I was quite disappointed by your earlier post. I’m a frequent flyer used to first and business class as well, and I’m also desensitized to some extent, used to economy class passengers getting crappy treatment.
But that was some crappy treatment by United. A doctor pays and books his seat and really needs to get home to see his patients the next day, United is stupid and doesn’t schedule their crew properly, so the only solution United can come with is to punch the doctor in the face and drag him out of the plane?!?
There’s obviously other ways. hmmm.. how about don’t let the people all in in the first place? The last four to board don’t get to enter? Announce it beforehand so people aren’t seated already? Most obviously, don’t be CHEAP and just increase the reward.
You realize $800 is a joke right? The time to pack, get to the airport, checking in, leave the airport again, unpack, checking in again. That’s 6 hours right there. You have no plans the whole day. That’s 24 hours right there. With a voucher, you have to go through hassle and probably not get the airline you want. To redeem the voucher, you spend another hour on the phone. You have no plans for the day, so that’s 24 hours lost.
There’s a reason why a hundred people didn’t take the $800 offer. It’s not because they were all stupid Lucky. It’s because it was a crappy offer. If United would have bumped it up to $1500 cash, or 4 free round trip domestic flights, they would have had takers. But not, it was cheaper for them to punch someone in the face and drag him out.