GaxxyFlyer

I'm frankly amazed at the number of people victim blaming here. Even if the guy was wrong and even if he 'broke the law' (which I doubt) there are a lot of people here who seem to think it's ok to beat up an old man in public.

Is this what America has become? Maybe it's always been like this but there are more cameras around now.

BearX220

United flatly, absolutely, does not believe this or operate like this. A good many Flyertalkers do not believe it either. The status hierarchy that has developed at most airlines means some passengers are untouchable, others expendable.

What is more -- at United in particular the welfare and comfort of employees is consistently more important than that of customers. The principal business of United Airlines is the safe and comfortable transport of the employees of United Airlines.

mccullo3

Agreed Oscar Munoz needs to be fired asap. We all know United had the right to bump the passengers. Given that though the way they handled a situation THEY created is reprehensible! Further to have the CEO come out with such disdain for the customer is ridiculous. Note airlines and their employees if you didn't have customers you would not have a airline.

Bohemian1

I still like the term of self-loading cargo. When flying in UAL 'Economy Minus' I totally understand that.

Neimh

Has anyone noticed the press release (on United's media page) 3 lines below the response to Fl 3411? Seems a bit ironic.

Bohemian1

"Communicator of the Year"????
That truly is priceless!

Maya Blue

Yup, and that is the message that is the take away from everything that happened. Only in the airline industry is that allowed.

ryw

Just add in the complaint about not being able to use a 1.9lb laptop during takeoff, and you've pretty much got FT

More on topic, those who think United will brush this off - maybe this event, yes, eventually - though incidents like these add up in the mind of the public, and narratives about airlines can stick. (Look at Spirit for instance - lots of non FF seem willing to avoid them, even if they're the cheapest option. Not to equate Spirit and UA, but it's evidence that people under some circumstances won't always go for the lowest price)

RedHeadFlyer

There are times where a person or company may contractually or legally allowed to do something, but it is not the decent thing to do.

Want to win people back? Show commitment that the company will do the decent thing when those situations come up. Empower the front line and require the same of its partners. Start with a statement that you do understand decency, have a commitment to it, and make meaningful rule and procedure changes. Explain a vision for how the situation should have gone.

I have a distaste over the apparent stopping of finding solutions when the cost hit what the IDB cost was, and the lack of reported honest explanation to the customers. Explain that it is crew need and not an overbook, make sure it is a genuine immediate need, say according to IDB rules instead of random. But it should never have gotten there.

Short of that, people are seeing you for what you are, a company that tolerates rather than values its customers. It's tough to win back people by trying to convince them you aren't something you are.

chollie

I really really hope UA's takeaway from this is not that FAs need to be more vigilant about preventing pax from taking videos of situations like this.

mdkowals

And quite honestly it's in the airline's best interest to keep it that way. The existing laws are a pretty good deal for the airline, and as always if you're the beneficiary of a good deal it's in your best interest to do whatever you can to not to call attention to it. United called attention to it.

ROCAT

Let's be honest here if Trump bombs the DPRK within a week most of the people will have moved on and forgotten about this.

cfacer

Welp, Oscar just released an apology ...

https://hub.united.com/united-expres...355968629.html

Dear Team,

The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment. I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened. Like you, 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. No one should ever be mistreated this way.

I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.

It's never too late to do the right thing. I have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what's broken so this never happens again. This will include a thorough review of crew movement, our policies for incentivizing volunteers in these situations, how we handle oversold situations and an examination of how we partner with airport authorities and local law enforcement. We'll communicate the results of our review by April 30th.

I promise you we will do better.

Sincerely,

Oscar


It will be interesting to see the reaction to this. IMHO, way too late of a response to have the intended impact he is likely hoping for.

rankourabu

You underestimate how quickly people throw their beliefs away when there is a financial incentive presented to them.

nutwpinut

I have several friends in Asia posting on Facebook with news reports from Asian news agencies and they have been roasting UA. They show more of the event than what I have seen on US cable/tv news media.