Shirley Yamauchi was flying Houston – Boston last week for a teacher conference and brought her 27 month old son. His ticket cost $1000. They boarded in Houston for the 1600 mile flight and he was seated in his seat but another passenger — who was cleared off the standby list — appeared with a boarding pass for the seat.
The mother says she “told the flight attendant about the problem, but the woman just shrugged, said the flight was full, and walked away.”
“I had to move my son onto my lap. He’s 25 pounds. He’s half my height. I was very uncomfortable. My hand, my left arm was smashed up against the wall. I lost feeling in my legs and left arm,” she said.
A parent isn’t even permitted to fly with a child over two years old in their lap, but in this case she wasn’t given a choice.
The woman is Asian, and had April’s David Dao dragging incident firmly in mind and says she was afraid to speak up more forcefully.
United says that the gate agent scanned the woman’s boarding pass but not her son’s. Their system had the boy as a no show, so they cleared someone onto the flight. The airline is apologizing, refunding the boy’s ticket, “and providing a travel voucher.” And they are “working with..gate staff to prevent this from happening again” which is the sort of thing it makes sense to say but in practice may mean little more than sending a memo.
Ms. Yamauchi feels like she did everything right, buying ” both of these tickets way in advance” and checking in two hours before scheduled boarding. “I had my receipts. I had my boarding pass” she says.
Houston is where United had law enforcement remove a couple flying to their wedding in April, where a woman said she was kicked in the head by a United employee last month, and where a 71 year old man was pushed to the ground by a United agent.
GAs broke the law here. They should be terminated immediately.
I’m wondering why the Mom didn’t show the FA the son’s ticket?
United clearly has basic issue problems and needs help on just training their people rules/regulations/policy and oh lets not forget how people should be spoken to.
@Patrick
As Gary story tell us, the FA just shrugged away while she was explaining the situation. She is asian. A woman. With a child. If United can beat up and drag Dr. Dao, any chance she wouldn’t share the same experience?
Whatever the airlines said afterward, these kind of incident will keep happening. Rather than complain or lament, let’s just sing a song shall we?
Glory glory the United, an Airlines keep marching on….
All United fans surely know the tone…..
Patrick, the woman passenger doesn’t work for the airline. It’s not the woman’s job to ask the agent if she wants to see her son’s boarding pass. She maybe doesn’t even know that she is supposed to show it. Maybe no one told her the rules? It is the job of the gate agent to not allow anyone by without checking their boarding pass though…
FAA rules violation. United should pay a hefty fine. Apparently the only language United understands is $$$$$.
If there’s no penalty for these “mistakes” they will never end.
I would walk off the flight and demand to speak with management
@James… I agree 100%.
I would have just thought that she would have said at least something to the effect of “He has a seat and a boarding pass…” but maybe the FA didn’t even let her get that far.
The woman didn’t scan the child’s boarding pass and he was thus a no-show. No matter what bizarreness occurred afterwards, she did *NOT* do everything right. She forgot to check the child in for the flight.
@That is not correct, the child was checked in to the flight. As you also note, the problem was the boarding pass. The agent didn’t scan it.
Security footage would be interesting here. My guess would be the woman never presented the pass and the gate agent assumed the child was under 2. She says the kid is 25 pounds, which according to the CDC is about the 10th percentile for a child of his age. I.E. the kid was pretty small for his age. Definitely the gate agent’s fault for not asking but an easy mistake to make. Of course, once you realize the mistake the standby passenger has to be removed. By not doing it United committed a gross violation of FAA rules
How is this even a thing? Aren’t they in FAA violation and should not get away with simply a refund and a voucher?
WAIT….. Wouldn’t the head count be wrong?!
If the child’s boarding pass was never scanned and they were off loaded and their seat given away…then the head count by the FA would NOT match the flight manifest!
This is the bigger failing by United!
@Patrick
Agree. The FA just walked away pretending nothing happened. Eventough they always claimed they exist primarily for passenger’s safety and not to serve or help passenger, the FA clearly see and understand the safety issue of (not an infant) child sitting in a lap. If the FA didn’t mind, surely we can all have reasonable doubts about their definition of “safety”, right?
@rob
The woman you’re referring to, is it Shirley Yamauchi?
@Conway
Its interesting that you brought up the issue of flight manifest.
TSA, air marshall, even FA worked very hard to ensure the safety of flight. If the issue you highlight is actually not a big deal, and a potential terrorist knows this, can you imagine the consequences?
Are United’s systems that bad, that they don’t differentiate between a no-show, and a partial show? (ie the mother and child are on the same itinerary and she showed up, so common sense says to do a call over the loudspeaker on the plan to confirm before giving the son’s seat away).
This appears to be a dumb systematic issue. How often are there partial no-shows on the same itinerary? Surely from a customer service perspective, that warrants a 2nd check.
If the woman would have just showed both boarding passes to the FA this would have been a non-issue.
Lesson learned.
Ok let’s back up a moment from yet another click bait headline and look at this objectively. We have the women claiming that she told the FA who shrugged and walked away. What we don’t have is the other side of the story. Did she in fact communicate that her child was over two and had a ticket for that seat?
That her 25lb child is half her height sounds like an overstatement. As does her claim that her legs went numb. And before we start playing the Dr. dummy card let us remember that he repeatedly over and over refused instructions from both United and the police and that it was the cops NOT United who injured him. And that honeymoon couple? Remember United’s version of events that Gary accepted which had them repeatedly trying to move into extra cost seats and refusing to follow crew instructions.
So let’s calm down and look at this objectively. The parent approaches the gate with a child and hands over the boarding passes. As we all know you frequently have multiple pieces of paper and the gate agent looks at the child makes an assumption it’s under two (a mistake and I suspect a SOP violation but a human making an error) and doesn’t scan the child onto the airplane. Consequently the standby shows up to take the seat. Mom flags the FA and fails to communicate the true nature of the situation. The FA perhaps thinking the mom is looking for an empty seat for her lap child tells her the flight is full and moves on. Mom then goes silent. Not exactly something worthy of an AWFUL headline is it? Especially with United trying to make things right.
There is another possible issue too. This is IAH to BOS in coach for $1000. That sounds like a fully refundable ticket to me. Is it possible that the mom deliberately didn’t get the kids ticket scanned planning to get the seat for free then? Or that when the standby took the seat mom saw a chance to milk United for treating her badly thanks to click bait stories like this one? Why didn’t mom show the kids boarding pass to the standby when that person tried to take the seat. Or the FA when she tried to explain what was happening? There is a lot about this that doesn’t pass the sniff test.
Our click bait headline is frankly only justified if United with full knowledge of the child’s status as a paying over two pax ordered the mom to put him on her lap or face removal to accommodate the standby. A fair reading of the facts we have been presented doesn’t support that view.
Thanks to Scott Kirby United will force their employees to focus on D0. Think customer service will get better? HA!
Maybe the woman handed both boarding passes to the gate agent and the gate agent did not see the second one and therefore did not scan her son in.
I still haven’t forgotten when I handed my ticket to AA gate agent and for some reason I did not end up in the system. I had to send my security signed boarding pass to obtain miles as AA was claiming that I was not on the flight.. Now I usually watch the gate agent to make sure they actually scan me in.
As far as I’m concerned Shirley Yamaguchi should have brought it up to the attention of the gate agent flight attendants are very busy and are assuming that the passenger takes their own responsibilities for their actions because I know if someone took my seat away from my child I would definitely make a stink about it. People can make flight attendants the bad people but what about themselves doesn’t she take any claim for herself and as far as the doctor Dao incident if you are asked to leave the flight it is FAA regulations that the passenger leave the flight. You are supposed and abide to the crew members so I cannot see how dr. Dao was able to sue United for that ridiculous amount if it’s not about the money he should donate it. I feel disgusted that everyone wants to sue but nobody takes responsibility for themselves people look in the mirror.
It is stupid that they gave away the seat, but, as a parent with two young children, I wish that my kids could be lap children instead of having to pay for seats for them all the time… especially since they want to be held for much of the flight anyway.
Once alerted to the issue, FA should have had security drag the child off the plane. Better training needed.
Just flew a new UA 773 in Polaris J from EWR-SFO the other day. According to the head purser and from what I saw around me, plane is already having issues with broken seats etc. A couple traveling together had a pair of the “honeymoon” center seats. Before takeoff, a seat malfunction forces the husband to move, not sure exactly where. Either the second rear business class cabin, or possibly coach. 10 minutes later, a flight attendant comes and seats a different passenger in the husbands seat. The woman obviously questions WTF is going on and demands her husband is returned to the seat. Talks to a handful of UA employees and reps come on but ultimately the husband is not returned and the woman shares the seat with her new companion.
United appear in a disproportionate number of these stories. It is a broken airline
United is just a master F up this year. Bet they can’t wait to roll into 2018
United says
This doesn’t represent who we are or are values
It’s a rare isolated incident not a systemic issue
We are confident something like this won’t happen again
Did we really do someting Wong?
Interesting question. Once the error was actually discovered (after both the child and the stand-by passenger were on board) United would have been in a bind as they would have had to off-load an already-boarded passenger which would have been time-consuming and expensive (or else bloody, as the Dao incident demonstrates).
Pretty easy to see how the error occurred and pretty hard to blame either the gate attendant (who assumed that the child was a lap infant) or the passenger (who, having paid $1,000 for a United flight is clearly not a knowledgeable flier). Any fault lies with the flight attendant on board who should have worked to solve the problem. In this case, she knowingly allowed a safety violation to occur so I’d imagine she’s in for some trouble, anyway.
Why do people keep flying on United ? If your spouse is cheating on you, you leave them, you don’t stay with them. If the restaurant serves lousy food, you stop going there. And so on.
The nimrod woman didn’t scan her son’s ticket. She’s simply an idiot. Worst thing about this story is she passed her idiot genes to another generation.
JL100 says:
July 5, 2017 at 7:29 am
I would walk off the flight and demand to speak with management
Yes, just ask and expect magic. I, and my family were mistreated and discriminated against by Delta at MIA. I asked for a manager. The following ensued;
1, The gate agent causing the problem threatened me with arrest.
2, The same agent sent a baggage handler to speak with me and claim she was the station manager.
It seems to me, the gate agent assumed the child was a lap child and never saw or scanned the childs ticket. I don’t know how UA does it, but AA usually issues a blank boarding card from lap children/infants. Those aren’t scanned, to my knowledge, but they exist. The FA, which has nothing to do with ticketing, probably assumed the child was a lap child when the other passenger boarded with that seat. The mother said nothing. NOTHING! How is it the FA’s fault for not knowing? I’m sure if the mother said something, the FA wouldn’t have just “walked away” as is claimed. It’s not like she got off the plane, she was still there. Both the agent and the mother were at fault.
You people blaming the woman are the idiots. I’ve had it happen where I handed the gate agent a stack of 3 tickets, she scanned one, and then let all 3 of us board. You cannot know whether or not this happened, but you can guarantee that any issue with a ticket not being scanned at boarding is the gate agents fault, not the passenger. It is not the passenger’s job to ensure they are scanned as they enter the plane.
Yes, the woman SHOULD have presented the child’s boarding pass when boarding, but anyone who has traveled with a 2 year-old knows how completely distracting it can be, even if she knew the correct procedure. My issue is that once the onboard FA learned of 1 seats assigned to 2 passengers, at that point it became her issue to resolve. She should have taken the boarding passes back out to the gate attendant and had it corrected. It is not the passengers’ responsibility to resolve at that point because there is literally nothing they can do about it.
“The Flight Attendant is there primarily for your safety” so the announcement goes.In other words, they are only on board because the FAA demands it. Anything else is entirely optional. If United could operate with one flight attendant (or zero) they would do it. And most people would not know the difference.
This is 100% the fault of the agent who allowed the woman and her son to board. Either the woman’s boarding pass indicated “infant in arms” or it did not. Here, it appears the boarding pass did not indicate this, in which case the gate agent should have demanded a boarding pass for the woman’s child. Since when do airlines allow passengers to bring a child on the plane with them as long as the child appears to be under 2 years old?
I know from recent experience on United that a lap infant still is issued a boarding pass, which any Gate Agent should know. So even if the GA falsely assumed that the child was a lap infant instead of a revenue passenger, the GA still should have scanned the child’s boarding pass. (And @MisterM, the responsibility for scanning boarding passes and ensuring an accurate boarding process is the GA’s, not the passenger’s, so your reprehensible comment is not only uncivil but incorrect.) If, in fact, the flight attendant also shrugged and walked away when presented with the facts of the matter, then the FA is also at fault for not attempting to resolve the issue or bring it to the attention of someone who could resolve it.
(Sounds like the stand-by passenger didn’t show a lot of compassion or willingness to help be part of the solution either. I can’t imagine figuratively shoving a two-year old out of a seat to take it for myself when it was clear what had happened.)
Similar incident happened to me with a United GA where I tried to board and the computer wouldn’t “accept” it (due to group #/status) but I had status and showed her my Gold card. She would just need to do a manual override to accept me as have boarded. Because she didn’t, they gave my seat away to a crew member going standby. Luckily, the flight had open seats so she was able to move. However, upon check in for the return flight from SIngapore, my ticket had been cancelled. After much discussion and time, it was determined that I was considered a ‘no show’ on the outbound flight since the GA didn’t properly scan me in. They had to recreate the whole ticket-luckily I was still able to retain my E+ seats. Bottom, line always make sure the GA scans you in prior to leaving the gate and if an issue comes up re. a duplicate seat/passenger, speak up immediately. If they don’t/can’t move or correct the mistake for the 2nd/stand by passenger, they are going to owe you big.
I wouldn’t blame the passenger at all. Things like this happen. I was Platinum on United a few years ago flying PWM-CLE-SFO-RNO and my boarding pass on my second leg wasn’t properly scanned by the gate agent in Cleveland. My boarding pass for my flight to Reno wouldn’t scan, and I couldn’t check in for my return on line because I was considered a no-show. United gave me $200 for my trouble.
Matthewsf’s comment reminds me of a problem I had with a flight back from Athens to New York several years ago. I turned up at the airport with my physical ticket, and apparently, for some unknown reason, they had cancelled my return reservation. After about 20 minutes on the phone, they reconstructed my ticket, but gave me a middle seat, instead of my originally booked aisle seat on the Athens Heathrow leg of the trip. Luckily I arrived at the airport early. As a result, it never fails to amaze me how many people rely on electronic tickets.
Article like surely made United’s PR department work hard on comments. Lol
Guess I’ll avoid United in Houston. Most of the screw-ups seem to happen there.
So much for UA’s new commitment to customer service. Again, nobody will pay any attention until heads start rolling. Most of the FAs are great, but the few bad apples make it look like the whole crop is rotten. Management heads should also roll as clearly they have not delivered the message to rank and file.
Too bad the woman did not feel sufficiently empowered to demand that airline follow safety regs. No doubt many people live in fear after Dr. Dao.
United seems to do everything wrong. Mistake or no mistake they should have offered her or any other volunteer compensation to take another flight. United does not care about their passengers from my experience. United is always my last choice when flying.
Some of the comments above regarding how the mother should have known: to have the child’s boarding pass scanned by the GA, and should have known to show the boarding card to the FA, is utter nonsense. We fly all the time and read a frequent flyer blog – but your average civilian (e.g. teacher) is unaware of all the fine points of process and passenger “rights.” And add to that traveling with a two-year old and all of a sudden being on the plane and suddenly confronted with losing the kids seat – I’d say she did okay to make it to her destination, and as the GA and FA screwed up royally, United owes her big time. I’m a Delta DM (yes, a total loser), I know my rights, and in my office I’m a tenacious SOB in getting what I’m entitled to, but as soon as I step onto the jetway and plane I’m the model of total compliance – I do exactly what the FA tells me to do – because I know if I don’t suck up whatever indignity Delta (or their partners KLM or AF) throw at me, I’ll be the next person beaten by the cops, dragged from a plane, and arrested. And to 121pilot’s presumption that she’s scamming United: if the GA had not allowed anyone down the jetway without scanning their boarding pass (and/or verifying that the child was on a “baby in lap” boarding pass, or if the FA had properly invested 10 seconds to investigate the two-passengers-one-seat situation, the kid would have been in their seat and United would have had the (generous for that trip) revenue and end of story. In my opinion, United got off very easy.
“but the woman just shrugged, said the flight was full, and walked away.”
Awful. Absolutely Awful. Horrible “service”. The Friendly Skies indeed
We don’t know how Ms Yamauchi’s son was behaving when the GA scanned his mother’s boarding pass. So I’ll give Ms Y a pass on this one. I won’t give her a pass on accepting a voucher, however. She should have insisted on money, to which I understand she’s entitled.
There are times when investing money in your attorney’s counsel is the thing to do. Were I Ms Yamauchi and had I the attorney who’s been my counsel for years, I’d have asked if it were worth suing United. If he said yes, I’d have gone for it. In matters of the law he’s a conservative fellow, but he’s quite sharp and had we pursued the matter, he’d most likely have prevailed.
@Vazir Mukhtar
Dr. Dao suffered physical damage. Ms. Yamauchi did not. And she arrived at her destination despite any discomfort thereto. I highly doubt any person in her situation would pursue litigation unless looking for money or fame.
She already voiced her discomfort to the media and received an apology and the money for her son’s ticket + voucher. Tough I doubt she will fly United ever again.
Based on my personal experience I’m thinking United probably f***ed up here. I have two small kids and even though they are both over 2 now, we almost always bought our kids their own tickets. The GAs and FAs would often seem surprised that the kids had their own seats, and this actually is not exclusive to United. It’s like the airlines expect that everyone is a cheapskate and doesn’t buy a ticket for kids under 2? Even now that our kids are over 2 I still get asked. I’m guessing the GA wasn’t paying attention and/or just assumed the kid was a lap child.
Now…how the flight ever took off after the woman tried to identify the problem and United failed to remedy it is exactly why I don’t take my kids on United anymore. They don’t care. We’ve had them give away seat assignments before and first hand experienced the flight attendant walking away bulls***. Didn’t matter that we were in E+ or had 1P status. In this case an actual law was broken. Hopefully getting the crap fined out of them by the government will get their attention because they really couldn’t care less about inconveniencing their passengers or even trying to do the right thing.
VIA this post on FT:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28522848-post27.html
NBC news quotes Yamauchi:
[quote]Yamauchi is unsatisfied with the explanation. “I saw them zap both tickets. There was no issue, no problem. They let us through. It just doesn’t add up. It’s very weird,” she said.[/quote]
I take United “zap”ping both tickets to mean she did present both tickets to the gate agent and the agent scanned (zapped) them both. United messed up. They should have immediately researched the details, identified it as their failure, contacted the passenger and come to an agreement for compensation rather than having another major issue blow up in their faces.
People are complaining she paid $1000 for a ticket IAH-BOS. I do not think think this is relevant and it may not even be correct. She is from Hawaii. The story first broke on Hawaii news. She may have been traveling from Hawaii to BOS, possibly with a stop in IAH.