Cable Forum - View Single Post - United Airlines: Passenger violently removed due to overbooking

**Mick** · 11-04-2017, 15:51

I think this is a very interesting read... What United's CEO should have done...

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wha...ry_top_stories

Quote:

United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz woke up Monday morning to a massive leadership test.

And he flunked — big time.

Munoz had to respond to the shocking video footage of a passenger being violently ejected from one of his flights Sunday night. The video, shot by two passengers on their cellphones and shared on Twitter, went viral. The passenger was thrown off the plane simply because United had overbooked.

Munoz’s public response was a piece of pusillanimous lawyer-crafted claptrap that was pitiful, inadequate and insulting.

<snip>

Here’s what Munoz should have said instead on Monday morning:

“I have just seen the video from Flight 3411, and like all of you I am shocked. I have immediately cleared my calendar of all other commitments, and I am going to our company’s facilities at O’Hare to conduct a personal inquiry. All personnel involved in this incident will be reporting to me in person immediately. I am going to find out how this happened, who did what and why. I notice that the passenger’s violent removal was conducted by law enforcement personnel, not by United staff, and I am going to demand a full explanation from the relevant authorities as well. Meanwhile, I apologize personally to the passenger, to all others on the flight, to our customers and to the American public. I expect to issue a further report within 72 hours.”

(I initially wrote 36 hours, but on reflection, 72 hours — 3 days — makes more sense.)

If Munoz’s lawyers think that statement opens them up to — eek! — “legal liabilities,” I have some news for them.

The video is all the evidence an attorney is going to need. You’re going to be writing a big fat check anyway. Showing good faith now is going to help more than it could hurt.