Like last Sunday's overbooked United
flight 3411—delayed for two hours after a blameless passenger was
unceremoniously dumped from his flight like rejected, oversized
luggage—the overdue apology from United's beleaguered CEO Oscar
Munoz finally arrived on Tuesday:
“I want you to know that we take full
responsibility and we will work to make it right. 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.”
Due to this self-inflicted public
relations nightmare, United's stock is plummeting—and a boycott is
being threatened. The recent loss of 1.1% of its value means $255
million has evaporated into the thin air of their less than friendly
skies. Therefore, given Mr. Munoz's Johnny-come-lately epiphany, one
is left to wonder whether he suddenly prizes his customers' welfare
or just the corporation's shrinking bottom line.
Many on O'Hare's April 9th flight to
Louisville are justified to remain cynical. Still, it's a relief
that their “standard operating procedure” doesn't include heavies
with badges manhandling a shrieking elderly doctor while dragging him
from his seat and forcibly expelling him from an airplane. The
married victim is identified as Dr. David Dao, 69, an Elizabethtown
pulmonologist. (Interestingly and coincidentally, this physician also
has a long criminal history of fraud, and trading prescription drugs
for sexual favors with a male patient). In any case, the reality that
he protested due to next morning hospital duties didn't dissuade the
militant airline or jackbooted airport authorities. Did the three
harassers wear brown shirts—and forget this is America—when they
roughed him up?
The logistical problem started not from
one doctor's resistance, but from the airline overbooking the flight.
Four spots were needed for airline employees of an extra flight
crew—so paying customers' needs be damned, right? Reportedly, an
airline supervisor walked onto the plane and brusquely announced: “We
have United employees that need to fly to Louisville tonight. …
This flight’s not leaving until four people get off.” When the
usual inducements such as $800 vouchers failed, four passengers were
chosen at random. Only three complied. For the fourth, the police
were called after Dr. Dao “refused to leave the aircraft
voluntarily.” Unfortunately for the instigators, several
passengers' cell phone videos of the incident have gone viral.
For example, witness Tyler Bridges
posted his video to Twitter. Based upon his observation, “He said,
more or less, 'I’m being selected because I'm Chinese.'” Educated
in Vietnam, who would blame this traumatized doctor for having
flashbacks of authoritarian thugs? From his window seat, two of the
officers yanked him into the aisle while several passengers' “My
Gods” reverberate. Dr. Dao goes limp when hitting the floor, his
cell phone grasped in one hand. (Apparently, in the struggle he
passed out after his nose impacted an armrest.) His glasses
dislodged, his lip looking bloody, one of the officers pulls his dead
weight by both arms down the aisle and out of the plane.
“No, this is wrong. Oh, my God, look
at what you did to him!” exclaims one enraged female passenger over
the din. Unfortunately, United CEO Oscar Munoz initial reaction did
not concur. At the time, he demonized passenger Dao as “disruptive
and belligerent”. Likewise, in an earlier statement Monday, he
backed United employees, writing:
“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. ... 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.”
Frankly, one would expect this
two-faced recipient of PRWeek U.S.’s Communicator of the Year for
2017 to do better. Speaking of seizing hands, they should confiscate
Munoz's March 16 award. Likewise, Dr. Dao's attorneys should collect
his yearly $6.7 million salary—and demand this CEO's immediate
removal as the head of a now disgraced airline.
Twitter: @DavidHunterblog
http://patriotpost.us/commentators/446
http://www.americanthinker.com/author/david_l_hunter/
http://canadafreepress.com/members/74987/DavidLHunter/976
http://newstex.aci.info/authors/15977720f5100100002
No comments:
Post a Comment