Outraged customers and UA detractors have taken to Twitter to boycott United Airlines. The company forcibly removed a passenger on one of its flights to Chicago on Sunday, and footage of the incident captured by fellow travelers went viral online.
CEO Oscar Muñoz has since apologized three times, but his first two statements defended the procedures followed by airline personnel. His third and most recent apology this Tuesday was directed personally at the passenger, Dr. David Dao.
United Airlines stock has fallen considerably as a result of the controversial episode, dropping over $1 billion in value by early Tuesday. Twitter campaigns like #NewUnitedAirlinesMottos and #UnitedJourney have made some PR damage to the firm.
Twitter users are relentless against United Airlines
Leave it to Twitter users if you want the world to find out about even your smallest misstep. This time around, however, United Airlines was undeniably at fault when its employees removed Dr. David Dao by force from a Chicago flight on Sunday.
User @Tyler_Bridges originally posted the video on the microblogging site, while his wife Audra D. Bridges followed suit via Facebook. The footage quickly gained the attention of media outlets and users alike, and it has since spread to most corners of the web.
The video shows at least three security agents reaching towards the passenger. Dr. David Dao, screaming, is then shoved against a seat’s armrest with which he hits his head and falls unconscious. Other passengers bash the agents for literally dragging the man out the plane.
Now, other users have hijacked a social media campaign launched by United last week. The #UnitedJourney hashtag was meant for passengers to share their experience with the airline, but people are using it to boycott the company.
The internet did not stop there, however, and it created their own hashtag #NewUnitedAirlinesMottos to meme the airline into PR oblivion. Some of the most creative slogans include “Board as a doctor, leave as a patient,” and “We put the hospital in hospitality.”
On Monday, more footage surfaced online showing Dr. Dao frantically coming back through the aisle, repeating he had to go home. Passenger accounts say the doctor had mentioned to airline officers he had to see his patients the next day.
In his first apology, CEO Oscar Muñoz called the passenger “disruptive and belligerent,” and lauded United workers for how they handled the situation. A Monday picture showed Dao holding to an aisle curtain with his face covered in blood.
“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,” he said in a new statement Tuesday.
Source: Fox News