United Airlines: The “Flying the Friendly Skies” Experience
This is an analysis of the 2017 United Airlines crisis that set the tone for necessary changes in the airline. The analysis features information about what United could have done better and how the incident could have been avoided completely.
"N27965 United Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner s/n 37815" by TDelCoro is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.On April 9, 2017, United Airlines gate agents at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport asked for volunteers to give up their seats on a flight so that crew members would be able to meet another flight. Dr. David Dao and his wife originally agreed to give up their seats, but changed their minds once they found out the new flight wouldn’t leave until the next day. Even with the offer of compensation on the table, not enough people volunteered to give up their seats. This led to Dr. Dao being chosen as one of the passengers who would be forced to give up their seat on the flight. Footage eventually went viral of Dr. Dao being violently dragged from the plane by security officers.
In multiple statements released by United after the incident, they apologized but never explicitly mentioned Dr. Dao. Oscar Munoz, the United Airlines CEO at the time, initially apologized in a statement and said that the airline was investigating the incident. It was revealed that Munoz sent a letter internally saying that Dr. Dao was politely asked to get off the plane, but he became “disruptive and belligerent.” Munoz ultimately defended the actions of the staff saying that they followed the established procedures.
“This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened. We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation.”
“Like you, I was upset to see and hear about what happened last night aboard United Express Flight 3411 headed from Chicago to Louisville. While the facts and circumstances are still evolving, especially with respect to why this customer defied Chicago Aviation Security Officers the way he did, to give you a clearer picture of what transpired, I’ve included below a recap from the preliminary reports filed by our employees.
As you will read, this situation was unfortunately compounded when one of the passengers we politely asked to deplane refused and it became necessary to contact Chicago Aviation Security Officers to help. Our employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this. While I deeply regret this situation arose, I also emphatically stand behind all of you, and I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.
I do, however, believe there are lessons we can learn from this experience, and we are taking a close look at the circumstances surrounding this incident. Treating our customers and each other with respect and dignity is at the core of who we are, and we must always remember this no matter how challenging the situation.”
“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.
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 30.”
The statement from the CEO and the internal letter were both sent the day after the incident. They changed direction the following day, but only after the threat of boycotts of the company. All within the first few days of the incident, United released multiple apology statements as well as a promise of a full refund to every passenger that was on the flight. It took a few days for them to fully apologize to Dr. Dao.
In order to get ahead of the situation, United released their original statement that wasn’t that great. They released a follow-up statement the same day, that also wasn’t that great because it once again didn’t get down to the matter at hand. The PR counsel could’ve still released a statement the following day, but instead they could’ve started off by announcing that they were aware of the incident and was doing an investigation into what happened. This would give them time to gather information so they can make an effective statement that shows empathy and not just a statement that is helping them get ahead of the situation. They ultimately needed to show empathy not just to the passengers in general but to the specific passenger that this incident involved.
The length of time that it took United to release a statement wasn’t a problem so the “Crisis Ready” approach couldn’t have been implemented. It was more so about the quality of the statement and how United came off to the world. I definitely think they could’ve taken a little more time to investigate what happened, so instead of releasing the statement that they did first-thing the following morning, they still could’ve released an initial statement to say they were investigating to give them a little more time. This is definitely a communication problem, but it leads to a bigger question: is the behavior of the employees and the security officers the result of the actual procedures they’re supposed to follow in situations like this? If the answer is yes, then that makes this an organizational problem along with a communication problem. As an organization, they are supposed to have specific procedures that are effective and don’t cause anyone any harm in a situation like this. This is definitely something that an airline could plan for and predict since the “overbooking” of flights happens often. If this isn’t something that they could have planned for previously following an issues management model, then they need to make sure that it’s a priority now and I hope they were able to use this as a real model for training.
The cost to the company was monetary, in reputation and to stock price. Dr. Dao ended up settling with the airline for an undisclosed amount. United’s reputation took a hit especially as other incidents took place on their flights. In 2018, a flight attendant had a passenger put their pet dog in an overhead bin, leading to the pet dying on the flight. Due to these incidents, they were seen as heartless, and this isn’t how an airline should want to be portrayed. Their stock price also took a hit after the Dr. Dao incident, losing more than $500 million of its value.
United Airlines has made some changes following that incident saying that it was a defining moment for the company. The changes made include a plan that would put customers first. They promised to examine its policy of overbooking, and for the instances where it can’t be avoided, the travelers who voluntarily give up their seats are eligible for up to $10,000 in travel certificates. They would also no longer call outside law enforcement unless it’s a matter of safety or security. Besides that, there should be consistent training for employees on how to handle certain situations as preventative measure instead of dealing with them after they’ve already happened. Airlines can predict what types of problems would be crises to get ahead of them. The executive team should be included in all of these trainings as well because the statements released by the CEO made this situation even worse instead of being a remedy. As part of a branding advertising campaign in 2022, United changed their tagline from “Flying the Friendly Skies” to “Good Leads The Way.” Hopefully, their actions will match the change.