United Airlines recently put the fear of flying even more so in the minds of potential travelers than a group of Al-Qaeda terrorists. From dragging someone out of their chair to hitting another person with a baby seat, UA can’t seem to escape the PR nightmare. Now, the infamous airline is under fire again, but this time for taking away a woman’s son’s $1,000 seat and giving to a standby passenger who only paid $75 for the flight. This has left the troubled airline plagued with bad press and a lot of apologizing to do.Shirley Yamauchi had to keep her two-year-old son on her lap after United Airlines gave his seat to a standby passenger.
This was after a United Airlines stewardess told her that the seat she spent a grand on had been given to someone flying standby, which made the mother very upset.
She had made the purchase three months before the flight. But what’s worse is the fact that her son Tazio, had to sit on her lap because someone who had paid just $75 for standby wanted that seat.
But since children over the age of two are required to have their own seat, she paid for Tazio’s extra ticket, which in retrospect, seemed like a waste of time given the outcome.
She and her son were totally comfortable and ready for the journey ahead when the flight attendant came to check if Tazio was present.
When she tried telling another flight attendant about the issue, the woman just shrugged, told her the flight was full, and then walked away.
She claims that he Tazio is half her height and that was very uncomfortable the entire trip because her hand, particularly her left arm was smashed up against the wall.
This was after flight attendants had allegedly become quite physically abusive with certain passengers who refused to adhere to their demands, such as giving up their seats.
She was also the one that didn’t seem very concerned that Yamauchi had practically lost feeling in her legs and left arm.
He was a businessman from Maine dressed in business attire and he had told her that he had been ninth on the standby list and only paid $75 for his seat.
It had taken them hours to get from Hawaii to Boston and they were both tired and uncomfortable. She would have also spoken up, but she was afraid that the UA flight attendants would retaliate.
She remembered all those incidents with United where someone’s teeth had gotten knocked out. She added that she’s Asian and was scared and felt uncomfortable because she didn’t want what happened to other unfortunate passengers to happen to her.
She recalled the recent incidents like the Kentucky man who was violently dragged off his flight last April.
It was looking for volunteers to try to make room for four employers of a partner airline, Republic. The man that ended up being dragged down violently for refusing to give up his seat was a doctor who was trying to return home to his patients.
When he refused, he was dragged on his back by his hands, body limp, bleeding from the mouth, and his shirt pulled up above his navel.
The CEO was also accompanied by UA president Scott Kirby, who testified on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 before the House Transportation Committee Oversight hearing to explain the airline’s actions.
The video onboard flight 591 from San Francisco to Dallas/Ft. Worth showed the Argentine mother crying while clutching a young child toward the front of the plane, and asking employees to give back her stroller.
That’s when an altercation ensued, resulting in the stroller striking the woman and nearly hitting the little girl too.
He wrestled the stroller away from the woman, who was crying while holding one baby with the second baby in a car seat on the ground next to her.
Naturally, Morgan tried to intervene and said, “What are you doing? You almost hit the baby!” And he responded by yelling at her “stay out of it!”
Not only has handled the case of the 69-year-old Vietnamese-American doctor, but he is also working with the woman regarding stroller incident. Now it looks like he might have another client in Yamauchi.
But all these incidents have been making people uneasy and UA has earned the reputation of flying the not so friendly skies.
But it was certainly an incident that was worth looking into. In fact, a UA spokesperson claims that the incident occurred after Tazio’s boarding pass was scanned incorrectly.
This is what lead the flight attendant to quickly give away the child’s seat to a standby passenger. Since then the company has offered Yamauchi their sincerest apologies for the horrible experience.
She also got a full refund on her son’s ticket and a travel voucher for their next flight. UA has also assured passengers that they are working closely with their gate staff to ensure that what happened to Yamauchi and Tazio, doesn’t happen to anyone else.
