Airlines change passenger bumping policy following United incident

World Today

Airlines change passenger bumping policy following United incident

Following the now-infamous United Airlines passenger ejection earlier this month, United and two other U.S. carriers said they’re changing their policies about bumping passengers.

The Chicago incident sparked huge outrage and it’s prompted some to wonder whether a similar run-in could take place in other parts of the world.

CGTN’s Hendrik Sybrandy reports.

Jason Steele is a senior contributor to The Points Guy, a website that helps travelers maximize the use of their credit cards to get from point A to point B, for free. He flies a lot.

Steele, like many people, is on the side of United Airlines passenger David Dao, who refused to give up his seat on April 9 to make room for United crew members.

Dao was dragged down the aisle of the plane when he wouldn’t deplane voluntarily.

“For his own personal safety he should have disembarked but on a moral standpoint he made the right call because he had every right to be on that plane,” Jason says.

Although this incident was quite unusual, Steele said it highlights a U.S. air transport system in which he said American passengers treat their plane tickets like bus or train tickets. They cancel them a lot.

He said that’s why U.S. airlines often overbook their flights. International carriers, which are also legally allowed to bump overbooked passengers, are much less likely to do it.

He and others said the relationship between U.S. airlines and their cost-driven passengers has also deteriorated in recent years, that customer service here is not what it once was.