“It Wasn’t Them” United CEO Still Backs Employees in Dragging Incident
Jennifer Billock September 30, 2017
Chicago, IL, USA - March 17, 2016: A United Airlines 747-400 landing on 28C at the Chicago O'hare Airport.
The United Airlines CEO continued to back his employees’ actions when a passenger was dragged off a plane.
Everyone is likely to remember the drama surrounding United Airlines back in April, when a passenger was dragged off an overbooked flight to make space for a United employee. Dr. David Dao, 69, was forcibly removed after refusing to give up his seat. In the aftermath of the distressing and bloody event, Dao was hospitalized for a concussion and other incident-related injuries. The airline settled with Dao outside of the courts.
Throughout the outrage that followed the incident, United CEO Oscar Munoz initially did not offer an apology, instead calling Dao disruptive and belligerent. Munoz eventually apologized, blaming airline policies rather than the actions of his employees. In fact, he praised them for going above and beyond in their work.
“It was about supporting our employees because for me, the objective is I cannot lose these folks,” Munoz said at a Glassdoor event reported by Business Insider. “As much as people wanted me to potentially blame other people, I couldn’t do it because once they see someone who they think highly of – in this case, me – if they see them in a tough moment giving up on their principles and starting to blame somebody else, I think you start getting at the root and the heart of someone’s true principles, and I could not let that happen.”
Following Dao’s removal from the plane and the ensuing controversy, United did alter their crew booking policy to require employees be booked at least 60 minutes before departure. Munoz continues to support his employees in the matter.
“I had to support our employees despite the intense, massive, ugly scrutiny that we got because of that,” he said at the Glassdoor event. “It wasn’t them – it was policies and principles that got in the way.”
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Truth of the matter is, the UA employees do think highly of Munoz......you must not forget that his predecessor, Jeff Smisek, essentially ruined many of the good things at both UA and CO. A lot of things happened during the merger........chintzy policies, poor working relationships between Flight Attendants and upper management, poor morale, routes that had a consistent following getting cancelled, horrible coffee, just to name a few. Yes, Munoz was well-received, after Smisek ruined things for a half-decade.
Policy may be the root cause but human action was the moving force. Airline employees are stake holders in the actions that took place against Dr Dao.
Do the capitalists in United Airlines know anything about shame? United is so proud its extraordinary achievement that it earns top 3 profits in the world at the cost of Top 3 nightmare experience. Good job, United!
Fair
WHERE ON EARTH has Munoz gotten the idea that his employees think highly of him ? This is delusional.