By Yujin Kim
United Airlines has recently been subject to widespread condemnation after the incident on April 9, when 69-year-old Vietnamese-American Dr. David Dao was violently dragged off a plane because the airline had overbooked its flight. After letting everyone onboard, the airline realized it needed four more seats so that some crew members could go to Louisville for work the next day. Consequently, they asked for volunteers to step off the plane with a compensation of $400 vouchers for future travel (later increased to $800), a hotel stay and a seat on a flight leaving over 21 hours later. When no volunteers were forthcoming, the flight crew selected four passengers to leave the plane by using a method based on specific factors, such as expense of one’s ticket and how frequent a flier one was. Three of the selected passengers agreed to leave, but Dao refused because he had to see patients the next day at his clinic. United Airlines staff called the Chicago Aviary police for assistance and Dao was thrown against his armrest and dragged down the aisle unconscious, bleeding from his mouth. Soon after, the doctor managed to re-board the plane, repeating that he had to go home, but collapsed and was removed on a stretcher. All other passengers were removed from the plane so the blood from the altercation could be cleaned up.
Dao was hospitalized with a concussion, broken nose, damaged sinuses and the loss of two teeth, among other injuries.
The videos of the incident went viral and unleashed a storm of outrage. The airline scrambled in the wake of this publicity nightmare, but their approach to making rights was, in short, pathetic. Oscar Munoz, CEO of United Airlines, released several apologies for the horrifying demonstration of violence and injustice on Flight 3411. In his first response, he apologized to the other passengers on the flight for having to re-accommodate them but did not directly acknowledge Dao’s treatment. That same day, however, his email to United Airlines employees became public: he commended employees for their conduct, and blamed Dao, calling him “disruptive and belligerent.” Met with fierce criticism, however, Munoz backtracked and claimed that United Airlines would do their best to “make things right,” saying that “no one should ever be treated this way.”
On April 12, Munoz appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and claimed, “That is not who our family at United is. And you saw us at a bad moment.” He went on to say that he was intensely ashamed once he saw the video of Dao’s treatment and that he will take full responsibility for the fiasco, promising that there will never be a repeat of this performance. Unfortunately for Munoz, his apologies ring false. He initially apologized for having to “re-accommodate” passengers, when Dao was bloodied, concussed and bodily hauled off the plane, an act far more ghastly than mere “re-accommodation.” Munoz changes his tune to a more contrite one after global outrage placed immense pressure on him and United Airlines, which hardly demonstrates sincere feelings of remorse and shame. Horror at such poor treatment of a paying customer should have been his first reaction, and his apology should have reflected this from the start. The fact that he didn’t address this speaks volumes about Munoz’s insincerity. It’s more than likely that the later apologies were calculated PR moves instead of any sincere remorse.
However insincere his apologies, however coldly businesslike in his mentality, Munoz is not the main issue here. United Airlines must learn from its mistakes and edit their codes of conduct: treatment of paying passengers must improve, the police should not be involved unless there is an actual security threat and overbooking must be handled appropriately. Overbooking is, according to CNN Money, standard practice for airlines: they sell more tickets than there are seats, in anticipation of passengers not showing up for their flights. This is because they want to maximize profit, which means flying with ideally no seats. When overbooking causes problems, flight crews look for volunteers to step off the flight with appropriate compensation. In the case that there are no volunteers, it is legal for airlines to deny boarding to any passenger it chooses. But this process is typically held at the gates before passengers board the plane. For whatever reason, United employees failed to realize that overbooking would be an issue until everyone had already boarded the plane, yet another sign of incompetency.
While seemingly ridiculous at first—why would anyone sell the same seat twice?—overbooking has its benefits. There are a good number of people who don’t show up for their flights, and ticket costs aren’t as expensive as they would be without overbooking. But United Airlines handled the situation poorly. They should have offered better compensation to motivate volunteers, instead of a measly $400 voucher and a hotel stay. According to CBC News, Delta Airlines announced after the United Airlines blunder that it will allow gate agents to offer up to $2,000, while supervisors can offer up to $9,950 to motivate people to voluntarily be bumped off their flights.
United Airlines, without a doubt, made a terrible blunder and there is no excuse for the treatment of Dr. Dao. Sending for the police to forcibly remove a passenger was hardly the only option the crew had: they could have put their crew members on a different flight, the crew members could have driven to Louisville instead (a 4-hour drive) and they definitely could have offered better incentive to voluntarily step off the plane. This incident points to inadequate training amongst United Airlines crew members that causes hasty decision making because the staff fails to realize that other options are available to them. United should offer a more thorough, flexible training to its staff so that in times of crisis or unexpected events, they can react reasonably and civilly.
Yujin Kim, FCRH ’20, is a communications major from Long Beach, California.
