United CEO Apologizes to Kentucky Doctor Dragged Off Flight; Doctor's Family Thanks Supporters

NBC Bay Area ^ | 4/11

[nickcarraway]

The passenger is being treated for injuries in a Chicago hotel

United Airlines' parent company CEO Oscar Munoz on Tuesday apologized to the passenger dragged off a flight over the weekend.

"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," Munoz wrote in a memo to his team. "No one should ever be mistreated this way."

Brief Marriage Preceded Fatal Calif. School Shooting The passenger has been identified as Dr. David Dao, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, NBC News reported. The Associated Press also confirmed that Dao is the man in the video.

[BykrBayb]

I know. I don’t understand why suddenly it’s okay to beat paying passengers bloody and drag them off the plane.

[poinq]

Whether the Doctor was a good guy or a bad guy does not matter. What matters is the pejorative attitude of United employees and their president. Customers still have rights. And they have expectations. United Airlines is not part of the government. They are a business that accepts the responsibility to steward the paying public from one city to another at a price they set. Their needs do not come before us. And we did not give up our rights. We agree to suspend them temporarily for the sole reason that the plane can arrive safely.

Clearly the HR and training department at United Airlines likes to use Hitler Youth training videos for their customer facing employees.

[moovova]

“United Airlines: Where you pay to board an airplane as a doctor and leave as a patient.”

LOL

[2nd amendment mama]

United’s stock falls 1.1%, wipes out $255 million off the airline’s market cap

[SarahPalin2012]

Great response. Now we’ll get this behavior from so many more, and prices for air fare should go up since the Airlines will not eat the cost of not overbooking.

You have excellent, excellent qualifications for the Democratic Party.

[King Moonracer]

So basically an airline ticket is only a “chance” at getting a seat. Since that is gambling they should be regulated like a casino or a lottery.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

A superannuated Clock Boy.

[poinq]

“I don’t know what I would do. I’m fortunate in that I don’t have a job that I have to report to, so I don’t have to travel for business. Back in the day, I felt confident enough to travel alone, but I’m past that point now. Air travel today is one degrading experience after another.”

---

I did travel for a living. Now I will drive whenever I can. I have about 900,000 miles on United but I will never get to a million. And that’s because, even though I live in Chicago, I find flying to be annoying and degrading. I have rights everywhere else in my life until I step into an airport. And then to deal with United and their staff just throws gas on the fire. If you thought you were a person with rights, United’s employees remind you at every turn that you don’t. They are pejorative. They remind you that they are there for safety first and your little needs take a back seat. They stuff you in the most uncomfortable seat for hours and act like you have no reason to want to stand up and walk around.

I am glad this doctor raised a fuss. I know it was a little dramatic. But I hope he starts a movement, either by other passengers also refusing their horrible service or by United deciding that their customers matter.

[trisham]

Well said.

[yldstrk]

too little too late

[Jeff Chandler]

[NobleFree]

They're only just now realizing that their initial strategy of brassing it out and assassinating the passenger's character wouldn't play? Morons.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Yes United tried to gut it out and that’s just not working. Their FB page has 104,000 comments and all bad.

[bigbob]

This story has been dominating Twitter ever since yesteredy, the current trending topic is “United Airlines is not alone”, meaning it is just one of many organizations that treat their customers like crap. The Federal Gov’t should be on the top of that list.

[tuffydoodle]

If you think calling someone “a bad boy” is smearing him, you must be a snowflake. That’s probably why it’s beyond your comprehension.

[13foxtrot]

UA would have found plenty of volunteers if they offered more money — cash not vouchers.

Did they look for seats on a “sister” airline heading the same direction? Did they call back to HQ to look for another crew that could come from another station?

Probably not, it looks like they just hit the Easy-Button and grabbed a paying customer and threw him off the plane.

Now going forward, forever, my travel plans will be re-accommodated to avoid UA when I can.

[tuffydoodle]

Y’all are wound up tight tonight. My only point is that people garner more sympathy from the court of public opinion with a clean background. TMZ just had to dig up some dirt.

[13foxtrot]

Great response. Now we’ll get this behavior from so many more, and prices for air fare should go up since the Airlines will not eat the cost of not overbooking.

What cost? Unless you are a VIP flyer, the tickets are generally not refundable. And besides, this was not an overbooking situation.

UA could have offered $1000 cash + re-booking and this would never had happened.

[PLMerite]

“A flight that wasn’t until the next morning.”

True, but they would have needed a night’s sleep before they could fly.

I don’t question they employees needed to get there, just that the way United went about it was jacked up.

[Riley]

This just showed up on my FB feed. :-)

http://www.duffelblog.com/2017/04/pentagon-awards-contract-united-airlines-forcibly-remove-assad/