I’ve stood by embattled United CEO Oscar Munoz throughout the passenger dragging incident saga, but one issue puzzles me–who is telling the truth on reaching out to Dr. Dao?
Earlier today I wrote about the elaborate press conference staged by Dr. Dao’s two attorneys. In it, they mention that Munoz has never reached out to Dao. That is contrary to Munoz’s claim on Good Morning America that he has personally reached out to Dao.
But just after the press conference, United released its fourth statement on the incident–
We continue to express our sincerest apology to Dr. Dao. We cannot stress enough that we remain steadfast in our commitment to make this right.
This horrible situation has provided a harsh learning experience from which we will take immediate, concrete action. We have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what’s broken so this never happens again.
First, we are committing that United will not ask law enforcement officers to remove passengers from our flights unless it is a matter of safety and security. Second, we’ve started a thorough review of policies that govern crew movement, incentivizing volunteers in these situations, how we handle oversold situations and an examination of how we partner with airport authorities and local law enforcement. Third, we will fully review and improve our training programs to ensure our employees are prepared and empowered to put our customers first. Our values – not just systems – will guide everything we do. We’ll communicate the results of our review and the actions we will take by April 30.
United CEO Oscar Munoz and the company called Dr. Dao on numerous occasions to express our heartfelt and deepest apologies.
Note the last sentence, wholly at odds with what is coming from the Dao Camp.
CONCLUSION
Perhaps every call has gone to voice mail or maybe United was calling the wrong number. But it seems to me that one side is lying. And though it is just a small issue in the larger scheme, if Munoz did lie about this I will withdraw my defense of him.
executives don’t lie, they just repeat mis information they were given ( right) ?
@mike murphy: LOL!!!! That is exactly right.
I wouldn’t call him a liar. Maybe someone from his staff called them and got no answer. First of all, was he a United frequent flyer? If not, does he have to enter his phone number when buying a domestic ticket? Second, it seems that after the incident the passenger was at a hospital in Chicago. Thus, if he gave his home phone number maybe United called that number but there was no one to answer since they were not at home. Last, getting in touch with the passenger will certainly not be an issue for United. They will hear from his lawyer pretty soon. 🙂
United says they keep logs of Munoz’s calls, and Dao is on the log. United does say say Munoz and Dao have spoken, and Dao’s attorney says they have not spoken. The accounts of the situation are reconcilable, as you note.
Gary, for those of us with spouses, how many of us have tried to call to apologize, only to be ignored, then accused of not trying hard enough? Just saying, maybe the guy is not ready for Oscar’s apology….yet.
Don’t we know it!
And certainly Dao’s attorney is recommending that he not accept calls from United. No doubt there are plenty of media reaching out to him as well, he’s likely screening all calls except perhaps from close family and friends.
@Gary: Any idea what is the % that these lawyers will get from whatever settlement the passenger gets from United? I can guarantee you United will be paying him a lot of money mostly because of the reach of this case.
To be sure I have absolutely no idea the fee structure that was agreed to, assuming this was taken on contingency those deals often range from 30% – 40% although in this case an attorney might well take it for less given the high profile nature of the case, that there’s be lots of attorneys happy to represent, etc. The attorney certainly gets part of their compensation in TV exposure!
As an old, retired auditor I can testify that management is not paid to lie. Lying is just a free perk that comes with every executive position.
I am not sure that it matters much,. Don’t see any reason why Muñoz would lie about trying to reach Mr. Dao. But I do see a lot of reasons why Mr. Dao would lie about it. To begin with, unlike most people, I really don’t think Mr. Dao’s behavior was appropriate, the fact that he lost his license and the fact that he has had trouble with the law, does not give him much credit either. And I am an Asian from Latin America so I am not buying the racist ticket here. I believe it’s common practice if the need arises to offer rewards for those who volunteer and if not, the airlines pick whoever they need and it makes sense to pick those who paid the least for their ticket. I do not condone the way the guards handled Mr Dao and they should’ve known there’d be consequences the way they handled it but I also believe the United team should’ve intervened and stopped the guards from handling Mr Dao the way they did. It’s as simple as that, you do not allow anyone to treat a customer that way unless they are being a menace to other passengers.
This is not even my own comment, but other people’s comments I read: they felt he lied already about the passenger being ‘belligerent’ in his first statement, and then backtracked in later statements. And people esp felt like he lied and misportrayed the passenger, esp when the new video came out when he was pretty calmly stating his refusal to leave the flight and was on the phone w/his lawyer. He wasn’t being physically violent or physically threatening, and the other passenger reports state this also.
In any case, CEO Munoz’s credibility is already so low, it can’t go lower. This happened because of his own actions when he decided to speak from both sides of his mouth. He cannot recover from this, sorry. The public doesn’t know who is lying, but given that he just made 2 opposite statements earlier this week, we would not be surprised if it was him, let’s just say.
United will be far better w/a fresh start w/a new CEO, and he should have been gone yesterday. And I’m saying that for the sake of United Airlines.
The CEO’s initial responses showed such poor judgment… it makes you wonder where else does he shows poor judgment and lack of understanding? Re: plane safety– does he also have poor judgment there, for example? He will always be someone remembered for his bad judgment, and I don’t think that can be changed. Subsequent responses, even if they are good ones, will always be in the shadow of the first responses. Something that went like… oh a customer with a blood dripping on your plane, dragged unconscious down the aisle…. that was standard procedure and I commend my employees for their actions…. ?!? Oh also, it was his fault… followed several days later by… oh nevermind, I take that all back. As I said, there is no credibility there and United shouldn’t even try with him. It’s a losing battle.
I am suspicious of anyone that needs to have their lawyer on call on their speed dial.
Munoz has a whole team of lawyers on his speed dial.
Sometimes CEO’s have to be reaccommodated. Can somebody get a tow truck in here to reaccommodate Mr. Muñoz?