re: Kentucky doctor drug off overbooked plane by force in Chicago : 5th UPDATE

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Almost the entire profit of airlines is in those few seats.

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If you really dig, you may be incorrect. 30 years ago folks in first class paid the bulk, however, speaking to folks in first class these days, they are middle to lower management or sales reps getting bumped up with billions and billions (say it in the Carl Sagan voice) of priority points. Spoke to one drug rep who flies first class all the time with such points, has not paid for a ticket in ages.

FWIW, drinking in airport bars give great insight on how to travel well for little cash.

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From gate to gate, through rentals and security?

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It was a crew, they do not have to go gate to gate, rentals, and similar security. It is interesting as top flight folks travel on the jump seat so what type of crew was this? Stewardess, gate people, or some lower priority staff?

United puts crew on a puddle jumper rental and transports them across the tarmac in 15 mins or so.

United puts crew in an airport limo and drives them to LOU in about 5 hours (straight to employee gate)

I highly doubt 6 or 7

The easiest issue is upping the "buy out" to 1,200 or 1,600 dollars especially as the current rules state 400% on 1 way fare with a maximum of 1,300 dollars. Adding 400 dollars to the buyout price was way cheaper than 2 to 4 hours of flight delay and massive PR dollars lost.

the airline claims they offered up to 1000 dollars for passengers to get off. hard to believe nobody would go for that.

but then again, if a person books a flight, he typically has somewhere he needs to be.

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If the airlines had any sense, they'd be leading the parade to make the practice illegal. It would eliminate a customer service nightmare for them without creating a competitive disadvantage.

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No they wouldn't. Involuntary rebooking affects .007% of passengers. Virtually every rebooking is done voluntarily based on the offer of travel vouchers.

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If you really dig, you may be incorrect. 30 years ago folks in first class paid the bulk, however, speaking to folks in first class these days, they are middle to lower management or sales reps getting bumped up with billions and billions (say it in the Carl Sagan voice) of priority points. Spoke to one drug rep who flies first class all the time with such points, has not paid for a ticket in ages.

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I'm well aware of status and points. I was a points whore with 25-30 weeks of air travel per year for well over a decade. I've never bought a first class ticket, but have sat in the first class cabin often.

Regardless, I was referring to the overbooked seats, not the first class ones. The industry is on pace to set a record profit margin of about 5% this year, and that's based on extremely low fuel costs. Typical margins are razor thin, and depend heavily on filling the seats of no-shows. That's why overbooking isn't going anywhere.

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It was a crew, they do not have to go gate to gate, rentals, and similar security.

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They do have to walk from gate to gate, and even a limo must pick them up in designated zones outside the airport. O'hare is not a small airport. In almost every airport, they enter through the same security checkpoint as you do (even though they don't have the same screening), and ride the same transportation between terminals.

It's a five hour drive, not including any travel delays through downtown Chicago, downtown Indy, and downtown Louisville. And it counts against union and FAA allowed flight time.

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Stewardess, gate people, or some lower priority staff?

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It was a flight crew. It doesn't really matter if it was FA's or pilots, the FAA will not allow a plane to take off without either on board. They all had to get there, or the next flight wasn't going to go anywhere. It also doesn't matter if they were from another airline. Reciprocal agreements require you to handle the partner airline employees just as you would your own. It's good for the industry AND the customers.

I know everybody wants this to be simple, but it's not. It's a very complex, heavily regulated system, that is underappreciated by it's users. Involuntary removal is a remarkably rare occurrence.

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their next move should have been $1000, $1200, $1500 and they would have emptied all the seats they needed.

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This is correct.

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And again, they should have rented a van and drove the flight crew to Louisville.

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This is not correct. If they drive them, that's not considered rest time by the FAA, so you burn the shift you were taking them to Louisville for.

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KY had reinstated his medical license & THAT is why he was so panicked to be able to see his patients the next day

why? because missing scheduled appointments could be viewed as a reason to revoke his newly acquired right to practice

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Under the terms of his limited reinstatement, he's only allowed to see patients one day per week in an outpatient facility. That makes it even more difficult for him.

However, no licensing board is going to penalize you for an airline scheduling problem. This isn't a legitimate argument. Unless, of course, he was in Chicago to exchange prescriptions for sex again. That would hurt him.