I have to fly a lot for work and fly 2-3 r/t flights a year for vacation as well. Having status helps make flying more bearable and flying first class makes it a lot more bearable but it’s never fun. While I completely understand the overbooking due to no-shows & connecting misses, they know about it before boarding starts and should start offering compensation well before this takes place.
It should certainly be easier and less unpleasant, and less likely to draw expensive lawsuits if people are prevented from boarding the flight in the first place than waiting until they are settled in and ready to go. Getting some money back would be more likely acceptable if one is not yet on the plane. The practice of uprooting people who are already seated is nonsensical. I expect the least polite method to be used at UAL because that attitude seems to be part of their marketing strategy but the other airlines have no excuse.
I’m in the same boat. I fly a lot for business but you can’t pay me enough to fly for vacation if I can drive instead.
Part of it is the strip search required every time you get on the plane. I’m not a moslem nor do I look like a moslem, why are they harassing me? Why don’t hey go after actual terrorists (moslems) instead?
Part of it is the outrageous costs involved for travelling as a family. Even just my family of two saves hugely by driving any trip shorter than about 20 hours driving time vs flying and then renting a car at our destination. Not to mention baggage restrictions when you fly. Try to bring all your beach equipment on a flight and you’ll pay hundreds of dollars in checked baggage fees. I’d rather spend that money having fun at the beach!
And part of it is the John Rocker theorem. Why sit next to smelly people who you don’t know and don’t like, who insist on invading your space when you can drive in the roomy privacy of your own car? Not to mention the extra risk of terrorist activity.
“they know about it before boarding starts and should start offering compensation well before this takes place.”
Figured they did. Figured they were just treating people like sh!t because they could. Now it’s making major news and they are becoming the butt of jokes by foreign airlines.