More bad PR for United Airlines.

[MicaelS]

United Airlines apologizes for sending woman to San Francisco instead of Paris.

United Airlines apologized to a French woman who was inadvertently allowed to board a flight to San Francisco instead of Paris.

Lucie Bahetoukilae booked a flight from Newark, N.J., to Paris, but instead flew to San Francisco after she was allowed to board the wrong plane, WABC-TV reported.

Bahetoukilae, who only speaks French, ended up on the wrong plane in late April after the airline made a last-minute gate change, according to her niece, Diane Miantsoko, who shared her aunt’s story with WABC-TV.

When Bahetoukilae landed in San Francisco, she had an 11-hour layover, before boarding a flight to Paris, WABC-TV reported. According to the station, she spent more than 28 hours trying to reach her destination.

Apparently, one passenger had his ticket canceled because he was filming a dispute between UAL and himself over an absurd baggage fee.

A Bay Area flier named Navang Oza, who was traveling from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to San Francisco International Airport on May 4, says a United Airlines ticket agent canceled his flight after he began filming an altercation they were having.

Oza said the agent was attempting to charge him $300 for his bag, which exceeded the 50-pound limit. Oza contends that the same bag holding the same contents only cost him $125 in his flight out of SFO to New Orleans, which caused the disagreement.

At this point it was 4 a.m., and the confrontation escalated to the point where Oza began filming — within his right in a public place, despite what the agent suggests — apparently leading the agent to cancel his flight ticket.

Just about a minute after Oza begins filming the agent, she begins filming him as well, which Oza initially posted to his Facebook page as part of a raw 13-minute video (it has since been deleted). She instructs a co-worker to cancel his ticket, and informs him that "until that [recording] is erased, you're not traveling."

Every day that passes there is another story of how UAL people have screwed things up. Are they trying to kill their airline?

[jberryhill]

1. The second guy was probably undercharged the first time

Sometimes a bag can be overweight, but within size limits, and sometimes the bag is both overweight and oversize. On United, overweight above 50 pounds is $100, and over 71 pounds is $200. Oversize is $100.

If you have a bag that is both oversize and overweight, those fees are charged separately. Sometimes a check-in agent will charge one but not the other, or simply overlook minor variance close to the line. Sometimes you get lucky on that, and sometimes you don't. I've had agents inexplicably not charge me for my oversize bike bag on return legs of round-trip flights.

But this guy's complaint - some other person didn't charge both fees - is not really something that agent can or should have to explain. If his bag was oversize and overweight, the fee is $300, and whether he did or did not get charged that amount by another agent is not relevant. She can't answer for what someone else in New Orleans did, or what the contents of his bag were, at some other airport on some other day. The only relevant questions are what was the size and weight of his bag.

[onenote]

2. United's PR woes aren't exactly hurting it's stock price

A month ago, some breathless reports were coming out about United stock being in a free fall because it had dropped from $71 to just under $69 in a matter of hours. Except that "free fall" wasn't very steep, or long lasting. Today, United's stock closed at over $78.50 -- near it's record high and some $30 higher than it was a year ago.

Apparently the market doesn't think United is on the ropes.

[yardwork]

3. The oversized bag doesn't interest me - but how did that passenger board the wrong flight?

Not letting people on flights they're not ticketed to fly is fundamental security. What happened?