I imagine that the there was effectively a "CAN'T HAPPEN" comment on what to do when nobody bit at $800. I can imagine the people writing the policy imagining that their employees might collude with friends on board to pocket the money if they let the offer get too high.
That's a problem with the processes in place in the airline. They have to do their own due diligence.
Who's to say that this man's price was the lowest price? Turn it into a bidding process, the lowest 5 bids on the plane get paid, and the airline gets their seats.
The potential for misuse is not a good excuse for accepting negative actions.
Oh, yes, I totally agree. When you have a "CAN'T HAPPEN" in a code comment that's a sign of laziness or bad design and the same applies to company procedures. Hopefully United will go back and seriously rethink how they go about this now. It's just sad it had to come to this to make it happen.
