The passenger filmed being violently dragged from a United Airlines flight has spoken out about his ordeal - albeit briefly. CEO Oscar Munoz late Monday sent a letter to the airline's employees lauding the behavior of the flight crew when a "disruptive and belligerent" Kentucky physician was dragged off a plane in Chicago.
Investors appear to think that the incident-or, more specifically, United's reaction to the ugly episode-could harm the airline's business in the long run. The company in a statement on Monday morning said, "After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate". "Currently, they are focused only on Dr. Dao's medical care and treatment", the family's attorney Stephen Golan said in a subsequent statement.
Chicago's aviation department said the security officer who grabbed the passenger had been placed on leave.
After initially blaming the passenger, Munoz accepted full responsibility for his removal in an apology on Tuesday. "I have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what's broken so this never happens again", it added.
"United Airlines forced passenger off the plane" quickly became the most talked about topic with 580 million posts. I apologise for having to reaccommodate these customers.
Powell told WHAS 11 News the airline asked people to give up their seats to make room for a flight crew. Dr. David Dao talked to Louisville, KY TV station WLKY Apr. 11 from a Chicago hospital where he's recovering from the traumatic incident.
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Tuesday afternoon, the C.E.O. of United Airlines apologized to the passenger who was forcibly removed from a flight in Chicago Sunday night, as well as the other passengers on board.
Security officers "were unable to gain his cooperation and physically removed him from the flight as he continued to resist", Munoz wrote - a bloodless description of the bloody encounter.
Calling it a "truly horrific event", Munoz said it elicited responses including outrage, anger and disappointment "from all of us".
Munoz conceded, however, that "there are lessons we can learn from this experience", and he promised an investigation.
Airlines are allowed to oversell flights, and they frequently do, because they assume that some passengers won't show up.
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