United Airlines has faced serious backlash over the recorded physical abuse, they inflicted onto passenger Dr. David Dao. The video from Sunday showed Dao being dragged by his arms, screaming and bleeding as he was removed from his purchased seat. However, the aftermath has turned out to be a PR mess.
Not even the head of United Airlines could properly apologize for the violence. This past Tuesday night, United CEO Oscar Munoz released yet another press statement about the flight 3411 incident. Earlier, Munoz had called Dr. David Dao “disruptive and belligerent” when discussing the incident. However, during his interview with “Good Morning America,” Munoz decided to go the route of politeness, describing the shame as “palpable.”
“…the first thing I think is important to say is to apologize to Dr. Dao, his family, the passengers on that flight, our customers, our employees. That is not who our family at United is, and you saw us during a bad moment. This can never — will never — happen again on a United Airlines flight. That’s my promise.” Munoz told the world.
United has yet to see if customers will forgive the company for their slip up. Munoz felt the first apology was “short of expressing what we were feeling.” Regardless, Dao has hired Golan Christie Taglia, and Corby & Demetrio to represent him. Both are prominent law firms.