a crew told us not to worry about it, they would wait later for another flight. The a/c pushed out, taxi'd to the hold before the runway, then we got a call from dispatch. They said that flight is not leaving til that crew is on it. Sure enough, the CA radio'd us and told us he had to come back to the gate. We had to go pull off 3 people and put the crew on.
 
jayd1038 said:
It does not always work this way. Once when I was a GA, a crew told us not to worry about it, they would wait later for another flight. The a/c pushed out, taxi'd to the hold before the runway, then we got a call from dispatch. They said that flight is not leaving til that crew is on it. Sure enough, the CA radio'd us and told us he had to come back to the gate. We had to go pull off 3 people and put the crew on.
Click to expand...
That's why the crew that misses the flight doesn't make the phone call until AFTER the plane they missed takes off.
 
Richman said:
I once observed a hilarious impasse between a regional scheduler and a mainline gate agent.

The setup: Holiday trip, we doing a double DH from base through the hub down to MIA, layover and pick up a series flights back to the hub via a couple of stops. Kind of a neat trip since it wasn't the normal out-and-back hub shuffle.

Anyway, we get to Hubsburg with plenty of time, and wander down to the gate to check in. No seats, oversold, and "EXPRESS DOESN'T HAVE POSITIVE SPACE ON MAINLINE", or so the agent told us numerous times, with ever increasing volume.

Observing the CA's fruitless arguing with the agent getting nowhere, I dialed up Crew Scheduling from a pay phone (ahhh, those pre cellular days) and laid it out for them. She asked what gate I was at, and said "O, RLY?", and she'd handle it.

My "GAF" switch, at that point, snapped to the detent, so I sat down to watch the fun. The phone rang at the gate, and an increasingly animated conversation ensued and concluded with the agent slamming the phone down.

Departure time. Plane loaded, and towards the end, it appeared we were going nowhere. Door closed! Cool. Long layover in Hubsburg!

Gate phone rings. Agent turns about 8 shades of purple. Opens door, removes to pax, and calls us up to give us our seats.
Click to expand...

Had a similar incident occur between a mainline scheduler and mainline agent. Trying to commute to NYC, made it as far as ATL. IROP, situation normal. Flight I was on canceled and scheduler offered to book me on a Jumpseat for the next flight out. Ran to gate, and agent told me I wasn't getting on the flight because it was payload optimized.

When I tried to tell her that, as an online pilot with a res, I'm not subject to the optimization and she needed to check her facts, and if I didn't make this flight, the late CDG flight would cancel, she loudly and rudely shouted that Paris wasn't her problem.

So I called the scheduler and told her what was going on. She said, "Hold on, I'll fix this," and then proceeded to list me as a must ride PS. Went back to the gate where the agent told me to get lost as no one was jumpseating, it was too close to departure time to mess with it. When I told her I was now a PS and she needed to remove someone, she literally had an apoplectic fit. Foamimg at the mouth and sputtering about how "This "crap" ain't right."

I then pointed out, "Or, you can just put me on the Jumpseat, like you should have in the first place." Seriously thought she was going to hit me.

So be careful over on B. There's an agent who now hates pilots because of me!
 
Nick said:
Story time.

I actually had a scenario a few years ago that I will never ever forget. The inbound jet to pick our crew up in OMA and DH us to DTW was late and one of the F/As and I wanted to enjoy the nice free breakfast buffet, they had a pancake machine, fresh berries, etc., so I coordinated with the company to move the van time back. They approved.

Well the inbound DH jet made up an incredible amount of time en route. When we left the hotel, they were already pulling into the gate to do a 50-seater quick turn. No matter; five minutes to the airport and I told the F/O and FAs to head on up to the gate and I'll stop by the ticket counter and tell them to radio up to the gate that we'll be up in a minute. No problemo.

We got there and boarding was complete. But it had been oversold and one passenger was getting a check for $1200 (not a voucher, a check) for denied boarding. The agent saw us four show up and said I can't get you on. I said, sorry we're late to show up but we checked in online last night and either way we have to get on, we're operating three flights out of DTW when we get there, and there is no one else to do them out there. She said too bad, and went down to close up.

The jet slowwwwly departed the gate, come to find out later that the captain was getting OE from the check airman in the right seat and they also had a fed on the jumpseat for the line check. So things were understandably slow and deliberate.

I sat down and got on the phone with my company (who I must give credit for, never once in seven years had a hold que to talk to anyone). They somehow ran this situation up the chain of command through mainline and back down to the DH company real fast, because the CRJ pulled into the runup pad at OMA's 32L and then I wondered...no way...it can't be what I think it is.

Yes, way. A few minutes later they gate returned to toss four passengers off and get us on.

Problem was, during that transaction, DTW went into a groundstop that never lifted the rest of the afternoon...crazy thunderstorms en route. So whereas they would have gotten off the ground before the groundstop went into effect, they deplaned all 50 people and the flight was canceled a few hours later. Their two additional flights were also canceled.

My crew's three flights were also canceled.

And a deadheading crew that was already on board also had two legs out of DTW canceled.

Seven canceled flights because the agent didn't believe me when I said we were positive-space-must-rides.

Ah, outsourcing.
Click to expand...

I actually kind of miss days like that. Some people get spooled up, I prefer to take a "this is going to be an awesome story" approach.
 
gotWXdagain said:
People who aren't d-bags that realize that hotel cleaning staff at some places end up getting charged for missing linens, and if enough people do it, hotels have to adjust their rates accordingly to make up for the loss, and now everyone has to pay for it.
Click to expand...

Had a buddy who's mom was an FA for Pan Am back in the 70s. They had two large lamps on either side of the couch in the family room. His mom took them one at a time from a layover hotel because she liked the way they looked.
 
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