“It’s okay the the man was manhandled, his lip bloodied,” a United spokesman said. “He’s a doctor.”
Here’s a simple, less expensive solution: United Airlines should have rented a van and have the crew drive to Louisville. It’d be a lot less than $3200. 4 passengers @ $800. Not to mention the horrible PR. Oh, and the expected civil suit to follow. The settlement will be in the millions, I predict.
The CEO’s apology is a non-apology.
Oscar Munoz, CEO of United Airlines’ parent company, described the event as “upsetting” and apologized for “having to re-accommodate these customers.” He said the airline was conducting a review and reaching out to the passenger to “further address and resolve this situation.”
The issue is not about re-accommodating customers. It’s about how you treat a human being. Helpful hint: This ain’t it. You don’t need a review of the event… If, as CEO, you are not offended by the video, someone needs to drag you out of your office.
How many people in the future when they hear the words “United Airlines” will think of the video? I certainly will.
For many years I was a loyal and frequent flyer on United. In the 90s, United’s level of customer service began to noticeably degrade. After the merger with Continental it rapidly became worse: rude employees both on the ground and in the air, frequent, grossly overbooked flights, frequent, unannounced equipment changes, random changes to pre-assigned seats, poorly maintained passenger cabins and toilets, late flights, flights held on the tarmac for lengthy periods of time due to gate crowding, etc, etc, etc. For the last eight years I have consciously and deliberately avoided flying on United and any of it regional affiliates. But I have to say, this latest incident is the ultimate indignity. It is clear to me that the leadership and management of United Airlines has their collective heads up their asses and that the employees are unthinking, unreliable customer servants and that they ALL deserve to lose their jobs The lesson in all this is simple: DON’T FLY THE UN-FRIENDLY SKYS OF UNITED!