United Airlines just announced a major policy shift for when they want you to give up your seat on a flight: Instead of having goons beat you up and drag you off the plane, the new plan is to dump a giant pile of money in your lap.
United took out a full-page ad in the "Washington Post" to announce their new policies in the wake of that disastrous passenger dragging incident from a few weeks ago. Here's what they're promising . . .
1. They'll offer up to $10,000 to people willing to volunteer to give up their seat on overbooked flights. If you remember, on the flight where they dragged off that doctor, they'd only been offering a few hundred bucks.
2. If they permanently lose your bag, you'll get $1,500, no questions asked.
3. And once you're on a flight, you won't be required to give up your seat . . . and they won't bring in cops to remove you, quote, "except in matters of safety or security."
Will any of these new policies rehabilitate United's image? It's way too early to tell. But on the bright side, now I'm actually HOPING they ask for volunteers the next time I'm on a flight. 10 grand? I can absolutely take a later flight.
And on a related note, Dr. David Dao, the guy who was dragged off the United flight, settled with them yesterday for an undisclosed amount. I'm betting he got paid BIG. (Huffington Post / Yahoo)
Photo courtesy of airplane-pictures.net