United Airlines Scares the Shit outta people again. (no gibs i don't get steam's game gift policy)

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I've flown a few times. Never had any issues with delays nor overbooked flights, but then again, things seem to work a bit differently over here.

But I really don't like the feeling during descent. It really hurts. Although descent tend to last for less than 20min.

Well it sounds like the reason for the problem was the same this time! There was a flight supposed to leave from your destination that for some reason couldn't be flown by the planned crew. For instance delays may have made it so it would be illegal for them to fly the plane since they would be going over the max amount of allowed working hours. When this happens they have to get a crew in from somewhere else in a hurry, which means unexpected last minute passengers, which means... someone might get bumped off the flight.

Of course there are other ways to solve these problems that's better for the customers and their public relations, but united don't care as long as they make money, and since they're often the cheapest option lots of people pick them despite the constant problems.

On the other hand we can also have some compassion - those hundreds of people you saw at your destination were probably waiting for an extremely delayed flight. If United hadn't got their staff there, they would have had even more delays and more ruined vacations and missed appointments and connections... It's important to think of that as well - united's way of dealing with the problem may be really bad, but if it isn't dealt with it only hurts other passengers just like you.

In the US the advice as far as I understand it is basically:

• you should never volunteer to get bumped, you'll be forfeiting your legal protections as a consumer
• if you are bumped because of overbooking, they are required to get you to your destination on another flight (even if it's on another airline) within 1 hour of your original destination time, or else they must pay you compensation.
• if you are more than 1 hour late and less than 2 hours late on the replacement flight when compared to your originally scheduled flight, they are required to pay you double the one-way fare cost that you paid, up to $675 maximum payout
• if you are more than 2 hours late compared to your original flight, they must pay you 400% of the one-way fare cost, up to a limit of $1350.
• you have a right to ask for compensation in the form of a check (real money) rather than vouchers or free flight credits or whatever. They will likely never offer cash unless you ask for it. The check, however, might come in the mail later. So be sure to get everything in writing that you possibly can in case they try to play dumb later on.

Again those rules only apply if you are bumped off your flight involuntarily because of overbooking. If whole flights are delayed or cancelled or whatever that's a different set of rules I guess. They will usually pay to put you up in a hotel and give you some food money in those cases.

Yeah, at one point I had status on every major airline other than Southwest purely on miles. I've taken hundreds of flights, quite literally. That oversold situation is, unfortunately, normal.

Hey, I live in H-town, too! :)

Unless I missed something in the OP, this is just normal airline operations. All airlines are going to be looking for volunteers to switch flights every single day, that's just the way they operate. That's why you always want to make sure to check in early, the earlier you check in, the more likely you are to be guaranteed a seat.

This is extremely common, as ^ said. All airlines do this. Of course, that's when we ask ourselves: "Why is this still a thing?" © John Oliver

I wonder why americans still buying something from this Shit Airlines company again and again

I used to fly quite often. There are lots of tips and tricks that you learn through experience to make things easier/more comfortable for yourself, but the only real way to guarantee a "painless" flight is to fly first-class. Money buys privilege.