United Airlines is changing the way it handles certain situations with passengers and crew members on its flights, almost one week after a man was dragged from an aircraft in Chicago. The video of Dr. Dao being dragged off a United flight has many calling for a boycott of the airline.
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The airline, owned by United Continental Holdings Inc, said it would make sure crews traveling on their aircraft are booked into seats at least 60 minutes before departure. “This is one of our initial steps in a review of our policies in order to deliver the best customer experience”, said United spokesperson Maggie Schmerin in a statement.
Attorney Thomas Demetrio says that agreement means a court hearing scheduled next week isn’t taking place. United then chose four passengers to be bumped and all but one left without issue.
Passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs said the warning from Garneau is meaningless because there is nothing the government can do if the airlines don’t comply.
Dr. David Dao, a 69-year-old Vietnamese-American doctor, suffered a concussion and broken nose when dragged from the plane and will likely sue, his attorney said on Thursday.
Appearing to want to put the incident behind him, United Airlines chairman Robert Milton said in a note to employees: “We need to use this regrettable event as a defining moment and pivot off it to craft friendly policies”.
A United official told passengers that it needed volunteers to give up their seats for crew members.
Flyers at Atlantic City International this week questioned the incident on United, which does not fly from the airport. Eventually, United’s chief executive, Oscar Munoz, apologized for the whole fiasco and promised it wouldn’t happen again, but by that point, no one really wanted to hear it. Munoz himself said on Wednesday that he had left a message for Dao.
It will announce the results by April 30.
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“Unless the passenger is committing a crime, interfering with the flight crew, things of that nature”, said Wolk. The near-exact 50-50 split among respondents who haven’t been following the news about United indicates that the recent incidents have had a massive, polarizing effect on public perception of the airline among anyone who’s been paying attention to the news.
