In April of 2017, airline giant United Airlines faced a huge PR nightmare and ethical dilemma when a man was forcibly removed from his seat due to the airline overbooking the flight departing from Charlotte O’Hare airport in Chicago. The gentleman was removed from his seat and dragged down the aisle of the airplane when he refused to de-board the plane. While legally speaking, overbooking a flight is legal as there are many no-shows, if there are no volunteers to switch flights, the airline is allowed to select passengers to remove based on a number of factors such as cost of their ticket, and when they check in. While the situation was entirely legal, United Airlines faced a large amount of backlash from customers due to footage of the incident going viral.
This incident caused United’s stock value to drop by $500 million immediately after, and customers were not happy either. Many customers dropped their loyalty program with United, they chose to fly with other airlines, even if it meant a price increase in ticket fare. They also chose to fly other airlines even if it meant having a longer travel time to their destination. According to the Chicago Tribune, “38 percent of consumers said they’d be willing to pay extra to fly American rather than United.” People also took to United’s social media pages to express their concern and outrage over the incident.
While the issue impacted United’s image and financial health temporarily, it did not impact the brand long term. When it comes to airlines and travel, people are limited to a few options, and only one month later, people were resuming their travel with United. I believe if it were a brand that was not as much of a necessity this would have been a greater issue, but people are not left with many options.
If I were an executive at United Airlines, I would have handled this situation entirely different, and avoided this incident from happening in the first place. I believe that airlines should never overbook flights, even if it means losing out on some money from having a couple empty seats. I would also have a standby system in place, so empty seats can be filled last minute if needed. I would never have police intervene, unless it was a dangerous situation. While United offered $800 credit to anyone willing to change their flight, they should have done this before anyone was boarded to the plane. If there was no one interested, I would raise the offer price of the travel credit to encourage more volunteers. Finally, I would issue a public apology to Mr. Dao and offer him and his family free flights with United for one year as a sign of good faith.
References:
Zdanowicz, C., & Grinberg, E. (2018, April 10). Passenger dragged off overbooked United flight. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/10/travel/passenger-removed-united-flight-trnd/index.html
Zumbach, L. (2018, April 09). A year after a passenger was dragged off a United flight, everyday indignities remain. Retrieved from https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-united-passenger-dragging-anniversary-20180405-story.html
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