Man sues United, claiming alcohol service caused him to beat his wife

by Josh Lew on

A man on a flight from Osaka to San Francisco had too much to drink. Soon after landing, he started beating his wife. After he ended up in police custody and sobered up, he didn’t sheepishly apologize to his wife. Nope. He decided to sue United for serving him too much alcohol, which, he alleges, caused him become violent. The man, Yoichi Shimamoto, was arrested by police at a customs checkpoint after he struck his wife in the face half-a-dozen times. The suit alleges that United’s cabin crew served him wine at 20-minute intervals throughout the flight and that he was so drunk that he could not control himself. Shinamoto and his spouse are seeking $100,000 from the airline as well as more money for pain and suffering.

United responded to the suit, saying “We believe that a lawsuit that suggests that we are somehow responsible for the consequences of a passenger’s physical assault on his own wife is without any merit whatsoever.”

[via Today in the Sky]

United Airlines getting downright silly with their “Travel Options”

by Scott Carmichael on

Look, I understand that the airlines are in a pretty bad shape. But United Airlines is taking things a little too far.

The Chicago based airline started offering “a la carte” options to their flights last year. What started with basic upgrades to First/Business, has now morphed into a ridiculous array of nickel-and-diming.

Their newest tactic to squeeze that last bit of cash out of you is called “Premier Line”. This add-on starts at $25 (each way) and allows you to use the same check-in line, security line and boarding group that United offers its lower tier elite fliers.

This is insulting to two groups of people; those that actually flew the airline enough to earn status the hard way, and those that spent their money expecting some decent service from the airline. Sure; nobody is forcing you to add any of these options, but I can’t help feel that the airline should be paying more attention to increasing service for everyone, not just those willing to pay more for it.

I’m honestly not sure where this madness will end. Every time I fly United, I expect to see a coin operated door to enter the bathroom or the captain asking for donations to pay the fuel truck driver.

A handy guide to help you wade through airline rules and restrictions

by Jamie Rhein on

While I was packing yesterday for my daughter’s and my trip to Denmark, I asked her if she wanted to take a lightweight shawl to use as a blanket on the airplane.

“Don’t they give you blankets?” she asked.

Maybe. Some airlines charge extra for a blanket and pillow. Jet Blue already does. U.S. Airways is going to start soon.

In another conversation yesterday, this one on the phone, my father told me that he decided against checking a second bag on his Delta flight from Columbus to JFK in New York when he found out that this would cost him $50. On December 5, that fee will go down to $25.

My dad’s plane was an hour late leaving Columbus yesterday, and he said that the JFK connection to Albany was a hassle to navigate. Perhaps, that’s why the extra baggage fees seem unreasonable. Plane travel is anything but heavenly.

Blanket fees, bag fees, reservation fees, carry-on size changes, meals or no meals, drinks or no drinks, working toilet or no working toilet–just kidding on that one–are details that make air travel more confusing than it used to be.

Sure, buy the plane ticket, but don’t think you’re done paying for the cost of getting from here to there. Keep some extra cash on hand because you’re bound to need it for something when you fly.

In this comprehensive article at Smarter Travel, Tim Winship covers 25 policy changes that are coming to various airlines. When trying to find the best deal, knowing an airline’s checked baggage policy, for example, can make a difference as to how pricey a cheap ticket may become.

One point Winship makes is that complaining can work. When United received complaints galore from passengers who were miffed about paying for meals on overseas flights, the airlines dropped that charge.

If there is anything that’s certain, as soon as you learn an airline’s policy, it’s going to change.

United went bankrupt? Wait. What?

by Grant Martin on

All hell broke loose this morning on Wall Street when word accidentally slipped out that United Airlines had declared bankruptcy. Apparently Bloomberg and a few other agencies accidentally picked up a story from several years back talking about United’s financial woes, then thinking it was fresh news investors started dumping the stock. At 11:30 this morning, at $0.01 per share, the stock was suspended.

Meanwhile, United spokespeople are wildly trying to refute claims that the company has gone bankrupt and there’s still confusion among investors about what really happened.

Amidst the trading debacle, apparently one member of Flyertalk bought in for 10,000 shares at $0.01 per share. As trading resumed later in the afternoon (currently at $10.92), he’s since made $10.91 per share. I’ll let you do the math on that profit.

NOT pre-boarding people with young ones saves time

by Jamie Rhein on

In an article in the St. Petersburg Times, writer Bridget Hall Grumet tells about her experience waiting with her pre-toddler to pre-board, only to not pre-board after all. The unnamed airline had dropped the practice unbeknown to her. (She later mentions an American Airlines and United flight, but they are not the ones Grumet initially described.)

We’ve posted in the past about airlines who have stopped pre-boarding families with infants and small children. Southwest, American, Delta and United no longer have pre-boarding, although Grumet says that if you ask gate attendants with American and Delta, they may let you board early if you have a small child. Grumet personally found that to be true on an American flight.

Although Grumet misses the perk of boarding early with a kid because it makes settling in on a plane that much easier, she does understand the airlines’ latest practice. The idea behind not making allowances for people with small children and infants, and others who need assistance, is that when they get on the plane in one group, it creates a bottleneck.

If people who need extra help are randomly spread out during the boarding process, it saves 10 to 12 minutes. That may not sound like much, but as airlines struggle to get people to their destinations on time, 10 to12 minutes can jam up arrivals and departures for more than that one airplane.

My thought is that if I were traveling with a small child, I’d not be in any hurry to board. Spend less time on the airplane. The problem with that strategy is that with overhead bins becoming more packed as people avoid the cost of checking a bag, there won’t be space in the bins. Then you’d be stuck searching out a bin rows from your seat. See Heather’s post on how the trying to find bin space can look to a flight attendant.

Here’s one of my solutions for combating the headache of traveling on a plane with a small child. When at all possible, take the train. Stay tuned tomorrow for my post on how train travel worked out for me. My six year-old got us on the train first.