On Sunday, a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to London departed fifty-nine minutes late, with three business class passengers bumped to economy plus. This happened because the crew rest facility was out of service, and their seats were needed for the crew to have “horizontal rest.”
Unfortunately, being bumped or downgraded happens far too often, but what sets this apart is the allegation that all passengers were threatened with removal unless business class volunteers came forward.At the outset, it is prudent to say that all the details have not yet been verified and that Simple Flying has contacted United Airlines for comment. Any comment received will be added to this story.
This is what has been reported.
As reported by PYOK, the issue arose on Sunday, September 22, at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) onboard United Airlines flight UA923, which was preparing to depart for London. According to passengers and various posts, gate agents had informed everyone onboard that the crew restfacilities were out of order, and despite engineers working on the problem, the crew rest could not be returned to service.The overnight transatlantic service has an average flight time of ten hours, and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules and the flight attendants’ work contract stipulate that the crew must rest during the flight. This a safety issue to ensure cabin crews are well rested and ready for any eventuality, particularly during the critical landing phase of the flight.
Things worked out amicably onboard.
The next part is when things got a little more interesting. The 787’s Polaris business class cabin was full, so there were no spare seats to use as crew rest, and without those seats available, the plane was not heading off on an overnight flight to London Heathrow (LHR).
Gate agents boarded the aircraft and initially offered business class passengers $1,500 and 75,000 MilePlus frequent flyer miles to give up their seats, but there were no takers. The report said that when the offer was refused, the gate agents warned that the entire aircraft might be deplaned if they could not find any volunteers.As the Reddit post below shows, at least one passenger said those “comments came across as a threat, both in their wording and tone.” The offer was upped to $2,500 in compensation, which tempted three passengers to put their hands up and leave the seats empty while retreating to seats in Economy Plus.The Department of Transport sets the rules around bumping and downgrading, and it is clear that the crew must be provided with adequate rest facilities to meet safety regulations.
However, that is usually worked out before boarding, particularly since the disastrous incident in 2017 when Dr David Dao was involuntarily dragged from a United Express flight at Chicago O’Hare International.The aircraft involved was a nine-year-old Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, registration N27958 and MSN 36406, that was scheduled to depart LAX at 16:55 but did not leave until 17:54. It took 10:25 hours to get to the United Kingdom, where it landed at London Heathrow (LHR) at 12:19, fifty-four minutes late. The Dreamliner departed LHR at 14:50 on a return service to Denver International Airport (DEN), but the state of the crew rest facility remains unknown.