• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI

2

Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it

3

Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living

1

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI

2

Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it

3

Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living

United Airlines: 5 Times Airlines Have Treated Passengers Terribly

By
Kirsten Korosec
Kirsten Korosec
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Kirsten Korosec
Kirsten Korosec
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 10, 2017, 6:03 PM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Airline travel has become one long sufferfest that starts with the extra fees for once-gratis amenities, escalates to the long security lines, and finishes off with the overbooked flights filled with passengers attempting to squeeze bags of questionable size into the overhead storage.

Sprinkled throughout the typical travel days are the cranky flight attendants and passengers, intermittent in-flight wi-fi, and long waits on the tarmac.

But even in these days of chronically late flights, unremarkable customer service, and excessive fees, there are still incidents that are noteworthy—and not in a good way.

What Happens When No One Volunteers

Anyone who has flown in the past several years has likely encountered this classic game of trying to coax passengers to give up their seats for a voucher. Airlines often overbook their flights and when everyone shows up the staff begins, like an auctioneer, offering $200, $400, how about $600—anyone?— to anyone willing to forgo this flight for another one.

What happens when no one steps up? This week, video was posted showing security forcibly removing a man from an overbooked United Airlines flight. The fallout has been swift and unrelenting even as United Airlines CEO apologized and said the company will work “with a sense of urgency” to review the matter.

The Ultimate Exit Interview

JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater made perhaps the most famous exit ever from a job. After an altercation with an alleged abusive passenger on a flight between Pittsburgh and New York City, Slater took to the plane’s public address system to air his grievances. He then publicly quit his job, grabbed two beers, deployed the evacuation slide on the plane, and bailed from the scene.

Computer Bugs

Several airlines have dealt with widespread computer outages in recent months that have led to hundreds of grounded flights, stranding travelers and causing general chaos. Southwest Airlines and United have suffered computer glitches that affected flights.

Delta has had not one, but two major computer outages over a six-month period: one in August 2016 and another in January. The fallout from Delta’s latest glitch was compounded by challenges among all airlines to comply with travel restrictions enacted by President Donald Trump’s executive order to block travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Diet Coke As a Weapon

An alleged incident between a flight attendant and a Muslim-American woman prompted United Airlines to publicly apologize and open an investigation. The 2015 incident on a Shuttle America flight centered on a flight attendant’s alleged refusal to hand Tahera Ahmad, a Muslim American chaplain at Northwestern University, an unopened can of Diet Coke.

Ahmad, who was wearing a hijab on the flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C., says she protested when a passenger next to her received a can of beer. The situation soon escalated when another passenger upon hearing her request allegedly yelled, “You Muslim, you need to shut the … up,” and said that “You know you would use it as a weapon.”

It All Started With a Guitar

In the era of social media, customers often take to Twitter or Facebook to spread their tales of airline traveling woe. Musician Dave Carroll used music—three catchy songs in all—to share his account in 2008 during a trip on a United Airlines flight that resulted in a broken guitar and the company’s subsequent response.

The song “United Breaks Guitars” became a viral hit on YouTube and iTunes when it was released in July 2009.

About the Author
By Kirsten Korosec
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in

Current price of oil as of July 7, 2026
Personal FinanceOil
Current price of oil as of July 7, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 7, 2026
2 hours ago
Current price of silver as of Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Personal Financesilver
Current price of silver as of Tuesday, July 7, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 7, 2026
2 hours ago
Trump said Walmart cut prices at his request, but the company didn’t credit the president in its decision as Trump fights off inflation backlash
RetailDonald Trump
Trump said Walmart cut prices at his request, but the company didn’t credit the president in its decision as Trump fights off inflation backlash
By The Associated Press and Josh BoakJuly 7, 2026
2 hours ago
In this photo illustration, a Sk Hynix logo is displayed on a smartphone with stock market percentages in the background.
AICFO Daily
SK Hynix—which supplies memory chips to Nvidia—is about to test Wall Street’s appetite for the next wave of tech IPOs
By Sheryl EstradaJuly 7, 2026
2 hours ago
bernie
PoliticsBook Excerpt
Bernie Sanders told me exactly why he had to run. The Democratic Party still isn’t listening
By Tad DevineJuly 7, 2026
3 hours ago
Hussein Fazal poses in front of the Super.com NASCAR car
Startups & VentureTerm Sheet
The $1.2 billion startup that wants to become Amazon Prime for savings
By Lily Mae LazarusJuly 7, 2026
3 hours ago

Most Popular

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI
AI
Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 5, 2026
2 days ago
Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it
Success
Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it
By Preston ForeJuly 6, 2026
23 hours ago
Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living
Success
Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living
By Preston ForeJuly 4, 2026
3 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 6, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 6, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 6, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of silver as of Monday, July 6, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, July 6, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 6, 2026
1 day ago
The man who ran Bernie's campaign says Democrats are still making the same mistakes with Democratic Socialists, and they should laud Mamdani's win
Politics
The man who ran Bernie's campaign says Democrats are still making the same mistakes with Democratic Socialists, and they should laud Mamdani's win
By Catherina GioinoJuly 6, 2026
17 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.