Originally Posted by
ijgordon
Agreed. And the (now) $850m decline in market value of UAL shares probably (roughly) reflects the present value of UA having to offer lower fares for a defined period of time. And maybe a few thousand $ in a settlement.
That's how the market works.
Clearly the PR impact of this event is much much larger than any actual liability. (That lies with the police presumably).
I don't think there will be any real long-term fallout here.
Certainly the notion that Oscar should resign is ridiculous.
There's no doubt the situation wasn't handled properly. Under $misek, United got excessively stingy when it came to VDB comp, and IDB's rose. Everyone has their price, if they offered $2k, I'm sure they could have gotten volunteers. And sometimes it takes some creativity (E.g. fly to Indianapolis, which is pretty close).
Since this was apparently an afternoon flight, there's certainly the opportunity to figure out reasonable options.