Oscar Munoz, the CEO of United Airlines, has appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to try and soften the blow of his PR crisis. It came at the end of a series of statements, some audaciously blaming the passenger for having bought a ticket and then dragged forcibly off the plane by police that United sent onboard, and some taking his side. It’s despicable, because Munoz doesn’t care in the slightest about the 69-year-old David Dao’s concussion or other wounds sustained as a result of his company’s absurd policy – he just wants people to like his company, and that will never, ever happen again.
Munoz promised such an incident would “never happen again on a United flight,” saying that violence and brutality are not values that “our family at United” holds dear. He promised that he would never again send police to grab a “booked, paid, seated passenger,” yank him from that seat, and drag him off the place, adding, “We can’t do that.” They did do that, though.
‘We can’t do that’ – but they did
Munoz framed the incident as a “system failure.” He promised that United Airlines’ procedures would be reassessed. That means the next time United staff want to get on a plane, they won’t send police officers to drag passengers out to make room for them. And none of this bullsh*t from Munoz goes anywhere towards healing Dr.
Dao’s sustained injuries.
But he’s been making a lot of very different statements. First, he said United was reaching out to Dr. Dao so that they could “resolve this situation” (translation: convince him to keep it out of the courts). Then, he changed his mind and berated Dr. Dao, calling him “disruptive and belligerent,” to try and convince people that the vicious attack was necessary, which obviously didn’t work. Then, he flip-flopped again and took Dr. Dao’s side again, saying he was “mistreated” and that “no one should ever” be subject to such treatment.
