There were plenty of capitalistic ways for this mess to have been avoided:
- Increase the cash incentive until passengers take it.
- Offer free 1st class upgrades.
- Offer free flights to Hawaii
Any of these, while expensive, don’t come close to the loss of revenue United has experienced from bad public relations and the drop in the stock value ($225 million as of today).
Airlines need to overbook. And they take that cost into consideration. It’s part of the contract we passengers sign to fly with them.
United Airlines will no longer ask law enforcement to remove passengers from its planes when it has to bump them, the company’s CEO has said. He also hopes to create a new incentive system to coax customers to opt off overbooked flights.