Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for July 13, 2017

Future United CEO.

time to give the rascally rodent the pink slip… without pay cheque

In The Producers, it was implied that selling more than 100 percent of something is illegal. Why isn’t it illegal for airlines to sell seats they don’t have?

I’d really like to hear about a police raid on an airline in the news.

Surprised Rat is bothering with boxing gloves. He seems like more of a brass knuckles type.

Nice to see Rat get cracking on his job at the very first opportunity!

Funny, there was a just a news story last night that this will no longer happen. United will now pay up to $10,000 (yes, really!) to get volunteers. They also will implement a program where they review if a flight is oversold 5 days prior and then CALL people to see if they are flexible, rather than waiting to do this at the gate, or after boarding! I just don’t understand why any of this is necessary. If the flight is full, you stop selling seats! If people don’t show up, you offer “stand by” folks the seats. Isn’t this the way it USED to be? Sheesh! It’s not brain surgery, people!

Rat was expelled from both THRUSH and SPECTRE for being too nasty!

If it is so bad…don’t fly. See how simple that is? We are not all victims. Contrary to popular belief.

Cartoons like this make me glad that I’m a land mammal.

There is a legal precedent that allows Airlines to overbook. The case was Nader v Allegheny Airlines in 1976. This case was brought by Ralph Nader who is a major consumer advocate and ran for US President in 2000. Please see details below from the US Bar Association website:

Overbooking and Denied BoardingIronically, the fact that it is perfectly legal for airlines to sell more tickets than seats on a flight (overbooking) is the result in large part to the actions of consumer advocate Ralph Nader. Nader was overbooked on his way to give a speech in 1972 and took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. He lost in Nader v. Allegheny Airlines, 426 U.S. 290 (1976), and helped the carriers establish a precedent allowing them to overbook so long as they give passengers sufficient notice. Thus the signs at counters and on the back of paper tickets (for those of us who still remember them).

Passengers who are involuntarily denied boarding are entitled to payment in cash/check, but many carriers first offer payment in tickets/vouchers. Sometimes they will offer more vouchers than the minimum cash payment. If you fly that carrier frequently, it might work out better for you to take vouchers. But make sure to read the fine print first before accepting them. The DOT recognized this and now requires carriers to notify passengers of the terms and conditions of travel.

Um, forgot to color the guy’s jacket arm, ’scuze my persnickitiness.

The religion of America is business.

Give the rat a warfarin candy bar.

It’s the next step before extreme rendition.

I like his technique.

Where’s his cricket bat?

xxx

The phone companies are like this. How do I know? I worked for various phone companies, from New York Telephone Company to AT&T, where I retired. The phone company works on the 80% model. They believe that no more than 80% of their customers will be using their phone at any given time. In the past, this delusional thinking has caused many crashes. One thing they did was to disconnect the customer without warning.

It’s generally thought of as a Good Labor Practice if an employee truly loves his job. Rat is doing what Management wants him to do.

Customers are just a necessary inconvenience, nothing more, for airlines today.

The airline system is like one of those coin-pusher games at an arcade.

And I thought “unfriendly skies” just meant thunderstorms…