We may well be witnessing the unfolding of one of the biggest PR nightmares of all time. Regardless of what actually happened on the plane, the impression that millions of people are getting from the story & videos is that of a heartless airline that doesn't give a damn about its customers.
Quote:Quote:
-Passengers had to give up their seats for United staff who were needed in Louisville, Kentucky
"United's staff are important people — United's customers are not." Again, this is the impression millions of people are getting of United right now.
You can argue that the airline had a right to kick him off, that the airline policies are spelled out clearly in the fine print that nobody reads. This is probably correct. You'd also be right if you said the guy should have complied and exited the plane at some point before security had to drag him off bodily.
None of this changes the fact that United is in the midst of a mega-crisis right now. People are reading this story and watching the videos, and can't believe that an airline could be so stupid (and so cruel) as to allow an overbooking situation to get
that out of hand.
People already hate flying, and dislike airports and airlines for a whole bunch of reasons. These same people are now mentally substituting themselves and/or their loved ones for the man in the story right now. They feel for him. OK, so maybe he's a bit odd and overdramatic. Ultimately, he's a traveler who had just settled down into his seat, and all he wanted was to go home.
United should have offered more money or other perks to persuade people to willingly give up their seats. Everyone has their price; If they kept upping the amount, eventually
somebody would have taken it.
In the age of cellphone cameras & social media outrage, no company or corporation can afford to have a situation like this to take place. I'm sure if the CEO of United could go back in time and offer folks on that plane $25,000 each to give up their seats, he would. That would be a rock-bottom bargain compared to how much United now stands to lose over this debacle.