Originally Posted by
West Coast
GF
Anything has the potential to be negotiated in the future, that day however it wasn't an option.
What you seem to be missing here is that "it wasn't an option" is entirely United's fault.
If, in fact, as you keep asserting, there weren't other options, it's because United had boxed itself into a corner, perhaps by failing to anticipate the need to transport DH crew at the last minute, or perhaps through poor operational planning, or perhaps through a penny-wise, pound-foolish set of operational priorities.
Any way you want to cut it, this entire incident, that turned what otherwise would have been a few thousand $ spent on accommodation, and a couple of travelers only too delighted to take their $1,200 and fly out the next day, into a
PR debacle worth hundreds of millions of dollars in reputational damage.
Is there any possible way you could look at this that does not lead to the ultimate conclusion that United screwed up? Maybe the screwup wasn't Sunday night. Maybe the holes in the swiss cheese started to line up weeks, or months, or years earlier: in training, in developing contingency plans; in designing the organizational structure and assigning levels of discretionary authority; in establishing relationships with Part 135 operators at major hubs; in negotiating contracts with crew, etc.