United Airlines: Analysis of a Public Relations Crisis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the public relations crisis faced by United Airlines following the incident involving Dr. David Dao's forcible removal from a flight. It delves into the background of United Airlines, including its history and operational aspects, and examines the events leading up to the incident, including the overbooking situation and the subsequent actions of security personnel. The report analyzes the public outrage, the impact of social media, and the effects on key Asian markets. It critiques the company's initial response, highlighting the importance of transparency, timely communication, and empathy in managing such crises. The report concludes with recommendations for United Airlines to improve its public relations strategies, including proactive communication, media outreach, and the use of public relations tools to prevent and manage future incidents effectively. The report emphasizes the need for a more tactical approach, including offering compensation to passengers who volunteer to cancel their booking, and a timely apology, and transparency to address the root cause of the crisis.

Running head: UNITED AIRLINES’ PR REPORT 1
United Airlines’ PR Report
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UNITED AIRLINES’ PR REPORT 2
Executive summary
This report sets out to understand the concept of public relations at United Airlines following
the ejection of Dr. David Dao from flight 3411. It analyses the cause –effect relationship of the
incident and sets out recommendations, which will go a long way to manage effectively future
incidents. The report also delves into the historical operations of the oldest commercial airline
in the United States of America.

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Table of Contents
Executive summary........................................................................................................................2
1.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................. 4
2.0 Background.............................................................................................................................. 4
2.1 Federal Investigations.......................................................................................................5
2.2 Forcible ejection of Dr. David Dao....................................................................................6
2.3 Public outrage...................................................................................................................7
2.4 The power of social media................................................................................................8
2.5 Effect on key Asian markets..............................................................................................8
2.6 Increased spotlight...........................................................................................................9
2.7 How to respond................................................................................................................9
3.0 Conclusion............................................................................................................................9
4.0 Recommendations………….................................................................................................. 10
4.1 Transparency..............................................................................................................10
4.2 Contact with the public..............................................................................................10
4.3 Target consumers of information..............................................................................11
4.4 Photographic communication....................................................................................11
4.5 Media outreach..........................................................................................................11
4.6 Public relations tools..................................................................................................12
4.7 Timely Response........................................................................................................ 12
4.8 Staying active and available.......................................................................................12
4.9 Check your facts.........................................................................................................13
5.0 References............................................................................................................................. 14
United Airlines PR Report

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1.0 Introduction
United Airlines is one of the largest and oldest airlines in the world. It operates over four
thousand flights everyday carrying passengers across five continents (Wahba, 2017). It boasts of
having the most comprehensive network of routes with an estimated annual carrying capacity
of one hundred and fifty million covering more than three hundred airports in the world. It
maintains a large fleet of aircraft numbering in excess of seven hundred. United Airline is a
founding member of Star Alliance providing service to 28 member airlines (Wahba, 2017). On
October 1, 2010 the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the name and
symbol UAL following internal restructuring.
2.0 Background
United Airlines was founded in 1916 trading under the name Boeing Airline Company
(Heppenheimer, 1995). The company embarked on an ambitious strategy of acquisitions,
mergers and amalgamation of other aviation-based companies. The company initially specially
operated mail-only services. It was not until March 1931 that the company acquired United Air
Lines, Inc. launching commercial airline services. It is by dint of this acquisition that United
Airlines lay claim to being the first passenger flight company in the USA. The company focused
flight routes between member states in the USA, following a path successfully trodden by the
mail service branch.
In 1933, the company acquired a Boeing 247(Heppenheimer, 1995). It was a
revolutionary introduction in the flight industry. For the first time in the history of commercial
flights, passengers were able to fly directly across the USA without the necessity of making an
overnight stop. It was faster than any previous model. However, it was not all-smooth sailing.

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On October 10, 1933, Boeing 247 suffered mid-air explosion and crashed in Indiana, killing all
seven people aboard. Successful investigation revealed detonation of a bomb concealed in the
luggage section of the plane (Heppenheimer, 1995). This marked a first in targeted air sabotage.
By 1940, United Airlines had acquired fifty aircrafts on its fleet. Their planes would eventually
be modified to offer support to the armed forces of the USA during World War II.
As technology in aviation advanced, the company cashed in renewed demand for air
services. As opportunities grew so were the dangers. On November 1, 1955, United Airlines
suffered another bombing killing all forty-four people aboard. Unlike the previous bomb, this
time the culprit was apprehended (Heppenheimer, 1995). The company suffered a series of
deadly accidents in the late 50s losing three planes in three different mid-air collisions. This
helped to develop the current Air Traffic Control.
On June 1, 1961, the company merged with Capital Airlines to become the second
largest airline in the world only surpassed by the Aeroflot based in the Soviet Union. This
marked another stint in an aggressive expansion of the company characterized by acquisitions
and modernization of its fleet. On 23 December, 1973 the company would cement it goodwill
among the public by registering another first (Heppenheimer, 1995). Flight DC-10 was the first
civil flight to carry a seating president of the USA. The company has maintained positive high
ranking in the perception index amongst the public.
2.1 Federal Investigations
In September 2015, the company parted with its chief executive officer and two other
executives following investigations by the federal authority. The company was suspected to
have entered into a quid pro quo agreement with the then chairperson of Port Authority of

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New York and New Jersey (Boon, 2016). The port authority in return was asked to effect some
improvements to Newark Liberty International Airport. The airline chief executive officer
eventually pleaded guilty and duly resigned, costing the company 14% of its stock market value.
Oscar Munoz was appointed to steady the company following the departure of its former
leader (Boin, 2016). Mr. Munoz has steered the company into a major turnaround. In spite of
initial concerns about his health, he managed to broker contract extension between the airline
and flight attendant union that had hit an impasse for over a year. The company also gained
twenty seven percent on stock capitalization during the year 2016.
2.2 Forcible ejection of Dr. David Dao
However, the company damaged its relatively good image following an altercation on
flight 3411 on 9 April 2017. On the material day, security officers were called in to eject one
passenger. The flight had been overbooked and the crew requested four of the passengers to a
light (Lammers, 2017). None was willing. It was at this point that security was called to
forcefully eject one Dr. David Dao off United Express Flight 3411, schedule to depart for
Louisville. Dr. Dao had maintained that he could not cancel his considering he had to attend to
patients back in Kentucky. The security detail proceeded to drag Dr. Dao on the floor of the
plane toward the exit much to the consternation of fellow passengers. The wailing doctor later
claimed to the media that he was targeted on the basis of his race. He is of Asian origin. He was
later hospitalized as a result of the rough treatment meted upon him by the security personnel
(Lammers, 2017). The whole episode was recorded by passengers on board using their
telephone. By the time the flight was landing in Louisville, the video footage of the incident was
already trending social media. It was quickly picked by the mainstream media.

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Response by the company
The first official response to the episode came via the CEO, Mr. Oscar Munoz apologizing
for having to re-accommodate passengers. It made no mention of the injuries suffered by Dr.
Dao. The online response to Mr. Munoz was fast and furious.
The reigning U.S Communicator of the year had turned his company’s poor customer care
incident into a PR disaster (Lammers, 2017). The ramifications spread into the stock market,
crashing the nominal value of United Airlines by an estimated one billion dollars. An isolated
incident had turned into a global disaster fuelled by the power of the social media. The
response of the company had amplified the problem.
A proper response would have been to offer quick and unreserved apology to Dr. Dao
acknowledging the bodily injuries sustained during the scuffle (Lammers, 2017).Days later, an e-
mail by the CEO meant for internal consumption was leaked to the media commending the
actions of the employees and how they responded to the incident. It went ahead to malign Dr.
Dao as being disruptive and belligerent. He noted how the employees had followed laid down
procedures to handle such cases.
2.3 Public outrage
The public backlash toward the airline was taken a notch higher. The absolute lack of
basic empathy by the company was unacceptable. The chief executive officer had been hired to
fix a public relation crisis occasioned by his predecessor (Lammers, 2017). One year down the
line, he had created his own public relations disaster.

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A few days later Mr. Munoz was forced to apologize to Dr. Dao for forcible ejection from the
plane describing the incident more appropriately as horrific. He reiterated his commitment to
make things better and duly took the responsibility. By this time, the airline was in public
perception crisis, social media awash with memes ridiculing the company (Lammers, 2017). The
chief executive officer should have moved with speed to offer apology and contain the damage
caused by the viral video.
2.4 The power of social media
The importance and power of the social media cannot be overemphasized. It had
propelled an isolated incident into a global public relations disaster. Companies can no longer
get away with such bad incidents are long gone (Lammers, 2017). The smartphone and the
digital technology have the power to spread such occurrence to a global outreach. Once the
video was posted online, the video assumed some element of permanence; it could no longer
be removed from the media. United Airlines had lost control over it. This calls on the need for
companies to develop appropriate policy regarding interaction with the public via the social
media.
2.5 Effect on key Asian markets
Dr. Dao’s case attracted a lot of interest in China, a hugely promising target market for company
growth. His assertion that he was mistreated because of his Asian decent is likely to have
adverse effect on the airline as the target market must have watched the unflattering video (An,
2010).
2.6 Increased spotlight

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A month after the video surfaced, another negative incident was reported. A giant rabbit on
board united airline bound for Chicago died mid-flight. Ordinarily such an n issue would not
attract much public interest (Lammers, 2017). However, the previous treatment of Dr. Dao had
broken its previously good image and any bad incident was bound to be told to the world.
2.7 How to respond
It is important to respond quickly to customer related incidents. This entails seeking
the aggrieved person and offering an apology before reports of the incident spreads (Lammers,
2017). This was a critical failure on the part of Mr. Munoz. It is also important that all
underlying facts are established before going to the media. Once every detail of the incident is
established, it becomes easy to design the right response not only to the aggrieved persons but
also to the media (Lammers, 2017). When sharing such information with the media it is
important that you be transparent. You should be ready to own your response, admitting
mistakes if they happen and taking necessary action to avoid such mistakes happening again.
3.0 Conclusion
We live in an era of cell phones that produce videos and capture moments instantly. The
incident bedeviling the united airline is simply a snippet. It captures the worst part of a long
incident. That is the modern age. A more tactical approach such as offering compensation to
any passenger who volunteers to cancel his booking would have said the day (An, 2010). That
should have been the first line of public relations. When the ugly incident happened, timely
apology should have pacified emotions. It did not come early enough and when it did, United
Airline did not address the root cause. Transparency was seen lacking. It marked a chain of poor

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public relation exercises that hit the good name of the airline costing it current and potential
earnings. A competently assembled public relations team would have addressed and managed
the crisis before it gained global notoriety. It needed a simple sign of empathy and care on the
part of the company.
4.0 Recommendations
United airlines should be guided by the following principles when developing future
policy to guide in public relations (Wamba, 2017). It represents internationally recognized
maxims that must guide the thought process of formulating the company’s PR exercise:
4.1 Transparency
The public relations personnel should always practice honesty. United Airlines should never
have attempted to mislead the public by releasing wrong information lacking in facts (Fall,
2004). Lies have the tendency to unravel and when they do the potential, fallout would be
worse than the issues the company had tried to conceal. The information being disseminated to
the public should attempt to portray the company as positively as possible. However, the
underlying principle is keeping as much to the truth as possible.
4.2 Contact with the public
Any form of press release emanating from the company should be accompanied with the
name of contact persons, telephone numbers and both the mail and e-mail address (Fall, 2004).
The public should have communication channels made open with the company, and also to give
a chance to media to make follow ups should the story be of interest to them

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4.3 Target consumers of information
The mode of dissemination of information will be based on the target audience. With the
widespread social media platforms, a large audience can easily be reached (Fall, 2004). The
video showing Dr. Dao being forcibly removed from the plane reached global audience mainly
because of social media. In addressing the fallout, the management of United airline should
make every effort to reach as much audience as the damaging video.
4.4 Photographic communication
Visual images have the power to shed emphasis on whatever subject that may be under
discussion (Fall, 2004). The unfortunate incident involving Dr. Dao gained traction with the
public mainly because it was in form of a video. The footage of the scuffle in which the security
team could be seen roughing up the passenger had a powerful effect on the emotions of the
public. At that juncture it did not matter whether the employees of the United airlines followed
the laid down procedures, the video showing a bloodied Mr. Dao being dragged out of the
plane served as a powerful tool in emphasizing the folly of longstanding poor customer care
practices of the company. In the same breath, any response to the mistreatment should
attempt to whip up the emotions of the public as much as possible. The purpose is to paint the
company to be as caring and full of empathy as possible.
4.5 Media outreach

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Good media relations certainly are very important. Journalists have the power to advance
the image of the company in either way. Warm ties will likely give the company opportunities
for interviews opening up channels to advance your strategies to the general public (Fall, 2004).
A poor relationship with the media is likely to expose the company to unwarranted negative
reporting in the public. It is in the best interest of every public relations professional to have a
journalist as an ally and not a foe.
4.6 Public relations tools
The PR department of the company must understand the wide range of tools available to
them choosing, the most appropriate depending on cost and the target audience. This includes
seminars, personal interviews, direct mail, speeches and web broadcast.
4.7 Timely Response
Most press releases from public relations officers are planned well in advance. It may have
been arranged to showcase launch of a new product or unveiling new office holders. However
PR personnel must be prepared to release timely media report should a scandal breakout.
Timely response will serve to calm down an agitated public (Fall, 2004). In the case of Mr. Dao,
the company took too long to come out and issue an apology. When it eventually responded, it
failed to understand the extent of damage caused by the video. United Airline must be
prepared to face the public in the right way when an emergence need arises.