Leaked email from United Airlines CEO blames passenger for violent removal

Airlines are the worst.

If they had just increased the compensation passengers would have voluntarily given up their seat, everyone has their price. It didn't even need to be money, free flights, upgrades, it costs them next to nothing, especially when you consider this is still running in the media days later. Everyone hates to hear they overbook flights so you'd think when they get bitten United would take some of the savings made overbooking and spend it when it doesn't work out. At the end of the day I have a sneaking suspicion they'll still be ahead.

The fact that the airline technically didn't do anything illegal here really speaks to the lack of consumer protection laws in this country.

I seriously can't understand what kind of mental gymnastics this airline management is doing in order to justify in their heads that this is just fine.

Even if the law is on their side, they still overbooked the plane by themselves, they still let everyone check in, they still let everyone in onboard and they still forcibly removed some random paying passenger just because someone on their staff wanted/needed (anyone can clarify this part?) to board.

Here is an idea for United (your HR department can contact me, I'm available to hire for 50% of your CEO and I easily come up with much better ideas):

1 - you just have to simply get the attention of the passengers on the plane (if you can be a bit smart and do it OUTSIDE the plane it's even better).

2- keep increasing the compensation you give one (or the needed) of them in order for them to catch a later flight.

Sooner or later someone would just accept the compensation. Also, that compensation wouldn't be anything special anyway since you have a plane full of people competing for it. The passenger would be happy, United would get what it wanted and you wouldn't have this media shitstorm in your hands.

Yes... it's really that simple United (again, tell your HR department I'm available for hire).

Rough. I can see where he's coming from though. This was a private email to employees, and in that context he definitely needs to be a cheerleader for them.

Overbookings are industry standard, and they called security for someone who wouldn't leave. "Correct" protocol.

I think what most likely happened is the security guard that has been placed on leave did his job very poorly. As soon as he hit the passenger his coworkers probably thought "Uh oh. We need to just get him out of here before this gets worse. Because this is not what's supposed to happen."

It's obvious to us though that calling security is a way to make ALL your customers unhappy, and should be avoided at whatever cost. They should have just kept raising their offer for passenger's seats, that would be the better protocol.