Munoz said the incentive program in which passengers on overbooked flights are offered money and other compensation to switch flights "works pretty well outside at the gate", but acknowledged that the equation changes once a passenger is seated on an aircraft.
Cellphone video of the bloodied passenger, 69-year-old David Dao of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, has become a public-relations nightmare for United and led to the suspension of three police officers who worked for the Chicago Department of Aviation. Rather than calling for an end to the practice of overselling, Trump said that instead, there should be no upper limit to incentives carriers can offer passengers in exchange for their seats on overbooked flights.
Airlines sell more seats than they have because they are counting on a certain number of passengers not to make the flight as planned.
But once police were aboard the plane, it would have been hard to walk away, especially if they did not know why the passenger was asked to leave, said Kevin Murphy, executive director of the Airport Law Enforcement Agencies Network.
Early on, United CEO Oscar Munoz added to the furor when he apologized for the incident but accused Dao of being belligerent. He vowed, "This will never happen again", and called what happened to Dr. Dao "truly horrific".
Royal Jordanian Airlines also joined in on the trolling, tweeting what looks like a no smoking poster that reads: "We would like to remind you that drags on our flights are strictly prohibited by passengers and crew".
Former President George H.W. Bush hospitalized as precaution, according to spokesman
His wife, former first lady Barbara Bush, 91, had an overlapping stay at the same hospital for treatment of bronchitis. This comes just 3 months after the illness forced the 92-year-old former president to spend 2 weeks in the ICU.
It sparked outrage across Chinese social media as the airlines' decision to evict the passenger from the domestic flight was condemned as "racial discrimination". Qatar Airways also threw a jab at United with its tweet which said, "We're united in our goal to always accommodate our passengers, even with our app updates".
The filing with an Illinois State court demands that United Airlines and the City of Chicago preserve all surveillance videos, cockpit voice recordings, passenger and crew lists related to the flight.
Bastian said it is important to give "frontline employees the tools and flexibility to empower them at the first point of contact" to manage overbooking situations. The passengers had already boarded the plane. One passenger, a doctor who said he had patients to see, was removed by force.
Many online questioned United's PR capabilities in the wake of a scandal that went from bad to worse with each passing tweet and statement.
Sometimes, there's little wiggle room because airplanes are more full than they have ever been.
Since then the video has circulated all around the world - as has an internal memo from United's CEO to his staff, in which he refuses to accept blame.
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