Yesterday, we discussed the absolutely awful story of Dr. David Dao, a United Airlines passenger who was attempting to fly from Chicago to Louisville. Dr. Dao was a paying customer with a valid ticket, and he had already boarded his flight when United “selected” him to “volunteer” to give up his seat for United employees on an overbooked flight. When he refused to leave, citing his need as a doctor to get back to Louisville, UA called in Chicago police officers and those police officers violently assaulted Dr. Dao and physically dragged him off the plane.
The story was everywhere on Monday and Tuesday and the whole situation was absolutely made worse by a series of tone-deaf and offensive comments made by UA spokespeople. Then, to add insult on top of injury, UA’s CEO Oscar Munoz sent an email to United employees in which Munoz claimed Dr. Dao became increasingly “disruptive and belligerent” and that’s why it’s totally okay that a paying customer was assaulted and dragged off a plane.
The incident was set into motion because United Airlines was trying to cheap-out in several different ways. So it’s funny to me that on Tuesday morning, United’s stock prices took a sharp dip and United lost $1 billion in market value over the course of about three hours. As Buzzfeed bitchily noted, “Almost $1 billion was voluntarily removed from the market value of United Airlines Tuesday morning as the airline was hit with a barrage of criticism from customers in the US and around the world.” By the end of the closing day, United’s stock had rebounded a bit but the company had still lost around $250 million in market value. So, suddenly, United’s CEO Oscar Munoz is all apologies.
Now, United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz has promised that the company will “do better.”
“The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment,” Munoz said in the statement. “I share all of those sentiments, and 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.”
In an email to employees on Monday, the United Airlines CEO faulted Dao for being “disruptive and belligerent.” Now, the CEO seems to be backtracking in his most recent declaration, stating, “I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.”
Munoz promised a “thorough review” of the incident, including the actions of Chicago Aviation officers.
“It’s never too late to do the right thing,” he said in the statement.
What horsesh-t. United Airlines corporate doesn’t give a crap about bloodied passengers being dragged off their planes until it affects their bottom line. UA’s official reaction to this incident has been a case study in bad PR and “How To Make a Horrific Situation Even Worse.”
People Magazine also spoke to Dr. Dao’s new lawyer, who said that Dao is receiving medical treatment at a Chicago hospital and that Dr. Dao did sustain significant injuries. I’m glad he has a lawyer. I hope he sues the sh-t out of United AND the Chicago police.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Too little too late. Their behavior was RE-PUL-SIVE. Their image/reputation has been shat on & extremely compromised. Get ready to pay up & lose….BIG
Bet you money United will acquire a smaller airline and change their name. This is a PR nightmare. Regardless of what they do next, I am never choosing to fly united.
This is horrible. That said, it made for an amazing flight with UA I just had the other day. Everyone on the plane was taking a shot. The staff as well. It’s truly terrible what happened. Worse that it’s within the airlines rights to get away with a lot of this.
“No one should ever be mistreated this way.”
“No one should ever be subject to a criminal violent assault by employees of businesses they give custom to.”
There, fixed that for him.
hahahahaha
No.
It IS too late to do the right thing. They had multiple chances to “do the right thing” and didn’t until their stock fell.
I too hope he sues them right into the ground.
Seriously. I don’t know what planet they live on, but on this one, assaulting a senior citizen in front of a huge group of witnesses pretty much demands an immediate apology and restitution.
We’re flying United later this year, and I’m all kinds of wishing I could back out and fly a different airline….
When we were pregnant, we had to fly to Montana which requires two planes and in the middle of the first flight they gave away our sits to the next flight! We couldn’t believe it! The supervisor is standing there telling us that there’s was another flight the next day, and we were like: WEDONT LIVE HERE!!! Never again!!!
If they turned this into a movie Kevin Spacey can play the the CEO
I had the same thought!!
And we complain about whitewashing…
When I first saw the CEO’s picture, I thought “Edward James Olmos!” But then I looked him up and he’s 13 years older than Oscar Munoz. That’s nothing a little VFX and makeup can’t fix, but if that doesn’t work, maybe Bobby Cannavale? Or Nestor Carbonnell? Both are of Cuban descent (Oscar Munoz is Mexican-American) but phenomenal actors.
He’s only apologizing so that the stockholders don’t sack him.
Sack him.
Sack the officers.
Sack the UA employees.
Sue the living daylights out of them all.
Yes. I also saw on Twitter yesterday that some media outlet published an unflattering, negative story about the victim. So add victim blaming to their despicable handling of this.
oh, yeah…I saw a few stories about how he pleaded guilty to exchanging of drugs for sex, 10 years ago. he admitted it, got probation and lost his license for 10 years.
to which I say…SO F*CKING WHAT? that in NO WAY means that he deserves the treatment he received. I couldn’t believe that people I know and like were seeming to think that the dude has no place to complain about his treatment or pursue damaged because of that. it’s like WTF? they act like, because of that old crime, he deserved the beat down.
And that story wasn’t about him. Different doctor with a similar name.
Yes, I saw that story too…I wonder who put that information out there (sarcasm font). You know we’ve probably all flown the friendly skies sitting next to many people whose stories are not something they might want to reveal, WTF cares, that’s not my problem, that doesn’t make it right just to drag someone down a walk way and kick them off a flight? Way to turn it around United and make it the doctor’s problem…they just made that situation worse than it already was for their company. What a sad day for humanity.
Megan – are you serious? The hit piece on the victim wasn’t even him?!
I’ve read everywhere about this doctor having a criminal record. Didn’t ever see it was a different doctor with a similar name. The people dragging him knew nothing about his past anď had no right to treating like this even if they did know about his history
Unbelievable. I saw that story but didn’t realize that it wasn’t even about him. In any event, it’s completely irrelevant to THIS sh@tstorm about United’s and the security’s treatment of the PAYING passenger. I was so livid that I wrote the CEO but really what I should do is find the board’s emails and write them.
It is him. But it does not mean a thing. UA was in the wrong here.
I also read that they tried to smear him with something a different person (with similar name) did.
Oh yeah I noticed it’s been circulating that they id the wrong doctor. So I guess this is even worse!
Wow. If that’s true that they smeared the wrong doctor, he’s going to end up owning an airline AND a newspaper.
I’m gonna speak up for some UA employees. My nightmare UA experience included a gate agent reduced to tears. Not by the 8 passengers she was trying to book onto new flights, but by the fact that we all disappeared from UA’s computer system and NO ONE (including her immediate boss and multiple people on multiple phone calls) was willing to step up and do whatever needed doing to get us all back into existence and rebooked. What should have been a 15-minute inconvenience became a five-hour debacle. Jessica deserved better, and so did we.
Too little, too late. Only when his bottomline was effected did he decide to issue an apology. Ugh! Money. The only language these assholes understand or care about. I hope their stock continues to decline, and that stockholders withdraw left & right.
Ridiculous. It took 3 statements shrugging off blame/ blaming the victim and an enormous loss to their market value and reputation, for this scum bag to actually apologize.
I hope the victim sues for assault AND defamation.
You forgot the part where they fed a journalist some negative story from the Doctors past to distract from their mess and then gleefully watched as shameless news outlets went on a feeding frenzy. Corporate Machinations 101.
I just read that they got the doctor’s full name wrong, so the criminal activity they published was actually some other guy’s info!
Esmom is that right? where did you see that?
Reddit is reporting (and other outlets are catching on) that the name of the poor doctor drug off United’s plane yesterday is similar to, BUT NOT THE SAME AS, another doctor who DOES have felony charges in his background. So not only was the doctor assaulted, but now there’s a smear campaign against him that could follow him the rest of his life. Good luck fighting that lawsuit, United and Courier-Journal.
“The doctor on the plane was David Thanh Duc Dao, MD, not David Anh Duy Dao. Duc Dao has no criminal record.”
Memo to United Airlines:
Shut up. Pay up.
So the same guy who blamed the passenger the first time he spoke is now saying how horrified he was to see the video? It was absolutely idiotic to have the same man who said all that other crap yesterday, apologize today, I don’t care if he’s the CEO or not. Surely they could have found another “higher up” in the company to apologize. This way is just so insincere.
I mean, how much more insincere can the airlines get? It was actually embarrassing reading this apology just after returning from the article he blamed the passenger for unruly behaviour. Do these people believe we’re this stupid? Ans: Yes they do.
And what pisses me off the more about this ‘apology’ was the ‘one of the righteous people’ tone he assumed. As if he is so above the horrible maltreatment and he wasn’t a part of the whole thing, going as far as patting the employees on the back for demanding ‘respect’ a few days ago. He honestly sounds like a reprogrammed robot( mostly likely IS) or he had a lobotomy( performed by Ben Carson).
Well, on Reddit they are saying The Courier Journal printed the criminal history of the wrong David Dao. So that’s slander right there. This case is getting more interesting by the minute.
Oh. NOW it’s sinking in? Too late, me thinks.
The stocks rebounded because people were taking advantage of cheap ticket prices. But I’m glad you brought up the Chicago PD. Everyone has been criticizing United and rightfully so but where is the criticism of the Chicago PD? Or do cops continually get passes when they use unnecessary force?
Excellent point, and you’re right. The officers who assaulted him need to be reprimanded if not straight up fired. This whole thing, from the assault itself to how it was handled after, is so rage-inducing!
Fired, please.
I’m confused. The news reports I’ve seen and read specifically say “Chicago Aviation Officers.” Are these Aviation Officers a branch of Chicago’s PD? Or are these Officers simply apart of the airport security detail?
They’re not Chicago PD. However, some of their officers are ex-Chicago PD.
Hack journos spent time digging dirt on Dr. Dao. What is even the point? To justify the violent offloading? Not one of them investigated the officers who dragged the elderly customer. That would require a some legwork.
United’s actions not only violated its own Contract of Carriage, they were also illegal under CFR 250.2a. Also the flight was not overbooked, it was only fully booked. In any case, no airline has any “right” to remove ticketed, confirmed passengers to seat crew.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.
THANK YOU. I keep seeing reports that it was “overbooked” when quite clearly it appears the issue was the 4 United employees who appeared at the gate AFTER boarding. The reason this usually doesn’t happen is because the airlines are smart enough to leave the people who are already seated on the plane and deny boarding to the “extra” passengers. If you’ve ever been on an overbooked flight (and I have been, often – in fact in my younger days I sought them out to take advantage of being bumped), you know that you’re in trouble when they check you in for the flight but won’t give you a seat assignment.
The other question is why is it even OK to overbook? I can’t believe that our laws allow that, but of course, the lobbyists made sure to get something like that in there. In addition, the fact that the laws CAP the amount of compensation that an airline can give in these situations is ridiculous. looks like the airline lobby was quite effective.
This is what it states: In the event of an oversold flight, every carrier shall ensure that the smallest practicable number of persons holding confirmed reserved space on that flight are denied boarding involuntarily.
From what I’ve read from other flight experts over the last two days is that UA wasn’t acting illegally even if it was for boarding their staff.
Not that he shouldn’t sue UA, but I suspect the actual denied boarding part is going to be harder to win. It’s how they handled it that will give him a stronger case, as well as against the Chicago Aviation Authority, who supplied the offices who assaulted him.
https://thepointsguy.com/2017/04/your-rights-on-involuntary-bumps/
I think you’ll find that his guy’s lawyers (and probably anyone else they’ve done this to) will take the line that this WAS illegal. The Dr. and the other 3 passengers were NOT “involuntarily denied boarding”. They were, in fact, already boarded. That being the case, it becomes refusal to transport, and circumstances under which they can do so are clearly defined. They do not include “we need your seat for someone else”. I see a class action suit coming up for United if they’ve done this to enough passengers.
Best analysis I’ve found so far: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/04/united-passenger-removal-reporting-management-fail.html
Too little too late.
You took a bad situation, made it worse by not apologizing and then blamed the victim and then doubled down on that by mounting a smear campaign against him.
Were I you, I’d be down on my knees thanking whatever deity I believed in that Sean Spicer is such a moron.
If the board of directors is smart they will employ a crisis PR firm like yesterday and Munoz will be out before Friday. If Dr. Dao is smart he will have already lawyer-ed up because as Giulia says they have breached the contract of carriage and who knows what else. Actually the other 3 passengers probably have a breach of contract case as well……..
If the other passengers accepted the payment and took the hotel voucher, it will be very hard for them to sue since they have, in essence, already settled with the airline.
I am not sure the other 3 passengers agreed to payment to be honest. The initial article I read said the other 3 passengers were picked via the computer like Dr. Dao and but they didn’t refuse when asked to deplane. However with all the clear misinformation and lies coming out now who knows what the truth of the situation is….
The airline is required to pay monetary compensation equal to the value of the passenger’s lost time. If you think the compensation is insuffient, you can refuse it and sue the airline.
Sometimes it is too late to do the right thing. In my opinion, that’s after 2 other victim blaming statements, an internal email gaslighting people who saw the video (he was not hit, he fell. He was belligerent) and a smear campaign. But what do I know? I only do PR for a living.
Also luckily for Pepsi and Sean spider, I have plenty of outrage to go around.
I read an eyewitness report this morning (on CNN) that he and his wife offered to give up their seats at $800 but then they found out they wouldn’t be flying out until the next day and then he said I’m sorry I can’t I’m a doctor with patients to see. So they didn’t randomly select him either! Here he was offering to give up his seats but then being a doctor couldn’t because of his schedule. So they lied too!
And this is all very much too little, too late. He was doubling down on how the Dr. Was belligerent and disruptive. Jerk. Good! I hope all the good UA employees don’t suffer but I hope this CEO is fired and doesn’t get a zillion dollar severance check!
And the Chicago PD better discipline that officer. No just desk duty until the dust settles. That officer needs to be retrained before he’s allowed near the public again. SMH.
I mean United was sh*t before but they’ve had two PR disasters in the span of weeks. Too little too late.
Must suck to be part of that PR dept
Yesterday also they did a Hitpiece on Dr. Dao I actually @ em the Courier Journal and Morgan Watkins in Twitter to ask if this was paid work for United or just regular ass Journalistic Bias with PoC since you know how we are all Too Big/Much Older/More Super Threatening/Always up to no good/Undeserving of due process or politeness or patience/super having free floating THC on us/with a long history of Breathing around just being the most
Also I hope they go Double Subterranean before this is all said and Done.
This TV reporter from my area was on Twitter yesterday posting a pic of her desk all covered in paper and saying “These are ALL court cases about the doctor from the United flight’s troubled past. See our report at 4.” She was so proud of that! The ONLY good thing about it was how negative the blowback was. She pulled that Tweet down but then whined about how she’d been misunderstood and threatened, of course.
OH YES and the Young lady that came and collected her so thoroughly with the “YOURE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO PR FOR A COMPANY” paper on her desk?? Amazing
But yeah That juicing at the mouth/ patent glee the Media stays showing at trying to snatch certain people’s dignity /promptly demonize/find a rap sheet as soon as something terrible happens to them /when they cant defend themselves which NEVER really happens when the offender or victim is a certain other color has stopped even surprising me at this point, I just always know that when I get the mom of the killer on TV saying he wasn’t a white guy, or a terror attack gets painted as “troubled loner” or the neighbors express this shock Is Not ever a PoC…
Idiot. I’m glad that she was called out on that. If there’s one thing that this episode, pepsi, and well this SAD EFFED UP administration has made me appreciate, it’s twitter and the amazing and immediate feedback that smart and funny people can deliver on it. instant letters to the editor… so there’s that.
Someone should go research the hit piece writer’s past and see if she’s also “not an angel.”
Can someone with a Reddit account please post this suggestion on there? Because you KNOW then it’ll happen in like 24 hours or less.
Glad you did that!
I can’t believe nobody tried to actually stand up and stop them from dragging this guy. They yelled, cried, and whipped out their phones, but didn’t try to get in the way to stop them. I can honestly say, if I was there and saw this happen, I would jump up, tell them to put him down and I would leave instead. It must have been scary to have been there
I feel as though I would have done the same thing. I’d like to think I would have.
It’s a nice sentiment, but you’d be arrested as well.
Thrown to the ground, then arrested. I wonder if they would arrest a whole plane full of people?
I will be honest I am not going to try and stop a cop or intervene because I am afraid of going to jail or worse for obstructing police.
Yeah, especially Chicago police
Yep obstruction of justice. So it’s probably better they whipped out their phones instead of physically stopping them.
I think I would have put off doing anything physical because of the presence of the police (don’t want to get arrested) and the zero-tolerance security culture in aviation post-911, but I would have shouted out and then gotten up to talk to management staff and called people.
After watching this rage-inducing video, I was happy to read that many other people got up and got off the plane in disgust.
Interesting how the idea of “personal responsibility” goes out the window when it comes to corporations.
And corporations are “people” according to the Supreme Court. At least we know the marketplace works some of the time.
You got this story spot on. I’m flying united today with my family- gross. I hope they don’t beat my 8 year old.
So dispicable. Why all the negative stories on the victim? Who cares? You brutally assaulted your paying customer for everyone to see. What else matters? Except that he should sue your sorry ass. I hate that they think that they are so smart and everyone is so stupid.
I don’t blame the passengers. You think you’re prepared for stuff, but in real life people freeze.
Plus with police brutality, who wants to get shot or beaten down for trying to do the right thing? I applaud those with the phones taking videos and posting them. I”m not sure why people think that others should have given up their seats voluntarily either; it all seemed to have escalated so quickly that no one was probably prepared for that.
Hit them in the pocket where it counts! That’s always the key, nothing makes big corporations sit up and pay attention than
monetary lost. This age of non apology and victim blaming is ridiculous
When this first happened, I told my husband who used to work for another airline that their PR people were probably going bonkers. He said they probably didn’t overly care based on his experience. He ended up right. I have a media background and was talking to a friend who has extensive media experience and we were shocked by the PR response! They should have immediately said they were horrified by this video and that they were going to get to the bottom of it. What are people thinking???
Obviously, the United CEO doesn’t think of consequences. He blames everyone else especially the customers.
To add insult to injury, the racist hit pieces against the guy are using the criminal records of a David Anh Duy Dao, not David Thanh Duc Dao (the actual victim). Makes my blood boil.
wow. just wow.
Even if he did have a criminal past that still doesnt change how he was treated.
OMG its a Vietnamese not Chinese man people. And funny that they were able to dig up a criminal past of someone with similar first and last name because I tell you, his last name Dao is NOT a COMMON Vietnamese last name. Talk about “Asians all look the same” taking to the next level.
They are only sorry that they got caught and lost money. I hope they go under.
United corporate only really truly apologized when the share holders got effed and lost a billion dollars. NOW they are truly sorry and responsible?! Wow. It’s fascinating how much of a mess they made. Worst PR ever.
“Almost $1 billion was voluntarily removed from the market value of United Airlines Tuesday morning…”
Love.
United is in full damage control mode since their stocks tanked. Sack that CEO!
“United spokesperson Maddie King said in a statement to Fox News the airline “will be providing full compensation for the price of their ticket for all passengers on United Flight 3411.”
– Fox News
Meanwhile, the doctor has lawyered up (good for him!) and filed emergency motions in court to preserve all of the evidence.
Thank god for social media. Seriously.
No one going to talk about Jimmy Kimmel and how he treated this story? He showed the party where the bloodied man was clinging to the curtain dazed while muttering that they were killing him. His audience all laughed while he smirked. No, they weren’t laughing at UA’s bad PR, they were laughing at the traumatized victim. I don’t watch Jimmy usually but he must be a real jewel of a man.