United Airlines Flight 3411 Incident (April 9, 2017)
United Airlines Flight 3411 Incident (April 9, 2017)
United Airlines Flight 3411 is a flight from Chicago O'Hare International Airport to Louisville International Airport. It made headline news on April 9, 2017, when one of the passengers (identified as David Anh Duy Dao) was forcibly removed from the flight.
Incident
On the evening of April 9, 2017, United Airlines boarded passengers on a Flight 3411 from Chicago, Illinois to Louisville, Kentucky scheduled at 5:40 PM. Before taking off, United staff realized they had sold out. United initially mentioned that the flight was overbooked, but they eventually made a clarification and claimed that the flight was sold out. [12]
United and regional affiliate Republic Airlines – the unit that operated United Airlines Flight 3411 – came to the conclusion that they had to remove 4 passengers from the aircraft to accommodate crewmembers. According to United spokesperson Jonathan Guerin, these crewmembers were needed in Louisville the next day for a “downline connection." [12]
Passengers were initially offered $400 to give up their seat.
They later increased the offer to $800 plus an overnight stay at a hotel.
The latter offer incentivized two passengers to leave the aircraft.
At that point, rather than raising the price further, the crew randomly selected two passengers (an Asian couple) using a computer.
The man claims to be a doctor.
They were told to collect their things and disembark.
David Dao's Removal from Flight 3411
The United passenger being dragged out after being manhandled from his seat and busting his lip on an armrest
The man of the couple, David Dao, refused to leave the aircraft. He explained that he is a doctor with patients to attend to the next day. United Airlines eventually called for police to help remove him from the aircraft.
Two aviation officers boarded the plane.
According to the police, the man began yelling at the request.
Subsequently, a third officer arrived at the scene, who eventually reached in quickly and forcibly removed the doctor from his seat.
[20]The Asian doctor resisted and the officer struggled to get out of his seat for a few seconds.
The officer prevailed, but the doctor struck an armrest - busting his lip and causing injuries to his face - and fell to the floor.
The officers eventually dragged him by his arms off the plane, with his wife walking right behind them.
The other passengers on the flight reacted in distress.
At least two people recorded the incident.
David Dao's Second Removal from Flight 3411
The passenger who was grabbed and dragged off the flight managed to get back onto the jet.
Hanging onto a curtain, he repeatedly mumbled the phrases, "Just kill me," and, "I have to go home."
It is at this point where one can clearly see his face bloodied from the first time he was removed from the flight.
After the passenger was removed a second time, the four United employees boarded the plane.
According to Audra D. Bridges (whose husband was one of the passengers on the flight), other passengers told the flight attendant that they should be ashamed to work for United Airlines.
Dao was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge for his injuries.
Aftermath
U.S. Representative of Illinois' 9th Congressional District Jan Schakowsky speaks out about what happened on the United Airlines flight
United Flight 3411 eventually departed the gate at 7:42 PM and arrived at the Louisville Airport gate at 10:01 PM, 1 hour and 59 minutes late.
The incident was also the #1 trending topic on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, attracting more than 100 million views. [10]
Several flight carriers responded to the incident, as well.
Royal Jordanian tweeted a photo of a non-smoking sign that said, "We would like to remind you that dragging is strictly prohibited by passengers and crew," along with the caption: [22]
We are here to keep you #united Dragging is strictly prohibited
Emirates Airline responded, as well, while also alluding to United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz's statement in March 2017 about how Gulf flight carriers "aren't airlines. They're international branding vehicles for their countries." [23]
Status of Aviation Officers
Oscar Munoz (CEO of United Airlines):
Oscar Munoz, the CEO of United Airlines, personally apologized via Twitter: [7]
This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United.
I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers.
Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened.
We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to himand further address and resolve this situation.
Oscar Munoz's Letter to United Employees
In addition to his initial apology, Oscar Munoz also sent a letter to his employees: [3]
"Dear Team, Like you, I was upset to see and hear about what happened last night aboard United Express Flight 3411 headed from Chicago to Louisville.
While the facts and circumstances are still evolving, especially with respect to why this customer defied Chicago Aviation Security Officers the way he did, to give you a clearer picture of what transpired, I’ve included below a recap from the preliminary reports filed by our employees.
As you will read, this situation was unfortunately compounded when one of the passengers we politely asked to deplane refused and it became necessary to contact Chicago Aviation Security Officers to help.
Our employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this.
While I deeply regret this situation arose, I also emphatically stand behind all of you, and I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.
I do, however, believe there are lessons we can learn from this experience, and we are taking a close look at the circumstances surrounding this incident.
Treating our customers and each other with respect and dignity is at the core of who we are, and we must always remember this no matter how challenging the situation.
Oscar Summary of Flight 3411 On Sunday, April 9, after United Express Flight 3411 was fully boarded, United’s gate agents were approached by crewmembers that were told they needed to board the flight.
We sought volunteers and then followed our involuntary denial of boarding process (including offering up to $1,000 in compensation) and when we approached one of these passengers to explain apologetically that he was being denied boarding, he raised his voice and refused to comply with crew member instructions.
He was approached a few more times after that in order to gain his compliance to come off the aircraft, and each time he refused and became more and more disruptive and belligerent.
Our agents were left with no choice but to call Chicago Aviation Security Officers to assist in removing the customer from the flight.
He repeatedly declined to leave.
Chicago Aviation Security Officers were unable to gain his cooperation and physically removed him from the flight as he continued to resist - running back onto the aircraft in defiance of both our crew and security officials.
Elaboration on Apology
After receiving criticism for the letter he sent - particularly for saying that David Dao was 'disruptive' and 'belligerent,' he elaborated on his apology after several people condemned his initial statement: [13]
"The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment.
I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened.
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.
I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.
It’s never too late to do the right thing.
I have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what’s broken so this never happens again.
This will include a thorough review of crew movement, our policies for incentivizing volunteers in these situations, how we handle oversold situations and an examination of how we partner with airport authorities and local law enforcement.
We’ll communicate the results of our review by April 30 th.
I promise you we will do better.
Sincerely, Oscar"
Oscar Munoz's Interview with ABC News
Rebecca Jarvis listens to Oscar Munoz's answer during an exclusive ABC News interview
In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Rebecca Jarvis asks the United Airlines CEO some questions regarding the incident. Below is an excerpt of their conversation: [1]
REBECCA JARVIS: Oscar, this incident has sparked outrage around the world.
There are calls this morning to boycott your brand.
What did you think when you saw that video of a man being dragged off of one of your planes?
Rebecca Jarvis listens to Oscar Munoz's answer during an exclusive ABC News interview OSCAR MUNOZ: Good morning and thank you for having me. It’s not so much what I thought, it’s what I felt. Probably the word shame comes to mind. You know, as I think about our business and our people, 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 at a bad moment and this could never — it will never happen again on a United Airlines flight. That’s my premise and that’s my promise. REBECCA JARVIS: Why not communicate that shame as you call it initially, in your initial apology, in your initial statement, you apologized for re-accommodating passengers. And in your internal notes to your employees you talked about a belligerent and disruptive passenger. Why did it take until Tuesday to offer a more full-hearted apology? OSCAR MUNOZ: I think my first reaction to most issues is to get the facts and circumstances. And the initial — my initial words fell short of truly expressing what we were feeling. And that’s something that I’ve learned from. The expression of apology and specific to folks I mentioned before is an important part of a conversation like this because, again, that shame and embarrassment was pretty palpable for me and for a lot of our family. REBECCA JARVIS: You said this will never happen again. What will you be doing to ensure that promise? OSCAR MUNOZ: Well, as I’ve — I’ve outlined in some of my messaging is really around reviewing a fairly deep and thorough review of a lot of our policies that support this. Specifically, if I were to be here today as I am, I would tell you that the use of law enforcement aboard an aircraft has to be looked at very carefully. They’re clearly there for the purpose of safety and we want to make sure that they protect us, but for other reasons, I think that’s a policy we have to absolutely relook at. REBECCA JARVIS: What went wrong in this scenario? OSCAR MUNOZ: It was a system failure. We have not provided our front line supervisors and managers and individuals with the proper tools, policies, procedures that allow them to use their common sense. They all have an incredible amount of common sense and this issue could have been solved by that. That’s on me. I have to fix that. And I think that’s something that we can do.
David Dao's Injuries on United Airlines Flight 3411
David Dao's lawyer stated that his client suffered the following injuries as a result of the altercation between him and the aviation officer who forcefully removed him from his seat:
A broken nose
A concussion
2 knocked-out teeth
Sinus problems that may require reconstructive surgery