So crew that are being shipped from one airport to another for flight operations will need to have their flights booked at least an hour before departure time, rather than running up to the gate after everyone has boarded and demanding no-longer-available seats.[1]
That's an improvement over the current brouhaha, but leaves the possibility that such flight crew will still potentially create an "over-booked" situation, which will then let United force folk to take a later flight (when caught before boarding) based on their priority algorithm (which, presumably, will rate United personnel as the top priority).
They also promise not to call the cops or airport security "unless it is a matter of safety and security" — which sounds like it could be an improvement, though we all know that "security" is one of those sort of fuzzy words that can be used to cover a multitude of sins. And given United's initial, apparently incorrect, characterization of Dr Dao's refusal to get off the plane as "disruptive" and "belligerent," it would seem that "safety and security" could have been invoked by irked United crew in this incident.
So … an improvement. Kind of. Meanwhile, Delta is promising to really make it worth passengers' while if they volunteer to be bumped.[1] We'll see how that works.
——
[1] https://tmz.hs.llnwd.net/o28/newsdesk/tmz_documents/0414-united-airlines-inflight-service-alert-doc-tmz-01.pdf
[2] http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-delta-overbooking-20170414-story.html
Here’s what United will do differently after the infamous dragging incident
United Airlines will no longer allow crew members to displace passengers who are already seated on a plane.
That is good.
Crew should take a little plane or drive three hours.