After suffering from public relations crisis for a few weeks following the "passenger-dragging" incident, it looks like the issue came to a close at last when United finally reached a settlement with Dr. Dao. Dao's lawyers were able to reach an agreement Thursday, although they declined to say how much.
United was plunged into the glaring spotlight of being an abusive airline when a video footage uploaded on the social media showed police offers violently dragging Dr. Dao from his seat on a flight from Chicago after he refused to get off the plane due to overbooking. Dr. Dao apparently suffered a broken nose, broken teeth and a concussion following the ordeal, enraging thousands of airline passengers.
The airline was further dragged down when Oscar Munoz, United's CEO, took a long time before apologizing about the incident. After a few weeks of backlash and negative PR, it looks like the issue will finally come to an end.
In a statement made by Thomas A. Demetrio, one of Dr. Dao's lawyers, through New York Times, he said: "Mr. Munoz said he was going to do the right thing, and he has. In addition, United has taken full responsibility for what happened on Flight 3411, without attempting to blame others, including the City of Chicago. For this acceptance of corporate accountability, United is to be applauded."
United has already assured the public and their customers that such an ordeal wouldn't happen again and that the incident involving Dr. Dao became their unintended model to further hone their customer service. On the day of the settlement, they also announced that they would now offer $10,000 to customers in case of overbooked flights, reported by CNN Money.
Waves of changes are now currently in place for United in the wake of the issue. The airlines said they are now planning to reduce the number of overbooked flights, and they are now offering a cash incentive of up to $1,500 in the event a passenger loses his/her baggage.
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