United passenger forcibly removed from flight after refusing to give up seat

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

1 minute ago, IAMX said:

I think you were more accurate in your prior post. I don't disagree whatsoever with your assessment of their business decisions and hedging themselves against losing seats, but greed is often a leftist term to describe anyone that wants to screw others, not merely a Websters dictionary version.

Greed used to be a deadly sin...now it is chalked up to being a post modern construct.  

[bcking 3,157]

12 minutes ago, IAMX said:

I think you were more accurate in your prior post. I don't disagree whatsoever with your assessment of their business decisions and hedging themselves against losing seats, but greed is often a leftist term to describe anyone that wants to screw others, not merely a Websters dictionary version. The latter is what I presume people mean when they say greedy, because they often also talk about them being wealthy and that somehow being a negative connotation.

Greed is a word. It isn't something invented by the left or right. It is a word with a definition.

 

I provided the definition that i am using when i use the word greed. Based on that decision, airlines are greedy by prioritising profit over potentially having to cancel people's trips. They are selfish.

 

I'm not saying greed in an organisation is necessarily bad or unexpected. I think most businesses are greedy to a certain extent. All humans are greedy to a certain extent.

 

I think the fact that airlines run into issues like this frequently may be evidence that on the "greedy scale" they have gone a little bit too far and might benefit from scaling back a bit.

Edited April 13, 2017 by bcking

[IAMX 3,055]

Just now, ccneat said:

Greed used to be a deadly sin...now it is chalked up to being a post modern construct.  

Or part of the premise for a really good Morgan Freeman film.

[Teddy B 17,252]

I'm trying to keep up with all of these words and definitions made up by the left. Does anyone have the crib notes?

[IAMX 3,055]

2 minutes ago, bcking said:

Greed is a word. It isn't something invented by the left or right. It is a word with a definition.

 

I provided the definition that i am using when i use the word greed. Based on that decision, airlines are greedy by prioritising profit over potentially having to cancel people's trips. They are selfish.

 

I'm not saying greed in an organisation is necessarily bad or u expected. I think most businesses are greedy to a certain extent. All humans are greedy to a certain extent.

 

I think the fact that airlines run into issues like this frequently may be evidence that on the "greedy scale" they have gone a little bit too far and might benefit from scaling back a bit.

Given how much companies spend nowadays on corporate image over product quality, I have no doubts this will hurt United since it'll pretty plainly hurt their image. The image of this happening to customers clearly resonates with the vast majority of populace ("can this happen to me?") regardless of political demographic.

[IAMX 3,055]

Just now, Teddy B said:

I'm trying to keep up with all of these words and definitions made up by the left. Does anyone have the crib notes?

Twitter hashtags work the best.

[bcking 3,157]

2 minutes ago, IAMX said:

Given how much companies spend nowadays on corporate image over product quality, I have no doubts this will hurt United since it'll pretty plainly hurt their image. The image of this happening to customers clearly resonates with the vast majority of populace ("can this happen to me?") regardless of political demographic.

Yes I completely agree with you on that.

 

So I guess we don't really need to use the "Greed" label if we don't want to. Furthermore I think United can stay "greedy" and just take a wider perspective on the issue and realize that in the long run it is probably in their best interest to potentially prioritize customers over themselves a little more.

 

In the short term, I've been looking at flights for my wife and her mother and United seems to be quite cheap right now. Not sure if that is a coincidence or not.

[IAMX 3,055]

12 minutes ago, bcking said:

Yes I completely agree with you on that.

 

So I guess we don't really need to use the "Greed" label if we don't want to. Furthermore I think United can stay "greedy" and just take a wider perspective on the issue and realize that in the long run it is probably in their best interest to potentially prioritize customers over themselves a little more.

 

In the short term, I've been looking at flights for my wife and her mother and United seems to be quite cheap right now. Not sure if that is a coincidence or not.

Since the goal is to maximize profits regardless, their choice is rather limited.. keep the policy as is, and change some minor things, such as nabbing people pre-boarding (as someone said I think within the first couple pages of this topic), or not overbooking, which will either mean modifying overhead (not an easy job anymore since suppliers/shippers are fighting back) or passing the cost onto the customer, which they'll complain about too with the same "greedy" premise. The first one seems the more rational choice, but we'll see how they change things.. they've got a PR hole to crawl out of now.

Edited April 13, 2017 by IAMX

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

 

16 minutes ago, IAMX said:

Since the goal is to maximize profits regardless, their choice is rather limited.. keep the policy as is, and change some minor things, such as nabbing people pre-boarding (as someone said I think within the first couple pages of this topic), or not overbooking, which will either mean modifying overhead (not an easy job anymore since suppliers/shippers are fighting back) or passing the cost onto the customer, which they'll complain about too with the same "greedy" premise. The first one seems the more rational choice, but we'll see how they change things.. they've got a PR hole to crawl out of now.

If United management is not the most efficient operator , they should step aside and let a real company do the job.  No one said running and airline is easy.

[IAMX 3,055]

11 minutes ago, ccneat said:

 

If United management is not the most efficient operator , they should step aside and let a real company do the job.  No one said running and airline is easy.

Efficiency doesn't matter anymore. That's part of quality. No companies spend much on that anymore. It's all about image.

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

1 minute ago, IAMX said:

Efficiency doesn't matter anymore. That's part of quality. No companies spend much on that anymore. It's all about image.

How old fashion of me..I really should read up on this new way of running businesses

[IAMX 3,055]

1 minute ago, ccneat said:

How old fashion of me..I really should read up on this new way of running businesses

If you plan on getting anywhere in the business world you should.

[smilesammich 10,727]

16 minutes ago, ccneat said:

How old fashion of me..I really should read up on this new way of running businesses

hope you don't get a bill for that advice up yonder.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

2 hours ago, bcking said:

The definition of greed is a selfish desire for something, in this case money.

 

The definition of selfish is essentially acting for your own benefit and not being concerned about others.

 

So a business that prioritises making money over the well being of their customers pretty accurately fits the definition of greed.

 

Selling more seats than you have because you expect and assume some people won't come is prioritising your profit over the customers who will potentially suffer from the overbooking.

If you dont make money your not going to be in biz very long 

[IAMX 3,055]

Just now, Nature Boy Flair said:

If you dont make money your not going to be in biz very long 

Or as an incorporated company if you don't max your returns someone like Icahn comes along and tears the place up.