United Airlines Is Offering A Lot Of Money Now For People To Give Up Their Seats

Since United Airlines fell into hot water over the violent video that surfaced showing a passenger removed from a flight against his will, the company has been trying to make changes to gain its popularity back.

United Airlines announced this week that it has made a total of 10 “substantial” changes to how they will manager the customer experience in the future.

Some of the changes include limiting the use of law enforcement officials on board flights to safety and security issues only. The airline will also increase the compensation for passengers who willingly give up their seats on overbooked flights to $10,000.

Wow, for $10,000, more people might be willing to jump up and let their seat go. On the flight where David Dao was violenty taken off from, the compensation was $800.

According to the airline, some of the changes will be immediate while others will happen over time during the year.

United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz had offered Dao a full apology and also said, “Every customer deserves to be treated with the highest levels of service and the deepest sense of dignity and respect. Two weeks ago, we failed to meet that standard and we profoundly apologize. However, actions speak louder than words. Today, we are taking concrete, meaningful action to make things right and ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”

“Our review shows that many things went wrong that day, but the headline is clear: our policies got in the way of our values and procedures interfered in doing what’s right.”

“This is a turning point for all of us at United and it signals a culture shift toward becoming a better, more customer-focused airline. Our customers should be at the centre of everything we do and these changes are just the beginning of how we will earn back their trust.”

The full list of changes are:

Limit use of law enforcement to safety and security issues only.
Not require customers seated on the plane to give up their seat involuntarily unless safety or security is at risk.
Increase customer compensation incentives for voluntary denied boarding up to $10,000.
Establish a customer solutions team to provide agents with creative solutions such as using nearby airports, other airlines or ground transportations to get customers to their final destination.
Ensure crews are booked onto a flight at least 60 minutes prior to departure.
Provide employees with additional annual training.
Create an automated system for soliciting volunteers to change travel plans.
Reduce the amount of overbooking.
Empower employees to resolve customer service issues in the moment.
Eliminate the red tape on permanently lost bags by adopting a “no questions asked” policy on lost luggage.

Disclaimer: We have no position in United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) and have not been compensated for this article.