The incident aboard a United Airlines flight at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport represented a major test of leadership for United CEO Oscar Munoz, and he "flunked," according to some critics.
In an op-ed published in The Los Angeles Times, reporter Michael Hiltzik said the United employees' "toxic" decision to drag a Kentucky physician off of United flight 3441 to make room for airline personnel "can be blamed directly on the men at the top, their chief executives," according to the report.
According to Mr. Hiltzik, Mr. Munoz's two initial responses to the incident were to side with the employees, stating the staff treated the passenger — David Dao, MD — "politely" and "apologetically" until Dr. Dao became "disruptive and belligerent," leaving airline employees with no other option but to "call Chicago Aviation Security Officers to assist in removing the customer from the flight," according to the report. In an email to company employees obtained by the LA Times, Mr. Munoz reportedly said he "stand[s] behind all [employees]."
Mr. Munoz did not acknowledge any mistreatment on the part of the employees until his third public statement Tuesday, in which he "deeply apologize[d] to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard," stating "no one should ever be mistreated [that] way," according to the report.
For Mr. Hiltznik, Mr. Munoz's "knee-jerk support of United's staff" underlies a larger issue with the company's internal structure and employees' inability to deal with workday glitches. Mr. Munoz's apologies and promises to conduct an investigation don't empower employees on the ground to take the initiative to solve customer complaints before they become a major issue.
"[Mr. Munoz's responses don't give] a concrete indication of plans to change United's culture to encourage creative thinking on the ground. If United's culture doesn't change, he'll have to take the blame [for more public relations issues that are sure to come]," he wrote.