United Scrambles To Recover From Ousted Passenger Fiasco

By Richard Gonzales

April 13, 2017, 7:28am CT

In this Thursday, June 2, 2016, file photo, United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz waits to be interviewed, in New York, during a presentation of the carrier's new Polaris service, a new business class product that will become available on trans-Atlantic flights. Munoz said in a note to employees Tuesday, April 11, 2017, that he continues to be disturbed by the incident Sunday night in Chicago, where a passenger was forcibly removed from a United Express flight. Munoz said he was committed to “fix what’s broken so this never happens again.” Richard Drew / Associated Press

United Scrambles To Recover From Ousted Passenger Fiasco

By Richard Gonzales

April 13, 2017, 7:28am CT

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

United Airlines announced that it will compensate all passengers who were on board United Express Flight 3411 Sunday night. That’s the Chicago-to-Louisville flight in which a 69-year-old man was dragged off the plane by airport police officers because he didn’t want to give up his seat.

United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy says the compensation will equal the cost of passengers’ tickets and will come in the form of cash, travel credits or miles.

Earlier in the day, United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz told ABC’s Good Morning America that the company would never again use law enforcement officers when it decides to to remove passengers from a flight.

United personnel had asked for volunteers to give up their seats for four airline employees who were needed in other cities. Three passengers left. Kentucky physician David Dao refused.

Munoz said he felt “ashamed” of the incident which was video-recorded and went viral. “This will never happen again on a United flight. That’s my premise and that’s my promise,” he said.

Munoz offered an apology to Dao, his family and other passengers on the flight. The United CEO had previously referred to Dao as a “disruptive and belligerent passenger” in an internal company communication. That reaction was widely panned as exacerbating United’s PR nightmare.

But when asked by ABC whether the passenger was at fault in any way, Munoz replied, “No, he can’t be. He was a paying passenger sitting on our seat, in our aircraft and no one should be treated that way. Period.”

In a statement issued on the airline’s website yesterday, Munoz said “It’s never too late to do the right thing.”