United’s efforts to save face continue following the disturbing scenes on board flight 3411 earlier this week.
United Airlines have announced that all passengers on board flight 3411, from which a passenger was forcibly removed on Sunday, will have their tickets refunded.
Footage of a man – later identified as 69-year old David Dao, a doctor based in Kentucky – being dragged from the plane by police surfaced on social media this week, with Dao suffering a bloody mouth due to the aggressive manner in which he was handled.
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The incident attracted a storm of negative publicity for United, as did their initial handling of it in the immediate aftermath.
In a leaked email distributed to employees following the incident, United CEO Oscar Munoz did not apologise to Dao, but instead said that he “refused to comply with crew member instructions” and “defied” security.
Munoz later rowed back on that stance in a public statement, describing Dao’s removal as a “truly horrific event” and offering him his deep apologies.
United have now announced that all passengers on board the plane will be compensated equal to the cost of their tickets and could take the compensation in cash, travel credits or miles.
In an interview on Good Morning America on Wednesday, Munoz once again offered his apologies to Dao and said that passengers being removed by police if flights have been overbooked would not happen again.
“That is not who our family at United is,” Munoz said.
“This will never happen again on a United flight. That’s my promise.”
According to the New York Times, meanwhile, two more officers from the Department of Aviation in the Chicago Police involved in removing Dao from the United flight have been placed on administrative leave; one officer had already been placed on administrative leave earlier this week.
