After a 69-year-old doctor was chosen at random to be physically dragged off one of his company’s airplanes, and the Chicago Aviation Police Department placed a cop on administrative leave, and the Feds got involved, and a boycott was threatened, and he praised his employees for following “established procedures for dealing with situations like this,” United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz has finally — finally — apologized for what transpired on Flight 3411.
In unrelated news, United Airlines’ value as a company has dropped by more than $750 million in the past 24 hours. Again, a total coincidence.
“The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment,” Munoz wrote. “I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened… No one should ever be mistreated this way.”
Here’s his full letter.
Dear Team,
The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment. I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened. 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. No one should ever be mistreated this way.
I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.
It’s never too late to do the right thing. I have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what’s broken so this never happens again. This will include a thorough review of crew movement, our policies for incentivizing volunteers in these situations, how we handle oversold situations and an examination of how we partner with airport authorities and local law enforcement. We’ll communicate the results of our review by April 30th.
I promise you we will do better.
Sincerely,
Oscar
Meanwhile:
https://twitter.com/socarolinesays/status/851863516382461954
What a week, and it’s only Tuesday.
(Via United Airlines)