On Thursday, United Airlines announced it is accepting responsibility for mistakes made Apriln9, when passenger David Dao was dragged off a flight, winding up bloodied and losing teeth.
The airlines admitted it made four mistakes, according to The Washington Post: unnecessarily summoning law enforcement, attempting to find space on the flight for crew members at the last minute, not offering more compensation or more transportation options so that customers would give up their seats voluntarily, (although agents did not have the authority to make that decision), and not providing regular training for employees on how to deal with “denied boarding situations.”
The airlines new policy will offer up to $10,000 in travel certificates for passengers who voluntarily give up their seats. United employees will be permitted to use creative solutions to get bumped passengers to their destinations, including booking them on another airline or sending them to another airport.
Chief executive Oscar Munoz said, “This is a turning point for all of us at United and it signals a culture shift toward becoming a better, more customer-focused airline. Our customers should be at the center of everything we do and these changes are just the beginning of how we will earn back their trust.”
Dao’s lawyer, Thomas Demetrio responded:
Both Dr. Dao and I applaud United for promptly addressing the many issues that have plagued passenger satisfaction in the arena of airline customer service. All of its policy changes announced today are passenger friendly and are simple, commonsense decisions on United’s part to help minimize the stress involved in the flying experience. Dr. Dao is proud, despite his ordeal, to have played a role in spearheading these announced changes. And going forward, he hopes United takes the lead in inspiring the entire airline industry to supply passengers the dignity, respect and fairness we all deserve.
Munoz told NBC’s Lester Holt that the Dao incident was “a system failure across the board.” He said outdated policies and procedures put the parties in the incident in “impossible situations.” Munoz refused to blame the officers involved in the Dao incident; violent removal of Dao from the plane, saying, “Did I believe what law enforcement folks did was wrong? Yeah. But once again, it was I and we who put them in that situation.”
Munoz also stated, “Our review shows that many things went wrong that day, but the headline is clear: Our policies got in the way of our values and procedures interfered in doing what’s right.”
The reason United was focused on attempting to find space on the flight for crew members at the last minute is that the Dao incident was prompted by a previous flight being delayed by mechanical difficulties. That, in turn, prompted Dao’s flight to need room for four crew members on the flight so that other flights would not be delayed.
As United’s report explained, via the Post:
The crew members were rebooked on Flight 3411. As a result, the airline needed four of the 70 passengers aboard to give up their seats. The gate agent offered $800 in travel credits plus the cost of meals and a hotel stay and when no one came forward, the agent followed United’s procedure for involuntarily bumping passengers. A United supervisor boarded the plane and told a couple they would have to leave. The couple left. The supervisor then told Dao and his wife they would have to leave. Dao refused. After receiving multiple refusals, United officials told Dao they would call authorities if he continued to protest. At this point another passenger volunteered to leave the plane in exchange for $1,000 in compensation. But United officials still needed a fourth seat.
The Dao incident followed that.
United is also promising to create an automated system to identify passengers who would give up their seats, then permit them allow them to set the level of compensation they would be willing to accept. The airline will offer additional training for front-line staff and form a “customer solutions team” to help passengers find alternate flights.
Munoz said United will limit the use of law enforcement to “safety and security issues only,” adding United won’t bump passengers once they have boarded their flight unless it involves a safety or security issue.
“Our policies got in the way of our values and procedures interfered in doing what’s right.”
United Airlines chief executive Oscar Munoz
Munoz concluded: “Every customer deserves to be treated with the highest levels of service and the deepest sense of dignity and respect. Two weeks ago, we failed to meet that standard and we profoundly apologize.”