231 Opening Chapter Case: United Airlines Wants you OFF the Plane! - Part 1 On April 9, 2017, Dr. David Dao was seated on United Express flight 3411, which was about to take off from Chicago for a short trip to Louisville, Kentucky. Shortly before the scheduled departure, an airline supervisor came on board the plane and announced: "We have United employees that need to fly to Louisville tonight ... This flight's not leaving until four people get off" (Selk, 2017). The flight on which the United employees had been scheduled was delayed due to mechanical problems, so they boarded flight 3411 instead. Although passengers were offered vouchers to rebook their flights, nobody volunteered to leave the aircraft. United then selected four passengers to depart involuntarily, despite the fact they had already been seated. Dr. David Dao, a pulmonologist, was one of the passengers selected. He refused to give up his seat, stating that he had patients to see the next morning. Then, United personnel made a fateful decision that would launch the airline into the public spotlight; they called Chicago Aviation Police to have Dr. Dao forcibly removed from the plane. The incident was recorded on a cellphone and widely circulated on social media. United Airlines, which once had promoted the motto, "fly the friendly skies," seemed much less friendly. Overbooking Flights as a Strategy According to United, the flight was not overbooked, but it appeared to have been from the standpoint of the passengers. Nonetheless, overbooking in the airline industry is a valid form of revenue enhancement (Carey, 2017). The business logic is that not all passengers who reserve a flight arrive on time. The no-show passengers create empty seats, which represent lost revenue, also known within the industry as "spoilage" (Klophaus & Polt, 2006). Airlines use mathematical models to calculate how much a specific flight should be overbooked to fill aircraft without denying boarding to ticketed customers (Gerchick, 2013; Siddappa, Rosenberger, & Chen, 2007). When overbooking occurs, airlines offer financial incentives to passengers to take later flights. In most cases, enough volunteers are willing to accept the financial incentive and take a later flight. The strategy of overbooking has been mostly successful, and the number of passengers affected by what the industry calls involuntary boarding denial has been relatively small. In 2016, approximately 660 million passengers boarded flights in the United States, of which only 434,425, or .07%, were "bumped" and voluntarily took a later flight. In total, 40,629 passengers, or .006%, were removed involuntarily (Hopper, 2017). Noodsos232 When four United crewmembers suddenly needed to travel to Louisville, the United flight was technically not overbooked but was full. Indeed, the airline had met its goal of filling every seat, but the need to transport crew members as passengers was not anticipated. United then offered $400 vouchers to incentivize four passengers to deplane. When nobody accepted, United offered $800, but there still were no takers, most likely because this was the last flight of the night to Louisville (Goldstein, 2017). United then resorted to its involuntary passenger removal policy and proceeded to remove four passengers. A young couple was told to leave the aircraft, which they did. However, when Dr. Dao was asked to depart, he refused. pinulov bodon The Removal of Dr. David Dao Before the United incident, forcibly removing a ticketed passenger from an aircraft had only occurred when a person was disruptive or posed a security threat (Hopper, 2017). However, this situation was different. Dr. David Dao had firmly maintained that he was not leaving his seat. He had purchased a ticket, was already seated on his flight, and needed to see patients the next day (Selk, 2017). Moreover, this was the last flight of the night going to Louisville. A United manager decided to call security personnel from the Chicago Department of Aviation, who boarded the aircraft and asked Dr. Dao, once again, to leave the plane. Cellphone video shot of the incident, which later appeared on Inside Edition, shows Dr. Dao on his cell phone talking to someone at United saying: "I'm a physician. I have to work tomorrow at 8:00...No, I am not going, I am not going." A few moments later, a security guard (not a police officer) pulled Dr. Dao from his seat and dragged him down the aisle. The resulting scream was heard "around the world," as cellphone video showed a bloody and dazed Dr. Dao being dragged away on his back. The video was soon posted on social media. DIX Case Discussion Questions le snail offiosge 1. What other options could United Airlines have taken to avoid this crisis? 1210930 2. Some have called for airlines to stop the practice of overbooking altogether. Initiate a class discussion/debate between those who favor the practice and those who oppose it. 3. What changes could United make to prevent this type of crisis from recurring? introduction Crisis communications have changed dramatically in by social media. Over 80