Did United Airlines do the right thing by removing a passenger forcibly?
The violent removal of passenger by an overbooked flight created a tremendous impact on the airline. As a result, it has started offering compensations in order to recover the damaged causes. As of now, several security officers have been placed on leave and detailed inquiry has been started to figure out what went wrong in that instance.
It is clear that overbooking of the flight led United Airlines to such a disastrous situation. However, overbooking of the flight cannot be stopped as well, because it is one of the most effective revenue generation tactics followed by the airline. As a result, the officials have to deal with the complex situation, in order to make sure that such a thing never happens again in future.
What did United CEO say about the incident?
The CEO of United Airlines has released an official announcement about the situation as well. Through the statement, he promised that such an incident would never happen again. The CEO seems to be ashamed about what happened and it seems like he is going to implement few changes in the booking process, with the objective of making sure such a situation would not happen again in future.
The opinion of passengers
In the meantime, two passengers who flew at the United Airlines 3411 flight have stated that they have received reimbursements from the airline. United has not made any official announcement about it as of now. Therefore, it is somewhat difficult to determine how and why they started offering reimbursements for all the passengers.
It is true that flight crew needs to be provided with priority in such a situation. But if United Airlines has offered a better compensation at the time of the incident, preferably a star class overnight hotel stay and a business class ticket on the following day, they could have got rid of this situation. However, it has become a thing of the past and the airline has to start working now in order to make sure that such a situation does not happen again in future.
Was it the first time that United did something like this?
If you take a look at the history of United Airlines, you would realize that this is not the first time that the company did such a thing. In 2009, United Airlines broke the guitar of a Canadian musician, because of their inefficiency in managing baggage handlers. At another instance, one of the customers, who was offered with a first class seat was threatened to give up his seat, because the airline wanted to offer it to another important customer. For two consecutive years, the airline had the highest rate of animal deaths among all airlines that operate within United States. Therefore, we cannot come to a conclusion that this is the first time United was involved in such an activity.
Would you give up your seat if you were asked to do?