MONDAY DEC 30, 2024
×
Search AeroXplorer
United’s Overbooking Fiasco: Threatening and Downgrading Passengers

United’s Overbooking Fiasco: Threatening and Downgrading Passengers

BY HADI AHMAD Published on September 26, 2024 0 COMMENTS

Passengers on two United Airlines flights faced shocking dilemmas: give up your Business Class seats or be denied boarding. The two instances were caused by different reasons, both of which we will analyze today.

 

Make Way for the Crew

 

A few days earlier, three passengers traveling in United's Polaris Business Class faced an unusual situation. They were flying on UA923 from Los Angeles (LAX) to London Heathrow (LHR) operated by a Boeing 787-9.

 

The 787 has a dedicated crew rest area so that flight attendants and pilots can have a private area to rest for a few hours during long haul flights. For some unspecified reason, there was a funtionality issue with the crew rest on this particular aircraft.

 

Reportedly, maintenance crews tried multiple times to fix the problem but were unable to do so.

To make matters worse, this issue occurred after passengers had boarded the aircraft. When it was decided that the crew rest issue could not be fixed, a gate agent had to come onboard and address the aircraft.

 



ADVERTISEMENT • REMOVE ALL ADS


 

Photo: AeroXplorer | Jared Jamel

 

The agent specified that due to the issue, three Polaris passengers would have to give up their seats. This is because United crew members are guaranteed "horizontal rest" on long flights as per contract.

 

To make sure that passengers would comply with the request, the agent specified that unless three passengers gave up their seats, the entire aircraft would be deplaned.

 

Luckily for the passengers, they were given offers to downgrade to Economy Plus. These were a combination of cash and miles (and large amounts of them too). Eventually, three volunteers took these offers and the flight departed an hour late.

 

A Forced Downgrade

 

On the same day as the the LAX incident, another United London-bound flight faced a similar issue. This time, it was UA938 from Chicago (ORD) to Heathrow operated by a Boeing 767-300ER.

 

For context, the 767s that United flies to London are known as "High-J" 767s because of the premium-heavy cabin they have. On this particular occasion, the original aircraft operating UA938 was swapped to a higher-density 767 registered N647UA.

 

This aircraft has a fraction of the Polaris seats you would find on a "High-J" aircraft like N673UA for example. Because of this rare aircraft swap, 13 passengers who would have otherwise had a confirmed Polaris seat were forced to move back to economy class.

 



ADVERTISEMENT • REMOVE ALL ADS


 

Photo: AeroXplorer | Michael Szczesniak

 

No other "High-J" 767s were available at the time so N647UA was the only choice of a plane if UA938 was to operate that night. The gate agents made it clear that unless 13 Polaris guests agreed to downgrade themselves to economy (not that they had a choice), no one would board the flight.

 

In a situation like this, the airline would have to refund the difference in fare price between business and economy. Eventually, 13 passengers complied with the request and the flight departed three and a half hours late.

 

These two situations represent scenarios that were out of the airline's control. In both cases, there are details we do not know.

 

In the case of UA923, we still do not know what the crew rest issue was that prevented it from being used. Furthermore, in the case of UA938, it has not been specified if any extra aircraft were available or what happened to the original aircraft.

How do you think the United crew handled these situations? Let us know.

 AeroXplorer is on Telegram! Subscribe to the AeroXplorer Telegram Channel to receive aviation news updates as soon as they are released. View Channel 
Hadi Ahmad
Lifelong aviation enthusiast raised in Central Illinois. 777 is the best plane BTW.

Comments (0)

Add Your Comment

SHARE



TAGS

NEWS united airlinesdowngradeunited overbookingunited airlines overbookedunited airlines londonua023ua923ua938

RECENTLY PUBLISHED

Air Canada Flight Makes Emergency Landing Due to Landing Gear Issue An Air Canada flight made an emergency landing due to issues with the landing gear. All 73 passengers are reportedly uninjured. NEWS READ MORE »
Second Jeju Air Landing Gear Failure Forces Boeing 737 to Make Emergency Diversion in South Korea As recovery efforts are underway for the flight that crashed yesterday, December 29th, another aircraft of the same airline made an "emergency diversion" today, December 30th, due to a landing gear issue. NEWS READ MORE »
South Korean Boeing 737 Plane Crash Kills 170+, Two Rescued At 9:03 AM on December 29th, a Boeing 737 crashed into a wall while landing at Muan International Airport (MWX) in Muan, South Jeolla Province in South Korea. The flight was 7C2216 operated by Jeju Air. NEWS READ MORE »


SHOP

$2999
NEW!AeroXplorer Aviation Sweater Use code AVGEEK for 10% off! BUY NOW

FOLLOW US ONLINE