The Buck Stops with United Airlines
Videos emerged of a violent confrontation on a plane at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. The footage showed a man being pulled away and dragged from his seat with blood on his face. The victim identified as David Dao a medical doctor from Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
Some say that the aircraft had been completely booked although a statement by the spokesman of the company Jonathan Guerin earlier today contradicts that claim. It turned out that the aircraft was not overbooked. Guerin said that all 70 seats on United Express Flight 3411 were occupied, but the plane was not overbooked contrary to earlier reports by the airline.
The CEO of United Airlines Oscar Munoz, who last month was named U.S. Communicator of the Year by a magazine, has made matters worse following his response to the incident. Instead of offering a quick and unreserved apology to the customer, Munoz apologized only for ‘’having to re-accommodate… customers.’’ In a letter sent to employees of the company on Monday afternoon, the CEO described the passenger as ‘’disruptive and belligerent’’ and stated further that ‘’employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this.’’
Mr. Munoz did make amends by apologizing to the passenger on Tuesday. He said ‘’I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight, and I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard,’’ he further added. ‘’No one should ever be mistreated this way’’.
The CEO also promised a proper investigation into the saga and was quick to concede that ‘’there are lessons we can learn from this experience.’’ In a related development, Chicago Aviation officials have placed one of the three security officers involved in the incident on leave and said the actions of the security officer were ‘’obviously not condoned by the Department’’. The department also promised its own investigation of the incident which it said was ‘’not in accordance with our standard operating procedure’’
This incident has brought a big and huge dent on the image of United Airlines and this is evident by the latest fall in the stock of the airline firm as many customers have threatened to stop patronizing United Airlines going as far as to cut up their United Airline Credit Card and canceling flights.
WE HAVE TWO WORDS FOR UNITED AIRLINES: PAY HIM
Diamond and Silk Opinion
Was this flight really overbooked??? If it was overbooked then why did United Airlines only want 4 people to give up their paid seats for 4 employees who paid nothing? Just a thought.
With the high cost of airline tickets, the task of booking the flights and the hustle and bustle of getting through TSA check in’s, the one thing that airlines can do is make sure that once a customer board their flight, they feel some form of comfort and reliability. There but for the grace of God this could have been any of us experiencing the embarrassment of being dragged out of a seat that was booked and paid for. This is not just inconceivable but it’s unbelievable, we only have two words: Pay Him!!!........And don’t forget to make sure that each passenger on the plane that witnesses this man being abused is also compensated in some way. It Cost to be the Boss, now the Boss has to pay when they don’t train their staff on how to Play…Nice!
By Diamond and Silk ~Published