United CEO says no one will be fired for dragging incident

CHICAGO – United Airlines will not fire employees involved in the recent dragging of a passenger from his seat, an incident CEO Oscar Munoz on Tuesday called “a system failure.”

Executives of the Chicago-based airline sought to assure investors that United is working to learn from the recent uproar over viral videos of Chicago Aviation Department security officers dragging Dr. David Dao from a Louisville, Ky.-bound flight. Dao was removed from the plane at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport after he refused to give up his seat to make room for airline employees.

“This is a true learning opportunity and will ultimately prove to be a watershed moment for our company as we work harder than ever to put our customers at the center of everything we do,” Munoz said on a conference call discussing the airline’s quarterly earnings.

There was “never consideration” of firing an employee over the incident, he said.

The airline is reviewing policies around handling oversold flights to prevent similar incidents, including talking to some passengers and employees about how the airline can take a more “commonsense approach,” Munoz said.

It’s too soon to say whether the April 9 incident has affected customers’ willingness to travel with United, particularly since it happened during the week before Easter, when the airline typically sees fewer passengers, executives said.

That also goes for business from customers in China, where backlash was particularly fierce, said Munoz, who said he spoke with officials with the Chinese consulate after the incident and expects to address it with customers during a previously planned China trip in a couple of weeks. State-run news outlets abroad initially identified Dao, who emigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam, as being of Chinese descent.

Response to a letter Munoz sent to some of the airline’s “most loyal customers” has been positive, he said. “A lot of people have ideas and thoughts about how we can make things better, but in that segment, there’s been a lot of support,” he said.

United has announced that it will no longer call on law enforcement to remove passengers from flights unless there are safety concerns. It also said airline employees will have to book seats at least an hour in advance, to avoid bumping passengers already on board the aircraft.

Munoz declined to comment on any other changes the airline is considering, but said United would have more details by the end of the month.

Enthusiasm for the airline’s first-quarter financial results, in which United’s profits beat analysts’ expectations, was tempered by vows to learn from the incident and put the focus back on customers.

Those results give the airline “a lot of confidence about the foundation we’re building,” Munoz said. “But it’s clear we have further to go in terms of elevating the experience customers have with us.”