Well, it's New Year's Eve and we close out yet another year in our lives. However, I can't let another year go by without calling out the absolute insanity that perpetuates social injustice. What am I talking about? United Airline's standby flight policy. It shows that the travel industry has changed little since the large number of steerage passengers died on board the Titanic. The elitism that drove that inequity is still alive today. Unfortunately, the class struggle still exists everywhere else as well, but you'd think the travel industry has learned its lessons.
I was one of the many passengers still stuck at Denver International Airport right before Christmas and I was extremely lucky to have made it home for the holidays. The storm was over by the time I was flying, but it didn't change the fact that there were still plenty of people still stranded in Denver trying to get home. I had just missed my flight, as had many other people due to delays and missed connections. We were all trying to get on flights heading somewhere near our destinations. But because of the insanity, it was difficult (not impossible) to book a confirmed seat on a flight. We were trying to fly standby on flights. But the list kept growing and there were about 200 people trying to get to Chicago the night I was there. But it is the manner in which they prioritized people on the list that was an absolute travesty.
I'm not sure if this is the policy on other airlines as well, but to fly standby on United, you're put on a list. And within that list, they prioritize you on two factors: the price of your original ticket and your standing in the United Mileage Plus program. That's it. They don't care if you were first in list. They don't care if you've been at the airport for 3 days. If someone came in, having bought more expensive tickets and had uber-frequent flier miles... you get bumped. So it didn't matter if people ran to the next gate trying to get a spot on the standby list.
Essentially, the rich got to fly out. The relatively poor were trapped in Denver. What was worse? The Red Cross actually came and took their cots away because the snowstorm "disaster" was over. They absolutely ignored the hundreds of people still sleeping on the floor of the airport trying to get home.
This is not the first time I've seen the class struggle, but you'd think that in some areas... they would've established more equitable policies. I actually asked one of the United Airlines employees why they don't prioritize based on who's been there the longest. Because this one girl... paid about $400 for her tickets and wasn't a member of Mileage Plus... was stuck there for 3 days. THREE DAYS. While some one who was flying first class, missed their flight an hour before got priority over her. This employee actually said to me, "Well, we have to prioritize somehow and this is the fairest way to do it."
So wait... the fairest way to do it is to reward the rich? And leave stranded 20-somethings who are trying to get home for the holidays with cheap tickets? Or perhaps the families who can't afford to fly all of their children on first class? And that none of the above "class" of people would ever be able to move up on the standby list because someone would always come along with more expensive tickets and a better standing in the Mileage Plus program. I'm glad I'm not on a ship and my life depended on these policies. I'd be totally SCREWED!
I'm sorry, United Airlines, that's FUCKED UP! And you win the prize for the "What's YOUR Deal?!?" of the year. You're also getting a very angry letter from me... as soon as I get back to Great Falls.
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