The incident of 3411

United Airlines, one of the largest airlines in the United States, spent more in 2017 to keep itself away from PR scandals than to launch airplanes.

Here is the scandal that is anything but ordinary:

The United Express Flight 3411 incident occurred on April 9, 2017, at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, during which David Dao Duy Ahn, a 69-year-old Vietnamese-American doctor, was injured while being forcibly removed from the plane.

After everyone had taken their seats on board, the airline announced that four seats needed to be freed up for its employees. The airline's executives offered vouchers to passengers to give up their seats, but none of the passengers accepted them.

The situation was further exacerbated by the behavior of the airline employee, Danielle Hill. One passenger, Tyler Bridges, reported:

„One of the airline's supervisors came up to the plane and stated in a gruff voice that United employees needed to be in Louisville tonight. „This flight will not depart until four people get off.”"

Among the passengers, there were those who did not understand why the supervisor handled the situation in such an annoying, combative manner. „The tone immediately outraged me,” - said Jason Powell, who was traveling on the plane. „This was weak problem-solving.”

After no one accepted the vouchers, the airline used a computer to select the four people. Three passengers, including Dao's wife, agreed to leave, but Dao did not, saying he needed to go home because his patients were waiting. Hill's immediate reaction was: „Well, then I need to call the police,őrséget, who will thenísétake the planeülőről.”.

The airline requested assistance from the Chicago Aviation Security Organization, and then the following happened::

Dao lost consciousness as a result of the abuse and only woke up in the hospital. He suffered a serious nasal injury and lost two teeth. It goes without saying that the incident caused a huge stir and spread like wildfire in the online world. Passengers on the plane recorded videos of the incident, which media agencies scrambled for.

Two days after the incident, the topic „United violently removes passengers from the airplane” was the most popular on Weibo, China's most famous microblogging website. The video generated over 270 million views and more than 150,000 comments - just in China!

A month before the incident, United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz received the „Best Communicator of the Year” award from PR Week magazine for the following reason:

„Munoz is an excellent leader who understands the value of PR.”.

The good reputation didn't last long, thanks to the fact that his first statement about the Dao incident was more insulting than apologetic:

Munoz wrote that „the incident has shaken all of us here at United.” - However, people were not satisfied with the letter, missing empathy in it.

The next day, on April 11, he wrote another letter, which was more successful:

On the 2nd anniversary of the incident, Dr. Dao gave an interview on Good Morning America:

He doesn't remember much about the incident since he hit his head on the plane and lost consciousness. But after watching the video made of him, he spoke about his feelings:

„I just cried. (...) I had to hide from the fame (...) I didn't leave the house for months.”.

The two officers who dragged Dao by his limbs down the airplane aisle were eventually fired from the Chicago Aviation Security Organization, but Dao said he does not hold a grudge against them.

„They have duties that they must fulfill," Dao said. „If they don't fulfill them, then they risk their jobs, so I'm not angry at them.”.

No United employee was fired over the incident, but they changed the company's rules and compensated all passengers who were on the flight.

Dao was pleased to note that the situation ultimately led to change at the airline.

„The most important thing is that the incident ultimately turned positive.”.