Can a particular passenger be unilaterally bumped from a flight with no compensation?
My son was flying from Boston to Madison, WI, with a connection in Newark. He arrived at the airport well before his flight, and his bag was checked. At the gate he was called to the desk and told he was now connecting at O'Hare. He was told that the gate agent would take care of his checked bag (whatever that meant).
Anyway, a long ground stop in Chicago because of weather dalayed his departure from Boston. He is now paying for a night at an airport hotel in Chicago. On top of that, Air Tag tracking shows that his bag, which had been tagged for his original itinerary is sitting in Newark and was not loaded on the flight to Madison.
Doesn't United ask for passengers to be bumped and offer compensation for it? Can they just eject a passenger from a flight? And will they refuse to put his bag on a plane because he's not on it?